Reading piano notes is a little like a foreign language, except that you already know the alphabet for this language. So, it is easy to learn piano notes. A to G, one at a time, just like the alphabet, but you never go past the letter G. Once you run out, you begin again.

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.

Tags: learn piano notes

This entry was posted on at and is filed under Learn Piano. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.