How To Play Any Song by Ear On The Piano Without Sheet Music or Guessing

Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
How It All Started
Chapter 2
The 3 Killer Mistakes That Prevent You From
Playing Any Song By Ear Almost Instantly
Chapter 3
My 5 Main Pillars For Achieving Ultimate Music Mastery
Chapter 4
My Best Tricks To Quickly Understand How
Melodies & Chords Work In Songs
Chapter 5
The 2 Secrets That Make Up Most Songs You Hear
Chapter 6
How To Master Melody Intervals By Ear
Using The Power Of Emotion And Motion
Chapter 7
Ascending Major Interval
Reference Songs And Exercises (Part 1)
Chapter 8
Ascending Natural Minor Interval
Chapter 9
Ascending Chromatic & Tritone Interval
Chapter 10
12 Descending Interval
Reference Songs And Exercises
Chapter 11
How To Apply My Melodic Recognition Methods Into Actual Songs
You Hear
Chapter 12
How To Identify Chords By Voicing Out The Bass Note
Chapter 13
The One Trick To Distinguish Between Major And Minor Chords By
Ear
Chapter 14
How To Identify Chords Fast Using One Simple Trick With Scale
Degrees
Chapter 15
My One Secret Technique To Knowing Exactly Where Each Chord Is
Positioned With The Melody
Chapter 16
Conclusion: Spark It Up!
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© 2015-2016 Amosdoll Music & Best Piano Method. All Rights Reserved
BACKGROUND STORY ON HOW I
CREATED THESE PERSONAL PIANO
METHODS
Hi there! My name is Amos - owner of

Amosdoll Music (and no, that baby on the
cover page is not me, unfortunately I have no
photos of me taken when I was a baby
because I didn’t really like piano back then).
You are probably reading this because you

want to find out how I can post up to 5
completely newly-released songs within a day whilst also having
other priorities such as work, social and family.
I know you are busy too! That is why I’m teaching you this efficient
method.
Good news! What if I told you that you could do the same?
The same as in only spending 10-20 minutes of time listening to a

completely new song then being able to almost instantly play the
song by ear without sheet music or guessing… that you once thought
was impossible to do (or blamed it on the excuse that a person could
do it only with talent)?
Don’t worry, this was what I thought too when I was young.
I started off piano just like any typical child who was forced by my
parents into learning classical piano music from Bach, Mozart,
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Beethoven, Chopin and the such…
Have you spent hours and hours practising one of these composer’s
songs straining your eyes on the sheet music? Say “aye!”
Same here! It was such a repetitive process of learning about four to

six songs with the tedious visual sheet music methods over and over
in preparation for graded exams.
I always played my songs by memory because I hated reading sheet

music in front of me.
I felt stressed because I needed to look up and down rapidly from the
sheet and back down to the keys, and from this I also couldn’t fully
enjoy the singing melodies of the songs at all!
It was like a battle in interpreting what each symbol was…
It was an eye-straining process to see which line or space that a note

was located on.
I felt like it was a chore to learn those few exam songs over and over
again, and like many people like my friends back then, or perhaps
even you… I felt that playing the piano was getting boring because I
wasn’t playing all the songs that I wanted to play, and that I was
achieving very little by learning only a few songs in a LONG period of
time.
3
It was not until the final year in primary school where I first
discovered the power of playing-by-ear and improvisation.
I was about year 6 in primary school, and I was obsessed

with a musical Chinese movie by Jay Chou called “The
Secret”.
There were a lot of interesting piano songs in that movie

that I wanted to play back then, but there was no sheet music to be
found…
I was bored in playing my 4 classical piano songs over and over again
and I was thinking to myself -
“How can I learn to play these songs that I like without waiting for
unpredictable days/months/years for someone to have the sheet
music?”
I first tried guessing and checking by repetitively playing and

rewinding each second to try match each note by trying out keys…
that didn’t work so well because it took such a long time to even get
one melody line.
What I tried next was the game-changer to my music life in both

YouTube performances and in real life piano-competitions that I
participated in back in the times…
I began to listen to recordings on everything that I needed (my exam

stuff) and wanted (things that I hear on the radio/TV/movies) to play
on the piano.
From this, I started to figure out how to use patterns and apply them
within every song I listen to.
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It was similar within every song, and it was to do with the MOST
IGNORED and DISLIKED things in traditional music learning – which is
scales and aural.
Who here hates spending most of their time in traditional lessons

playing only scales? Say “aye!”
Who here also hates the aural component in your music exams
because you are nowhere confident enough to provide your sung-
out answers because your teacher never taught you how to do them
properly? Say “aye!”
I know how it feels too, but luckily I have figured it out.
Figuring out how to fully understand and apply every concept into
my (and soon to be your) journey for mastering piano music.
Another amazing tool that I found easily done by the ear than
reading on sheet music is the complex rhythm patterns in songs.
Have you ever looked at a music sheet and saw a crazy bunch of
rhythmic symbols and notes grouped in such a way that you had no
idea what speed you have to play?
With your teacher asking you like as if it was something as easy as

1+1…?
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I don’t know about you, but I have this problem up until this day I am
writing this to you to read… I have to take some time to break it
down and process those symbols on some complex sheet music
before I know what rhythm it is.
This concept has actually been visited when you were in preschool
and primary school but you didn’t notice it.
Do you remember there was a thing that your teachers did when
they wanted everyone’s attention and when the class is too noisy?
They clapped their hands in a particular rhythmic pattern, and you

and every other child in the crowd had to use your ear and listen,
then tried to clap back the exact rhythm?
Well, if you could do this back then, this means you have already
some music skills that are unintentionally blended into your mind.
Believe it not, these simple things are all the magic in playing any
song by ear in an extremely short learning time.
After discovering these awesome systems, I was like any excited kid
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waiting to unwrap a present that I like… I quickly did all the 10 songs
from the movie and posted all of them onto YouTube within a week!
(It is all there on my YouTube, my first videos, you can still find them
all)
It was a VERY EXCITING life-changing experience for me, because

that was the turning-point in my life where I grew from hating music
due to the sheet music grinds… to actually started loving music and
wanted more because I wanted to play every song that I liked simply
by listening to it and applying the systems that a lot of traditional
classical teachers did not teach!
I became well-known at my school for being able to play any song by

ear and I became the official incidental music piano player for my
7
high school later on because I was able to entertain all the students
and teachers during the assembly speeches with my soft
improvisational arrangements of popular songs by ear.
I know you want to be able to do this too, so this is why I wrote this
book for everyone who want to spend some time to achieve this
extremely fun musical mastery.
One thing I will guarantee you… after learning all these systems in
this book, as long as a song have a singable structure (meaning not
purely non-pitched percussions).
No… even better – as long as you can hear proper sounds that you
can pitch in your mind, I guarantee it is all playable…
You can trust me and have my word in all of this because unlike a lot
of other “so-called” play-by-ear programs online and even “self-
proposed experts” which talks way more in their sales video (or push
you straight into an ear-training course) rather than proving that
they can actually do this skill for themselves…
I actually preach what I teach.
I do this every day in extreme amounts (up to 5 YouTube videos in a

day) by posting the NEWEST songs released (sometimes within less
than an hour from the official release of a song’s audio).
Why do I play so many songs? It is because it is extremely fun to

learn new songs that I hear and that I like in such a short period of
time using the same methods everytime without guessing.
Why do I want to teach you this mastery too? It is because I have

already mastered this and teach this skill to my local Australian piano
students.
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I want to move onto more than just my local students because I
know there are MANY MANY MANY more people around the whole
world just like you who want to play ANY song by ear almost
instantly without sheet music or guessing.
By using this book’s systems more and more, by listening to more

and more songs and playing them by this system of ear and
improvisation, the faster you will identify these system’s patterns
within songs, and the more you will enjoy music with this power!
As I am doing this more and more every day, 3000+ piano covers by
ear (and counting), I am still improving myself…
I am still constantly trying to improve to a point where I can play a

song within 5 minutes (new goal) by figuring out new patterns and
techniques so I will know exactly all the best tricks to teach you for
you to become the same!
I am here to give you this powerful tool because by reading what I

am telling you now already means that you must love music as much
as I do!
This book is definitely for all of you because this will actually boost
up a fast learning curve to ANY style of music that you want to
pursue or play-by-ear.
Whether it is classical music, pop music, rock, jazz, ANYTHING…
…it all works because by learning how to properly play-by-ear and

understanding the systems and knowledge behind music is truly the
key to achieve music mastery.
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This is my musical philosophy and it is deeply reflected inside my
700+ number of YouTube Videos posted within this year using this
method.
With that all said…
Let me reintroduce myself, I am Amos, a passionate piano teacher

both offline and online located in Sydney Australia, a singer-
songwriter (see my stuff on soundcloud), and a live performer on
YouTube and for Australian Gigs (solo and band keyboardist), who
has taught thousands around the world just like you to learn piano in
the most effective and shortest amount of time!
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Mistake Number 1:
Sheet Music Shouldn’t Be The Main Thing
You Rely On
I know it is painful spending a long time waiting for a sheet music to

be released, and I know it is painful spending hours, days, weeks…
and even months to learn only one song using sheet music.
I have been there too so I will know your pain.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should completely not
use sheet music, I come from a Classical-piano background finishing
two diplomas in piano – “AMusA” and “LMusA” which is respectively
equivalent to a bachelor and masters at piano… and I’ve been using
sheet music for those kind of classical art music (which is necessary
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for strong piano technique as where you will see as Step 4 in my
music mastery mindmap later on.)
However in the higher steps, you do not want to get fully sucked into
using sheet music because sheet music is plainly an inanimate tool
which attempts to reproduce what music is supposed to sound like…
on a piece of paper.
If you get too sucked into only using sheet music, then what would
happen when someone takes away the sheet music from you? What
if you are put on the spot to play something? You wouldn’t want to
say – “Sorry, I can’t play it because I don’t have the sheet music”.
This is one of the flaws in traditional music playing, because sheet

music has always acted like the spoon-feeding of notes.
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Picture this, when you are a new
born baby, it is reasonable to be
spoon-fed, but when you are older,
you cannot be spoon fed forever
right? You know you don’t need it
because you know that you can eat
faster by yourself as you already
learnt how to.
The traditional music teachers always enforced the use of sheet

