Firstly, your piano software should include all the basics: melody, harmony, note reading, scales, arpeggios, and chords. Since you have two hands, it should teach you to play with two hands! A variety of styles to choose from, and learn, should be another thing to look for in your piano software. You will want to learn everything from classical to jazz and all the styles in between like blues, Gospel, and pop.

Good software will present all levels of ability from beginner to advanced, so that you can choose how far you will progress. Learning about key signatures and time signatures, rhythms and chords, and of course a program that will teach dynamics, in order to not only learn how to play, but play with expression.

It is this ability that will make playing piano so satisfying to your soul. The advanced lessons should include things like improvisation, transposition, sight-reading, and songwriting. Yes, song writing. You will have many songs that you like, and some you may want to learn how to put on paper. Get a learn to play piano software that can do this for you!

You will want to be able to improvise. A quality piano software will teach you to do just that. Choose one that has jam tracks, so that you can hone your skills as you learn. Good piano software will also include games that make the learning fun, and give you opportunity to practice fingering skills, that you have learned and add speed or dexterity to those skills.

You may also want to consider a program that has testing, a manual to further explain and demonstrate what you are learning, and, of course, a way to contact the company with any questions or problems you might have with the software.

One last thing to consider. If you are really ready to start, why wait? Consider a learn to play piano software package that is downloadable. That way you won’t have to wait for it to arrive by mail and you can start right away. There is no better time than right now to be on your way to playing piano well!

Placing both hands over the keyboard, each finger over one white key, fingers bent slightly at the middle knuckles, as if you were going to grab a doorknob. Gently push down each key, one at a time. If your fingers are in an identical position in each octave, the notes will sound the same. If not, re-examine your hands, and place them on identical notes, with each hand comfortably in front of your shoulders. With gentle pressure on the keys, you will find you can make lovely sounds.

Learning to read the notes is not all that difficult, either. There are five lines and four spaces on each staff. Since there are only seven note names, the notes repeat within the staff, as well. With a few simple lessons, from a user friendly lesson plan, you will learn that the names of the lines in the left hand clef, the bass (pronounced base) clef are G, B, D, F, A, for which you can make an acronym, such as Girls Bake Delicious Food Always, or something else with letters of the lines as the first letter of the word.

The spaces in the bass clef spell A,C, E, G, or All Cows Eat Grass. As you can see, the names on the staff are consecutive, as well, moving from line to the space above, to the next line above, etc. The right hand (treble clef) lines are E, G, B, D, F, which you can memorize by thinking Every Good Boy Deserves Fun. The spaces spell F, A, C, E. And just as moving up the keyboard to the right makes the notes go higher, moving up on the staff makes the notes go higher, as well. You can learn to play the piano quickly, by remembering some of these easy to learn concepts.

Playing along with the radio, or sounding out your favorite Gospel songs, or finding chords in an old Elvis tune are quite literally at your fingertips. In no time at all you will be playing as if you have done so for a long, long time. Just make sure your lesson plans are easy to understand, and give you real life practice on real songs, and you can learn to play the piano in no time. Good luck.

From learning styles like jazz, blues, Gospel, pop, and classical, to the theory behind the music, it is possible to move from beginner to advanced in a fairly short time. With the right software and lesson package you can be quickly on your way to sharing your feelings through music. Just think of the time savings also. You can practice at your pace, on your time schedule.

Your piano learning software should be easy to install, fun to use, and contain a manual for added learning emphasis and guidance. It should meet you at your specific level of interest and ability, regardless of your current musical skill. You will learn to play expressively, so that your feelings are communicated to the listener in a way that moves them emotionally as well.

You should also have software that teaches you to improvise, that is, to be able to move about creatively in a given key, and still sound amazing. Key signatures, time signatures, and note reading should all be included in the software, as well as the ability to make your music “sing” by using dynamics. Learning chords from simple to complex will give you the ability to play jazz or gospel styles with confidence, and it will give you skill that will amaze your friends.

