PART 3: MUSIC THEORY

Chapter 5: The Grand Staff

If you want to master rudimentary music theory, check out our free Music Theory for the Dropouts series.

5.1 How to Read Music Notation

You know the musical alphabet. Now let’s learn how to spell some music!

The first thing you should familiarize yourself with is the grand staff:

The Grand Staff with the names and positions of notes in the C major scale.

Most piano music is written on the grand staff. The grand staff is special to the piano because there’s a top and bottom part, usually denoting right and left hands.

We’ll briefly touch on the parts of the grand staff here, but for a more thorough breakdown, we recommend watching this lesson.

Treble Clef

In general, pianists play notes on the top staff, the one with the treble clef, with the right hand.

Bass Clef

Notes on the bottom staff, the one with the bass clef, are usually played with the left hand.

In each staff (treble and bass), there are five lines with spaces between them. This is where our notes sit.

The higher up we move the lines and spaces, the higher the pitch!

Notes occupy lines and spaces and they all have names. At first, it’ll feel intimidating to memorize all the notes and their locations, so these acronyms might help.

SPACE NOTES

Treble clef: FACE
Bass clef: All Cows Eat Grass

LINE NOTES

Treble Clef: Every Good Boy Deserves Fries
Bass clef: Good Boys Deserve Fries Always

But we’re going to let you in on a little secret…

You don’t need to read every single note!

To read music faster, we musicians employ some tips and tricks, such as:

Landmark notes. Pick a few notes on the staff to know really well, such as G in the treble clef. Then, everything else is just in relation to G. For example, a step up from G is A, and the line note below G is E.

Intervals. Being able to tell the distance between notes is also a shortcut. You can learn more about intervals here and see this shortcut broken down in this post.

Patterns. Music is made up of patterns. Knowing how to recognize patterns is a shortcut to reading music. For example, if you can recognize a scale, you’ll know that notes are just going up or down step by step.

This is a section from Mozart’s Sonata in C Major and you can see that it’s really not much more than a scale of notes stepping up and down.

Rhythm

What a note looks like can tell you how many beats it has. In 4/4 time signature, the following notes have this many beats:

From left to right: quarter note, half note, dotted half note, whole note.

These notes have fraction names like quarter note, half note, dotted half note, and whole note.

Time Signatures

The time signature consists of two numbers at the beginning of the staff. The top number tells you how many beats there are per measure (a measure section of music enclosed by bar lines). The bottom number tells you what note value takes one beat.

“4” means quarter note so 3/4 means “three quarter notes per measure” and 4/4 means “four quarter notes per measure.”

Key Signatures

The key signature is located right before the time signature. It tells you what key you’re in by listing all the sharps and flats (or lack thereof) in the piece.

So, if you see the following key signature, it means all Fs in the piece should be played as F A sharp (#) indicates that a note needs to be raised one semitone or half-step.

To understand the key signature, you’ll need to learn about key. In a nutshell, each key (ie. C major, F sharp minor, B flat major) has a unique number of sharps and flats.

Understanding keys is not absolutely vital when you’re first starting out on the piano, but knowing the Circle of Fifths will come in handy. So check out this lesson if you want to learn more about keys.

5.2 Music Symbols

You can probably tell that there’s a lot more than notes and staves in sheet music. Here are other things you may run into when sight-reading music.

Accidentals

A sharp means we raise a note up by one Otherwise known as a semitone, a half-step is a black and white key or a white and white key directly next to each other on the piano. Two half-steps make a whole-step.

A natural tells you not to sharp or flat a note.

Accidentals are sharps, flats, and naturals outside the key signature that appear in music. The general rule is, if a note has a sharp (or flat, or natural), all instances of that note thereafter in the same measure should also be sharped.

Dynamics

Dynamics are tools of expression such as forte (loud), piano (soft), and crescendo (gradually growing louder).

Dynamics are markings that tell players whether to play something loud, soft, or something in between. Here are some common dynamic markings:

Crescendos and decrescendos are the “alligator mouth” symbols that indicate the music should be growing louder or softer.

Expression

There are many other symbols that indicate how a piece of music should be expressed. As a beginner, you might run into these:

There are also special words that direct speed (tempo):

It may seem overwhelming to memorize all these words off the bat, especially since most music terms are traditionally in Italian, French, or German. Don’t overwhelm yourself at first! As your exposure to sheet music grows, you’ll naturally pick up the language of music notation. Just learn terms one at a time when you encounter them.

Chapter 6: More About Chords

6.1 How Chords Work

We’ve mentioned that chords are the building blocks of music, but what does this mean?

In a nutshell, a chord is a group of notes played together at the same time, that sound nice together. Chords often have names, like “C,” “Amin7,” or “Gsus4.” I like how classical piano teacher Cassi Falk explains chords and their names:

You can think of [chords] like you would a word in a sentence. When you see the word ‘cat’, you don’t think of the individual letters, c-a-t. You think of the whole system of letters that forms the word and makes you think of a cat. That’s basically the idea with chords.

As a beginner, the chords you’re most likely to encounter are triads. These are three-note chords and there are two main types.

Major triads sound “happy.” The middle note can be calculated by counting four half-steps up from the root (bottom) note and the top note can be found by counting three half-steps up from the middle note.

Minor triads sound “sad.” The middle note can be calculated by counting three half-steps up from the root (bottom) note and the top note can be found by counting four half-steps up from the middle note.

Chord Progressions

The magic of chords happen when we play several in a row, forming a chord progression.

Chord progressions harmonize and move a piece of music forward. You may be surprised to learn that in virtually all of Western music history — from J.S. Bach to Justin Bieber — is based off similar chord progressions.

Once you’re comfortable playing a few chords, check out the I-V-vi-IV progression, which will unlock hundreds (not an exaggeration!) of songs.

