Nocturne - Billy Joel (Solo Piano)

[Souda007]

Why 44 people don't like this? It's the best version on youtube.

[PianoPets]

@Souda007 Thanks for your comment. I'm very flattered...

[ccizzlez]

my ex was obsessed with billy joel, so i had to cut that off, but he did get me into some of his music:P i love this song and love to play it

[PianoPets]

@ccizzlez Thanks for your comment. Yes, Billy Joel made some incredible music back in the 70's :-)

[grabba73]

Beautiful, wow. I got the same piano except i have ADD and I go one thing to the next. I wish I could play like that.

[PianoPets]

Thanks for your comment :-)

[FreePercussion]

What's not to like?

[Performerx43]

@PianoPets love it :) I love Billy Joel, even his non-pop material.

[PianoPets]

Thanks for your comments. Yes, he's a great artist. It is difficult to find such a skilled piano player, singer, songwriter AND performer in one person.

[Performerx43]

i AM STILL TRYING TO LEARN THIS :)

[niahaa]

Hi ! That was really beautiful !

I a technical question : I saw it was written "USB to host" in the back of that keyboard. Does it mean that we can record directly in a computer (with a software) from that USB port ?

Thanks ! =)

[PianoPets]

Hello there. Thanks for your comment :-)

The Yamaha P-60 doesn't have a USB port. So you can only record via midi or via direct audio out.

[niahaa]

@PianoPets Okay' thank you very much ! Keep playing ! =)

[Performerx43]

I am trying to learn this song right now :) I want to perform it someday, maybe as a smaller part of my senior recital.

[putrichard]

This is WONDERFULL!! I was caught by surprise with this video!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

[PianoPets]

Thanks for your kind words. I really do appreciate it!

[DavidSpencer6174]

Beautifully played.

[ChaosNMK]

god even though i had like 6 months of practice and didnt get enough because of my studies i wish i could play that awesome piano solo.

[bjoelfn55]

I've been a Joel fan since 1973. And most people have never heard this song. I was lucky enough to be given Cold Spring Harbor from a friend and absolutely fell in love with this song.

I was captured by your playing and felt the feeling and the mood that this song deserves. Thank you, Bob

[PianoPets]

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear from a long time fan of Billy Joel.

[eidlawnairb]

beautifully done!! early billy was the best!!

[PianoPets]

Thanks :-) Yeah, he made some great stuff during the 70's...

[lennonfan123]

Great Job. What key is it in? you should do a tutorial..

[PianoPets]

Thanks. It's in A minor.

[desertcrash]

I have a chance to get one of these pianos, how do you like yours?

[PianoPets]

The Yamaha P-60 is my favourite digital piano. Primarily because of the keys. I find them very well weighted.

[baguazhang77]

Thanks for posting this. I had completely forgotten that this song exists and that I used to play it years ago. But, I seem to recall that I had lost the album and just threw it together really quick from my memory of the song. I like your arrangement (I suspect much closer, if not identical to BJ's) and fingering much better than mine. I think I am going to resurrect this, with some changes/corrections over my previous attempts. Thanks for the inspiration.

[PianoPets]

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

[Rathzorz]

I'm playing this for a school talent show in January, you gave me some awesome fingering & phrasing ideas.  Thanks a ton!

[PianoPets]

You're welcome :-) Good luck with the show.

[senseox3]

Hey :D I also think that you play the song very nice..

could you send me your notes? because i only got them out of

the internet and i think they might have some wrong notes ;)

would be nice..

play on!

[PianoPets]

Thanks for your comment. I'm sorry, but I didn't write down the notes for this one. If I had, I would send them to you. Sorry!

[Performerx43]

wow, this is just beautiful!!!! Its kind of funny that the album's named after one of his Long Island towns. I live on LI and Cold Spring Harbor is very close to me :)

[PianoPets]

Thanks :-)

[rockyfreak0063]

i love this song i can play it on piano also....

[rockyfreak0063]

this sounds really good but my friend and I must play it better or its the piano cuz we have real pianos

[AVGN92]

that was flawless, nice work

[skeeleraar]

Had never heard of this song before today. My piano teacher brought it with him and fell in love with it immideatly. You play it very well.

Thx for the upload and wish me luck studying it :p

[PianoPets]

Thanks for your comment. And good luck :-)

[bvlgari3980]

Beautiful, sounds good, my daughter just is learning to play this song on piano

[AnotherSchmoe]

Beautiful!

[BrokenBrooms]

This vid helped me play it within 2 days and I totally love it, tnx! =)

[stefiparks]

Lovely! ;)

[ColdSpringHarbor1971]

the best from Cold Spring Harbor

[weirdguy75]

if I wasnt watching a video if this I'd swear it was the piano man himself

[LindaSkopane]

This is the best piano song ever! I Love it!

[rupertito1819]

exelente compadre, sigue asi :)...

saludos

[auggiedoggy]

Oh brother! What a ridiculous comment. Really, some people!