If you have the right piano learning software, it will also include the more advanced aspects of piano playing, including how to write a song, improvise, and transpose a song (changing from one key to another). You should have games to help make the learning fun, and drive home the lessons and skills that are being taught. And of course, the basics of scales and chords, including the ones from blues and jazz and Gospel styles, will round out your learning experience.

You will want your piano software to include fingering exercises, because initial finger placement is important.  And of course there should be self testing so you can be assured that you have understood what you are trying to learn.

One other thing, good piano learning software will include piano jam tracks, which will include rhythm sections with which to play. These will help you learn to play by ear in a variety of styles and settings. Have a great time learning to play.

You CAN learn to play all kinds of songs, and learn chords and scales and note names, too. It is never too late to learn. The older we get, the more fun learning is. What was a chore as a young person becomes interesting, and an exciting challenge, as we mature. We value what we are learning. You know that music can soothe your nerves, stimulate your creativity, and is an expression of all that is within your heart and soul.

All it really takes is some basic knowledge of the piano and how it works, a little effort to learn some notes and chords, and an ear to know what sounds good and what appeals to your sense of style. Do you like jazz? Old time rock and roll? What about church music? Or some classical style sounds? Want to play with the radio, or a CD of your favorite artist, or entertain family with your new abilities? You can do all this and more when you learn songs on piano!

With the right materials and instruction, you can teach yourself all you need to know to accomplish this and more. Easy to install software on your computer, and a user-friendly manual, can make teaching yourself a reality at last. And of course, games will make the learning all the more fun. You can learn how to read music to groove to jazz, blues, classical, pop, and more.

Armed with this knowledge, you will at last learn songs on piano. It won’t matter if you are a beginner, and don’t know a thing about music except what you like to listen to. It won’t matter if you had a few lessons when you were young, and remember where middle C is, but have no idea how to read the music anymore. Even if you are an advanced pianist, and want to learn new styles, the right program can teach anyone at any level of learning.

So what are you waiting for? Since you are interested enough to be reading this, you are interested enough to learn songs on piano. The time is now, the lesson tools are available, you have the ability to learn, and there are lessons that can teach you everything you need to know to learn notes, timing, rhythm, and a whole lot more. Don’t delay any longer. Reach for your musical dream today!

Do you want to learn to play piano, write your own songs down, transpose a key to a song you already know how to play? Do you want to increase your knowledge, and expand your skill to a variety of musical styles? Quality learn piano software should be user-friendly. After all, the idea is to be able to teach yourself. So, you will want one that is easy to install, and that offers both game-style learning, and has a “help section” for when you get stuck, or have questions.

The most helpful learn piano software will be keyboard compatible, be able to make printouts, and be able to import sheet music. For beginners, you will want to be sure that your program will teach you proper fingering, music reading and notation, scales, rhythm, and to use both hands!

Investigate the software well. Does the program you are contemplating purchasing offer interactive feedback? That is a huge benefit in a good product. Does it track as you play? Is there a mixer, metronome, and accompaniment? In addition, don’t forget the all important manual! The best products will also have phone support and a FAQ section for trouble-shooting.

One of the best things about  learn piano software, as opposed to lesson taking, is the game feature. What a fun way to learn, and score keeping is certainly more relaxing than worrying about a grade!

Music composition is also a plus. As you play around with chords that sound pleasing to you, and find scales that you can play easily and with enjoyment, you will want a software program that allows you to compose music, without having to pay for a copyright first. But of course, once down in your program, you may find that the music you have written is a song worthy of copyrighting and selling. Wouldn’t that be a fun end to a day of practice?

Investigating any learn piano software ahead of purchase will make it easier for you to learn easily and quickly. Purchasing the cheapest product will most likely result in purchasing a second product to complete the needed learning capabilities. Make sure that the program offers all you need, to help you down the path to a more musical life in an easy, fun way.