6.2 How to Use Chord Charts

A chord chart is a document that shows a song’s lyrics with the names of chords above the lyrics as the chords change.

Knowing how to read and play from a chord chart will take you far. That’s because these days, you can find the chord chart of almost any pop song on Ultimate-Guitar.com for free.

Screenshot of the chord chart for “Yesterday” by the Beatles (source).

Major chords are indicated by just their letter, like C for C major or F for F major. “Yesterday” begins with a simple F major chord.

Minor chords will have a lowercase “m,” such as the Dm and Em7 chords in “Yesterday.” You can play a lot of songs with just major and minor chords, but other types of chords add color to music.

Slash Chords

A slash chord, like F/E in “Yesterday,” means you play the note after the slash as your bass note while your right hand plays the chord F on top.

Seventh Chords

Standard major and minor chords like Em have a root, third, and fifth (E-G-B). Seventh chords like Em7 have an added seventh (E-G-B-D).

Seventh chords have a dreamier sound and are often used in jazz piano.

Sus Chords

No, sus chords are not suspicious. “Sus” means “suspended” and it’s when you switch out a note for another. So Gsus4 would mean switching out the third (B) for a fourth (C) to form G-C-D.

6.3 How to Use Lead Sheets

Lead sheets are somewhere between a full score of sheet music and a chord chart. A lead sheet shows you just the melody of a song and the chords above the melody.

Our lead sheet for Happy Birthday, which you can find here!

Lead sheets are useful because you can confidently play the melody of a song without needing to figure it out by ear, while having ample creative room to experiment with the accompaniment.

The fun comes when you know a melody and the chords well enough to add in your own riffs and fills.

Chapter 7: Your First Songs!

7.1 Easy Piano Songs to Learn First

Can you play songs as a beginner? YOU BETCHA. Here are a few song tutorials to check out

“Imagine” by John Lennon

One song we like to recommend beginners try out once they master the fundamentals in Part 2 is “Imagine.” (Yes, that “Imagine” by John Lennon.)

“Imagine” is a good song for beginners because it’s in C major (all white keys and no flats or sharps!) and sounds great even when played slowly.

Someone You Loved (In 7 Minutes!)

Pop songs are a brilliant place to start because chances are, you’re familiar with the tune already and most pop songs use similar chord progressions.

“Someone You Loved” is an iconic song that’s actually very simple. This tutorial will teach you the basics in seven minutes!

Happy Birthday

“Happy Birthday” is a simple must-have in your piano playing arsenal. This song is perfect for birthday party sing-alongs. After all, how else can you embarrass your friends on their birthday?

We’ll show you a basic way to play this as well as a jazzier version.

🎹 Make This Your Year of Getting Good at Piano 🔥

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PART 4: NEXT STEPS

Chapter 8: Exploring Genres

8.1 Jazz Piano

If you’ve ever seen a jazz or cocktail lounge pianist play, you may have found it a magical, surreal experience. Jazz is rooted in improvisation, so how the heck do these brilliant musicians conjure up delightful melodies seemingly from thin air?

Well, it’s not exactly magic. Jazz pianists have a very solid grasp of chord theory which gives them shortcuts to improvise upon. If you want to get started with jazz, we recommend learning seventh chords, understanding the ii-V-I progression, and mastering A rhythmic pattern where notes are played on the «offbeat» (in between downbeats).

Jazz Piano Tutorials

Here are some free lessons to help you get started:

The Pianote Members Area also has a jazz learning path that teaches you how to improvise on a jazz standard, “Autumn Leaves.”

8.2 Worship Piano

We’ve noticed that topics about playing piano for a religious community are among some of our most popular content. Which is awesome because music is all about community!

Playing for your place of worship can be incredibly rewarding because you get to be part of a team. Collaboration takes practice, and playing with a band builds very useful skills.

Worship Piano Song Tutorials

Here are some tutorials to get you started:

Pianote also offers a full course on how to play with a worship band (comes free with your Pianote membership!).

8.3 Classical Piano

When most people think of piano, they think of classical music.

The piano has been a mainstay in classical music for centuries. And people like Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy have defined what many people imagine as the “piano sound.”

Classical music is often considered more advanced because you need to be pretty comfortable reading sheet music. (Even though, contrary to popular belief, classical music has a rich improvisation history!)

Classical Piano Tutorials

We have several simplified classical piano tutorials available that break down iconic pieces:

One good thing about classical music is that most sheet music has expired copyright and is available for free through the Petrucci Music Library.

8.4 Pop Piano

Playing pop music is fun because, for many of us, pop music is what we listen to on a daily basis. You know these songs in and out.

The advantage of playing pop music is you can make songs as simple or as complicated as you’d like. You can see this in action with Lisa’s “5 Levels of ‘Tiny Dancer’” video. You can also choose to play along to your own singing or play the melody on the piano.

Pop Tutorials

We have lots of free tutorials available for famous pop songs, such as these four easy ones:

Here are some other tutorials to check out:

Chapter 9: FAQ and Resources

9.1 Free Online Resources

Playing piano can get expensive.

Fortunately, thanks to the internet, there are numerous free ways to develop skills, play your favorite songs, and master music theory. Here are several 100% free online resources to help with your journey.

Shopping Guides

Piano Dreamers is a super in-depth blog that covers piano learning options and gear. They write very detailed articles like The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Digital Piano and product reviews for keyboards, recording equipment, learning methods, and more.

Piano Buyer is a biannual publication that covers what’s new and hot in the piano-buying market. It is accessible for free on the internet and includes in-depth articles on subjects like how to best buy used instruments.

Sheet Music

The Petrucci Music Library a.k.a. the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) is an online database of (mostly) public domain sheet music from classical composers like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart, whose sheet music copyright has expired.

8notes is a library of sheet music for popular tunes, arranged for beginners.

