Lessons
Pop Piano Lessons
in Chicago.
Private pop piano lessons in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, for adults and teens who want to play the music they listen to, the way it actually sounds.
Pop Piano Lessons
Private pop piano lessons in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, for adults and teens who want to play the music they listen to, the way it actually sounds.
You want to play the music you love, and sound like it. Not a simplified version. Not a “beginner arrangement.” The real thing, learned in a way that actually makes sense.
Pop piano lessons here start with what you’re listening to. Bring a song you wish you could play. We’ll figure out together what’s going on harmonically, what the groove is doing, and how to get from where you are to playing it well. The goal is for the music in your head and the music coming out of the piano to start sounding like the same thing.
What this isn’t: a method-book ladder where you grind through “Hot Cross Buns” for a year before you’re allowed to touch a song. You can play real music from your first lesson. The technique and theory get woven in alongside the songs, in service of them, not as a gauntlet you have to clear before you’re permitted to enjoy yourself.
Most pop songs are built on a small number of chord patterns and a small number of rhythmic gestures, once you understand them, you unlock a huge amount of repertoire at once. We’ll work on hearing those patterns, voicing chords so they sound like the record, building the kind of left-hand grooves that make a song feel right, and singing along with what you’re playing if that’s of interest.
For some students, this is a complete musical education. For others, it’s a doorway into other styles, jazz, R&B, gospel, songwriting. There’s no wrong direction.
No. Most pop piano work is chord-based. You'll learn voicings, accompaniment patterns, and how to figure songs out by ear. Reading is a useful skill we can build alongside if you want it, but it's not the prerequisite.
Your songs. Come in with a list of artists or tracks you'd love to play, and we shape the curriculum around them. The techniques we cover are universal across pop. We just apply them to music you actually care about.
For most students starting fresh, a simple version of a song they care about lands within four to six lessons. By three months you're playing several, and you start hearing how pop songs are built.
Not to start. A 61+ key keyboard with weighted or semi-weighted action is enough for the first year. Specific recommendations at your first lesson; Yamaha P-series, Roland FP-series, and Kawai ES-series are all reasonable starting points.
In person at the studio, with a real acoustic piano, Rhodes and B3 in the room. Zoom covers the weeks you're traveling or under the weather. Same rate, same lessons.
The studio teaches teens (11+) and adults. That's where the curriculum is built. Younger kids are better served by teachers who specialize in early instruction.