Thirty days from three chords to your first hymn
Fifteen minutes a day. By ear. At the end of the month you play one full hymn for your church, with chords over the words — and you can move it to a new key when the singer asks.
Most beginner piano courses start with the stave and reach a hymn in a year. Church does not wait a year. This plan starts with the three chords that carry most of the hymnal, puts them in a real hymn on day one, and never spends a day on anything you will not use on a Sunday.
It is for adults who play nothing yet, or “a little by ear,” and who have a Sunday coming. It is not for anyone who wants to read notation, children, or classical technique — there are better places for those.
The month
- Find your handsMiddle C, what a chord is, and the I, IV and V in the key of C. By day seven you are playing the chords under a verse of Jesus Paid It All while the recording sings.
- Make it sound like gospelThe seventh chord, the bass walk-up, and a left hand that does something. Day fourteen: the whole hymn, both hands, in time, recorded on your phone.
- Play what you hearFind a song’s key by humming its last note. The I–vi–IV–V that lives in half of gospel. One fill, in one place. A second hymn, It Is Well with My Soul, on the same four chords.
- Get Sunday-readyIntros and amen endings. Playing through a mistake without stopping. Moving the hymn to B♭ because the singer asked. Day thirty is not a quiz — it is playing it for someone.
Two ways to do it
With Henry — $160
Four weekly 45-minute lessons over Google Meet (or in St. Louis), the daily plan for the days between, and your recordings heard every week. Starts any week. A few places at a time.
Ask about the next start →On your own — coming
The same thirty days as short keyboard-camera videos, the practice tracks and the charts, at your own pace. It is being built with the first students now. Join the free list and you will hear first, at the first-group price of $79.
Get on the list →What you need
- •A keyboard with at least 61 keys. It does not need to be a piano, and it does not need to be good.
- •Fifteen minutes a day. A day that runs long is a day that gets skipped tomorrow, so the plan is built not to.
- •The two hymns, free on this site: Jesus Paid It All and It Is Well with My Soul.
- •The play-along recordings from Gospel Piano Chords by Ear. Free. The book itself helps but is not required.
Why these two hymns
They use the same four chords — C, F, G and G7 — so nothing learned in week one is wasted, and a beginner can carry two hymns to church with pride. Both are old enough to belong to everyone, which is why they can be given away here and why you may play them anywhere.
Opens an email. Say where you are now and which evenings work; Henry replies within a day. Not sure yet? A first lesson is $20.
Who wrote the plan. Henry Q Allen started piano at thirty-five, by ear, because his pastor asked. He has played every Sunday at his church in St. Louis since March 2007, and this is the month he wishes someone had handed him. More about Henry →