Ultimate-Guitar.com contains chord charts for piano, guitar, bass, and ukulele. Chord charts can be toggled to “piano” to show diagrams of how to play each chord.

Recording and Composition

Audacity is a free, open-source, multi-platform recording software that allows you to record and edit music.

Musescore is a free sheet music writing program with powerful features.

Learning

The Note (this blog!) – okay, we’re a little biased here. But we work every day to make The Note the best free piano learning resource on the web. You’ll find tons of resources including song tutorials, technical exercises, theory explanations and in-depth articles like biographies of famous pianists.

YouTube is another great resource. Content creators on YouTube, from major companies to individual pianists, make how-to videos every day. These include everything from song tutorials to mini-documentaries that explain the theory behind your favorite compositions.

9.2 Pianist Communities

The piano is a pretty self-sufficient, independent instrument. Unfortunately, this means pianists can be isolated.

But communities are great resources because if you’re struggling with something, you can consult with your community. Perhaps someone else has been there, solved that.

That all being said, finding a community isn’t always easy especially with pianists, because pianos aren’t exactly portable. However, there are numerous online communities that are great resources:

You can also upload videos of your playing online and request feedback.

A word about the Pianote community…

We’re very passionate about community at Pianote partly because we share a studio with drummers, guitarists, and other musicians and we’ve seen first-hand the value of collaboration.

That’s why we created the Pianote Members Area as a place for students to learn piano together. Pianote members can also attend live Q&A sessions, post discussions in the forum, and share content in a private Facebook group.

If you’re not sure about committing to a membership, you can take a look behind the paywall here.

9.3 Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re excited to learn piano but are bursting with questions, you’ve come to the right place!

Am I too old to learn how to play piano?

Adults tend to have established work habits and are often very driven to learn music. After all, you’re taking music lessons for yourself, not a parent or teacher!

As an adult, you’ve also had lifelong exposure to music. You understand rhythm, melody, and may even be able to figure out tunes by ear.

So try learning piano. If anything, the health benefits are excellent reasons to start. As is your passion to create music.

Do I absolutely need to know how to read sheet music?

Some of the most successful musicians ever, including all the Beatles, don’t know how to read music. And Mozart was famous for being able to recreate songs by ear. So, short answer: no.

That being said, knowing how to read music is an incredibly useful skill. Sight-reading is encouraged if you want to play classical music you’re essentially recreating a song exactly how it was written.

However, if you want to play pop music, knowing how to read chord charts should be enough. Sheet music is useful, but it can also limit your creativity. On the other hand, chord charts and lead sheets encourage original improvisation while providing guidance.

At the end of the day, pick a learning method that is rewarding for you and your musical preferences.

What’s the best way to practice?

How and what to practice is a common question we get. You’ve probably heard stories of professional pianists who practice an insane number of hours, but how you practice is more important than how many hours you put in.

Practice with a plan and have goals in mind. A typical practice session may go like this:

It’s also more effective and efficient to target things you struggle with, rather than playing songs from beginning to end, over and over again.

Consistency is also important. It may be more effective to practice 10 minutes a day, every day, than one hour of binge-practicing and then no practice for the rest of the week.

My brain knows what to do, but my two hands just won’t co-operate!

This is a very common problem for pianists of all ages. Even experienced pianists struggle with hand independence from time to time.

Struggling is actually a good sign — it means you’re challenging yourself to learn something new. Just keep practicing — it takes time. If a hand independence exercise comes too easily to you, it means it’s too easy!

What’s the best piano to buy for a beginner?

Try to get an 88-key keyboard (or at least 61 keys), and make sure the keys are touch-sensitive. This means if you press on them lightly, you’ll make a soft sound. And if you press on them hard, you’ll play hard.

How long does it take to get good at piano?

This is a difficult question to answer because it depends on so many different things: your definition of “good,” how much you practice, and how you practice.

One thing is for sure, though: just because someone can play an impressive-looking song, doesn’t mean they are a good pianist.

But to answer the question, you can learn basic skills pretty quickly if you’re diligent. In fact, you can go from never having touched a piano to playing “Imagine” in seven days.

Progressing from there is a matter of time and dedication. If ever feel frustrated, you’re not alone! There are ways to re-motivate yourself, such as re-visiting why you want to learn how to play the piano.

We hope this guide jumpstarts your piano journey! Honestly, though, we’re so happy you’re here. Welcome to the piano family!

*This article contains affiliate links, which means we might earn a small commission from the product seller if you make a purchase. For more info, check out our privacy page.

Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note.

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How to Play Piano and Keyboard for Dummies

You want to learn piano, but you’re tired of spending long hours on learning music notes. So, the first and foremost thing you need to do is to clear away this negative thought instantly if you’re really serious about learning this instrument.

​Learning how to play piano or play keyboard, particularly for dummies like you, definitively takes time.

Of course, you need to learn music notes so that you can play piano songs in the future.

Below is a step-by-step tutorial that is suitable for all ages. You will be taught how to get familiar with the music notes, how to read music, how to choose the right piano and lots of other things that make you ready to learn to play the piano.

Be sure to read all steps from beginning to end and soon you can serenade your family and friends at home or even play like a pro. Let’s start!

Learn How to Play Piano and Keyboard Step by Step

Getting Started

If you are a beginner and want to master the piano, you need to determine that this instrument is not a cakewalk. Although you sometimes see some prodigy pianists, most of us have to be ready to put in work.

Usually, people are curious about how much time it takes to learn to play piano and learn keyboard.

Actually, becoming “fluent” in keyboard or piano is personal. Some might take years while others just take a few months. So, how quickly you attain your music objectives mainly depends on you and how much effort, time, and practice you spend.

How to Start Learning Piano?

I honestly suggest you should practice for at least 30 minutes per day. It’s totally enough time to learn beginner piano lessons or consult a piano instruction from the piano tutor if necessary. You don’t need to spend too many hours every day but make sure you stay consistent while learning.

