{"id":1669,"date":"2020-07-31T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/?p=1669"},"modified":"2023-01-12T12:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T20:52:18","slug":"how-to-play-cardigan-on-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/how-to-play-cardigan-on-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Play &#8220;cardigan&#8221; On Piano (Taylor Swift)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This lesson will teach you how to play \u201ccardigan\u201d on piano. \u201cCardigan\u201d is the lead single from Talor Swift\u2019s album, \u201cFolklore\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s an album she released without anybody knowing it was coming! She wrote and recorded it in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The album is very different from her more recent releases, and many of the songs feature moody piano melodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enter, \u201ccardigan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This lesson comes with a ton of downloadable resources. Make sure you get yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center><b><a href=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/cardigan-score.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Get the musical score here<\/a><\/b><\/center>\n\n\n\n<center><b><a href=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/pianote-cardigan-no-piano.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Grab your backing track (with vocals, no piano) here<\/a><\/b><\/center>\n\n\n\n<center><b><a href=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/pianote-cardigan-no-piano-or-vocals.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download the backing track (no vocals, no piano) here<\/a><\/b><\/center>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/weekly-email\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:32px\"><strong>The 4 Main Chords<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As with most pop songs, there are 4 chords that are repeated throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The song is in the key of Eb major, so there are 3 black notes to be aware of. Those are Bb, Eb, and Ab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So every time to see a B, E, or A note, just remember to drop it half a step and play the black key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chords we\u2019ll use are F minor (F-Ab-C), Bb major (Bb-D-F), Ab major (Ab-C-Eb), and Eb major (Eb-G-Bb).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also a sneaky C minor later on in the song. It uses the notes C-Eb-G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And those are all the chords. Spend some time getting comfortable because we\u2019re going to be playing them with our LEFT hand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\">Left-hand Chord Inversions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the entire song, we\u2019ll be playing the chords in a sort of <a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-play-stride-piano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stride pattern<\/a>, where we play the root note down the keyboard before coming up to play the chords in <a href=\"\/blog\/piano-chord-inversions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inversions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/cardigan-left-hand.png\" alt=\"how to play cardigan left hand\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This could take some time to get used to. Take it slow and really work on getting those chord shapes into your muscle memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, the first time you sit down to learn this song, you might want to focus ONLY on those left-hand chord shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re super important to the feel of the song and they are used throughout the entire piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\">The Right-Hand Melody<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the iconic riff that repeats throughout the song. There are a few slight variations as the song progresses, but they are very small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So learning this riff will set you up well to be able to master the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the first two lines of the song:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/cardigan-line-1.png\" alt=\"how to play cardigan line one\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Cardigan\/cardigan-line-2.png\" alt=\"how to play cardigan line two\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see, the riff actually starts BEFORE the first beat of the song. It has a little swing to it, which is best learned by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K-a8s8OLBSE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">listening to the original<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That melody line and theme repeats over and over again. Spend some time getting the feel of it under your fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:32px\"><strong>Practice Tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As with all new things, it pays off big-time to START SLOW. This is not a race and it\u2019s far better to learn how to play the song <i>correctly<\/i> than it is to rush through and make a ton of mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take it one hand at a time. I mentioned this earlier, but it\u2019s super important. Focus on your left-hand first. Then move to your right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you are comfortable playing one hand at a time, then slowly begin playing hands together. The great thing about this song is that the hands are kept pretty separate, so you don\u2019t need to have a great level of <a href=\"\/blog\/hand-independence-for-beginners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hand independence<\/a> to master it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally, HAVE FUN. This is a beautiful, beautiful song. The piano playing is so moody and full of emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is one of those pieces you can get lost in for hours. So cherish the time you spend learning it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you enjoy the lesson on how to play cardigan on piano. Remember to grab your downloads!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy practicing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to play cardigan on the piano. This beautiful song by Taylor Swift is from her album &#8220;Folklore&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":1686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1105,508],"tags":[1086],"class_list":["post-1669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-rock","category-song-tutorials","tag-l3s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10736,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions\/10736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}