music so many amateur musicians become too reliant on it without
actually knowing the true mechanics behind music.
This is the same as an amateur primary-school mathematician who

tries to do an university-level maths paper with ALL the formula-
cheat-sheets required for the test.
Yes, you may have all the cheat

formulas written on your hand
just like how you might have all
the notes of the piano song
written onto sheet music…
They may work out one question

after a LONG period of time, but
most of the questions they wouldn’t know what to do, because the
sheets don’t mean much if they do not know the true concepts
behind it.
Just like music, spending some time knowing the secrets and tricks
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behind music would allow you to magically know what to do
subconsciously – and playing any song by ear is just one of these
advantages.
Trust me, I have been this type of student a LONG time ago, so I
don’t want any of you to fall in the same way as I did.
In addition, there were requests for me to write out piano sheets for
particular songs on YouTube.
I can do that too, but it takes ages…. Like 5 hours!!
On the contrary, it only took 10-20 minutes to play-by-ear and

improvise my performance onto YouTube.
I was also very familiar with the sheet music notation program
(knowing all the hotkeys and such).
So do the math for the time consumption… I think you know which
system is better.
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Mistake Number 2.
Synthesia Is “The Guitar Hero” For Piano
Another recent popular trend on the

internet for learning piano songs is
Synthesia. This is even worse, and I
would even approve sheet music if there
was only a choice between Synthesia
and Sheet music. Here is why…
Synthesia is a very time-wasting and ineffective way to learn any

song because it basically acts as a guide to teach you piano as
“pressing which buttons”.
Apart from spoon-feeding you what buttons to press, it completely

disregards the teaching of how chords, melodies, and rhythm TRULY
works… It also doesn’t tell you
how you should play the song,
and you might as well become
a robot if you want to press
piano keys as buttons like
what Synthesia tells you to
do.
Some people say that it seems fun to play Synthesia because it is like
guitar hero.
Well, if you want to play an 88-key (number of piano keys) guitar

hero over and over again (rewinding or the slowing down function),
then go ahead. No one is stopping you, but I just want to remind you
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that is a waste of time and I would never learn a song using
Synthesia.
Not everyone believes me, some people has even paid me to make
Synthesia tutorials for a specific song onto YouTube before even
though I told them that it is a horrible method to learn.
I think you would want to be able to play any song just by listening
instead of straining your eyes for looking at which of the 88 buttons
to press, and when exactly do you press it…
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Mistake Number 3.
Stop Being An Ignorant Victim To
Guessing & Checking
The last misconception is guessing & checking.
Right now, as you are reading this… some of you might figure out
something here.
I have a few friends who resists to learn and take proper music
lessons because they think they can “play by ear”, but in reality what
they do is spend hours and hours “guessing and checking” the keys
until they can match the same note that they can hear in the song
that they want to play.
Okay, this is not a literal translation, even though they are “playing”
a song “by ear” listening, that is actually not truly “playing-by-ear”.
They are playing by guessing and checking, and that is not what it is
supposed to be.
Properly mastering the skill of playing any song by ear and

improvisation is no game of bingo…
Please please please do not think that playing by ear is Bingo!
It makes me cringe when people think that playing by ear is using

your ear to guess notes until your ear thinks it is correct.
I have had so many comments on YouTube of people claiming that

they can “play by ear” for “some” songs but in essence they are
really just guessing without any proper music systems and
knowledge.
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To truly play-by-ear, you will be able to listen to a song AWAY from
your instrument, away from your piano, and then able to figure out
the notes and melody using the few systems that I teach in this book.
I am constantly doing this everyday whether if I am on the bus when

travelling, or in my car driving and listening to a new song that was
released… I have no piano in front of me, but by having the correct
musical systems used in the correct ways, I am able to not-
knowingly, subconsciously and automatically pick out the melodies,
chords and the distinct rhythmic patterns in the songs.
Awesome right? This is the power of playing-by-ear, and I think you

will love this system inputted into your music- playing.
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Music will also be a LOT more enjoyable because you will be able to
play a lot of songs in a short period of time, and fact that you don’t
need to feel like that you need to GIVE UP like how you felt before by
spending LONG and ineffective hours with sheet music and
synthesia-like programs.
I promise you, no more of that!
I have been there before, and I would definitely not make you walk
that road – because right in front of you… is the true fun in music
that I really want to teach to everyone!
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My 5 Main Pillars For Achieving Ultimate
Music Mastery
Have you ever wondered how the
ancient pantheon structures are so
strong in the sense that they have
survived for centuries and centuries?
The answer is their strong supporting

pillars their structure up.
Just like in music, I have 5 main pillars that you need to build in order
to help you achieve the strongest mastery of playing any song by ear
and improvisation. Here it is…
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To be able to achieve the level of skill in how I play any song by ear
with advanced improvisational technique flying around the keys
within 10-20 minutes for all my YouTube piano covers, you must
master all 5 steps as shown above.
However, to be able to play any song by ear within 10-20 minutes in

the most basic form of right hand melody + left hand chords (like
what I teach in my YouTube tutorials) only requires Step 3 – that is
the pillar of “Ear Mastery”, which is what this whole book is about.
And to obtain this Ear Mastery skill for any song, in the whole book,
there are 3 crucial subcategory skills that I am going to teach you so
you can learn, apply, and practise these methods to become like me
too (because this is exactly what I successfully do every day)
A lot of people always question why they cannot play an instrument
23
to their full potential, the bad news and the main reason is that a lot
of people has actually not even mastered step 1 on music theory (not
even teachers).
Do you want to know why?
Sheet music, note patterns and fingering technique and many other
things is only part of step 1…
Many people just stay with learning slowly with sheet music for their
whole life and never get exposed to the other cool stuff.
People getting stuck at a level in music and cannot plateau as no one

tells them WHAT to do in order to move out of step 1 is NOT their
fault and is NOT your fault too.
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It is because a lot of traditional music teachers only have music
theory under their sleeve to teach you and LITTLE to NONE of the
other masteries (step 2 to step 5) that is essential to truly master
music and play any song by ear and improvisation.
In the past, it is very difficult to meet someone in real life that can do
this skill and also TEACH you this skill because we only know a limited
number of people in our own local area.
But luckily, this is the age of internet, and this good news could be
spread all around the world where many people like you can finally
learn how to achieve this musical mastery!
Here are the 3 crucial subcategory skills needed for achieving ear
mastery (that I mentioned previously) and you will be learning how
to master it by the end of the book.
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26
My Best Tricks To Quickly Understand
How Melodies & Chords Work In Songs
To be able to play any song by ear on the piano very quickly, you
must be able to voice out your thoughts on the piano.
And to be able to voice out your thoughts very articulately, you must
know your instrument very well just like how you need to know your
voice well when you want to do good in public speaking or singing.
If you don’t know the piano well, then you are simply pressing
buttons on the piano randomly and not really “playing” it.
Anyway, I will basically teach you how to train yourself to become as

one with the piano because if you don’t know how the piano works,
if you don’t have the whole instrument under control, then how are
you expecting to magically control what you want to play by ear?
Let’s get started.
A Piano or Keyboard has many keys.
There are black keys and also white keys!
27
From this you can tell the piano is a very friendly instrument already
because it is so multicuturally accepting.
(Except there are no yellow keys for Asians like me but I still love the
piano anyway!)
Don’t let this put you down like what I look like above because you
are about to know ALL of them using these simple tricks!
You do not have to memorize all the keys because the Black and
White Keys repeat itself over and over again across the whole piano,
with the white keys forming the repetitive musical 7-letter-alphabet
cycle of:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G
(visualize this cycle in your head using the diagram below)
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If you have a piano in front of you, check it out! If you don’t, then
just look at [Figure 1] below.
[Figure 1]
The C-Key is the easiest to find because it is always the white key to
the left of the group of 2 black keys as we see that the repeating
grouping pattern of the black keys are 2 -3 -2-3 etc. as seen in
[Figure 2] below.
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[Figure 2]
Using this 7-letter-Alphabet cycle, we know the next white key up

from C is D, then E, F and G, then after G there is NO “H” as it goes
back to A, then B, and so on...
Guess what?
You now know ALL the white keys on the piano!
Now to the black keys that are called…
Flats (♭) - and - Sharps ( # )

Before we start, memorize this favourite motto trick of mine by
saying it out loud a few times:
FLAT - LEFT
SHARP – RIGHT
Once you memorized it, let’s continue.
I’ll tell you what and how [FLAT – LEFT] [SHARP – RIGHT] is used in a
little while…
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Flat is marked with the symbol ♭
(which kinda looks like a small lower-case letter “b”)
Just remember that in this symbol, the line is flat on the left of the
curve
Sharp is marked with the symbol #

(which kinda looks like a small hashtag symbol)
Just remember that in this symbol, the hashtag has sharp pointy lines
everywhere including the right side
Finally, the most useful application for the [FLAT – LEFT] [SHARP –
RIGHT] trick I taught you is by paying attention to the red parts:
FLAT - LEFT
SHARP – RIGHT
1. FLAT has the letter L in it, which stands for LEFT.
So the black key to the LEFT of the white key is a FLAT…
2. SHARP has the letter R in it, which stands for RIGHT.

