Awesome Piano

This reference card is a handy tool for helping you learn the piano. The card is engraved with diagrams showing finger placement for essential chords, along with a key-to-note guide and a visual chart of notes and rests. It’s made from durable stainless steel and comes with a leather carrying sleeve.

This forthcoming device aims to make learning the piano easier and more fun than ever. The Polaro has an ultrawide touchscreen that provides instruction and feedback directly above its 88 keys. Its makers plan on offering apps for lessons, games, recording music, and more. Pricing isn’t firm yet but estimated at $2800 to start. You can reserve one now for $100.

We were shocked to hear that keyboard player Brockett Parsons has never listened to the music of Muse, but that provides an excellent setup for this Pianote video. Lady Gaga’s gifted keyboardist provided a unique jazz-fusion spin on the track Hysteria, performed on his 288-key wraparound keyboard.

Enjoy a heaping helping of hope in these turbulent times courtesy of singer Geoff Castellucci, who brings his deep baritone vocals to John Lennon’s magnificent anthem of peace, unity, and harmony. For more subwoofer-shaking vocals, check out Geoff’s performance of Jim Croce’s You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.

We already know it’s possible to use typewriters as musical instruments. Musician Lord Vinheteiro wanted a little more melody to go with the rhythmic typing sounds, so he rigged up a bunch of strings between two typewriters and a piano so he could tickle the ivories while clacking away on the QWERTYs.

The Clavemusicum Omnitonum Modulis Diatonicis Cromaticis et Enarmonicis is a microtonal harpsichord that can play diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic melodies. Musician Georg Vogel demonstrates its unusual sound with an excerpt from Chick Corea’s You’re Everything, played on a modern replica of the 17th-century instrument. More here.

We’ve heard some of Peter Bence’s fantastic piano playing before. Like his other flourish-filled performances, Peter’s arrangement of The Police’s creepy stalker track Every Breath You Take has him tickling the ivories and live-looping notes to create layered rhythms.

When is a bass not a bass? When it’s a piano, of course. Musician Charles Berthoud demonstrates what that sounds like with a fingerstyle bass rendition of Scott Joplin’s ragtime classic The Entertainer, incorporating some insane flourishes.

Musician Alban Claudin shows off his performance and production skills with a great live cover version of the M.I.A. track Paper Planes. Though without the vocals, it could almost be called a cover of The Clash song Straight to Hell, which M.I.A. sampled heavily. His version of Doja Cat’s Paint the Town Black is wonderful too.

Obey your master and crank your speakers up to 11 for Gamazda’s latest performance, an absolutely killer grand piano arrangement of Metallica’s Master of Puppets. We never thought we’d bang our heads to a piano concerto, but we’re making an exception here.

A lot has changed with music over the past 60 years, but memorable melodies will always be a thing. Music teacher Milo Andreo sat down at his electric piano and synthesizer to play the introductions to a single famous song from each year since 1963. Close your eyes and see how many you can name without looking at the titles.

The iPhone has lots of ringtones and alarm sounds to choose from, but the old iOS 7 opening ringtone is still the most memorable. Musician Tony Ann took that familiar tune and ran with it, transforming it into a lovely little ballad to play on the piano. The sheet music is available for purchase on Musicnotes. (Thanks, Rob!)

Pianist Vinheteiro demonstrates just how important it is to play music on period-correct instruments. Listen, and you’ll be transported to an old-timey saloon with this medley of Scott Joplin ragtime tunes, performed on a Barthol & Berlin upright piano that dates back to 1915.

Musician Scott Bradlee has proven that just about anything can be a Ragtime song with the proper arrangement. His 1920s cover version of Radiohead’s 1997 classic Paranoid Android sounds fantastic, and we can totally imagine it being played in the speakeasy in Westworld’s Golden Age.

Pianos have been an important part of the musical landscape for hundreds of years. To celebrate this popular instrument, musician David Bennett put together this excellent 17-minute chronological medley of some of the most melodic piano intros ever. See how many you can name with your eyes closed. No peeking.

Musician Peter Bence has wowed us before with his masterful melding of piano playing and digital looping. Here, he shows how it’s possible to play a complicated piece of music that would normally require four hands, but his high-tech Steinway player piano takes over half of the keyboard once he gets going.