Folk Music on Piano

[Paul4703]

Hi,
I'm a beginner at playing the piano and would like to learn to play some folk tunes arranged for piano as they are tuneful and quite easy to master. Can anyone point me in the direction of a website that would supply these free of charge. I'm also happy to buy a book with these if you can recommend one. Plenty of arrangements of folk music for guitar but I can't find much for the piano so would be really grateful for information.
Paul

 

[Rayblewit]

Hey Paul,
There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing!
There are just as many folk songs from around the world. Many different styles. Dylan, guthrie, seekers, peter paul and mary, international old country trad. Etc etc. . .

No-one can help you with this. It boils down to what style you desire.
Search the google listings and you will find endless results for piano.
Ray

 

[Eric Barker]

For most folk music, piano fills the same basic rhythm role as guitar. Most sheet music for rhythm instruments isn't notes, but in chord charts. Guitarists are never reading individual notes, but translating the chords onto their instrument. Rhythm pianists do the same, and you can use the same charts as guitarists because they serve the same function. You'll usually see folk and pop music with the melody (vocal or otherwise) written in staff notation, but what the piano/guitar is really playing is the chords written above the staff. Since folk music isn't supposed to be that concrete, it just gives the basic structure, and you can interpret it however you want on what instruments you want.

So if you haven't learned how to read chords, that would be your first step. The basics are pretty simple, especially for folk music. People don't commonly write arrangements for folk tunes, as in individual notes, you'd be hard-pressed to find much of that for either piano or guitar. Go out and find some simple chord charts for song you like, and start learning your chords, lots of references out there.