Choose a Right Piano

Choosing your first piano is one of the daunting and confusing tasks before starting beginner piano lessons. Try to answer some questions below so that you have a bright idea of a right piano!

Which piano do you need? An acoustic piano or a digital one? Where will you place it? Who will be using it? How much money can you spend?

An acoustic piano can beat the others due to its perfect sound. However, if your house is small, you should consider it again because it’s too big and even comes with an expensive cost.

A beginner piano seems to be suitable for newbies because it’s quite cheap and offers great sound while playing.

Of course, it saves space as well. In case you decide to choose the beginner piano, you can buy an upright piano or consult the best quality digital piano for under 500 here to get more options.

Can You Learn Piano on a Keyboard?

This is a common question that many beginners wonder whether they can learn to play piano on an electric keyboard or organ.

In short, YES. However, the better answer needs more analysis into what kind of keyboard you have and what your plans for beginner piano lessons or keyboard lessons.

Here are two BIG notes that I want you to remember carefully.

Most of the piano teachers agree that the fundamental key for a beginner is 88 ones. But, some organs don’t satisfy this. Besides, the weight of the key is necessary. If you’ve played a keyboard, you might realize that it’s easy to push the key. When playing the piano, you need to put more force to create a good sound.

Learning The Basic Concept

The basic concept for kids or for adults is to learn the musical alphabet. With seven notes including A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, all come in order from left to right and on the white keys on the keyboard. And after the G keys, the musical alphabet restarts at A.

How to determine the A keys?

Firstly, you need to find a group of three black keys on the keyboard. The “A” key is the white one between the second and third ones. As beginners, it’s best to label strips on each key so that you can recognize them in the first instance.

Getting Familiar with Your Notes

As a newbie, you are not familiar with music notes for sure. This is similar when you were a child and learned how to know letters of the alphabet.

But, allow me to show the right way so that you can learn piano notes well! Let’s begin with a simplified form – Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Si-Do. You know it, don’t you?

Sit in the middle of the piano and look for the C key on the keyboard. It’s the first white key to the left of a group of two black ones. Start practicing this form above and remember to sing it out loud.

Learn Your Keyboard and Your Piano Finger Numbers

Learning your piano finger numbers is a vital part of beginner piano lessons as well. Not only does it help beginners feel secure what finger to play a note with but also gives advanced players an understanding of how to play phrases.

Before learning to play piano with both hands, you need to determine the right-and-left-handed piano finger numbers. Each finger on both hands will be the same, including:

The thumbs are always number 1. The index fingers are 2. The middle fingers are 3. The ring fingers are 4. The pinkies are 5.

Besides, you need to notice your natural hand position and hand posture on the keyboard.

Remember that the shorter fingers play longer keys; meanwhile, the longer fingers play the shorter keys.

The shorter fingers include the thumbs and pinkies, and the longer fingers include the index, middle, and ring fingers.

Learn The Piano Scale

The next important step in learning how to play piano and play keyboard is to learn the piano scale.

What is a scale? How many scales are there? How much importance are they? Down here to know now!

Introduction to Scales

A scale is defined as a group of notes that are connected to each other by pitch. It also offers the basic base for melody where every note is played individually and in harmony where more than two notes are performed at the same time.

According to the beginner piano lessons, individual scales are formed by applying a particular pattern to the chromatic scale. And this pattern is limited to a stable series of notes.

If you understand the relationships of the scales, it’s easy to comprehend the practical applications of melodies and chords as well as how combinations are used in music.

In this part, I will concentrate on two important scales including the Major Scale and the Minor Scale.

The Major Scale

The major scale is known as the most commonly used scales and is the first one you should learn to play piano or learn keyboard. Similar to any musical scales, it’s made up of seven notes.

One of the most straightforward major scales is the C major since it doesn’t have any sharps or flats.

Furthermore, it’s easy to perform because you only use the white keys. Its notes include C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C; meanwhile, the eighth note of C is an octave higher.

The formula to create a major scale involves using whole steps and half steps. And it will be whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half (W-W-H-W-W-W-H).

Whole steps and half steps symbolize the distance between notes. For instance, the range between E and F is a half-step. Or the range between B and C is a half-step as well.

Then look at the piano keyboard, and you find out that there is no key between B and C as well as between E and F. So, C to D is a whole step, D to E is a whole step, F to G is a whole step and so on.

As long as you understand the basic formula of the major scale, you are able to begin on any note or key to creating a major scale.

How many major scales indeed? Well, there are 12 different ones involving 1 with no sharps and flats, 4 with sharps, 4 with flats, and 3 with either sharps and flats.

The Minor Scale

Aside from the major scale, there is also the minor scale. And it includes eight notes beginning and ending on the same one.

The minor scale has three different types consisting of natural, harmonic, and melodic.

The natural minor scale is referred to as the minor scale.

Although some people often confuse this scale because it’s quite similar to the major scale, you can know the difference by viewing its formula.

The formula of the minor scale is whole-half-whole-whole-half-whole-whole (WHWWHWW). And to support you better, here are the minor scales in each key.

A Minor Scale = A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A A#/Bb = A# – C – C# – D# – F – F# – G# – A# B = B – C# – D – E – F# – G – A – B C = C – D – Eb – F – G – Ab – Bb – C C# = C# – D# – E – F# – G# – A – B – C# D = D – E – F – G – A – Bb – C – D D#/Eb = D# – F – F# – G# – A# – B – C# – D# E = E – F# – G – A – B – C – D – E F = F – G – Ab – Bb – C – Db – Eb – F F#/Gb = F# – G# – A – B – C# – D – E – F# G = G – A – Bb – C – D – Eb – F – G G#/Ab = G# – A# – B – C# – D# – E – F# – G#

Just note a BIG difference between two scales is that the notes on the major scale sound cheerful and bright; meanwhile, the notes on the minor scale sound blue and solemn.

