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.

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.

When you play a song, it has a sort of home base, called a key. The song will be built around that key, which is made up of a series of  notes in that key family. Basically there are major and minor keys. You can learn piano keys quickly by playing chords based on those 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.