So the black key to the RIGHT of the white key is a SHARP.
So for the example in [Figure 3] below, this is G flat (to the left of G)
and this is G sharp (to the right of G)
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[Figure 3]
Now that you know all the notes on the piano, we are now ready to
learn the secrets behind every song that we hear, whether it is from
the folk children songs like “Mary had a little lamb”, to pop, rock,
hiphop songs that we hear on the radio, music from games, movies
and anime… and ANYTHING else – it all works the same way!
I live by the motto:
“If you can hum or sing any song, then anything that you hear is
playable on the piano.”
Now you may ask –
“How do I apply all this information to learn ANY song by ear?”
For ANY song that you hear nowadays, they are formed by a melody
(singable line) mostly played by the right hand on the piano, and
harmony chords (the accompaniment & other sounds in the
background that supports the melody) mostly played by the left
hand on the piano.
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First things first, ALL songs that you like to hear on the radio, on your
mp3 player or on your phone are ALL structured by chords.
Chords are 3 or more keys played together to form a harmony

support to the melody. As for now, we are going to learn the most
basic 3-note chords.
There are many different chords in music, but pop music basically
centres around…
2 Main Types of Chords:
Major Chord -and- Minor Chord
To work out ANY Major chord, just remember my major chord

formula:
4-3
And for ANY Minor chord, remember my minor chord formula:
3-4
The numbers in the formula just indicate the number of half steps
between each note of the chord.
Let me show you what I mean…
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The easiest chord - ( C ) Major is worked out by firstly pressing the
bass (lowest) note of the chord which is ( C ).
And since we are dealing with a “Major” here, then we work it out
using the first number in the 4-3 trick, where the 2nd note is 4 half
steps above…
( C ) [+4 half steps is counted as C# -> D -> D# -> E] which is ( E ).
Now that we have ( C ) and ( E ), our 3rd note would be completed

with the second number in the 4-3 trick, where the 3rd note is 3 half
steps above ( E )
[counted as F -> F# -> G ] which is ( G ).
And there is our C Major - from bottom to top, the notes are:
(C)(E)(G)
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This works the same way for ANY other Major or Minor chord!
Let’s say we want to play Bb Major, we start by pressing the B(flat

left) key and we go up 4 half steps above that, press that key as well
and then go up another 3 half steps from that key- and also press
that key.
And…Voila! There is your Bb Major Chord!

(The chord highlighted in red in [Figure 4] below)
Likewise…suppose you want to play a G minor chord, just reverse the

formula of 3 – 4 like what we just did, and there you have your G
minor chord.
(The chord highlighted in green in [Figure 4] below)
[Figure 4]
This Major formula and Minor formula trick works for any key even
for the flat and sharp chords.
For the time being now… play your chords with the left hand, as the
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right hand would be saved later to do the melody of a song.
Now that you know how to play all the major and minor chords on
the piano, you ask…
How do you apply these chords into a pop song?
Let’s take the popular song “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa & Charlie
Puth from Furious 7.
(It is also a song that I did a piano cover for which was pretty popular
so you might like it too)
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This song contains the 4 chords repeated in a cycle for this order:
G minor -> Bb Major -> Eb Major -> Bb Major
So simple right?
If you haven’t noticed... you already learnt G minor and Bb Major

from my examples above at [Figure 4]!
That leaves you with the 3rd chord in the cycle – Eb Major which is…
(Eb) (+4) (G) (+3) (Bb)
(Using the 4-3 Major trick that we discussed earlier)
Try these chord cycles on your LEFT hand as the right hand is saved
for the melody singing part (just like what you see in my YouTube
tutorials).
Congratulations! In such a short period of time, you have not only

learnt…
1. Two of the Three main components to songs - Melodies,
Harmonies (Chords)
2. ALL the notes on the piano.
3. How to work out ALL Major and Minor Chords using formulas
without memorizing each one of them individually
4. How to play the chords to a popular song “See You Again”
Do you agree with me that it’s really not that hard at all when you
have the correct guidance because you don’t have to do any
guessing?
Let’s move on!
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If you want to play any song by ear without sheet music or guessing,
then you have to fully understand the…
3 Core Musical Elements

(That Make Up ANY Song)
In the most basic form, songs are made of these 3 things…
1. Melodies, 2. Harmonies,
And 3. Rhythm
So let’s go ahead and begin by letting me teach you everything about

“Melodies” because that is the first thing I need to work out within
the first few minutes when listening to a song.
Melodies are the main prominent lines that stand out the most
when you are listening to a song, for example it is the musical notes
that a vocalist sings with lyrics, or it can be a solo guitar part in an
instrumental break, or it can even be instruments that take the main
role in an orchestral arrangement.
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Melodies are made of a combination of many different note
distances. Some distances are the same, some distances are larger or
smaller, and some distances can be higher or lower. These distances
are called “intervals” in music, and my job is to teach you how to
recognise by ear exactly “how much higher” or “how much lower”
between each melody interval without guessing.
Here are my best 2 secrets that I have figured out through listening
to hundreds and hundreds of melodies of songs (in my own
experiences when playing my piano covers by ear)
Here are the 2 secrets..
Did you know that in 98% of the pop songs you hear, the melodies
are actually formed by making combinations of intervals on one of
these 2 types of scales?
1. Major Scale
- and -
2. Natural Minor Scale
For some people with some classical music background, you may
briefly know what Major is, but the natural minor scale is the scale
that most of you don’t know of because most of you are only taught
what the harmonic and melodic minor is but not the useful natural
minor.
Since I teach the traditional classical syllabus too, I find it

RIDICULOUS that there is no natural minor scale in their examination
syllabus when the natural minor scale is the scale that pretty much
all songs use for melodies!
40
Traditional teachers have taught the harmonic minor, which has
pretty much NO APPLICATIONS for melodies except for gypsy-styled
songs which is hardly popular and known at all!
However, the melodic minor that some of you may have already
learnt is more useful in a sense because it “obscurely” contains one
of the secrets for melodies.
Why obscure you may ask?
It is because it is so hidden, no normal person could logically work it

out!
For your information (FIY), for classical musicians, you know how the
melodic minor scale has different notes going up as to going down?
41
(Which is already pretty stupid…)
But did you know that the natural minor scale is actually the notes of
the melodic minor scale when it is “going down”?
Who would have known that something so useful was hidden inside
a SMALL part of a scale that you once thought was the weirdest and
dumbest scale ever?
Not only that, I have taught both AMEB and ABRSM syllabuses to
people who want to do classical examinations, whilst AMEB is slightly
better by requiring you to learn BOTH harmonic and melodic minor
(so you get a chance to know the natural minor scale)…
…ABRSM however doesn’t!!
You can “choose” either the harmonic minor or the melodic minor (1
not the other) to be tested in your piano examination at the end of
each year!
How silly is that?
No wonder some of my new students who have spent years and

years with another traditional piano teacher before has no idea how
to play any song by ear!
Luckily, for most of you reading this, you would not have to spend
years and years wasting your time and money on traditional music
lessons that doesn’t teach you how to apply music theory into
musical mastery because you are already willing to make a change
now.
Anyway, to make everything easy to understand in this lesson, and to

save time, we are just going to use the C Major Scale as our major
scale example because it happens to consist of all white keys from C
42
to the next C, and we are going to use the A Natural Minor Scale as
our Natural minor scale example because it also consists of all white
keys from A to the next A.
If you have no idea what I just said (here is the diagram showing you
exactly the notes of these 2 scales).
C Major Notes: CDEFGABC
A Natural Minor Notes: ABCDEFGA
So go ahead and get use to the sounds of these 2 scales by playing

them on your piano because the melodies of practically every song is
formed by different combinations of these scales but in different
KEYS.
The “KEY” of a song is the specific Major or Natural Minor scale the
43
melody and chords are formed on.
For example, have you heard of the song called “In The Jungle” or
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”? (I don’t even know the proper name hah)
So this song called “In The Jungle” in the KEY of C Major goes like
this –
CDE..D…EF..ED…C..DE..DCED…
And with the corresponding lyrics
“In the jungle… the mighty…jungle…the…lion…sleeps tonight….”
(red numbers = order that you play it in)
44
Then after when you have tried that, if you play it in a different key
of… lets say - the Key of D Major, check it out… it sounds the same –
D E F#.. E… F# G.. F# E… D.. E F#.. E D F# E…
(Go ahead and play this D Major version and compare it with the C
Major version to hear the similarities)
And even for Ab Major, check it out…it still sounds the same –
Ab Bb C.. Bb… C Db.. C Bb… Ab.. Bb C.. Bb Ab C Bb…
Magical right?
The reason behind this is because even though different Major and
natural minor scales have different notes, the intervals between the
1st to the 2nd note, the 2nd to the 3rd, the 3rd to the 4th etc… ALWAYS
follow the SAME formula.
The ONE Formula For ALL Major Scales Is…
2-2-1-2-2-2-1
(where the numbers stand for the number of half steps between
each note)
Check it out for C Major: C is the first note, and using the formula – 2
half steps above C is D, then 2 half steps above D is E, followed by 1
45
half step above E is F, 2 half steps above F is G, 2 half steps above G is
A, 2 half steps above A is B, and finishing off with 1 half step above B
is C. It works!
CDEFGABC
Try it also for Ab Major: Ab is the first note, and using the formula –
2 half steps above Ab is Bb, then 2 half steps above Bb is C, followed
by 1 half step above C is Db, 2 half steps above Db is Eb, 2 half steps
above Eb is F, 2 half steps above F is G, and finishing off with 1 half
step above G is Ab. It works again!
Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab
Now check out C Major and Ab Major played back to back. Both
sounds the same right?
You can sing “Do re mi fa so la ti do” perfectly to both of them right?
This is one of the tricks which explain relative pitch, solfege and
transposition, and those things are more advanced concepts that is
beyond the scope of this book & I would go through in detail for my
advanced courses.
Anyway, let’s move on…
46
Now, the same thing goes for all natural minor scales…
The formula for ALL natural minor scales is…
2-1-2-2-1-2-2
(where again the numbers stand for the number of half steps
between each note)
If you use this formula and try check if it works for A natural minor
starting on A, then you WILL end up with
A(+2)B(+1)C(+2)D(+2)E(+1)F(+2)G(+2)A =…
ABCDEFGA
(which is exactly what I said the A natural minor is)
Then try it with F natural minor starting on F, then you WILL end up
with F(+2)G(+1)Ab(+2)Bb(+2)C(+1)Db(+2)Eb(+2)F =
F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F
And if you play A natural minor and F natural minor back to back, you
WILL also hear that they sound the same but is only in a different
key.
Yet again, this covers the slim basics of relative pitch where all
melodies based on scales sound the same despite the fact if they are
played in different keys.
47
Now, let’s get your ear into work by applying these scales into the
melodies of recent pop song hits.
Here Is Your First Test To See If You Have What It Takes To Play By
Ear…
This following melody is in the key of C Major, play it and listen to

how it sounds!
C E G A… G… C-D D C E...
(notes of this song is within this range as shown in the diagram

below)
Do you know what this song is?
If you don’t, then add these lyrics with it –
“It’s been a long…day…with-out you my friend…”
Yes, this is the C Major version of the melody from Wiz Khalifa &
Charlie Puth’s song called “See You Again” dedicated for Paul
Walker in Furious 7 with over 1 billion views on YouTube.
Do you remember this scene from the movie? I cried… 
48
With all the sad feels aside…
Guess what…?
You Have Just Played

