[Taught by a Piano Teacher] Tips for Playing Vocaloid Songs

Last updated:2017/3/20

Piano teacherAtsuko Okata
Based in Yokohama, I teach piano, electronic organ, and Eurhythmics while continuing my band activities. For those who love music and want to play the piano, I offer beginner-friendly ways to enjoy learning. Adult Piano Starting with Chords: http://happy.ap.teacup.com/otona-piano/ JUN’s Piano Lessons: http://piano-daisuki.at.webry.info Music Lessons for Band Beginners: http://ameblo.jp/band-lesson/

Recently, Vocaloid songs have become popular, but playing them on the piano is quite challenging.

Many of my students want to play pieces like “The World is Falling in Love” and “Senbonzakura.”

Things you must first pay attention to when playing Vocaloid songs on the piano

What you have to be careful about at such times isnoriIt is.

When I arrange popular songs into a solo piano style or a piano-and-vocal (self-accompaniment) style, the thing I focus on most is whether it has a good groove.

How can I bring out a good groove in a solo piano performance?

Of course, it depends on how you play it, but what matters is what kind of arrangement it is and what kind of sheet music it is.

When teaching students, for popular songs I mostly transcribe by ear, or I listen to the recording and arrange while referring to a lead sheet with chords to create the score, always thinking about how to make it easier to capture the groove.

From transcribing by ear to creating sheet music: structure & melody

So then, how should we create the sheet music?

For students with experience, during the lessontranscribing by earI will teach you the clues and guide you so that you can create your own musical score.

As a method for transcribing by ear, the first step is to 'set the framework'—in other words, grasp the structure and the number of measures.Start with ら.

If you’re a beginner, start by purchasing a single-staff score (melody with chord symbols) and first check the structure using that score while listening to the audio.

For songs you want to play, figuring out the melody notes shouldn’t be all that difficult.

If transcribing by ear is difficult, it’s because you don’t understand the structure.

The A verse is eight measures repeated twice, and the B verse is eight measures.

Once you can recognize things like that, you can start filling in the parts you understand.

I think as long as you stick to the structure, you can pick up the melody fairly smoothly.

In pop music, rhythm is everything.

Next, capture the shape of the rhythm that’s playing—such as accent patterns and whether it’s a 16-beat or an 8-beat—and then the bassline.

The bass is single-note, so I think it’s easy to understand, but for people who’ve never played drums, the drum patterns seem hard to grasp.

You can’t reproduce exactly what the bass and drums are doing in a piano solo, but it’s important to know what rhythm is playing in the background.

You don’t need to catch every little detail, but let’s do our best to listen.

I practice drums so I can play more rhythmically on the piano, and I also have my students think about what kind of patterns the drummer is playing. Even when they play popular songs, I always have them practice the bass patterns and drum rhythms.

Play the bass pattern on a piano or keyboard, and use both hands to tap the drum pattern: the snare with your left hand and the hi-hat with your right hand.

For students who can handle it, I also have them play the bass drum pattern with their foot, but I focus on exercises where they sing the melody while drumming—paying close attention to the rhythm patterns and accents.

With the piano, you have to handle melody, harmony, and rhythm with both hands, so first be mindful of the rhythm—which is easy to overlook even when it’s not actually in place.Make (someone) do it.

Most people notice when the melody or the chords are wrong.

To be able to play with a lively groove, you need ears that can hear whether you’re doing it right or not.

Once you can recognize what you haven't yet mastered, it stops being 'I can't' and becomes 'I can't right now (but I can if I practice).

If you have a synth-style keyboard or electronic organ that plays rhythm or backing patterns, practicing by singing while holding down the chords is also a good exercise.

MIDI dataFor items that are sold like these, listening to them can be helpful, but it’s meaningless to just have them on in the background like karaoke.

Listen carefully and check the rhythm that is playing.

Search code

Now then, how should we go about taking the code?

Once I’ve got the melody and the rough bass notes, I figure out the chords.

If you’re having trouble removing the code, start by finding the “key.”

A clue to figuring out the code is what kind of “key” it is—in other words, what key signature it’s in.

Most songs are composed largely of the diatonic chords (the chords native to the key) of the piece.

If you can’t grasp the code right away, start by learning the theory.

“Chords that are diatonic to a key” are the chords built on the diatonic scale, and they are as follows.

diatonic chordThat is, I mean an ordinary scale—in C major.Major scaleIt is “Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do.”

If it's in G major

G major chord

If it's in F major,

F major chord

In the diagram above, the upper row shows four-note chords (chords), and the lower row shows three-note chords (triads). There are three types of minor scales, which makes things a bit tricky, but there are still certain chords that tend to be used more often.

For example, I once transcribed “Senbonzakura” by ear to play it at a concert; it starts in D minor (Dm) and ends in E minor (Em).

The chords used in the D minor section are: Dm, C, F, Gm, Am, B♭.

That's all there is to it.

Since Dm, B♭, and C appear frequently, it’s a good idea to start by looking for those three first.

Play cool with right-hand melody + left-hand bass!

Now, based on the transcription by ear, we’ll create the sheet music. In a piano solo, the right hand basically handles the melody while the left hand takes the bass.

Reference:For piano beginners: an easy-to-understand way to practice chord changes

In popular music, rhythm is important, so the left-hand bass often handles the rhythm. However, in sections where the right hand is moving and creating the rhythm, it’s fine for the left hand to rest.

And if you play so that you can hear the drum rhythm, even a simple score will sound cool.

To do that,It's also important to know what the drums and bass are doing.It is.

Advanced users may also enjoy arranging and varying it in different ways.

I slowed down the tempo and tried adding some slightly jazzy chords.

Let's play your favorite songs in a cool way with arrangements that suit you.

SenbonzakuraI’m publishing the MIDI sound source on YouTube.