Learn The Piano Chord

After learning the piano scales, it’s time to continue diving into the basic rules of piano chords for beginners.

Piano chords are known as a set of three (or two) notes played at the same time. They have measured values and can be played soft or loud, slow or fast.

Even, you can learn to play piano chords with both hands simultaneously or with one hand while the other plays a melody.

Although there are various types of chords, one of the most common ones is Triads. Let’s learn what they are so that you can learn how to play piano chords well.

The Major Triad

First of all, you need to know that a triad is a musical chord including three notes (the first, third, and fifth notes in the major scale).

For example, if you want to play a C major triad, you should begin on a C note. Then reach the third note and fifth note in this scale in order to form a major triad.

Let’s give a clear look at all the major triads.

C major triad = C – E – G G = G – B – D D = D – F# – A A = A – C# – E E = E – G# – B B = B – D# – F# F# = F# – A# – C# C# = C# – E# – G# F = F – A – C Bb = Bb – D – F Eb = Eb – G – Bb Ab = Ab – C – Eb Db = Db – F – Ab Gb = Gb – Bb – Db Cb = Cb – Eb – Gb

The Minor Triad

The second basic piano chord is the minor triad. It includes the first, flat third, and fifth notes in the major scale.

Although it’s a bit difficult, if you know how to play the major triad, it’s easy to play the minor one.

Of course, I also show a list of the minor triads so that you can learn to play piano chords.

Cm minor triad = C – Eb – G Gm = G – Bb – D Dm = D – F – A Am = A – C – E Em = E – G – B Bm = B – D – F# F#m = F# – A – C# C#m = C# – E – G# Fm = F – Ab – C Bbm = Bb – Db – F Ebm = Eb – Gb – Bb Abm = Ab – B – Eb Dbm = Db – E – Ab Gbm = Gb – A – Db Cbm = Cb – D – Gb

The Other Diminished Triads

In a diminished triad, the third and fifth notes are flattened. And it’s stated as the symbol “dim” or “o.”

For instance, the C major triad is created by playing C, E, and G. When transferring to the C diminished triad, it will be C, E flat, and G flat.

Now, take a look at the remaining diminished triads below.

C dim = C – Eb – Gb G dim = G – Bb – Db D dim = D – F – Ab A dim = A – C – Eb E dim = E – G – Bb B dim = B – D – F F# dim = F# – A – C Gb dim = Gb – A – C Db dim = Db – E – G C# dim = C# – E – G Ab dim = Ab – B – D Eb dim = Eb – Gb – A Bb dim = Bb – Db – E F dim = F – Ab – B

Except for the diminished triads, understanding augmented triads is also important when learning piano chords for beginners.

An augmented triad is a major triad with the fifth note raised a half step. And its symbol is often “aug” or “+.”

Down here to get a better view at all the augmented triads!

C aug = C – E – G# G aug = G – B – D# D aug = D – F# – A# A aug = A – C# – F E aug = E – G# – C B aug = B – D# – G F aug = F# – A# – D Gb aug = Gb – Bb – D Db aug = Db – F – A C# aug = C# – E# (or F) – A Ab aug = Ab – C – E Eb aug = Eb – G – B Bb aug = Bb – D – F# F aug = F – A – C#

Watch this video to know clearly

Start Reading Music

I bet that learning music notes and symbols is one of the most challenging parts that every beginner feels anxious. But, since you’re here, I will show everything related to reading music.

Make sure you read all carefully, and I believe that you can play well soon. And maybe someday, looking in to a music sheet, you could even know best way to play it or what instrument fit perfectly with it, like in “The 4 Trombones” of Mozart’s sonata. Let’s dive right in

The Notes On The Treble Clef

When starting reading music, any beginner piano lessons instruct you to encounter the clef. It looks like a big, fine and cursive sign at the far-left side.

And it tells you nearly what range your musical instrument will play.

The Treble Clef (also called G Clef) is originated from a decorative Latin letter G. An excellent way to remember it is that the G’s inner swoop encloses the “G” line on the staff.

What is staff? A staff includes five lines and four spaces, and each of lines and spaces corresponds with a different letter.

When notes are attached to the staff in the Treble Clef, they will be:

The five lines represent the notes E G B D F (or you can remember a sentence like “Every Good Boy Does Fine.”). The four spaces represent the notes F A C E (just spell out the word “FACE”).

Notes and Rests Duration

The note duration is the length of time that a note is played; meanwhile, the rest duration is the length of the pause in a piece of music.

Measures (bars)

A staff is actually not written as one long flow of musical symbols and signs. Instead, it’s separated into chunks, called measures (American) or bars (English).

Separating music into measures offers standard reference points for distinguishing locations within a piece of music.

Since each measure of staff symbols can be played as a group, you can read and follow the music with ease.

For instance, a song written in 3/4 time will hold three quarter note beats per measure. Meanwhile, a song written in 4/4 time holds four quarter note beats per measure.

Sharp and Flat Notes

As outlined above, you might recognize sharp and flat notes when learning how to play piano scales and chords. But, in this part, I will explain clearly.

A sharp note means to advance a half step while a flat note means to back a half step.

What is a half step?

A half step is defined as the distance between a key (black or white) on the keyboard and the key that is next to it.

Take a look at this example to understand better!

The white keys beginning on C follow an order C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. So, the black keys to the immediate right of C is C sharp.

In this case, if you play the Db major scale, D flat is played the same key as C sharp.

Why? It’s because when playing C sharp, you go up by a half step. Meanwhile, you have to go down by a half step to play D flat

All in all, just keep in mind that sharp means to move to the next key on the right and flat mean to play the following key on the left.

The Notes on The Bass Clef

The bass clef (also called the F clef) is used in the lower registers such as the left hand of the piano, tuba or cello, bass guitar, bassoon, trombone, etc.