A Song By Ear In Your Head…
Why?
Because your ear actually correctly recognized the melody of the

song in a KEY that is actually NOT in the original key.
How do you know if it is not in the correct key?
You can either play the C Major version whilst simultaneously

listening to the original, or you can try playing the chords that you
have learnt for this song (earlier) with the melody and you’ll find that
they both don’t match.
49
The original key of this song is Bb Major.
Try it out –
Bb D F G…F…Bb-C C Bb D…

below)
Double check your ear by comparing this Bb Major version with the
original YouTube song here: (Hold Ctrl + Click the following link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk
If You Have Passed Your First Test,

Here Is Your Second Test…
Let’s try your ear with another song with a melody in A natural
minor…
Play this –
DE… D D… CEE… EE…

EE… DD…CD…ED…AC…

below)
50
Do you know what this song is?
If you don’t, then add these lyrics with it –
“Hello… it’s me… I was won-dering…

if af-ter all…these years…you’d like… to meet…”
And yes… this is the A natural minor version of the melody from
Adele’s massive hit song called “Hello” where she is singing on the
telephone line for literally 5 minutes… with over 1.4 billion YouTube
views.
51
And guess what? Again…
You Have Just Played Another

Song By Ear In Your Head…
Why?
Again…because your ear actually correctly recognized the melody of

the song in a KEY that is actually NOT in the original key.
The original key of this song is F natural minor... Try it out for
yourself and test your ears –
Bb C… Bb Bb… Ab CC…CC…CC…
Bb Bb… Ab Bb… C Bb… F Ab…

below)
Double check it by comparing this F natural minor version with the

original YouTube song here: (Hold Ctrl + Click the following link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A
Awesome right?
I can show you and go through this same concept all day long
through every single one of my 600+ piano covers on YouTube…
52
It is ALWAYS the same result, so let’s move on…
If you have passed both these song tests, then you have what it takes
for the first step to play a song by ear, that is –
☑Recognizing Melodies Of A Song In

Any Major Or Natural Minor Scale
53
54
Melody Intervals – Idea To Emotion,
Emotion To Motion
The reason why most people cannot properly listen out a melody by
ear is because there is no sense of “emotional” connection from one
note the next note in any melody.
Here is what I mean by this…
Do you feel like that each note in every song you hear seem like
“foreign objects” where every note seems like random elements of
hearable pitches?
Can you only figure out that one note was higher or lower than the
other, but cannot tell exactly HOW much higher or lower because
you don’t know how it works so you just resolve to guessing by
pressing all the keys that are approximately higher or lower until you
match the right pitch?
The reason is because you have not tied an “emotion” to the sounds
and pitches of music that you hear.
You have not tied an emotion to each melody interval element so

everything just seems very foreign and alien to you because it is not
a recallable element in your memory system.
This is very hard because tying an emotion to sound (our hearing

sense) is not as common as to tying an emotion to an image (our
visual sense).
55
This is what I mean…
For visual senses, what does your eyes tell your brain to process the
main colour in the following picture as?
If your answer is white, that is correct! Jokes…

I’m kidding! I wasn’t asking about the colour of
the bucket nor the background, but rather
wanting your answer to be the colour of the
paint.
You got RED right?
The emotion of your visual representation of the colour red has

allowed your brain to process it as the conceptual colour of red.
Ok, how about this following paint colour?
56
You got BLUE right?
Same process again, your emotional visual representation of the

colour blue has allowed your brain to process it as the conceptual
colour of blue.
OK, now here is the main test.
Connecting an Idea to an Emotion is not enough.
We must know how to apply the ideas we know into bigger concepts
by taking action using movement and motion on an emotion…and
this what I call –
“emotion” to “motion”…
…where many emotional connections to ideas in our brain work

together to remember what kind of motions can be connected
together to form bigger solutions to things we know.
Let me show you what I mean…
Using our 2 visual examples above, let me ask you…
What happens when you mix the RED paint with the BLUE paint
together?
If you are a painter or someone who have experienced this paint

mixing process, then you should emotionally remember the practical
“motion” in your head of what happens when you mix these colours
together…
Close your eyes and do you remember the time when you grabbed
your paintbrush and mixed these 2 colours together?
57
…Ok your mind should process the answer as RED + BLUE = PURPLE
This is the exact same concept for music, whether for melodies or
chords or whatever you are trying to work out with your ear.
It is the fact that many people NOT ONLY have no idea on how to
properly associate the proper memory “emotion” to each music
element like notes and intervals, but they also have no clue on how
to apply and connect each interval and scale with the proper
“motion” (specific usage of scales/ reference songs/ exercises) in
order to work out songs very easily without guessing.
So my task is to teach you everything that you need to be able to

almost instantly identify each note in a song’s melody by drawing
emotional connections to notes, patterns on melodies and chords.
58
But as I said, this also requires “motion”, which means practical
movement of YOU to actually follow my methods and physically
move your fingers on the piano so that your brain would know how
to process it without you knowing.
(Just like how you know Red+Blue=Purple without actually painting it

out)
59
60
Melody Intervals (13 In Total) –
Ascending Major Interval Reference
Songs And Exercises (8)
Okay, by now we should have developed a good understanding that

each note following another note in a song’s melody is either… the
same, higher, or lower.
Before we start, let me point out that most intervals from one note
to the next note in song melodies is within the octave range
(meaning that if 1 note of the melody is C, the following note should
be any note within the C in the next octave inclusive).
So this means we have 13 intervals in total to master (12 intervals

based on half steps + The same note interval).
For example, the interval from C to C (same note) is 0 half steps

because it doesn’t move up nor down; C to C# is 1 half step, C to D is
2 half step… C to C (octave above) is 12 half steps.
Ok, once you have all that knowledge warmed up in your head, the
next step is to be able to instantly recognize the EXACT intervals
from one note of a melody to the next note of the melody using the
properties of the major scale and the natural minor scale because we
have just learnt that all melodies are formed by the different
variations and combinations of these same 2 scales however in
different keys.
61
To put this in the most simple words (without going through the
other music theory rules of “Perfect” intervals yet)….
As easy as it may sound…for Major key melodies, using the easiest C

Major scale – CDEFGABC (this applies the same way to all other
major scales), I will be teaching you how to properly train your ear by
using reference songs and exercises to be able to INSTANTLY identify
that…
We are firstly going to go through all ascending intervals (one note

that goes UP to the next)
(Make sure you play these following examples for yourself to allow
your ear to hear and understand the similarities.)
C to C (same note) is called Major 1st (0 half steps)
As shown for the 2 notes in the diagram below (Red = 1st note ||
Green = 2nd note )
[In the same way where Ab to Ab (same note) for Ab major to sound
similar because of the same interval distance between the notes but
just in a different key scale.]
62
Reference Song(s) for Major 1st
Old Macdonald Had A Farm - Traditional (C Major Version):

“CC”CGAAG…
and with the corresponding lyrics
“Old Mac-“ Donald had a farm…
Listen to the song here (Eb Major Version):

“Eb Eb” Eb Bb C C Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z26DWJKwBHU
-and-
63
Happy Birthday - Traditional (C Major Version)
“GG” AGCB…
“Hap-py” birth-day to you…
Listen to the song here (G Major Version):

“DD” E D G F#...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJSNMqub8g
C to D is called Major 2st (2 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to Bb for Ab major to sound similar

because of the same interval distance between the notes but just in
a different key scale.]
64
Reference Song(s) for Major 2nd
Do A Deer (C Major Version):

“CD” ECECE…
“Do a” deer a female deer…
Listen to the song here (C Major Version – I happen to find a version

in this easy key):
“CD” ECECE…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_U_l0oyvOs
65
C to E is called Major 3rd (4 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to C for Ab major to sound similar

Reference Song(s) for Major 3rd

When The Saints Go Marching In (C Major Version):
“CE”FG…
“Oh when” the saints…
Listen to the song here (F Major Version):

“FA” Bb C…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opyYud1uuic
66
C to F is called Major 4th (5 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to Db for Ab major to sound similar

Reference Song(s) for Major 4th

Wedding Song: Here Comes The Bride – Wagner (C Major Version)
“CF” FF…
“Here comes” the bride…

“F Bb” Bb Bb…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgh9XTkQTDI
67
-and-
Amazing Grace (C Major Version)
“CF” AGFA…
“A-ma-“ zi-ng grace…
Listen to the song here (Bb Major Version):

“Bb Eb” GFEb G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDdvReNKKuk#t=50
C to G is called Major 5th (7 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to Eb for Ab major to sound similar

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (C Major Version)
C”CG”GAAG…
Twin-“kle twin-“ kle little star…
Listen to the song here (Db Major Version):

Db “Db Ab” Ab Bb Bb Ab…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjJyiqpAuU#t=19
-and-
69
Moon River (C Major Version)
“G…D”C…BAGFG…
“Moon…ri-“ver… wider than a mile…
Listen to the song here (F# Major Version):

“C#...G#” F#... E# D# C# B C#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7SI7N22k_A
C to A is called Major 6th (9 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to F for Ab major to sound similar

70
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean (C Major Version)
“GE” DCDCAGE…
“My Bon-“ nie lies over the ocean…
Listen to the song here (E Major Version):

“BG#” F# E F# E C# B G#...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmLG6I1d3c#t=8
-and-
71
Hush Little Baby (C Major Version)
“GE” EEF…
“Hush lit-“ tle baby …

“CA” AABb…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCx4D7KoGo#t=14
C to B is called Major 7th (11 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to G for Ab major to sound similar

