If there is one song that EVERY piano player should know, it’s "Piano Man"! Even if you hate the song, it’s a good idea to know how to play it. If you ever sit down at a piano in front of people, there’s a good chance someone will request "Piano Man". They’ll be happy to sing it, but you’ll have to play.

The story behind the song is very cool. Billy Joel wrote it as a semi-autobiographical story of his time as a piano player in a bar in L. A and it is the song that really put him on the map as an artist.

There aren't too many parts to this song. As you'll see, the verse and chorus follow a very similar chord progression.

The song begins with a bit of a wild and crazy intro riff. For simplicity's sake, I’ve not included this riff for this version of the lesson but you will see it in the downloadable notation in case you want to give it a try yourself. We've also included the notation for the piano solo, but I haven't covered that here. I wanted to keep this lesson relatively simple and achievable!

A complete song tutorial, along with backing tracks, chord glossary and the fully notated score is available to members at Pianote (free 7-day trial here):
► https://www.pianote.com/trial

Get the lead sheet for this song:
►https://www.pianote.com/blog/piano-man-song-tutorial

Ready to Get Started on the Piano? Learn how with 4 free and easy lessons!
► https://www.pianote.com/getting-started

Learn to play piano quicker with chords! Enjoy 6 free lessons here:
► https://www.pianote.com/chord-hacks

If you want to jump to any part of the tutorial, here are the timecodes to get you there:

Intro - 0:28

Main Theme - 2:22

Bridge (The la la la di da da bit!) - 5:48

Putting It Together and Practice Tips - 7:33

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ABOUT LISA:
Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for +20 years and in that time has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others. She is a songwriter and recording artist. Lisa’s contagious enthusiasm will have you excited to practice and return to the keys for your next lesson. Her teaching style focuses on you, making lessons encouraging and fun.