How To Play The Piano Part For Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing
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Don’t Stop Believing is a widely known song released by the rock band Journey in 1981. It follows a typical four-chord progression and features a piano riff that is instantly recognizable. “Don’t Stop Believing” is sure to get an audience at any party or karaoke bar, and it is just fun to play. The piano part is on the intermediate level, but anyone can learn it with the right amount of practice .
Dont Stop Believing Chords Journey V6
Journey - Don't Stop BelievingChords by - XxSolCutterxXVERSE 1G D Em CJust a small town girl living in a lonely worldG D Bm CShe took the midnight train going anywhereG D Em CJust a city boy born and raised in south DetroitG D Bm CHe took the midnight train going anywhere~G D Em CA singer in a smoky room, a smell of wine and cheap perfumeG D Bm CFor a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and onCHORUS X2C D GStrangers waiting up and down the boulevardC D GTheir shadows searching in the nightC D GStreetlight people living just to find emotionC D GHiding somewhere in the nightVERSE 3G D Em CWorking hard to get my fill everybody wants a thrillG D Bm CPaying anything to roll the dice just one more timeG D Em CSome will win some will lose some were born to sing the bluesG D Bm COh the movie never ends it goes on and on and on and onCHORUS 2 X2G DDon't stop believingEm CHold on to the feelingG D Bm CStreetlight people
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How To Play The Piano Part For Journeys Dont Stop Believing
wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 29,399 times.Learn more
Dont Stop Believing is a widely known song released by the rock band Journey in 1981. It follows a typical four-chord progression and features a piano riff that is instantly recognizable. Dont Stop Believing is sure to get an audience at any party or karaoke bar, and it is just fun to play. The piano part is on the intermediate level, but anyone can learn it with the right amount of practice .
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Right Hand Chunks Part 2
Now that you have the left hand even more solidified, for the right hand were going to work on the rolls. Were going to alternate between different chunks of chords back and forth, back and forth until we have them down. The chunks that are going to be hard are the transitions.
How we practice those transitions is by first practicing only those three notes that are part of the transition. Then we add another note to it. Next we add two more notes to all of those. Once you have that down were going to practice the whole thing. This same type of process will be used again and again to learn the entire song.
Once youve gone through this next series with the right hand youre going to go back to the left hand again.
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Emergence Of Alternative Rock

The term alternative rock was coined in the early 1980s to describe rock artists who did not fit into the mainstream genres of the time. Bands dubbed “alternative” had no unified style, but were all seen as distinct from mainstream music. Alternative bands were linked by their collective debt to punk rock, through hardcore, New Wave or the post-punk movements. Important alternative rock bands of the 1980s in the US included , , , , and the , and in the UK , , , and . Artists were largely confined to , building an extensive underground music scene based on , fanzines, touring, and word-of-mouth. They rejected the dominant synth-pop of the early 1980s, marking a return to group-based guitar rock.
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Dont Stop Believing In The Importance Of Transposition
Dont Stop Believing by the band Journey is perhaps one of the greatest and most popular rock songs of all-time. And as most keyboard players who have had any experience in playing in a cover band will tell you, it gets played at almost every bar gig, wedding, or party. Basically, its a must-know tune for every keyboardist out there who wants to call him/herself a fan of rock . I am absolutely not exaggerating when I say that I have in all likelihood played this song about 500 times in the past few years . Ive played it so many times its been burned into my memory. I couldnt make a mistake playing this song if I tried, right? Wrong.
A couple years ago I remember being on a gig and the band was sound-checking prior to the performance. The singer said Hey, do you guys all know Dont Stop Believing by Journey? to which the band groaned, uhh, yeah. We all knew it so we didnt bother wasting time rehearsing it. Well, this singer had a particularly gritty, gravelly, blues-rock type of voice, so I should have guessed that he wouldnt be singing in the original key. But it wasnt until we were about to play the tune on stage that the bass player leaned over and discreetly informed me, hey, he does this tune down a minor third, in the key of Db major. The original, of course, is in the key of E major.
I need to find that same starting position in the new key of Db major.
Right Hand Chunks Part 1
Once weve gone through these chunks with the left hand were going to switch to the right hand. Alternating left and right hand practice is great because it lets the left hand sink in to the brain while the right is practicing and vice versa.
The right hand has a lot of chords for this song, but it really isnt that complicated once you know them. All I want you to practice for this part is moving between the chords. This is a practice strategy I call Practicing in Chords and for it youre practicing arpeggiated chords as block chords in the beginning to drill them in easier.
Were again going to start with smaller chunks and then combine them into larger chunks. This progression will be slow, but really allows you to learn the song.
Next, were going back to the left hand part, the same one you learned earlier. Youre going to practice this part another four times to really drill it down.
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Don’t Stop Believin’ Piano Sheet Music
You can print the sheet music up to three times. You can either print the sheet music from our website, or from Playground’s Mac and Windows PC applications. We will keep track of all your purchases, so you can come back months or even years later, and we will still have your library available for you.
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33.3K Likes, 593 Comments. TikTok video from Camden Stewart : “Replying to @yellow_.k dont stop believing u legends #piano #dontstopbelieving #journey”. Dont Stop Believin. original sound.
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15.2K Likes, 217 Comments. TikTok video from PianoJordan : “Reply to @clementinemartinezgarci0 #dontstopbelieving #journey #pianocover #piano #request #justasmalltowngirl #fyp #foryoupage#duetthis#throwback”. DONT STOP BELIEVIN | Sing this whole song with me! Ill accompany you on piano! | I love this intro so much! | …. Dont Stop Believin Piano.
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806 Likes, 39 Comments. TikTok video from Matthew Holiday : “Dont stop believen – journey #journey #dontstopbelieving #pianotok #2ndtry #repost #pianoplayer #musician #talented”. original sound.
