“The piano ain’t got no wrong notes,” said the free-flowing, flawless Thelonius Monk. Marvin Gaye, however, stared at the 88 keys and was looking for more: “These can’t be the only notes in the world. There’s got to be others some place, in some dimension, between the cracks on the piano keys.” Perhaps that’s where his own combinations of notes came in. The pianoforte, whether honky tonk upright or elegant 12ft Steinway, has always offered music on a grand scale, a place to express a full range of emotions. And among the greatest, Frédéric Chopin, in his darkest moments, declared that “sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano”. What virtuoso despair that must have been to witness.

Such deep emotions, however, can be reproduced or reinterpreted by others. Here they are reflected in Roman Polanksi’s Oscar-winning film, The Pianist, based on the autobiography of Polish Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman.

From the Italian for soft (piano) and loud (forte), the pianoforte has been the instrument of choice for songwriters and composers for centuries. Thought to be the invention of Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (1655–1731), it has been improved and transformed in sound and quality considerably since early models, but the principal idea has remained the same. It is a wooden case surrounding a soundboard with metal strings hit by soft hammers, controlled by a clever key mechanism with an ingenious wooden knuckle-type slip design, allowing the player to control the velocity, volume and expression by the subtlest touch. My mum used to knock out a few boogie woogie, jazz and sometimes classical pieces when I was young, and I loved to stand on a chair and stare down in fascination past the open lid as the piano’s insides became, to me, a blur of cavorting felt bumblebees kissing the strings, sometimes buzzing.

The parameters for this subject are any songs or musical pieces in which the piano has a dominant role or significant moment. The piano as an instrument can also be mentioned by name in lyrics, and the same rules can be applied to the piano’s mechanical cousins, the clavichord, harpsichord, and because of its name, the African thumb piano. However, this topic, as broad as the piano’s range, excludes any kind of windpipe or electric organ or keyboard synthesizer other than those which are strictly piano in sound. The organ will have its own show another day.

Your piano selections, I predict, will take us to a form of musical heaven. This place might be a dusty ragtime or early blues bar at the turn of the 20th century, a Rachmaninov concerto, or a diamond-encrusted nirvana à la Liberace. But in his own damned fine sublime way, let’s close with a burst from the man who famously remarked: “If I’m going to hell, I’m taking a piano with me.” Go, Jerry.

So from classical to ragtime, jazz to pop, as a solo, accompanying or rhythm instrument or in lyrics, put in your piano-based song suggestions to this week’s guru who has fingers on all the keys, and undoubtedly the pedals, the sagacious Shoegazer. Song suggestions should be put in comments by last orders (11pm BST) on Monday 25 August for the results blog on Thursday 28 August.

To increase the likelihood of your nomination being considered, please:

• Tell us why it’s a worthy contender.
• Quote lyrics if helpful, but for copyright reasons no more than a third of a song’s words.
• Provide a link to the song. We prefer Muzu or YouTube, but Spotify, SoundCloud or Grooveshark are fine.
• Listen to others people’s suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist.
• If you have a good theme for Readers recommend, or if you’d like to volunteer to compile a playlist, please email peter.kimpton@theguardian.com
• There’s a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are “zedded”, at the Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of “zedded”, “donds” and other strange words used by RR regulars.
• Many RR regulars also congregate at the ‘Spill blog.