72
Don’t Know Why (C Major Version)
“CB”GGEDCC
“I wait-“ed ‘til I saw the sun…”
Listen to the song here (Bb Major):

“Bb A” FF DCBb Bb…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO4dxvguQDk#t=10s
-and-
73
Take On Me (C Major Version)
“C..B…”C…
“Take…On…” Me…
Listen to the song here (A Major Version):

“A…G#...” A….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914#t=53s
C to C (Higher) is called Major 8th (Octave) (12 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to Ab (higher) for Ab major to sound

similar because of the same interval distance between the notes but
just in a different key scale.]
74
Reference Song(s) for Major 8th (Octave)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow (C Major Version)
“C….C” B G A B C…
“Some…where” over the rainbow
Listen to the song here (Ab Major Version):

“Ab…Ab…” G Eb F G Ab…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
-and-
75
I’m Singing In The Rain (C Major Version)
“G G…” EDCA…
“I’m sing-…” ing in the rain…
Listen to the song here (Gb Major Version)

“Db Db…” Bb Ab Gb Eb…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ#t=65
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77
Melody Intervals – Ascending Natural
Minor Interval Reference Songs And
Exercises (3)
After Mastering Major Key Melodies…

…we move onto minor key melodies!
And just as you have predicted, I am mostly going to demonstrate

the concepts using the easiest A natural minor scale–
ABCDEFGA
But before we start, let me point out that for these specific intervals
in the natural minor scale that is the same to the major scale:
☑A to A (same note)
[Is the same interval as the MAJOR scale C to C , so it is also called

Major 1st]
☑A to B
[Is the same interval as the MAJOR scale C to D , so it is also called

Major 2nd]
☑A to D
[Is the same interval as the MAJOR scale C to F , so it is also called

Major 4th]
78
☑A to E
[Is the same interval as the MAJOR scale C to G , so it is also called

Major 5th]
- and -
☑A to A (higher)
[Is the same interval as the MAJOR scale C to C (higher) , so it is also

called Major 8th]
And therefore, this just leaves us into learning how to distinguish

between the…
Other 3 Intervals That Are Different:
(1) A to C is called Minor 3rd (3 half steps)
[In the same way where C to Eb for C natural minor to sound similar
79
Reference Song(s) for minor 3rd
Greensleeves (A Minor Version)
“AC”…DE…FED..BG…
“A-las”… my love… you do… me wrong…
Listen to the song here (A minor version)

“AC”…DE…FED..BG…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZDrg7-tv_I#t=49s
-and-
80
Georgia On My Mind (C Major/A Minor version)
“EG”…. ED….
“Georgia”…. Georgia….
Listen to the song here (G Major/ E Minor Version)

“BD”… BA….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgWBN8yt_E#t=15
(2) A to F is called Minor 6th (8 half steps)
[In the same way where C to Ab for C natural minor to sound similar
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Reference Song(s) for minor 6th
Go Down Moses (A Minor version)
“EC” CBBCCA… EE G#G#A…
“When Is-“ rael was in Egypt’s land, let my people go…
Listen to the song here (G Minor version):

“D Bb” Bb AA Bb Bb G… DD F# F# G…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUX23oYtwSM#t=9s
-and-
82
She’s A Woman – Beatles (C blues version)
“EC”… Bb F..GEbC…
“My love”… don’t give me presents…
Listen to the song here (A blues version)

“C# A”… G D.. ECA…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMaGlX3Rhnw#t=10
(3) A to G is called Minor 7th (10 half steps)
[In the same way where C to Bb for C natural minor to sound similar
83
Reference Song(s) for minor 7th
Somewhere – Westside Story (C Major Version)
“G…F…” E C A…
“There’s… a”… place for us…
Listen to the song here (Eb Major version):

“Bb… Ab”…” G Eb C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BQMgCy-n6U#t=25
-and-
84
The Winner Takes It All – Abba (C Major Version)
G “G F” F EE…
The “win-ner” takes it all…
Listen to the song here (F# Major version):

C# “C# B” B A# A#...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cwKCU8Z5c#t=127s
But wait… you may ask
8 Major intervals + 3 Minor intervals is only 11.
Where is the other 2 to make up the total 13 intervals that we need

to learn?
Don’t worry, the following section would teach you about those 2
special intervals.
85
86
Melody Intervals – Ascending Chromatic
& Tritone Interval (2)
We have learnt the 8 Major-scale intervals (same note interval

included), the 3 minor-scale intervals, and now we have 2 more.
I left these 2 intervals last because they can be confused or mixed up

with another interval when you are processing your melodic
thoughts because the 2 intervals does not belong in a Major scale, or
a minor scale.
These 2 intervals are the…
-Chromatic 2nd interval
(some people call it the minor 2nd, but it may be confusing because it
is not part of the minor scale, so let’s call it chromatic because this
word has the same meaning as its’ interval length – it means and
represents 1 “half-step”)
-The Tritone interval
Tri means 3 just like how tricycle has 3 wheels, triangle is a shape
that has 3 angles, triathlon is an event that has 3 sections.
Tone means full steps (or 2 half steps)
Thus Tri-tone literally means “3-tones”, which means that the

interval is 3 whole-steps or 6 half-steps apart.
87
The specific melodies of famous songs which corresponds to these
two specific intervals are as followed…
(1) C to C# is called chromatic 2nd (1 half step)
[In the same way where Ab to A for Ab Major to sound similar

Reference Song(s) for chromatic 2nd

Jaws – Movie Shark Theme
Listen to the song here:

“EF” “EF”…etc (The suspenseful repeated bass notes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK_y4#t=0s
88
“Pink Panther” Theme Song
Listen to the song here (E minor version):

“C#D” “D# E” “F#G”….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHwnrlZRus#t=2s
(2) C to F# is called Tritone (3 tones/6 half steps)
[In the same way where Ab to D for Ab Major to sound similar

89
Reference Song(s) for Tritone
“The Simpsons” Theme Song
Listen to the song here (C Major Version):

“C..F#...G...”
“The…simp-…sons…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc#t=2s
-and-
90
Maria – Westside Story
Listen to the song here (Db Major Version):

“Db G Ab…”
“Ma-ri-a…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpdB6CN7jww#t=40s
Congratulations, you have now developed your first set of melodic

systems, when used effectively… it will let you quickly work out the
notes and intervals of a melody so easily... like as if you didn’t even
have to try!
The main reason why this system is SO IMPORTANT because it gives

you the EXACT tricks and tips, the EXACT songs for each interval that
brings you straight to the finishing line, instead of incorrectly and
blindly guessing and checking music notes without knowing the
actual music knowledge behind it.
91
You do not want to be like Andrew, who is a classmate I knew from
Highschool mathematic class. When the final exam came, he jumped
straight to doing practise exam questions… guessing and checking
the answers at the back without knowing the theory behind it
because he slept all day in class. In the end, it was slow, ineffective,
and it was a waste of time because he still failed the exam.
This is the same concept as what my music systems in this book will
do for you. The tricks and systems learnt will be embedded into your
mind due to exercises remembered through emotion and motion, so
that it will allow you to subconsciously use it in music without even
trying… you don’t need to blindly guess your way through music!
So remember to go through these ascending intervals throughout

these past few chapters over and over again because that way you
will develop strong “emotional” connections for each and every
different type of intervals.
You can further enhance the emotional connection for each

interval’s reference song by applying “motion” to each interval.
This means motion in terms of “doing it”, singing out loud and over
playing it on the piano in all different keys for each song so that each
interval would become extremely easy to identify.
When every interval is easy to identify, then it would be a piece of

cake when applying these processes to actual song melodies because
your mind is subconsciously identifying the intervals using your
strongly developed emotions and motions to each interval through
my reference songs and exercises.
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93
Melody Intervals – Descending Interval
Reference Songs
Now that you have engraved all the ascending (going up) intervals
into your mind using my reference songs with the help of your
emotions (aurally listening to it) and motion (practical application by
playing it on the piano), we move onto descending (going down)
intervals.
Also, as we are going to fit all 12 intervals (yes not 13 because we

don’t include the same note interval as it is the same) reference
songs in this ONE chapter, I am only going to tell you the exact
I want you to challenge yourself and learn all of them with patience,
and move onto the next interval reference song ONLY when you
have fully familiarised with it using both your emotions (listening)
and motions (singing/playing).
Is that ok?
If you have this face below, then you are ready to continue!
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Chromatic 2nd Interval (Descending)
(Red is 1st note, Green is 2nd note, red box is the range of this
demonstrated section)
Reference Song: Fur Elise – Beethoven
The melody on the right hand at the start forms the descending
chromatic 2nd interval with the notes:
“E D#” E D# EBDCA…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQTTFUtMSvQ#t=0s
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Major 2nd Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Mary Had A Little Lamb - Nursery Rhyme
The first two notes “Ma-“ and “-ry” in the word Mary forms the
descending Major 2nd interval with the notes:
“AG”FGAAA…
“Mary” had a little lamb…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-MtHpRhVk#t=11s
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Minor 3rd Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Frosty the snowman
The notes “Fro- “ and “-sty” in the first word Frosty forms the
descending minor 3rd interval with the notes:
“F…D” Eb F Bb…
“Fro-sty” the snowman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvc9f1lB7fk#t=7s
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Major 3rd Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Summertime - Gershwin
The notes “Sum-“ and “-mer” in the first word Summertime forms
the descending major 3rd interval with the notes:
“F#D” F#...
“Sum-mer-” time…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDOEsQL7lA#t=77
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Major 4th Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Oh Come All Ye Faithful
In the first line, the two notes “Come” and “All” forms the
descending perfect 4th interval with the notes:
G “G… D” GA…D
Oh “come… all” ye faithful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJYW1oN6fw#t=16s
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Tritone Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Blue Seven
Right at the opening solo instrument, the first two notes form the
descending tritone interval with the notes:
“D Ab…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPTBuxw0vdQ#t=12s
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Reference Song: Feelings
The first two syllables in the word Feelings in the melody “Fee-“ and
“lings” form the descending perfect 5th interval with the notes:
“B E….” EF#GE “B E…”
“Fee-lings…” nothing more than “Fee-lings”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyBcHUe4WeQ#t=9
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Minor 6th Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: Where Do I Begin – Love Story
The first line singing the two notes “Where” and “do” forms the
descending minor 6th descending with the notes:
“Db F” F Db Db…
“Where do” I begin…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxEazBfPVFg#t=20
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Reference Song: Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson
The first line in the chorus of the song singing the two notes of “I’m”
and “Star-“ in the word “starting” forms the descending Major 6th
interval with the notes:
“B...D” EGAB…A…GGA…
“I’m…star-“ ting with the man…in…the mirror…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps#t=67s
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Minor 7th Interval (Descending)
Reference Song: An American in Paris – Gershwin
The first two notes in the melody line at the start of the song forms
the descending minor 7th interval with the notes:
“CD”E… “CD”E…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzlivSzpJM#t=0s
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demonstrated section
Reference Song: I Love You - Cole Porter
The first two notes in the melody line forms the descending major
7th interval with the notes:
“CDb…” Bb A Ab…A…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuLmjCNl44Q#t=11s
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Major 8th (Octave) Interval (Descending)
demonstrated section
Reference Song: Willow Weep For Me – Etta James
The two notes in the word “willow” for “wil-“ and “low” forms the
descending perfect octave interval with the notes:
“EE” F# AF#...
“Wil-low” weep for me…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KyIEe1B450#t=73s
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P.S. All these descending song references acts as supplements if you
are FULLY familiar with the ascending system because all you need to
do is to reverse the descending interval in your head and work out
the interval based on your familiar ascending intervals.
However, more knowledge and examples doesn’t hurt because it

