Hey everyone! It's been a little quieter in here than I originally planned over the past few weeks. I've had some major schedule changes happening on my end, but I've also been thinking a lot about where I want to take The Keys Collective. One thing I don't want this community to become is another place where I dump content just for the sake of saying I posted something. I want what we build here to actually help you become better, more confident musicians. So as we head into October, we're getting back to it. 🎹 And I want to start with YOU: What's one thing you want to improve at the keys this month? Playing by ear? Chords/voicings? Playing in every key? Accompaniment? Gospel/worship vocabulary? Rhythm? Something completely different? Drop yours below. 👇🏾 I'm going to use your answers to help shape what we work on this month. Learn. Play. Create. Connect.

This week we’re putting our latest Keys Lab into practice! The challenge: Pick ONE song you don’t already know how to play and spend 15–20 minutes trying to learn it without using a chord chart, tutorial or sheet music. Use the process from Keys Lab #002: 🎧 Listen first 🏠 Find home 🎸 Follow the bass 🔢 Find the numbers 🦴 Build the skeleton 🎹 Add the details LAST Drop your song choice below! 👇🏾 Don’t worry about figuring out the entire song. The point is to exercise your ear and identify where the process becomes difficult. We’ll check back in later this week and compare what we discovered. Learn. Play. Create. Connect.

This week, we're digging into something every developing pianist and keyboardist eventually has to wrestle with: learning songs by ear without blindly guessing your way through the chords. In this lesson, I'm walking you through the process I personally use when figuring out music: 🎧 Listen before playing 🏠 Find “home” 🎸 Follow the bass 🔢 Identify the numbers & relationships 🦴 Build the skeleton 🎹 THEN add the details One of the biggest ideas from this lesson: Don't get so distracted chasing the fancy voicings, runs and embellishments that you miss the actual structure of the song. 🎯 Your Keys Collective Challenge Pick ONE song you don't already know how to play. Give yourself 15–20 minutes with no chord chart and no tutorial. See how much you can figure out using the process from the video. Then come back here and tell us: 1. What song did you choose? 2. How far did you get? 3. What part gave you the most trouble? And don't worry about getting everything right. That's part of developing your ear. Drop your results below! 👇🏾🎹 Learn. Play. Create. Connect. https://youtu.be/FIZAh_ZWnHI

Hey Collective! 👋🏾🎹 Quick update for tonight’s Keys Lab. Instead of going live at 6 PM, I’m switching things up and using tonight to record a brand-new Keys Lab lesson that I’ll be posting here in the community first. Tonight’s topic: 🎧 How I Learn Songs by Ear as a Keyboard Player I’m going to walk you through my actual process—from listening and finding the tonal center, to identifying the movement, building the basic progression, and then adding the voicings and musical details. And Keys Collective gets it FIRST. 👀 I plan to eventually release this lesson publicly, but you’ll have early access here before anyone else. Once it drops, I’ll also give you a challenge so you can put the process into practice yourself. Stay tuned tonight! 🎹 Learn. Play. Create. Connect.

We’re getting back to the keys tomorrow night with Keys Lab #002: Stop Playing Every Chord in Root Position. If your chord progressions feel jumpy, stiff, or disconnected—even when you’re technically playing the right chords—we’re going to work on that. I’ll show you how to use inversions, common tones, and smoother voice leading to take a basic progression and make it flow much more naturally. 🎹 Live demonstrations 🎯 Practical application 💬 Q&A Wednesday • 6 PM CT Bring your keyboard if you can and come ready to play! Learn. Play. Create. Connect. 🎹