You can teach yourself piano by answering just a few questions. What style appeals to you most? What do you want to play? Do you want to play for yourself, your friends, your church? Armed with these answers, you will be able to identify the fastest way to accomplish your goals.

Know that just as the alphabet runs consecutively A through G, so do the keys on the piano. Moving to the right on the keyboard moves you higher up in sound and pitch. Conversely, moving to the left on the keyboard moves you down, or lower, in sound and pitch.

It is easy to learn quickly, when you think about your left hand as setting the name of the chords, and your right hand as filling in the sound to get what sounds pleasant to your ears. Place your fingers on the keyboard with your fingers gently curved, as over a doorknob, with the back of your hands flat enough to place a quarter on them,  without the quarter sliding off. This will help you play without muscle fatigue. Keep your hands loose and your fingers gently curved.

Seat yourself in the center of the keyboard. If using a standard piano, you should sit in front of the name of the piano. This will put you in the middle of the range of the keyboard, and about at a comfortable singing range. Yes, you can teach yourself piano by singing along with your playing, matching your voice to your fingers.

Start by using every other white key, matching these with every other finger on your hands. Use your eyes to find the patterns of white keys and black keys, and match your left hand to your right. Remember the style that appeals to you most? Begin singing or humming and playing to match the sound. Don’t let wrong notes or note groupings scare you off. You will to play, just as quickly, by the sounds that are not good as by those that are!

There are many easy to learn lesson plans available on the market, that can help you quickly master these piano fundamentals. Don’t be afraid to use them. In no time at all, you can teach yourself piano.

Rocket Piano

On a standard piano there are 88 keys, with black keys in groupings of two and three keys. Each time the sets of 2 black keys occur is called an octave, meaning eight, because the names of the keys repeat. It is this repetition that makes learning the piano much less difficult than it might appear.

If you will look at a grouping of two black keys, you will see that there is a white key just to the left of the first one, a white key between the two black keys, and a white key just to the right of the second. That first white key, just to the left of the first black key, is a C.

Look to see how many C keys you can find on the piano. Each time you see the set of two black keys, that first white key to the left of the first of the two black keys is a C.

While learning the piano, remember that you already know all the names of the white keys. You learned them before Kindergarten. With your right hand locate your C key, put your middle finger on it, and then put your index finger on the key just next to it to the left, and your thumb just next to your index finger and you should be on the key named A.

The white keys are named in order from A to G. Once you get to G, begin again at A. This repeats 8 times on a standard piano. Though there is not a black key at the bottom of the piano, the first note is an A.

The tricky part about learning the piano is learning the black keys. These keys can have two names. If named from the key above, it takes that name plus a flat. So, the key below the C key is B, therefore the black key just directly to the left is called B-flat. If traveling up from the A key, however, that same black key is called A-sharp.

So to put it simply, think of going up on the black keys as sharps and going down onto the black keys as flats. You will learn more about these keys in coming lessons.

One more thing about playing the piano that might be of interest to you. There are some very good step by step instruction programs available, that will help you master these basics quickly and easily. The best of the bunch will teach you while you are learning to play real songs. So, take the big step, and learning the piano will be fun and easy.

Since the note names do repeat so many times, it is easier to divide them up by placing them on a staff. But before you let that intimidate you, hold your hand out in front of you with your palms facing you, and your fingers facing parallel to your body. Let your fingers represent the lines of the staff and the place between your fingers the spaces on the staff.

You have five lines and spaces in the bass (pronounced “base”) clef, and five lines and spaces in the treble clef. And of those 10 in the left, and 10 in the right, there are only seven note names. So it really is easy to learn piano notes!

By reading the clef as line, space, line, space, etc. you can easily name them with their key names. In the left hand, the bass clef, the first line at the bottom is G. Remember that when you reach G in the music alphabet you begin the alphabet again. So the space just above the line named G is A. The line just above is B, the next space is C, then D, all the way to the top line of the left hand staff, which is an A. Were you able to get them all?

