Why We Love the Piano Guys: Fun, Beautiful Classical Music

The uber-talented Piano Guys play brilliantly composed songs that are moving, mind-blowing, and even comical.

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Some of their best songs are sophisticated mash-ups of pop music and classical. Love them!

My children and I listen to a lot more classical music because of them. Many of their videos have over 20 million views! How many of those are from people like me who can’t get enough, I wonder?

It’s easy for me to put on a YouTube playlist in the background and groove along in the kitchen. If the kids look up from their play, they see pianos and cellos, beautiful nature scenery from around the world, and people who are engaged in the creativity of life.

The Piano Guys are: Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson and Al van der Beek. Jon (piano) and Steven (cello) are the front men, but the all of them are awesome musicians.

I used to play the cello, and would still love to pick it up again . . . one day. The things they do with cellos are genius.

When I went to the Piano Guys website, after I read the bios of the people, I clicked on the cello bios. Steven Nelson, who might just be my current fav musician, has ten (10!) cellos that he uses regularly, and two of them are named after the god Thor!

Take this rendition of Moonlight Sonata, inspired by Beethoven.

And this one: The Cello Song, inspired by Bach.

A fun, wonderfully geeky sense of humor comes through in some of their videos, like this funky song where the Jackson 5 and Bach clash as the 1700’s meet the 1970’s. I can’t not dance!

I’m totally in love with this Amazing Grace version of Fight Song. It’s set in Scotland and the pipes get me every time!

I love songs that blend Amazing Grace into the composition. In fact, here’s my version of Amazing Grace, a blues version of the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” on my album, Gratitude. Okay, so it’s not funky like the Piano Guys, but it’s pretty, and will calm you right down in case you’ve been watching too much epic music before bedtime.

The Piano Guys film in some of the most incredible locations:

This video was shot in an ice castle! Disney’s Frozen “Let it Go” meets Vivaldi:

And this beauty is on the Great Wall of China!

I keep telling people about the Piano Guys, and am surprised when they’ve never heard of these world-class musicians!

(No, they don’t pay me, I just love their music.) Thus this blog post.

What’s your favorite Piano Guys video, and why do you love them? Comment and let me know – I’ll add the video here!