only makes you better!
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How To Apply My Melodic Recognition
Methods Into Actuals Songs You Hear
Okay, the best way to understand what we have learnt so far is to
actually go through an example together.
Let’s use our lovely “See You Again” song again.
So far if you remember, we have the chords and their notes using the
major-minor chord system.
For this song it is the 4 chord cycle of Gm – Bb – Eb – Bb
What we are missing is the melody…
Now I will guide you exactly HOW and WHAT you have to do in order
to figure out the melody of any song using this “See You Again”
example as a template which applies similarly to other songs.
Here is the link to the first part of the verse we are going to go
through together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk#t=9s
And here are the corresponding lyrics for the song melody that we
are going to work out:
“It’s been a long day, without you my friend, and I’ll tell you all
about it when I see you again.”
(For now, we are going to ignore the small decorative

improvisational notes/runs/adlibs that singers like to add, we will
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save that for another course of mine which specifically teaches the
more advanced improvisational techniques)
For the first note of the song “See You Again” (and with any other
one that you want to work out), with the lyrics “It’s”... firstly play any
note on the piano, lets say the F-key and sing that note (so you have
a reference note that you already know).
Sing that F-key note followed by what you hear for the note
corresponding to the word “it’s” so you can form an interval.
Using our song system for working out intervals, you will come to
work out and agree with me that the F-key to the 1st note
corresponding to the word in the song lyrics - “it’s” - forms an
ascending major 4th interval (same from the reference song
“Amazing Grace”), and thus the note for “It’s” is a Bb.
Mark it down! (Always mark your thoughts down because this is the
fastest way to help your mind process)
“It’s” = Bb
After working that out, listen to the interval between “It’s” and
“been”.
You will work it out to be an ascending major 3rd interval (because it

is the same as the interval in the reference song “When the saints go
marching in”), so since “It’s” is a Bb-key (from what we worked out),
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then “been” is a D-key (mark that down too).
“been” = D
Repeating this interval process for “been” and “a”, their interval is an
ascending minor 3rd (Greensleeves Song), so “a” is F-key.
“a” = F
For “a” and “long”, their interval is an ascending major 2nd (Do A
Deer Song), thus “long” is a G-key.
“long” = G
For “long” and “day”, their interval is a descending major 2nd (Mary
Had A Little Lamb or Reverse “Do A Deer Song”), thus “day” is a F-
key.
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“day” = F
For “day” and “with-“ (only the part “with” in the word without
because “without” has 2 notes… one for “with-“ and one for “-out”.),
their interval is a descending major 5th (Feelings Song), thus “with-“
is a Bb-key.
“with-“ = Bb
Using this same chain of thought… we will figure that “-out”

(ascending major 2nd from the previous note “with-“) is a C-key.
“out” = C
And quickly continuing this process to save some time (and let you
practise as well), here is the rest of our working example.
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…”you” is a C-key (same note as “-out”)
…”my” is a Bb-key (descending major 2nd)
... “friend” is a D-key (ascending major 3rd)
…”And” is a D-key (same note as previous)
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…”I’ll” is a F-key (ascending minor 3rd)
… “tell” is a G-key (ascending major 2nd)
… “you” is a A-key (ascending major 2nd)
… “all” is a G-key (descending major 2nd)
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…”a-“ is a F-key (descending major 2nd)
… “-bout” is a D-key (descending minor 3rd)
…”it” is a C-key (descending major 2nd)
…”when” is a C-key (same note as previous)
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…”I” is a Bb-key (descending major 2nd)
…”see” is a C-key (ascending major 2nd)
…”you” is a C-key (same note as previous)
…”a-“ is a D-key (ascending major 2nd)
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…”-gain” is a Bb-key (descending major 3rd)
And VIOLA! If you have marked it correctly, then you will have the
melody for the first part of “See You Again” as:
Bb-D-F-G-F-Bb-C-C-Bb-D-D-F-G-A-G-F-D-C-C-Bb-C-C-D-Bb
If you want to improve more, then try working out the next part in
the song.
The more you practise this technique, the better you will be, and in
no time you will become a master at it if you follow through.
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How To Identify Chords By Voicing Out
The Bass Note
Just like the stick figure, picking out chords can make you confusingly
think sometimes…
Should I pick out the highest note of the chord? Or the lowest?
Let me tell you, when identifying chords – you should always first
pick out the Bass Note. (Voice out the lowest note)
In many songs that you hear in the modern days these days, the
second thing that is most prominent after the melody line is the BASS
line.
This is the foundation of the song in which the melody flows on top
of and also where the chords are formed on top of it.
The BASS part are the LOW notes in a pop song which gives the
whole song more depth and support.
Scientists have researched that when people listen to a bunch of

pitches at the same time, it is easiest to pick out the HIGHEST pitch,
followed by the lowest pitch.
Therefore, GOOD NEWS, this means with a little bit of my training

that I will provide you… you will be more than able to pick out the
lower parts in a song, which in most cases, almost always make you
instantly work out the chord too!
Even though that the following exercises are best executed using my
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video and audio courses and memberships I have online because it
focuses more on the listening and singing aspect, I will explain how
to do it in words so you can practise it for yourself on the piano.
(1) Play each and every interval example you have learnt (all practise
examples are shown in the following), but instead of playing the red
and the green separately, play BOTH notes held TOGETHER…
Then I want you to pitch out and sing the HIGHEST note first followed
by the LOWEST note.
The reason why I want you to sing the lowest note last is because it
will train your ability to potentially work both the melody note and
chords at the SAME time in your head because the highest note is
usually the melody, and the lowest note is usually the bass note of
the chord.
Try Pitching Both Major 2nds (and try it in different keys too):
Try Pitching Both Major 3rds (and try it in different keys too):
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Try Pitching Both Major 4ths (and try it in different keys too):
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Try Pitching Both Minor 3rds (and try it in different keys too):
Try Pitching Both Minor 6ths (and try it in different keys too):
Try Pitching Both Minor 7ths (and try it in different keys too):
Try Pitching Both Chromatic 2nds (and try it in different keys too):
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Try Pitching Both Tritones (and try it in different keys too):
After you have tried out all these lowest note pitching exercises and
feel very comfortable about it, try this…
(2) Use 1 finger on your left hand (lower note), use 1 finger on your
right hand (higher note), without looking at the piano (closing your
eyes), press 2 random notes with those 2 fingers, whilst keeping your
eyes closed – try pitching and singing out the lowest note. Check
your answer by only pressing the left hand finger.
Take note! Start off EASIER by making your hands VERY FAR APART
because this makes the low note sound a lot different to the high
note so it is easier to pitch out the lower note.
Once you get better, begin to move your hands CLOSER together and
you would find it a lot DIFFICULT because you may confuse the
higher notes for the lower notes and vice versa.
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The One Trick To Distinguish Between
Major And Minor Chords By Ear
Now, I will teach you how to distinguish between the Major and
Minor Chords using one simple trick that I use all the time when I am
processing chords in my head whilst playing a song by ear.
Most of the time in the songs that you hear…
90% of the time, the only decision that you need to make is to decide
if the chord is Major or minor, the other 10% of the time is the other
more advanced and complex chords (which is actually formed as
variations from the major and minor chords but I would go through
in another book because that is beyond the scope of this book at the
moment).
Anyway, you might be asking – what is the main differences when we

are listening and distinguishing between major and minor chords?
The answer is the “3rd” degree in each of the chord, and here is
why…
Do you remember the formation of the basic major and minor

chords being 4-3 and 3-4 respectively?
Here is C Major and C minor, I want you to look at it and tell me what
is THE SAME, and what is the difference within these 2 chords?
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C Major Chord:
C Minor Chord:
If you look at it close enough, the similarities between C Major and C

minor is that the lowest note and the highest note is the same.
The only difference is that the middle note (3rd degree based on the
scale).
This means that you can change any key’s major chord into a minor
chord by moving the 3rd degree DOWN one half step.
Vice versa, you can change a minor chord into a major chord by
moving the 3rd degree UP one half step.
So, to apply and benefit from this knowledge in order to be able to

listen out any major or minor chord, here is what to do:
Step 1:
Once you have identified the lowest root bass note (as learnt in the
previous chapter), all you need to do is to voice out if the root note
bass note interval to the middle note 3rd degree is either a major 3rd
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(4 half steps up) or a minor 3rd (3 half steps up)
For example, you have just worked out the bass note of a specific
part in a song as Ab, all you need to do is to sing and voice out in
your head if Ab forms a Major 3rd to C (using the reference song
“When The Saints Go Marching In”), or if Ab forms a minor 3rd to Cb
(B) (using the reference song “Greensleeves”).
As you can see, there is no guessing, it is just logical processing of

