How to Learn the Piano the First Time
Learning to play the piano takes patience and practice, along with the ability to memorize and multi-task. Like most new skills, the more you learn and attempt the process, the more comfortable you will become with it. To begin, the most important steps are to learn the piano keys, where your hands go on the keys and which musical notes coincide with which keys.
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Things You'll Need
- Piano
- Sheet music for beginners
- Paper, cut into little squares
- Pen
- Tape
Instructions
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Familiarize yourself with the keys on a piano. The first white key on the left is A. From left to right, the letters go A through G, and then start back with A. The black keys are grouped in twos and then threes. Once these keys are set in your memory, you'll realize that the white C key is always to the left of a set of two black keys, the white A key is always between the second and third black keys within a set of three, and so on. With this knowledge, you'll be able to find they key you need quickly.
Write the letters onto little pieces of paper and tape them onto your piano keys, until you know them well enough not to look.
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Focus on the black keys. Each black key has two letters, depending on whether it's a sharp or a flat. For a sharp, the black key corresponds to the letter of the white key that is directly to the left of the black key. For example, for a G sharp, it would be the black key to the right of the white G key.
For a flat, the black key corresponds to the letter of the white key that is directly to the right of the black key. For a G flat, it would be the black key to the left of the white G key.
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Learn the lingo that goes along with playing these keys. A chord is a group of notes played at the same time. A scale is the sequence, or the specific order, of the notes and chords that are played. A major chord is three white keys played simultaneously. For example, the G major chord would be G, B and D.
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Match your fingers with the keys, to learn which fingers will play which keys. On both hands, your thumbs represent 1, your index finger represents 2, your middle finger represents 3, and so on. So to play a G major chord on your left hand, you would use fingers 5-3-1.
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For beginners, sheet music will show the letter of the key that a note belongs with. Notes are displayed on a staff that consists of five lines and four spaces between the lines. From bottom to top, if the notes rest directly on the line, they represent letters E-G-B-D-F. A common acronym to help you remember this is Every Good Boy Does Fine. If the notes rest in the spaces, from bottom to top, they represent F-A-C-E. These letters spell "face," which is an easy way to remember them.
Once you learn more of the symbols and become more comfortable with what notes go with what keys, the sheet music will stop showing the letters.
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Tips & Warnings
Choose an instructor in your area, or find instructions that suit your needs. Depending on your musical background and how easy it is for you to learn, you may want to stick with a hands-on instructor. If you think you have the ability to work hard on your own, try an online course or a book. Practice at least 30 minutes per day. This keeps the new knowledge fresh in your mind, and it keeps your fingers constantly moving instead of tightening up.