To learn piano notes in the treble clef, put your right hand palm in front of you with your fingers facing left. The bottom line is an E. The space above will be F, next another line which will be G, then, remembering to begin the alphabet again, the next space will be an A, and so on until you reach the top line, which is an F.

There is a space between the clefs, when written on paper. It is in this space that your hands meet on middle C. Since the left hand clef (the bass clef) ends on a line named A, the space above that is B, and then comes another line note named C.

We would draw a small line just large enough for a note in that space for this C, which is middle C. The right hand clef (the treble clef) begins on that bottom line, E. So the space just underneath that is a D, and the line below that is middle C, the same note as when coming up from the bottom. Now you know the secret to learn piano notes.

For example, the key of C major has no sharps or flats. So this key is played on white keys alone, in chords built in triads, or thirds. But there are wonderful exceptions when you augment or diminish chords with a black key here or there, and in the right combination these chords can set a whole new dimension to your playing.

The chords in a major key are built on series of whole (two notes separated by a note) and half (two notes next to each other), or step-and-a-half combinations. You can make a song sound longing, sad, or mournful by playing the song in a minor key, easily done by lowering the third of the chord by a half step.

When you learn piano keys, there are also other keys more commonly referred to as modes, the most common of which are Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Phrygian. These scales are used, for instance, in bluegrass. There are also older church modes, called Gregorian.

All this fancy talk just goes to show that there are lots and lots of ways to play piano keys. And, once you have identified the key you want to play in, you can race up and down the keyboard in scales and chords, mixing up styles, and changing keys, to suit your style.

To help you learn piano keys, some find it helpful to listen to a favorite piece of music, and try to play along. It is most helpful to listen to many songs in the style you enjoy, until you learn to recognize the key of the song. This will help you duplicate the sound more quickly.

The most important thing to do, when you learn piano keys, is to spend a lot of time playing at the piano. Remember to think of this time not as practicing, but as playing. Practicing conjures up thoughts of dull repetition and boring scales.

Playing notes in consecutive order, skipping, combining white and black keys in a set pattern will guarantee eventual success in many different keys. Make use of your eyes to spot key patterns, your ears to hear your success, and your voice to sing the notes you want to play. In this manner you will ultimately learn piano keys.

Start with a simple pattern, using your right hand. To learn how to play piano chords in the key of C, use your thumb, middle finger, and pinky. Place your thumb on C, your middle finger on E, and pinky on G. This is a simple C chord. You may also play this chord with your left hand, placing your pinky on C, your middle finger on E, and your thumb on G. Play this chord several times until you have the sound of it in your head.

Now, change the position of your fingers without changing the name of the notes. Place your right thumb on G, your middle finger on C, and your pinky on E. Notice how this changes the sound?

Be mindful, too, as you learn new chords, of the way your hand lays on the keys. Generally, to start with, every note gets one finger. So, C, D, E, F, and G played with the right hand will get thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers, respectively. When you learn different types of chords that are minor, diminished, augmented, and suspended, your finger positions will change from every other white key, to adding a black key, or two, to your basic chord. This will, at times, bunch up your fingers to playing “neighbor“ notes.

So, let’s play with that C chord you have mastered, and learn how to play piano chords with the left hand naming the chord, and the right hand making the full chord. Play a low C with your left thumb, and C, E, and G with your right hand, as we discussed above, using first (thumb), middle, and pinky fingers. Listen to that chord! Now, place your left pinky finger down on F, and move your third and fifth fingers, of the right hand, each up one white key.

Play them all together now. Lovely! Move your right hand fingers to their original position, and play a G with your left hand. Like that progression? Now return your hands to their original position. You have now played a I, IV, V, I , or C, F, G, C chord progression.

By remembering your finger position, you can have great success if you continue listening and learning how to play piano chords. Like many things in life, practice will make you better. You just need to learn the right ways, and Rocket Piano can do that for you. Soon, you’ll be a master!