knowledge, systems and method that you have learnt from me and
activated inside your mind like this:
Ask yourself these questions in your mind –
Can I pitch out the Major 3rd interval by singing Ab to C using the
words “Oh When” from the reference song “When The Saints Go
Marching In”?
If I can, then I know it is Ab Major simply from the 3rd degree trick we
just learnt for distinguishing between major and minor chords, if not
we move our thinking to the next and ask…
Can I pitch out the minor 3rd interval by singing Ab to Cb (B) using the
words “A-las” from the song “Greensleeves”?
If I can, then I know it is Ab minor simply from the 3rd degree trick we
just learnt for distinguishing between major and minor chords.
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Now, if you want to be more advanced and be able to identify the
chords even quicker, then here is what you can do…
If you think about it, any basic major chord in the form (4-3) actually
contains the interval of a major 3rd from the 1st note to the 2nd note
of the major chord (counting upwards of course)… and a minor 3rd
interval from the 2nd note to the 3rd note of the major chord.
Likewise, any basic minor chord in the form (3-4) actually contains
the interval of a minor 3rd from the 1st note to the 2nd note of the
minor chord… and a major 3rd interval from the 2nd note to the 3rd
note of the minor chord.
Check it out…
C Major has C to E in the red bracket pitched using the major 3rd
reference song of “When The Saints Go Marching In”, and E to G in
the blue bracket pitched using the minor 3rd reference song of
“Greensleeves”. (As you see below)
Vice versa…
C minor has C to Eb in the red bracket pitched using the minor 3rd
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reference song of “Greensleeves”, and Eb to G in the blue bracket
pitched using the major 3rd reference song of “When The Saints Go
Marching In”. (As you see below)
After you have comfortably mastered this process using the piano…
Do It All Over Again! But do it by listening to it in a DIFFERENT

instrument with a different tone colour (timbre).
Why?
Because most songs are not just piano instruments, there is different
kinds of male and female voices, guitars, string instruments, brass,
woodwind, and many many more electric synth instruments…
And if you don’t practise training your ear to use this process for
different kinds of instruments (which is always the case for modern
electronic music), then it is not very practical isn’t it?
You may say, “BUT Amos! I have no other instrument!”
I will say…
DO NOT WORRY! You can use the
power of technology now by getting
the “Garageband” app available on
smart phones, iPhones, iPads and
computers.
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Click into the instrument selection tab > choose keyboard > then click
on sound chooser from the scroll-down (and this would let you
choose a lot of different sounds and synths to train your ear for all
kinds of instruments)
Additionally, you can also use Garageband string instruments or

guitars and…
REPEAT this entire process again, because listening to chords in a

different instrument means… listening to it in a different timbre...
meaning that your ear will adapt to all kinds of sounds, and therefore
will open up your ears even MORE to hearing each note being
sounded in a chord!
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How To Identify Chords Fast Using One
Simple Trick With Scale Degrees
In order to ensure that you will be identifying chords MORE

accurately, FASTER and resulting you in being able to play the songs
you like to play by ear – we must learn one more simple trick.
One trick that will improve your accuracy and quickness when
identifying chords because what good would it be if we cannot make
the chords sound right even if we have the melody fully correct?
Right?
The trick we are going to master is to master the sounds of the “1 3 5

Degrees” from the Major & Natural Minor Scale.
The first step in being able to master the ability to listen out by ear
for both the melody and the chords of a song at the same time is…
You must first get your mind to fully understand the connection
between a major chord in respect to its’ major scale, and the
connection between a minor chord in respect to its’ ‘natural’ minor
scale
What this means is that you have to familiarize yourself with the
sounds from each Major and Natural Minor scale of all different keys,
then understand that the 1st 3rd and 5th degree (1st 3rd and 5th notes)
of each scale forms the respective Major or Minor chord.
So this is where we bring out what we have learnt before and use
our 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 formula for working out all major scales, and
2-1-2-2-1-2-2 formula for working out all natural minor scales.
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This is what you should practise pitching out for each scale (and since
we only need the 1st 3rd and 5th degree, we actually only need the 1st
5 notes from each scale for these following exercise):
Pitch out C Major Scale 1st 5 Notes (using formula):
Pitch out C Major Chord based on 1st 3rd and 5th degree from C
Major Scale:
Pitch out F# Major Scale 1st 5 Notes (using formula):
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Pitch out F# Major Chord based on 1st 3rd and 5th degree from F#
Major Scale:
Pitch out A Minor Scale 1st 5 Notes (using formula):
Pitch out A Minor Chord based on 1st 3rd and 5th degree from A
Minor Scale:
Pitch out D# Minor Scale 1st 5 Notes (using formula):
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Pitch out D# Minor Chord based on 1st 3rd and 5th degree from A
Minor Scale:
Of course, after you try these examples above, it is best to go

through all the other keys using the same method as above because
that is beneficial for your ear.
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136
My One Secret Technique To Knowing
Exactly Where Each Chord Is Positioned
With The Melody
Okay, the best way for me to teach you how to properly line up each
chord with the correct melody note is by aurally and visually from my
audio and video courses, but as this is a book, I will try my best to
describe the entire process in words and visuals.
The best way is to gets hands on onto a real song example that we
have learnt.
Let’s use the song “See You Again” to demonstrate my process

(because we have both the knowledge of the melody and chords
already).
If you remember working out the melody of the song “See You
Again”, it is this:
Bb-D-F-G-F…Bb-C-C-Bb-D…D-F-G-A-G-F-D-C-C-Bb-C-C-D-Bb…
It’s been a long day… without you my friend… and I’ll tell you all
about it when I see you again…
And we also know that the chords is the 4 chord cycle of Gm, Bb, Eb,
Bb…
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Here is how to do it…
All we need to do is to circle the words from the song lyrics/notes

where the chord is on that specific note [represented in () brackets ]
(In real life, just circle it by hand with a pen, circle the melody letter
instead because it is clearer like that, and that is what I personally
did when I first started off long ago.)
And how do we know where the chord is?
The answer is “a change in texture”, a change in thickness of sound.
Since chords and accompaniment contain a lot more notes (3+ notes
played together) than melodies (1 note played at a time), we will
know when and where the chords are placed by systematically
training our ear to be able to subconsciously ask our mind these
questions –
Is the texture light because I can only hear the melody?
Is the texture thicker because I can hear a bunch of notes played

together (chords)?
Try it for yourself first, and compare your answer with the following.
So like this:
“It’s been a (long) (day), with-(out) you my (friend), and I’ll (tell) you
all (a)-bout it when I (see) you a-(gain).”
Which corresponds to this in note letter form:
Bb-D-F-(G)-(F)-Bb-(C)-C-Bb-(D)-D-F-(G)-A-G-(F)-D-C-C-Bb-(C)-C-D-(Bb)
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And since we know the chords for this example, we will write it
UNDER the bracketed/circled melody notes like this:
Later on when you get better, there is no need to circle the melody
notes because you can directly put the chords underneath each
corresponding melody note as you are working out a song.
This is what I do nowadays and that is the level you want to achieve
too!
Take some time to practise this, because..
Reason (1)
Sometimes the chord changes are done quickly at some parts of the
song… or else it is a fast song in general and you might be unable to
match it to the correct part in the melody because your mind hasn’t
fully adapted to the systems in this book to a level that can match
that listening speed.
Remember it takes time for a new system to develop in your mind,

just like how you didn’t instantly know how to do multiplication,
division and fractions instantly for mathematics without doing some
examples.
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Reason (2)
Doing this would also simultaneously improve ear mastery and
counting skills… by being able to figure out where the main chord
changes are.
Reason (3)
Some songs may be more difficult to listen to, and might have chords
that DO NOT line up exactly with a melody note (it can be in
BETWEEN the melody notes)…
To mark these in-between chord changes, do not circle any melody

note because the chord does not play exactly on any melody note.
Instead…
This Is What To Do When A Chord Is Syncopated Between Two

Melody Notes
Situation (i)
When there is a chord between two melody notes, draw an up arrow

^ to mark it.
Example: The popular song “Skyfall” by Adele has chords in between

each long note in the melody at the start.
The starting melody notes is:

“Eb D CC…. C D Eb DD… CC…”
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“This is the end… hold your breathe and count… to ten…”
The chords that are lined up underneath the circled (bracketed) note
is played ON that specific melody note, and the chords that have an
arrow pointing in between the spaces of the melodies means that
you have to specifically play the chords by itself without the melody.
This is how you mark down the chords when you listen to similar
songs like this:
Situation (ii)
When there are chord(s) right before the first melody note plays, just
mark the chord before the melody (with the optional arrow).
Example: The song “Georgia On My Mind” has the chord right before
the melody comes in.
The starting melody notes is:

“B D… BA…”
“Georgia… Georgia…”
And just like how this song starts with the 1st chord before the
melody, this is how you mark down the chords when you listen to
similar songs like this:
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Make sure you familiarize yourself with this system of matching
chords to the melody because this step would be done at the same
time whilst you are listening out the chords by ear when you get
better and better at this.
So both systems of matching chords and identifying chords are