[doublehelix777]

Marvelous performance!

[nehcsil]

I love that song and would like to play it, but I can't seem to get the fingering right...

would you make a tutorial or maybe just play the song really slow? please?

[PianoPets]

Well...Ehh..ok, then. I didn't even know there was a "right" way to play this one. But to me, music is not necessarily about playing it the exact way the artist did. Unless you are a music student, of course. Which I'm not.

To me, the whole challenge and the joy of playing music is trying to make it sound good.

But that doesn't mean I'm trying to fake anything. I think that's the whole point of being in here. It's totally transparent what you do. And how you do it. You can't fake anything.

[iceb131]

haha thats kinda dumb just because you didnt know the proper fingerings, however i do play this with my left hand doing the apreggios, and i wouldnt exactly calling it faking talent because you did play the song as written to pretty much every last note, but anyways kudos for you in your unique technique of playing Nocturne By: Billy Joel this is an excellent piece I really enjoy playing this song,

[HeyitsWenzel]

sounds great to me, no complaints here. Isn't that what matters? I agree with you, PianoPets.

[sintaxera]

@PianoPets I completely agree with you, you have the best sounding cover on here, I doubt BrianKyleCorreia could even play with himself, let alone this

[emiliabolsas]

Hi PianoPets!

The following comment is from my mom. She is such a fan of yours that she tried to create a YouTube account just to be able to write to you. It was unsuccessful; hopefully your advice on this piece will be more successful!

Thank you. She'll be reading ... and watching. Keep up the beautiful playing.

[emiliabolsas]

This version of "Nocturne" is the best I've ever heard, and I've listened to many. I'm an adult piano student with limited skill but great ambition. I have the sheet music (from one of Billy's books). I can play parts of it slowly; is there a simplified, published version? Could you suggest how I could simplify it without losing its essence? I can handle many of the right-hand octaves/intervals/chords, but the left-hand is frustrating. Are there left-hand parts that can be deleted?

[PianoPets]

Hi there! Thanks for the compliments. My answer is too long to be shown, so it will be split up in two parts :-)

Part one: To be honest, I didn't even know that there were published sheets for this one. So I'm not sure, whether or not there are any simplified versions on print. It might be possible to simplify the left-hand part a little. But I'm afraid you would loose some of the "flowing quality", which I think is excactly the essence of this one.

[PianoPets]

Part two: My advice would be to practise the different parts one by one and really, REALly slow to begin with. Maybe you would also benefit from doing some general finger excercises. I can recommend the book "Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Excersises: Complete". Good luck! I will keep my fingers crossed for you

[BillyJorik]

wow!

how do you get the audio so great?...

when I record something it sounds like shit....

[PianoPets]

I record directly into Cubase from my Yamaha P60 using the Akoustik Piano from Native Instruments as vst.

[DinoNardelli]

You nailed it. Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing.

[PianoPets]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it.

[Serafimka]

wow, that's really great! gorgeous!

i'm trying to play it too)) may be once i'll record my playng) i'm interesting what you'll say about))

are you professional pianist? or it's just you hobby?)

[PianoPets]

Thanks a lot for your compliments! And good luck learning to play the song. I hope to see your version here on YouTube soon :-)

[Saoff]

this is fantastic!! I really enjoyed your playing. I want to learn how to play this, I have only been playing for a little while, cannot read notes, can you recommend the best way to learn this?? Would you ever put up a tutorial? I couldnt find anyone on Youtube. Once again, awesome!

[PianoPets]

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it! Well, I think the best way to learn it is simply to listen to the original recording bit by bit. Allways start by locating the root played in the left hand. As Ive written before, the chords are primarily based on major and minor triads with some extensions. Maybe my video can give you a hint of the fingering? Good luck with the song. It really is a great tune written by a great artist!

[alliauf07]

did you figure this out yourself? or did you have music? if you had music where did you get it?! this is a truer version than i had.. very good!

[PianoPets]

Thanks! I transcribed it from the original recording myself. It's pretty much based on major and minor triads with some extensions here and there.

[kboss2011]

I want that piano!

what type is it?

nicely done

[PianoPets]

Thanks. It's a Yamaha P60 recorded in Cubase using the "Akoustik Piano" from Native Instruments

[auggiedoggy]

So if I understand this correctly, the actual digital piano being used here is rather irrelevant as you are using a sound recorder/editor software (Cubase) with the piano sound being supplied by Akoustik Piano. You could be using a Yamaha NP-30 for all that matters?

[PianoPets]

Well, not exactly. As you say, the piano sound comes from Akoustik Piano. And as such, it does not depend on the type of piano being played.

But when playing, the most important thing to me is the weighting of the keys. It's a matter of personal taste, but I prefer the keys of the P60. I would not be able to play the same way on the NP-30.

[auggiedoggy]

I was speaking in terms of sound only. I also own a P-60 and yes it has a great feel. Superior to a lot of more expensive DPs I tested.

[alt1962]

nicely done.....

[PianoPets]

Thanks!