How to play lead sheets on piano (3 steps)

3 basic approaches to start with when you're creating solo piano arrangements from a lead sheet.

0:00 intro
2:08 overview of approaches
2:57 APPROACH 1
5:29 APPROACH 2
7:54 APPROACH 3
9:08 final thoughts

[pianofluency]

Learn piano with me: www.pianofluency.com/course

[alol-alol]

I'm a beginner, but being able to play lead sheets competently is a long-term goal. So much of the content on your channel is helping me break down some of the skills which will help towards that – this video in particular is a goldmine! Please keep it coming :)

[johnprice]

I've been trying to follow lead sheets for years not really grasping the concept... omitting the 5th is new to me and works for me ..your explanations are so easy to follow. ..thank you Ted.. .

[johncubbin]

This is such a useful video.
Breaking it down into bass harmony and melody to be shared between the hands is so logical and practical at the same time.
Also the importance of “just messing around” trying things is so encouraging to learners like me.
Thank you!

[BlessYourHeart]

I’m one who can read music traditionally but am foraying into lead sheets and learning by ear. Thank you for your content!

[CJScrol]

Thanks, Ted. You helped me with voice leading & resolving from 7th to the 3rd.

[jgpbowman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! What a great instruction video on a topic no one wants to talk about! I studied classical piano, but now I'm playing with my church's worship band and your method 1 of lead sheet playing has allowed me to get up to speed quickly and easily, especially when we don't get the music with very much time to practice ahead of time.

[hientunnell]

Thank you Ted !! I love your explanation so easy to understand, hard part for me is i need to practice which I don’t do enough thank you for your YouTube videos great inspirations for beginners like me!!🙏🙏❤️❤️

[tessplease]

I'm always so excited when you post a video. Best piano YouTuber in the game.

[tylertul]

You are such a fantastic teacher! This lesson is gold.

[rick]

My 2 cents on playing lead sheets. I play the melody on the right hand as it is written. You can harmonize the notes to get a nice sound or not. When playing the left hand chords if you are new to the piano or other keyboards like an arranger keyboard forget about playing the 7th notes and 6th notes and so on, just play the basic 3 note chord to start off so c7 play the C. Gm7 just play the Gm. Add the 7th in later on when you are comfortable with the basic chord if you like. You don’t have to play everything they write. Keep it simple to start with.In some bars they put a chord for every note that makes it difficult at times, see if 1 chord will work for that bar, you can add the others later if you like remember that you are in control to play the notes you want. All those fancy 9th and 13th and so on aren’t always necessary. Once you learn the basic chords, majors minors and a few diminished you can play any song. I have a few thousand songs in my fake books and can easily learn to play any of them. Keep a pencil an eraser and white out handy so that you can adjust the music to your liking sometimes adding intros and endings.

[miamia]

Great content once again, just the kind of insights that are really valuable to get from someone with experience when you're learning piano on your own

[stevenkaiser]

This is truly great instruction. Thank you for this thorough development of varying approaches to playing lead sheets. Extremely useful!!

[kcollins]

Greetings from Sligo, Ireland and thanks for a very useful and clear video.

[graham]

Thank you. Always wondered how to use a lead sheet.

[StringAlongUkulele]

So Good! This is so helpful. I've always wanted to know how to make my playing more interesting and you explained it so well!

[JankoPianko]

Great lesson, really enjoyed it! Thank you! Please do more on such methods of how to approach improvisation. Cheers!

[back-seat-driver]

Amazing!
Again!
A...
great, longer tutorial ;-)). and a nice overview!
This gives indeed some superb ideas for lead sheet playing!
Thank you Ted, as always,
from a piano lover and follower!

[katereid]

Great video. Thank you! I look forward to exploring more .

[bartbraverman]

This might be a skosh over my playing ability, which, admittedly, isn't saying much, but it was very thoughtfully laid out, easy to listen to (very important) and will be useful when I can drag myself up a notch or two. Thanks.