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How to Turn Your Computer Keyboard Into a Piano

Turn your computer keyboard into a piano.
keyboard 1 image by Olga Chernetskaya from Fotolia.com

Turning your computer keyboard into a piano is easy with the help of GarageBand, a free music recording program that comes pre-installed on every Macintosh computer. By utilizing the “Musical Typing” function, you can create music with a variety of virtual acoustic and digital pianos.

Things You'll Need:

  • Macintosh Computer
  • Garageband

Open GarageBand.

Click “File,” select “New.”

Choose “New Music Project,” name the project “Turn Your Computer Keyboard Into a Piano,” and click “Create.” A new GarageBand session will open with a virtual instrument track set to “Grand Piano.”

Change the default "Grand Piano" track to another virtual piano by clicking on the track, clicking the “View/Hide Track Info” button, and selecting another virtual piano instrument from the menu. When finished selecting the piano of your choice, click the “View/Hide Track Info” button to hide the menu.

Click “Window,” and choose “Musical Typing.” This will cause a dialogue box to open showing you what keys on your keyboard correspond to what keys on a piano.

Press the keys on your keyboard to play notes or chords on the virtual piano you selected. Record your performance by pressing the "Record" button in the Transport at the bottom of GarageBand. (The Transport is a utility area located at the bottom of GarageBand that features Record, Go to Beginning, Rewind, Play, Forward and Cycle buttons that allow you to manipulate playback in GarageBand.) Press the space bar to stop recording when you are finished.

Click “File” and choose “Save” to save your recording. You have now successfully turned your computer keyboard into a piano.

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