When the notes are added to the staff in the bass clef, they will be:

The five lines represent the notes G B D F A (or you can remember a sentence like “Good Boys Don’t Fool Around.”). The four spaces represent the notes A C E G (or bear in mind this sentence “All Cows Eat Grass.”).

Play Treble and Bass Clef Together

Many people affirm that practicing the notes on the treble clef is easier than the bass clef due to their different positions.

If you want to play both together well, follow my guide and start practicing.

You need to have a general look at both clefs on the keyboard. Then practice with each hand, particularly the right hand firstly. Remember to label white spaces with E G B D F and F A C E for the treble clef. Of course, you should do the similar thing for the bass clef. Select easy piano songs that allow both hands together. Practicing more and more is a key.

Sheet Music, Lead Sheet, and Chord Sheet

If you want to learn to play piano or learn keyboard, you need to understand different definitions of sheet music, lead sheet, and chord sheet as well.

A sheet music is defined as a form of music notation that has musical symbols to illustrate melodies, rhythms or chords of a song. A lead sheet mainly includes a notated melody with chord signs above. Basically, your right hand will play the melody while the left hand plays the chord signs. A chord sheet simply has chord signs without notations. The chord sheet is designed to use for accompaniment. That means the pianist uses the chord sheet to accompany other instrumentalists or a singer.

Lesson And Practicing

It’s time to revise all the steps above and start practicing playing keyboard day by day.

Try to spend at least 30 minutes per day to play and develop your skills. Continue memorizing where the notes are and practice more complicated scales and chords.

Don’t forget to search “free keyboard lessons” or “music lesson for beginners” or “first piano lesson” online or simply consider hiring a music teacher to help you.

What Should Beginner Listen And Learn?

When mastering piano sheet music isn’t for everyone, some tend to play a piano by ear. No matter who you are a newbie or pro, it’s something you can do.

The first and foremost thing is to train your ear by listening to a piano song over and over again. Do until you can sing it correctly with no musical backing.

Then try to match the notes with the key on the piano. It will be challenging at first, but you’ll find yourself realizing the sounds better over time.

Do it slowly, practice with some notes at a time, and try to remember them.

Another right way that you can learn to play piano or play keyboard by ear is to play a game with your friend.

Ask him/her to tap two keys on the piano, and then you guess whether the first note is lower or higher than the second one.

This way helps to improve your listening skill and recognize the notes within a piano song with ease.

Is Online Piano Tutorial Good for The Beginner?

Yes, it is. You can learn to play piano online or register a piano course to learn beginner piano lessons easily.

All in all, you just keep learning necessary lessons and practicing frequently, success will be yours.

And soon you recognize that you can play any music like Jazz, Blue, etc. or even perform a piano improvisation without seeing any sheet music.

Conclusion

Learning how to play piano and keyboard for dummies is tough for sure. However, with the basics above, I believe that you get a good background of this instrument.

Don’t forget to jot down anything that you don’t understand or make a binder to gather great sheet music, notes, tips, and tricks.

And remember that when you first learn to play piano and learn keyboard, it always takes times to accustomed to playing on both hands together.

Just keep practicing all the times, permit yourself to improve coordination and dexterity, and then you will realize that how fast you develop.

Last but not least, if you still have queries related to this topic, don’t mind leaving your comments in the box below so that we can discuss together.

Or in case you like this post, please SHARE it with those who truly need it.

Once again, thanks for reading!

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How to Play Piano in 8 Easy Steps

Have you always had a secret desire to be able to sit at the piano and roll out a great song to an admiring audience? If you feel that the work to get to that point is too overwhelming, read on.

It’s possible to learn how to play the piano quickly and easily. You can play using chords, which you can learn very fast while singing the tune. Or, you can play the chords with the left hand and learn to play the tune with the right hand. Learning the tune without reading sheet music is a bit harder, but if you have a good musical ear and can pick out a tune on the piano, you’re halfway there.

If you want to go on to play lots of different songs, then you should consider learning a lot of chords, as well as how to read music (at least the right-hand notes). This will open up a whole world of possibilities for your piano playing skills.

Of course, you can find a teacher and take piano lessons. This is always a good thing to do, but it’s a big commitment of time and money. If you’re short on time, try the following steps when learning to play. You can start with these easy steps and then take piano lessons at a later time.

So here’s how to play piano in just 8 easy steps. Be sure to spend some time on each step.

STEP 1: LEARN THE LAYOUT OF THE PIANO KEYBOARD

This is quick and easy to do. Notice the pattern of the black notes. They’re in groups of two and three, all up and down the piano. Find a group of two black notes, then find the white note immediately to the left of them, and you have the note C.

The piano notes are named like the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. After G, the alphabet pattern starts again. Notice how the notes are always in the same place in relation to the set of black notes: every A is between the top two black notes in a set of three, and so on.

Your first step when learning how to play the piano is to play and name all the notes, getting quicker at finding them as you go. A good way to do this is to find all the C notes first, then all the G notes, and so on. You’ll be surprised at how fast you remember where they are on the keyboard.

STEP 2: START TO PLAY PIANO WITH THE RIGHT HAND

This is just to get some more experience finding your way around the keyboard. It is much easier to learn how to play when you are familiar with the keys. You’ll also be getting some finger dexterity practice along the way.

Number your fingers 1 through 5, 1 being the thumb and 5 being the pinky. Find the C that’s in the middle of the keyboard and place your right thumb on it. Let the other fingers fall over the other notes naturally. Now you should have 1 on C, 2 on D, 3 on E, 4 on F and 5 on G.

Lift your wrist so that you could balance something on the back of it. Next, round your hand a little bit so that you’re playing almost on the tips of your fingers, rather than with flat fingers. This makes it easier to play, and also makes it easier to change into hand positions that come later.

