Easy Piano Lessons

When you are first being taught to play the piano it is important to let you know which finger on which hand should play a note on the keyboard. That is why the standard way to explain this is to number your thumbs and fingers, the thumbs are number one the next finger is number 2 thought to each of the little fingers being number 5.

So if I wanted you play a key with the index finger on your Right Hand I would say R.H 2, if I wanted you to use the little finger on your Left Hand I would say L.H 5.

Now put both your hands on the keyboard so that the thumb and fingers of each hand are over or just resting on five adjacent white keys, you hands need not be together in fact they might be separated slightly. Don’t worry about which white keys you fingers are on just that they are on five adjacent white keys.

You can now try these easy piano lessons exercises

Play with both hands at the same time and repeat the following an number of time
RH: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2
LH: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2

Try putting your hands in different starting positions and see how that sounds, hopefully you will notice sometimes it sounds good and sometimes it sounds bad. If you think it sounds bad just move one of your hands to the left or right by one key position and try again, if it is still no good move your hand again.

Now try playing the following with both hands at the same time and repeat it a number of times
RH:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2
LH:  5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

Again if it doesn’t sound right try putting your hands in different starting positions and see how that sounds.

Well that was another easy piano lesson that I hope you found useful. Don’t forget there is a full course of easy piano lessons you can download.

In this Easy Piano Lessons article we will learn about Sharps (#) and Flats ().

As you may have read in an earlier article on this web site the white keys are labelled A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The black keys also use these labels with one addition they are either Sharp (#) or a Flat ( ) of the note name. So for example if you locate the C white key there are 2 black key to its right, the first of these black keys (the one actual next to the C key) is called C# (C sharp). The next black key just to the right of the D white key is called D# (D sharp). The sharp therefore meant raise a note by half a step.

The Flat symbol means lower a note by half a step, so the black key to the left of the white D key is called D (D Flat). This means therefore that the black keys actually have two names in this example C# is also D (up a half step from C or down a half step from D).

All sharp and flat notes are played on the black keys with the exception of B#, C, E# and F. As you will know there is no black key between the B and C white keys and the E and F white keys. There is in effect only a half step between these notes, so for example a B# is actually the C white key.

When a note on a sheet of music is a sharp or a flat the sharp or flat symbol appears before the note.

There are different scales that you can play on the keyboard. The C Major scale is played by playing the 8 white keys starting from the C key.

Another scale is the G Major scale, when you play this scale you start on the G white key, but you play F# and not F. When a Composer writes a piece of music in G Major rather than put a sharp sign in front of every F, they write a Key Signature after the Clef sign.  So the G Major Key Signature just has a single # on the F.

As there are no sharps of flats in the C Major scale there are no sharps of flats in the Key Signature after the Clef sign.

This was another easy piano lesson in which we learnt about sharps and flats and is another step in learning how to read piano music. But we have still only scratched the surface and for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for a full set of easy piano lessons.

In an earlier post on how to read piano music, I told you about the Bass and Treble Clef, and how the names of the different notes on the piano keyboard relate to the lines and spaces on the Grand Staff. We are now going to understand how to read the Time Signatures written on the Grand Staff.

The Time Signature of a piece of music is given by the two numbers written by the Treble Clef, as you will see in the pictures below. To understand what these numbers mean you must also notice that on a sheet of music there are vertical lines draw across the Bass and Treble Clef at regular intervals, dividing the music up into regular blocks, which are called Measures. The vertical line is called the Bar.

Each individual Measure lasts for the same time duration, and can consist of a combination of notes and rests.

The time signature, also known as a “meter”, tells the musician how many notes are in a measure.

When playing music musicians learn to count beats; a beat is the name for a unit of music.  Some musicians use a metronome, a device that ticks out beats, and will tick according to which timing you have set. Counting beats starts when the first note is played.

Let us now look at some timing signatures to understand what they mean.

This is the two four time signature, which means that there are 2 beats per measure and the 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the three four time signature, which means that there are 3 beats per measure and 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the four four time signature, which means that there are 4 beats per measure and lower 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the six eight time signature, which means that there are 6 beats per measure and 8 indicates that a eight note gets played on each beat.

There are more time signatures. A common time signature is the 4/4 time signature as it is easier to count.

The following are the rules of the 4/4 time signature:

• There are 4 beats in one measure.
• When you play a single whole note, count out 4 beats.
• When you play a single half note, count out 2 beats.
• Play a quarter note, on each beat.
• Two eight notes fit into 1 beat
• Four sixteenth notes fit into 1 beat

When learning to play the piano / keyboard, count aloud to get used to the rhythm. Also some keyboards come with a built in digital metronome that will tick at the rate you can set.

Well done you have learnt about time signatures part of the process of learning how to read piano music, for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for easy piano lessons.

In an earlier post on how to read piano music, I told you about the Bass and Treble Clef, and how the names of the different notes on the piano keyboard relate to the lines and spaces on the Grand Staff. We are now going to understand how to read the notes, written on the Grand Staff.

Just like reading this text, you read music from left to right along the Grand Staff. The notes you play are indicated by the different dots (the notes) you see on or between the lines. However, there are different types of notes that indicate how long a note must be play. How long to actually play a note will be explained more fully in another post about Time Signatures, but lets not worry about this at the moment. The names of the different musical notes are:-

Whole Note.

Half note, this note will be played for half the duration of any Whole notes, so that means that 2 Half notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Quarter Note, this note will be played for just a quarter of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 4 Quarter Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Eight Note, this note will be played for just an eight of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 8 Eight Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Sixteenth Note, this note will be played for just a sixteenth of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 16 Sixteenth Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

There will also be times in the music when no notes must be played and these are rest. Just like the musical notes listed above there are different symbols for the different periods of time to rest as follws:-

Whole rest

Half rest

Quarter rest

Eight rest

Sixteenth rest

You have started the process of learning how to read piano music, for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for Easy Ppiano Lessons.

When learning the piano like any instrument, practice makes perfect. So the more you practice the more quickly you will see improvement and the better your piano playing will become. The most important thing to remember is to have fun and enjoy your piano playing.

So what is the best way to practice piano? The following lists the steps you should try and follow when you practice the piano:-

Step 1 – Try and play every day. This will improve your playing a lot more than just practicing once a week.

Step 2 – Before you start playing flex your fingers to make them supple.

Step 3 – Make sure you hands are warm if they are cold.

Step 4 – Practice at a time when you will be alone. Having other people listen while you are learning to play can discouraging if they make unwelcome remarks.

Step 5 – Don’t rush your playing, start by playing everything slowly. Later on when you can play the piece evenly and smoothly all the way through, you can start to gradually increase the speed until you reach the right speed. It will be much harder for you if you start out too fast.

Step 6 – Each week try to learn a new piece of music. Don’t worry if you are not getting everything right the first few times you try, just keep practicing.

Step 7 – Its difficult but try and be patient. Its best to make sure you can play every piece smoothly before you go on to the next tune.

Step 8 – If there is a particular part you have a problem with, practice that part on its own until you can play it correctly, then go back and try playing the whole piece all the way through.

Step 9 – When playing try and keep your eyes on the music, not on your hands or the keyboard.

Step 10 – Keep refining your playing, by correcting mistakes before they become bad habits.

Step 11 – Make sure you play some music you really know and enjoy.

Step 12 – Make sure you are having fun playing the piano and it is not becoming a chore.

So what are you waiting for get practicing and if you haven’t already done so the click the following to get yourself some Easy Piano Lessons .