Piano Notes

To learn piano, it is very important that you learn which keys are which notes, this will help to create or memorise melodies. There are only seven notes on a piano and five sharp/flat notes. These are C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A# & B. The notes C through to B is known as an octave, this is the full range of notes, after the B note the next note will be C and the notes will continue as listed, however, this is a higher octave which means it will be the same note as the previous C, but higher and the same with the other notes. This also applies going down the scale e.g. before the C will be a B but of a lower octave. The notes inside an octave are known as semi-tones.

One finger per key rule

The one finger per key rule is pretty simple really, you just have to make sure that you always only ever have one finger on a key, using two fingers would most likely result in you pressing another key accidentally. Also you may need the second finger to play the next note.

When playing, especially with chords, you should try and play with your thumb first and then moving across the fingers, this makes it a lot easier to climb up and down the scale.

Thumb Tuck

The thumb tuck is used when you don’t have any available fingers to hit the note required, in this scenario the thumb is tucked under to hit a note that would normally be pressed by the ring finger or index finger. This is a useful technique to use when climbing upscale or downscale if your running out of fingers to hit keys.

Basic Music Notation

Recognizing Notes

This is a whole note, this means that the note will last for a whole bar.

This is a half note, two of these make up a bar.

This is a quarter note, 4 of these make up a bar.

This is an eighth note, 8 of these make up a bar.

This is a sixteenth note, 16 of these make up a bar.

There are also thirty second note and even sixty fourth notes. These different notes let you know how quickly the note is played, a whole note meaning the note is held down for a whole bar and the sixteenth note meaning that the note is mearly pressed and not held, these are commonly used for melodies when notes are played fast.

These notes will appear on a stave. A stave is simply 5 horizontal lines and the notes are places either on or between these lines.

These lines represent the actual notes that will be played, the lower down on the lines the note is placed, the lower the note, the higher the note is placed, the higher the note. The symbol at the start of the stave is called a treble clef as shown above, this means that the notes placed on this stave will be played on the right half of the piano. When the left half of the piano is required, a bass clef will be used, which looks like this:

Posture when playing a piano/keyboard

When playing the piano or keyboard it is important that you have the right posture, otherwise your playing playing ability will be reduced and you could attain an injury such as a strained wrist or cramp. Here is an image explaining the difference between a bad posture and a good posture when playing.