Now, to play your first song, play the following finger numbers. Whenever there is a — dash line next to a number, hold the note a bit longer:

3 2 1 2 3 3 3— 2 2 2— 3 5 5— 3 2 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 1—

Pretty simple, right? Trust us—it is!

STEP 3: PRACTICE PLAYING PIANO WITH YOUR LEFT HAND

To learn piano properly, you want to play with both hands. Place your left pinky on the C below middle C (8 notes lower). You should have 5 on C, 4 on D, 3 on E, 2 on F, and 1 on G. Now try playing these finger numbers:

3 4 5 4 3 3 3— 4 4 4— 3 1 1— 3 4 5 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 5—

If you heard the same tune, you got it right!

STEP 4: PLAY PIANO WITH TWO HANDS

RH: 3 2 1 2 3 3 3— 2 2 2— 3 5 5— 3 2 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 1—

LH: 3 4 5 4 3 3 3— 4 4 4— 3 1 1— 3 4 5 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 5—

Now that you have an idea of how to play piano with two hands, we can move on to the next step.

STEP 5: LEARN TO PLAY PIANO CHORDS

Chords are three or more notes played together at the same time. Because piano chords involve playing multiple keys at the same time, they can feel quite intimidating to beginners at first. However, knowing how to play at least the most basic piano chords is one of the essential piano skills for all beginners.

If you’re still unsure, don’t be afraid — we’ve added some helpful piano chord charts to help you learn how to play. The chord charts highlight in green the notes you should play as well as what the notes are named.

Build a chord by playing the note with the same name as the chord you want to play. For instance, if you want to play a C chord, you start by playing C. Now skip over the next note (D) and play E. Then skip over the next note (F) and play G. You should have this pattern:

Now build an F chord. Start by playing F, skip a note and play A, skip another note and play C. Play all three notes together and you have an F chord.

Now try a G chord. It should look that this:

Now play a D minor chord, like this:

Can you hear that it has a different quality than the other chords? It sounds kind of sad. This means that it’s a minor chord. The other chords you played were major chords, and they sound happy.

If you use all white notes, an E chord also comes out minor:

And so does an A chord:

Any minor chord can be made into a major chord by moving the middle note up one step. In the case of the A chord, the C moves up to the nearest black note, C sharp:

Can you hear the difference between the A minor and major chords? Like with the A major, any major chord can be made minor by moving the middle note down one step to the nearest black note. We already looked at C major. Here is C minor instead:

Spend some time finding these chords and try listening to whether they’re major or minor. In every case, the note you build the chord on is the one that gives the chord its name.

STEP 6: START LEARNING A PIANO SONG WITH CHORDS

You can find the chords for almost any song you want to play online or in a book of songs, whether you want to play classical music or a popular pop song.

Let’s take the Beatles song “Hey Jude”. The first four chords are:

The first word of the song, “Hey”, comes before you play your first chord. The next four chords are:

and then the whole pattern repeats.

You’ll find that most popular songs only have five or six chords in them. Usually, most of the song has a repeated pattern of four chords.

A lower case “m” indicates the chord should be minor. If there is nothing after the letter name, then the chord should be major. In other words, if the chord is written as “A,” it’s the major A chord. If the name is written as “Am” instead, it’s the minor A chord.

How are you doing so far? Practice these chords a lot, and then try singing along. If singing isn’t your thing, try asking for a friend to accompany you.

STEP 7: PLAY THE TUNE

Play the tune or just a few notes of it to guide you as you sing. You can either pick these out by ear if you can or learn to read the right-hand notes and get the music notes. This depends on how good your musical instincts are. It’s not necessary to read sheet music to learn how to play piano, but it does help to learn more songs.

STEP 8: LEARN TO READ THE RIGHT-HAND NOTES

Notes are written on five lines and the noteheads (the round bit) alternate with the line going through the middle of them (line notes) or sitting in between the lines (space notes). Like this:

It’s easiest to learn the lines and spaces separately. When working out what letter the note is, just use F A C E for the space notes and E G B D F for the line notes.

Notes can be written below and above the staff. The note just below the five lines is D and the note below that with its own line through it is middle C. The space note that sits on the top of the staff is G and the next note up is A:

There are two more important symbols that you need to know: A “flat” (represented with a little b) which flattens the note down to the nearest black note and a “sharp” (#) which pushes the note up to the nearest black note. Sharps and flats always appear in front of the note they affect.

Once you have the hang of reading the right-hand notes, try reading the music for a song you like and putting the chords in your left hand. If you want to learn how to play a song on piano, it’s good to start with something you’re already familiar with.

Putting it all together: Learn how to play piano in 8 easy steps

Okay, we have covered a lot by now. Let’s recap the steps that’ll help you when learning to play:

So do you think you can learn the piano easily? I hope you’ve got the hang of it. Learning piano isn’t something that happens overnight, so keep practicing and don’t get discouraged.

Get together a selection of a few songs or piano pieces that you can play and make your dream of becoming a skilled pianist a reality. Show your friends and family what you can do!

What’s next?

If you think that you have the basics of playing the piano all figured out, start expanding the repertoire of songs and musical styles you know how to play. Learn new concepts of music theory and see yourself developing and getting better every time you play.

Learn music theory

Knowing music theory isn’t a requirement if you’re looking to just play for fun and to have a good time with your favorite piano songs. However, in order to get a deeper understanding of the piano as an instrument (not to mention music in general), you might want to start exploring music theory. The Knowledge theme in Yousician is a great place to start. It teaches you many aspects of music theory, such as scales, chords, musical terminology, and more. You can expand your musical vocabulary with our Musician’s Glossary as well.

Get familiar with reading notes and sheet music

Yousician’s Knowledge theme is also a great way to start learning how to read sheet music. Once again, knowing how to read sheet music isn’t a requirement, especially if you’re more into playing pop songs and other similar genres. After all, many well-known musicians didn’t know how to read sheet music. However, reading sheet music, or sight-reading, is a valuable tool for those pursuing music seriously or looking to play classical music. Yousician has three different styles of notation to choose from depending on your skill level.

