Whatever we do, we put our heart and souls into every note and frame.
We like to put a new spin on classic stuff and a classic spin on new stuff.
—The Piano Guys, explaining what they do
The Piano Guys is an American, five-man group of musicians and videographers currently earning their fame through YouTube. Based in Utah, they've been active since 2011 and have posted a plethora of video covers, ranging from Star Wars to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Members
- Jon Schmidt (Pianist)
- Steven Sharp Nelson (Cellist)
- Tel Stewart (Videographer/Editor)
- Paul Anderson (Producer/Videographer)
- Al van der Beek (Music and Studio Guy)
The Piano Guys includes examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: "Mission Impossible"
, "Code Name Vivaldi", "Cello Wars". - All Just a Dream: "Rockelbel's Canon".
- Amazing Freaking Grace: Incorporated in their cover of Rachel Platten's "Fight Song". The video was filmed on location in Scotland with a pipe and drum corps playing in the background. Jon Schmidt slips in a couple bars of "Scotland the Brave" as well.
- A Wild Darth Vader Appears: And... plays the accordion?
- Cargo Ship: In "Me and My Cello."
- Chirping Crickets: In the "Rockelbel's Canon" video, a cellist messes up in public. Everyone stares at him in stunned silence, emphasised by a cricket chirping. Then somebody steps on the cricket and everybody goes back to what they were doing.
- Cover Version: See the quote.
- Deliberately Monochrome: "Mission Impossible" holds only the barest hints of color after the opening sequence.
- Electronic Music: Steven uses electric cellos quite a bit.
- Endearingly Dorky: They made Steven Sharp's Nelson carry his own chair around during "Mission Impossible" to invoke this so that his character had an excuse for looking clumsy next to Lindsey Stirling.
- Eyepatch of Power: Jon sports one in "Mission Impossible"
- Jedi Mind Trick: Parodied after "Cello Wars".Jedi!Nelson: "You will like this video. You will not dislike this video."
- I Call It "Vera": Steve's cellos.
- Impractical Musical Instrument Skills: In their videos for videos a cover of One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful and a rendition of Angels We Have Heard On High, the whole band plays on a single grand piano. One or two people play the keys, others tap or pluck the strings directly, run a cello bow's horsehair through the strings in order to bow them, or rap on various pieces of the piano's body or hardware to produce percussion effects.
- Jon Schmidt plays "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on his back.
- Averted for Steve's skill of creating many different sounds just from the cello alone. In concert, he also demonstrates the pedal device he uses to create a looping sound, allowing him to create an entire piece on the spot.
- Jon Schmidt plays "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"
- Improvised Weapon: The weapons and gadgets used by Steven and Lindsey in "Mission Impossible" are all parts from their instruments.
- Laser Hallway: In "Mission Impossible", Lindsey halts as she notices a laser beam crossing the hall near eye level, then the camera pulls back to reveal a full laser grid. Lindsey athletically maneuvers through it, still playing her violin — then Steven finds the control pad and switches it off so that he can walk down the hall normally carrying his cello and chair.
- Latex Perfection: Used by the villain at the end of "Mission Impossible".
- Letting the Air out of the Band: The end result of Darth Vader playing the accordion.
- Me's a Crowd: "Rockelbel's Canon" and "The Cello Song" feature plenty of Steves!
- "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop: Used in (what else?) "Mission Impossible".
- Mobile Shrubbery: Steven and Lindsey both carry potted plants when infiltrating the building during "Mission Impossible".
- No Instruments Were Harmed: "Me and My Cello"
- Nonindicative Name: Only one of them actually plays the pianonote , and they have a number of songs done exclusively on the cello. When asked about this, they explained that they named the group before Steven joined, and until then they only did pianos.
- It was explained that The Piano Guys was the name of a piano store owned by Paul.
- The Oner: The video for "Ants Marching/Ode to Joy"
- Rearrange the Song: The whole point of what they do.
- Rock Me, Amadeus!: One of their trademarks. Their version of "Mission Impossible" with Lindsey Stirling features a bit of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16(performed in 5/4 time in a minor key), "Beethoven's Five Secrets" mixes elements of Beethoven's Symphony 5 into One Republic's "Secrets", and "Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends" combines Chopin's Prelude Opus 28 with "Oogway Ascends" from Kung Fu Panda.
- Scenery Porn: And how.
- The group has also made it a mission to perform at all seven wonders of the world, and have already knocked four of them off of the list.
- Solo Duet: "Cello Wars".
