Piano Notes

The most important skill you will need to know are the notes on a piano and how to locate them while playing music. if you don't know where the notes are positioned, you wont be able to play anything on a piano. On a piano, there are 2 different types of notes you need to know about which are the white keys and the black keys. I will explain them both in detail and what makes them different.

The White Keys

The white keys on a piano are the most used keys on a piano. These keys are also referred to as natural keys because of how smooth they sound when played. Each key is assigned a letter from the alphabet in the order C - D - E - F - G - A - B and they cycle in that order across the piano. The easiest way to remember where the notes are is to remember the D note is always inbetween the 2 black keys on a piano. Remembering these notes is needed to play on a piano and once you remember where the notes are, you can move on to understanding the black keys.

The Black Keys

The black keys on a piano are the keys you use to give your song a bit more depth when played. These keys are also called accidentals which stand for the sharps and flats of a piano. There are 5 black keys every octave that can be either sharp or flat which can be easily distinguished from eachother. A sharp makes a note a half step higher in pitch and a flat makes a note a half step lower in pitch. The only way to remember where the sharps and flats are is that sharps are directly on the right of a white key whilst flats are directly on the left of a white key. Once you have remembered where the sharps and flats are, you are ready to start playing songs on a piano.

Test your memory

To make sure you really do know where all the notes are placed, i will give you two helpful tips keep you remembering:

• Identify the white keys individually. Practice naming them untill you can find each note without counting from C and remember that the D note is always between the two black notes. If you need help remembering this, just remember the phrase 'Dog in a kennel'.

• Its not important to remember each sharp or flat by name just yet, but remember how to locate the using the white natural keys.