EQUALLY as important because your mind would be processing them
two systems as one… meaning that you are: writing down the chords
that you hear instantly in the correct position that corresponds to
the melody.
Anyway, here is my handwritten template of what your play by ear

process of jotting down your thoughts should look like.
This is one of my personal worksheets of a new song WITH proof of

date and YouTube Links written in less than 10 minutes… also please
excuse my handwriting!
P.S. Say hi to my penguin in the picture!
P.S.S Yes, my handwriting is very messy, but hey! That’s good right?
That’s how I write faster to play any song by ear!
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Song Name: Break My Mind by DA Games
Enjoy My Piano Cover Link Posted On The 27th Sept 2015:
https://youtu.be/L8KsjKDSo-Q
The Original Song Link Released On The 27th Sept 2015:

https://youtu.be/xhdNa3iy5rw
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Conclusion: Spark It Up!
Congratulations! You have now all the requirements to play any song
by ear in the basic form of MELODY on the right hand, and CHORD on
the left hand (exactly how I teach my YouTube tutorials and what all
my YouTube covers are formed from).
However, a lot of you may be asking how do I do all the crazy flying
fingers stuff in my covers.
How do I “spark up” my playing?
Believe it or not, all the fancy stuff that I add in my YouTube covers
are actually all “improvisations” formed around everything learnt in
this book – where the basic right hand melody and left hand chord
elements are to be sparked up to a whole new level.
Improvisations are all the decorative extra things that spark up in

your piano playing so you can also spark up the interest in your
listeners.
There are right hand melodic add-on improvisations like specific

arpeggios and runs that you can add after the end of a melodic
phrase, there are left hand accompaniment improvisational patterns
that you can use to make your plain old block chords not so blocky
anymore, and a lot more…
Do you want to know what the secret it?
The secret…believe it or not, is knowing how to break down each

improvisation technique to foundational knowledge of music theory.
And the only way to do it is with proper guidance, and exactly what
exercises you can do to train them.
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Once again, there is no guessing…
Think of it as building a dictionary, the more musical knowledge and

tools you put into it, the better you will be.
This is the true magic for me to be able to add all these advanced
stuff whilst playing a song by ear.
It makes people think that you have practised a long time for one
song, but in reality you really didn’t practise that song much longer
than the other ones because it is based on the simplest version of
the song with added sparks. (Every song takes me about 20 minutes
to work out by ear, and the improvisations are just added along the
way during the video recording to make it seem harder)
Treat this “improvisation mastery” as an extension to playing by ear.
If you have it, then you will play very extraordinary and have the
most fun just like what I have every day in making my covers.
If you chose to ignore music theory, or not learn it properly, then you
simply would always stay at the basic level of playing by ear with the
melody on the right hand and chord on the left hand because you
just have NO MUSIC KNOWLEDGE to improvise with.
I know this might sound cheesy, but really as what Warren Buffet
says – “The more you learn, the more you earn”.
If you have all these advanced scales and arpeggios, and decorative
notes that you know exactly how to apply into your piano playing,
then you will be extraordinary.
But if you don’t have anything in your musical dictionary, then that is
all you have to improvise. NOTHING!
147
It is a simple fact with no magic behind it.
But I know what you are thinking, you might say…
“MUSIC THEORY?!?! BORING!! USELESS!”
You are correct in some ways, (SOME)….
The reason that you are partially correct is that MANY MANY music
teachers teach music theory, scales, arpeggios etc. with NO
APPLICATION into actual real and useful things.
And that…. is useless (as what you said correctly).
However, the reason why I play like what I do is because I have many
many improvisational tools in my toolbox, I can grab them out and
use them whenever I want subconsciously because I know when and
how to apply it into songs.
So unlike many traditional music teachers who teach you music

theory without teaching you how to apply it into songs, I will be able
to teach you exactly how to apply it into your playing because I can
already do it, I preach what I teach every day in my piano covers, so I
will be able to teach all my best knowledge to you.
But like what I always say, the choice is really up to you…
What teacher you follow is what skills and ability you are going to
end up with.
You can choose to continue learning from traditional teachers who

just use sheet music and can’t play by ear or improvise, and you will
simply just end up playing songs with the skills and ability of the
teacher, which is only by sheet music.
Or you can decide to not waste time anymore and follow someone
148
who has already mastered the skills you want to learn, someone who
does it every day, and someone who is willing to teach you
everything that is needed to master music so you can become the
same as well.
As exciting it might sound, not everyone choses this path because

many people is not passionate enough or can’t be bothered to
master these musical skills, so they go back and stick to waiting for
sheet music to release, learning from sheet music, or use free stuff
online, or just continue their super long processes of “guessing” how
to be successful in music.
You cannot “guess” your way through in becoming a musical master,

all successful musicians has mentors or teachers sometime in their
life to raise their levels and abilities.
I never said it would be a short path to achieve this, but I am here to

shortcut your precious time massively by teaching you from ground
zero to where I am now.
My courses fill in all the gaps you have for music.
Believe it or not, but sometimes it is actually the smallest things you

are missing that is preventing you from becoming the best you could
be.
So many times have I had new students who has learnt from another
teacher for over 5 years before… where do not know how to
properly do all these things that should be mastered in the beginners
to immediate levels like counting particular notes, playing particular
finger techniques etc.
If you follow all courses properly without ignoring any concepts or

failing to practise specific techniques, then you will master music by
149
grasping hold of everything I know.
You must familiarize yourself with all the proper methods, or else it
won’t work… Trust me! You can’t just have bits and pieces.
Just remember… you cannot write the perfect English essay with only
bits and pieces of knowledge from basic spelling and grammar, and
you cannot solve complex mathematical algebra by only knowing a
few (but not enough for the real deal) formulas.
Likewise, without a strong foundation in the basic music concepts,

it’ll be very difficult to play effortlessly by ear and improvisation
because during the improvisations – you will have mental blanks on
the simplest and most basic things that you overlooked during your
development of the foundational music concepts.
(And as you can picture an music improviser performing to a highly-

anticipating crowd of listeners audience… that will not be a good
sight)
Anyway, let’s bring you back to the mind map as what you saw very
early in this book where it shows what is needed to achieve my
music mastery.
150
Each step is actually a very broad mind map in itself as well where
each Step stems out into a tree of musical knowledge like this (please
zoom in below to see what you have and what you are lacking):
151
Learn All The Steps To The Music
Mastery Mindmap
As you see in the mindmap, there are

multiple of things that you need to
train up in order to achieve the
ultimate piano mastery.
That is why many people give up trying

to self-learn because there are just too
many confusing things to piece
together. (it’s like a jigsaw puzzle without any image)
If you want to be taught step by step on how all the musical theory
knowledge is pieced together and most importantly - how to actually
APPLY IT into your own piano playing, then you can join my premium
piano membership where you have instant access to thousands of
hours-worth of piano mastery lessons.
With this treasure-trove of lessons, you will no longer need to guess

how things work for yourself because my step by step lessons are
crafted in a way such that even someone with no musical knowledge
can learn to master the piano.
And for a SPECIAL TREAT for you taking the leap to finish this book to
the very end, you can try out the membership for 30 days for
ONLY $1 (usually costs $57) with this special link below:
https://amosdoll.teachable.com/p/amosdoll-premium-piano-
membership/?product_id=294920&coupon_code=EARMASTERY56
152
Ultimately I know not all of you would join me in mastering this
musical as it takes a lot of consistent and persistent willpower to
learn concepts, practice those concepts, then also implementing
those concepts into your piano playing. (Only about 2% of all
musicians have this mastery fully-utilized)
That is why I also have these other following personalized song

services for those who just want to learn their favourite songs
without the stress of working it out for yourself…
Transcription Sheet Music Service

(any song of your choice)
Since I can play any song in the world by ear, and since I am from a
classical music background, I can write out the sheet music version of
any song by ear too, so you can learn any song in that way. Click the
link below for more details:
http://bestpianomethod.com/transcription-sheet-music/
153
Full Song Video Lesson
(any song of your choice)
http://bestpianomethod.com/full-song-video-lesson/
For any further questions, you can ask me personally through:
Support Email: support@bestpianomethod.com
Facebook Messenger @ https://www.facebook.com/Amosdoll/
154

How To Play Any Song by Ear On The Piano Without Sheet Music or Guessing

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Table Of Contents

Hi there! My name is Amos - owner of

You are probably reading this because you

The same as in only spending 10-20 minutes of time listening to a

Same here! It was such a repetitive process of learning about four to

I always played my songs by memory because I hated reading sheet

It was like a battle in interpreting what each symbol was…

It was an eye-straining process to see which line or space that a note

I was about year 6 in primary school, and I was obsessed

There were a lot of interesting piano songs in that movie

I first tried guessing and checking by repetitively playing and

What I tried next was the game-changer to my music life in both

I began to listen to recordings on everything that I needed (my exam

Who here hates spending most of their time in traditional lessons

I know how it feels too, but luckily I have figured it out.

With your teacher asking you like as if it was something as easy as

They clapped their hands in a particular rhythmic pattern, and you

It was a VERY EXCITING life-changing experience for me, because

I became well-known at my school for being able to play any song by

I actually preach what I teach.

I do this every day in extreme amounts (up to 5 YouTube videos in a

Why do I play so many songs? It is because it is extremely fun to

Why do I want to teach you this mastery too? It is because I have

By using this book’s systems more and more, by listening to more

I am still constantly trying to improve to a point where I can play a

I am here to give you this powerful tool because by reading what I

Whether it is classical music, pop music, rock, jazz, ANYTHING…

…it all works because by learning how to properly play-by-ear and

With that all said…

Let me reintroduce myself, I am Amos, a passionate piano teacher

I know it is painful spending a long time waiting for a sheet music to

I have been there too so I will know your pain.

This is one of the flaws in traditional music playing, because sheet

The traditional music teachers always enforced the use of sheet

This is the same as an amateur primary-school mathematician who

Yes, you may have all the cheat

They may work out one question

I can do that too, but it takes ages…. Like 5 hours!!

On the contrary, it only took 10-20 minutes to play-by-ear and

Another recent popular trend on the

Synthesia is a very time-wasting and ineffective way to learn any

Apart from spoon-feeding you what buttons to press, it completely

Well, if you want to play an 88-key (number of piano keys) guitar

Properly mastering the skill of playing any song by ear and

Please please please do not think that playing by ear is Bingo!

It makes me cringe when people think that playing by ear is using

I have had so many comments on YouTube of people claiming that

I am constantly doing this everyday whether if I am on the bus when

Awesome right? This is the power of playing-by-ear, and I think you

I promise you, no more of that!

The answer is their strong supporting

However, to be able to play any song by ear within 10-20 minutes in

A lot of people always question why they cannot play an instrument

Do you want to know why?

People getting stuck at a level in music and cannot plateau as no one

Anyway, I will basically teach you how to train yourself to become as

Let’s get started.

A Piano or Keyboard has many keys.

There are black keys and also white keys!

Using this 7-letter-Alphabet cycle, we know the next white key up

Now to the black keys that are called…

Flats (♭) - and - Sharps ( # )

Sharp is marked with the symbol #