Okay, so today I decided to dive into learning some songs from Hamilton on the piano. I’ve always loved the music, but I’ve been putting off actually learning it because, well, it sounds hard. But I figured, why not give it a shot?
First things first, I picked a song. I went with “You’ll Be Back” because it’s relatively simple, at least compared to some of the other tracks. It’s mostly chords and a pretty straightforward melody.
Next, I found some sheet music. I just did a quick search online. There are tons of options out there, some free, some paid. I grabbed a free version to start, figuring I could always invest in a better arrangement later if I got really into it.
The Practice Grind Begins
Then came the fun part – actually playing it. I started by slowly working through the right hand, just getting the melody down. This took a while! I’m not exactly a virtuoso, so I had to repeat sections over and over again until my fingers started to remember where to go.
Once I felt okay-ish about the melody, I moved on to the left hand, which is mostly chords. This was a bit easier, thankfully. I focused on getting the chord shapes right and making the transitions between them as smooth as possible.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat. That’s the key, really. I just kept playing small sections over and over until they started to feel natural.
- Slow and steady. It’s tempting to try to play it at full speed right away, but that’s a recipe for frustration. I forced myself to play slowly, even painfully slowly, to make sure I was getting everything right.
- Listen to the original. I kept the original song playing in the background to help me with the rhythm and timing.
Putting it all together
After practicing each hand separately for what felt like forever, I finally tried putting them together. This was… challenging. My brain felt like it was going to explode trying to coordinate both hands at the same time.
But I kept at it, and slowly but surely, it started to come together. It wasn’t perfect, not even close, but I could hear the song! That was a pretty awesome feeling.
So, that’s where I’m at now. I can play a very rough version of “You’ll Be Back.” It’s definitely a work in progress, but I’m excited to keep practicing and see how much better I can get. It’s a fun challenge, and it’s so satisfying to hear those familiar melodies starting to come from my own fingers! Maybe I’ll try to learn a new one!
