One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful (5 Piano Guys, 1 piano) - The Piano Guys

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**ALL THE SOUNDS YOU HEAR WERE CREATED BY THE PIANO AND ONE CELLO BOW** (WITH SOME VOCALS AT THE END)

STORY BEHIND THE SONG
The idea: A couple months ago the 5 of us were gathered round a piano prepping for a video shoot scheduled for that day. We were brainstorming ideas when one of us (can't remember who!) got off task and starting flicking a piano string. Since all of us are poster children for ADHD, it wasn't long before ALL of us had joined in -- banging out a beat, plucking a string, or hitting keys. The brainstorming meeting had been sabotaged beyond repair, but another music video idea was born!

The song: We went through several song possibilities before landing on "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. We like this song because it's catchy and the music, lyrics, and video passed our "sesame street" test (meaning family friendly). We thought about the ramifications of taking on a teenybopper boy band tune as five middle-aged married guys who are desperately holding on to their hairlines. One of us even has a son older than the guys in One Direction (we won't say who) :-) BUT you know us -- we love a good challenge! This one was so fun to write that the "challenge" part of it never was felt. We just acted like kids playing the piano and it totally worked! :-) After we figured out the main "techniques" of playing the piano unconventionally we loved experimenting with swapping out chords and throwing the structure of the song around until it clicked.

The location: Where to film? Fitting in video shoots between touring, writing, recording, editing, and spending time with family has always been a challenge. Let's be honest, even getting all 5 of us in the same place at the same time has been a challenge! We had a big sold-out show at the Sandy, Utah Amphitheater. We all determined to be at the show and film the video right on stage sometime between sound check and the performance. Sounds like a good idea right? Well...because of a lot of factors, including weather (we had a huge storm sweep in and knock everything down on stage during sound check) the only time we had to film was between the hours of 2AM - 7AM the morning of the concert. In the video at 2:30 you can see the morning light start breaking -- we literally played into the sunrise! :-)

And thanks to Cole Adams, the lighting genius - who hung out all night allowing us to pull an all-nighter to film this.

CREDITS
"What Makes You Beautiful" written by Rami Yacoubm Carl Falk, and Savan Kotecha
Published by KOBALT MUSIC PUB AMERICA OBO RAMI PRODUCTIONS, AIR CHRYSALIS SCANDINAVIA AB, EMI APRIL MUSIC INC OBO MR KANANI SONGS, EMI APRIL MUSIC INC
Arrangement written and produced by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Giles Reaves
Performed by ThePianoGuys: Paul Anderson (videographer/video producer), Tel Stewart (videographer/editor), Al van der Beek (music producer), Jon Schmidt (pianist), Steven Sharp Nelson (cellist)
Vocals: Al van der Beek, Steven Sharp Nelson, Jon Schmidt
Piano recorded by Giles Reaves at Annex Recording Studios
Additional Piano and vocals recorded by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios
Mixed and Mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios
Video filmed on the stage of Sandy Amphitheatre in Sandy, Utah USA
Lighting by Cole Adams
Video produced by Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart

Check more of our great videos!:

#thepianoguys #pianocello

[wonkyp]

"We paid for the whole piano, we play the whole piano."

[Why_are_you]

Never seen anyone play an instrument wrong so perfectly.

[benboss]

"Its my turn to play the piano!!"
"No, its my turn!!"
"Guys, I have a great idea...."

[accaliamurraymusic]

I still can't get over the pure joy and amazing chemistry between these guys - you can tell they're having the best time of their lives and that makes me happy.

[turtlelover-cqjq]

The best part about this is how much fun they are having!

[johndeihlasis]

Yamaha must give credit to these guys for proving how durable is their piano product.

[conradfeng]

This probably won’t be seen, but oh well. When I was 6, my mom showed me this video and it inspired me to learn the piano. A year later, I also picked up the cello. 9 years later, I still play piano and cello competitively and as a hobby.

Thank you.

[최지현-um]

힘들 때마다 와서 듣고 가는데 너무 위로돼요.
12년이나 지나 이걸 보실지 모르겠지만 너무 감사합니다. 이 노래가 없었다면 전 아마 몇백번이고 더 울었을거에요

[muchan]

ヤバい動画を見つけてしまった
発想とか技術力とか完成度とか、すごい圧倒されました
楽しそうなのも素敵です
めっちゃ好きです

[크리스탈-ed]

cant believe it has been already 10 years since this video was posted. it just makes me smile how everyone is so full of happiness playing this music. thank you piano guys for always resonating and reminding true happiness in life

[marvinthemaniac]

A grand piano is five instruments in one:

1. Harp.
2. Keyboard.
3. Violin.
4. Bass.
5. Drum.

[Gl-wqlq]

I love how they are working cooperatively together and enjoying themselves, no complaints, everyone is just purely having fun, that made me smile.

[naomienomy]

Them: are you in a band
Pianoguys: yes
Them: nice, which music instruments do you each play
Pianoguys: *yes*

[SolarCrush]

I never liked this song until I heard this version. I love how these guys can make any song amazing!

[aranmanalang]

1:19 the guy rubbing the piano is that person in group projects that act like they’re doing something to contribute when they’re not lol

[winnerloser]

I remember my Music teacher in elementary school showing us this video. It's what made me fall in love with music. Thank you Piano Guys for this inspiration!!! ❤

[Miski-Deer-Art]

After all these years, this still puts a smile on my face even during the darkest of times <3

[trinityquinn]

What I love most about them is not their talent (don't get me wrong, they are SO talented) but how much passion and how much joy they have in creating music. You can obviously see with the smiles on their faces that they love doing what they do.

[schang_lh]

The guy that rubs the piano is literally me trying to fit in with the cool kids

[maddypurcell]

That's incredible how they can do that!