Get your own piano or digital keyboard

To make playing the piano more convenient and possible in the comfort of your own home, consider purchasing an acoustic piano or a keyboard. However, buying an acoustic piano isn’t possible for everyone, whether it’s up to your budget or the lack of room that the large instrument takes. In that case, a keyboard or a digital piano is a great alternative for an acoustic instrument. Not only can you get quality keyboards for less when compared to acoustic pianos, but they’re also much smaller as well as portable. Check out our keyboard buying guide for great beginner-level keyboards and digital pianos. There we’ve listed what to look for when buying a keyboard as well as a few great instrument recommendations for piano beginners.

Try writing your own song

Although you can play the piano by using songs written by others, try your hand at songwriting yourself once you’re skilled enough. Trying your hand at songwriting is a good way to practice scales and how to use them in improvisation. Read our guide to songwriting if you’re looking to play songs of your own making.

Practice and have fun

Many things may seem confusing at first when learning piano. Learning how to read sheet music and understanding concepts such as the bass clef, treble clef, flats, sharps, and key signatures may get your head spinning. However, don’t get discouraged. You can’t know everything immediately. Just find the best learning method for you, and soon you’ll be playing piano like a pro. All the better if you have friends and family to share your piano playing with.

Learn piano with Yousician

Piano apps can be a great alternative for live piano instructors. Not only is a reliable learning app a more affordable option, but it also allows you to learn and practice playing whenever and wherever you want. Playing music and learning shouldn’t be tied to a particular time and place. That’s where Yousician comes in.

Whether you’re a beginner piano student or a more experienced pianist, Yousician is the piano app just for you. Piano learners can get started by exploring the basics while more intermediate players have a great time learning piano with Yousician’s extensive song library.

Yousician is your personal piano teacher as it listens to you play and gives real-time feedback. It works both with digital keyboards and acoustic pianos. Get Yousician on your computer or mobile Android and iOS device.

Starting to Play Piano

Starting position and orientation

Look down at the keys. Each of them represents a different note, moving from low to high as you move from far left to far right of the keyboard. To help you find your starting point, look at the black keys. You will notice an alternating pattern: groups of two and three black keys.

Start learning piano today

The keys are named after letters of the alphabet. Every white key immediately to the left of a group of two black keys is a C. Find the middle of the keyboard, and the C to the left of the group of two black keys. This is middle C, and will be your center point for orientation.

Once you have found middle C, place your right thumb on it. Remember the hand position above. The left side of the thumb, near the tip, should be touching middle C, while the rest of your fingers curl around the imaginary ball (or knee).

Now spread the rest of your fingers on the keys following middle C, assigning one finger to each of the next four white keys, which are D, E, F, and G. This is called the C position. It’ll be your starting position for playing your first melodies. Ignore the black keys for now, we will come to them later.

The other notes

You will have noticed that the notes follow the structure of the alphabet. The same goes for the two notes below C (A and B). Since there are only seven different white keys, we only use the first seven letters in the alphabet: A to G. In other words, the white key that comes after G is an A, then the next is a B, the one after is again a C, and so on. Learning piano, we initially start on C and not on A because many easy songs for beginners can be played in the C position with only white keys.

Correct fingering

The eight notes from A to the next A make up one octave (from the Latin “octo”). If you experiment with playing the same note in different octaves, you will notice that they sound the same, only higher or lower.

If you look up and down the keyboard you can see that each of the C notes is located to the left of the next group of two black keys. Similarly, each of the F notes is located to the left of a group of three black keys. Once you identify the pattern, or simply count up from the C notes, you can name every white key on the piano. The lowest note on most pianos is an A or C, but always use the middle C position to orient yourself as you will use that area the most.

Note on notation in other languages

The system described above is called English notation. It is by far the most widespread in modern day piano learning. However, if you are returning to piano after learning as a child in a non English-speaking country, it may be possible that you learned an entirely different notation. If this is you, see below for an explanation of how they differ. If it is not you, then go ahead and skip this section.

Fixed Do notation

Students come across this method around the world, but it is especially common in ex-commonwealth countries and some performing arts schools in English-speaking countries. Instead of C, D, E, F, G, A, B, this notation uses Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si. If you know the song “Do Re Mi” from “The Sound of Music”, this may sound somewhat familiar although it is not exactly the same.

This will make more sense when sharps and flats (black notes) are introduced later, and is mentioned here in case you learned with this method. In German notation the note B is referred to by the letter H. Also, the note that would be B♭ in English (the black note to the left of the B) is referred to as B.

Starting to play

Practice playing all five keys of the C position in order, one at a time, from low to high. Play each key firmly so the note rings out, then release before you play the next. Remember the technique we covered in Chapter 3. Try playing the notes backwards, or skipping notes, see how it feels and sounds.

Experiment again with dynamic, playing these five notes harder or softer, holding them for longer or shorter periods. In the C position, your arm shouldn’t move more than the slight drop of the wrist described in Chapter 3, so remember to keep it relaxed.

Playing your first melodies

We will cover the basics of written music later, but for now we will get you playing your first melodies using a basic form of notation. Start in C position, assign a finger to the notes from C to G, and play the notes written below, raising your finger from the key as you play the next. Hold each note for the same length of time, but when the gap is longer hold the note for longer. Don’t worry if it sounds rough, this is more than enough to get you started. We will introduce a far better way to keep time and represent timing on the page in Chapter 8.

The following song is a traditional piece called Aura Lee, which you may recognize as the melody for Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley.

Congratulations. You just played your first song!

Want more? Try this simplified version of Beethoven’s Ode To Joy.

Congratulations again. You just played your second song and your first classical melody.