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3.8K Likes, 48 Comments. TikTok video from Prodigy Music : “Replying to @kayceekeith22 just a smalltown girl #piano #pianoforte #pianotutorial”. B x4 | A x4 | B x4 | …. Don’t Stop Believin’.
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7K Likes, 45 Comments. TikTok video from gray_toven : “Nostalgia #pianotutorial #tutorial #MusicLesson #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #piano #pianolesson #graytoven #fy #fu #journey #dontstopbelieving”. original sound.
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Pop Rock And Instrumental Rock
The term pop has been used since the early 20th century to refer to popular music in general, but from the mid-1950s it began to be used for a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll. From about 1967, it was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock music, to describe a form that was more commercial, ephemeral and accessible. In contrast rock music was seen as focusing on extended works, particularly albums, was often associated with particular sub-cultures , placed an emphasis on artistic values and “authenticity”, stressed live performance and instrumental or vocal virtuosity and was often seen as encapsulating progressive developments rather than simply reflecting existing trends. Nevertheless, much pop and rock music has been very similar in sound, instrumentation and even lyrical content.
had the first hit with “”, effectively ushering in the sound of . At the start of the 1960s, his backing group was the most successful group recording instrumentals. While rock and roll was fading into lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances, heavily influenced by blues-rock pioneers like , were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts.
Suggestions For Your Own Changes
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Add chords to the melody. The chorus seems ripe for some thirds, no? Anywhere else?
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Add lower notes. If your harp has lower strings than are used in the F major arrangement, then consider playing an octave lower than written for the F, Am, and Bb chords.
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Customize your finger placements. I dont include brackets so that you can more easily change any placements you disagree with. Use the fingers that work best for you. Once youve settled, I suggest you draw swoops to capture the areas that are played by the other hand to make these easier to see. You can also draw your own brackets.
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Alternative Metal Rap Rock And Nu Metal
had gained attention from rock acts in the early 1980s, including the Clash with “” and Blondie with “” . Early crossover acts included and the . Detroit rapper became known for his “acid rap” style, which fused rapping with a sound that was often based in rock and heavy metal. Rappers who sampled rock songs included , , , and . The mixing of thrash metal and rap was pioneered by on their 1987 comedy-influenced single “”.
In 1990, broke into the mainstream with their single “”, often seen as the first truly successful combination of heavy metal with rap. This paved the way for the success of existing bands like and , and new acts including and , who all fused rock and hip hop among other influences. Among the first wave of performers to gain mainstream success as rap rock were ,, and . A more metallic sound nu metal was pursued by bands including , and . Later in the decade this style, which contained a mix of grunge, punk, metal, rap and turntable , spawned a wave of successful bands like , and , who were often classified as rap metal or nu metal, the first of which are the best-selling band of the genre.
Increased Commercialization In The 1970s

Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in the early 1970s, wrote in :
The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itselftime doesn’t just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial conceptsmoney, saythe category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. “The ’60s are over,” a slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the ’70s meant both an withdrawal from the messy concert and scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in and .
Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into a multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant “loss of cultural prestige”. “Maybe the became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never “, he said. “Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change the world, except as a new brand of painkiller … In the ’70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainmentand to transmute rock’s popular base from the audience to market.”
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Now Its Your Turn To Play Dont Stop Believing By Journey
If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out Dont Stop Believing at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel.
If you like what you see you candownload our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.
Subscribe toPlaygrounds YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.
Playing The Entire Song
Now, since weve learned all the different chunks, were going to try to play the entire song. The parts that we get stuck at are the parts we have to drill in more.
Remember, this is a Level Up Song. So even though its challenging, if you learn it, itll really boost your skills. If you can get this song, youll also be able to get a lot of other songs. And yes, this will take some time to learn, but its a process you can go through to make sure youll learn it over time. Check out the video to get every single chunk and guideline step-by-step in a visual format.
Lastly, my free course, Become a Piano Superhuman, includes more strategies for helping you learn piano faster. Check it out to level up your piano game.
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The Lyrics Of Don’t Stop Believing:
Just a small town girlLivin’ in a lonely worldShe took the midnight trainGoin’ anywhereBorn and raised in South DetroitHe took the midnight trainGoin’ anywhere
A singer in a smokey roomA smell of wine and cheap perfumeFor a smile they can share the nightIt goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waitingUp and down the boulevardTheir shadows searching
How To Play Piano By Chords
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Or Just Make It A Little Easier
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If you dont have the high D, then play m99-100 one octave below what is written.
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In any measure that is almost the same as another measure, its okay to just pick one way and play them both the same.
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Play each verse exactly the same .
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Play both pre-choruses exactly the same.
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The chord symbols are provided so that you can ignore the bottom staff and use the top as a lead sheet. Playing the entire tune with 1-5-8 chords is just fine.
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Drop the repeated sixteenth notes in the melody. People will be singing this in their head you dont need to play every single sung note.
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When I play this tune therapeutically:
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I dont use as much variety in the accompaniment. I stick to 1-5-8 chords, 1-5-8-9 or 10 arpeggios, and a little bit of 1-5-8-5-8.
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I keep the accompaniment in the lower range throughout.
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I use eighth notes for all four bars of m25-28 instead of ending in sixteenth notes:
The syncopated rhythms of vocalists from the Eighties can be mastered if you use your ears with your eyes. Dont worry if you dont know how to learn a song by ear. You already sing this one in the shower, right? So sing or hum as you play the RH alone to confirm how the melody should come out of your fingers. Now sing or hum that melody while you play the LH alone to hear how its going to fit over the beat. Once you are comfortable with hands alone, pair them up, and play very, very, very, very slowly, preferably with a metronome.
Refer back to my recording any time to hear and see how I do it.