These days, learning to play the piano has become so much easier with different piano tutorial lessons offered online. Aside from being one of the most popular instruments around, playing the piano can also be a fun and fulfilling experience. It is very versatile and one of the easiest instruments to learn.
Piano Tutorial Lesson #1 – Understanding the Treble and the Bass
To learn how to play the piano, you need to learn how to read music. The first thing you need to focus on is the “treble clef” and the “bass clef”.
Notes that are placed in bars with the treble clef represent the song’s melody. Keep in mind that you only need to play one note at a time when reading music. When playing the piano, you will be playing the melody in the treble clef using your right hand.
Notes written in bars with the treble clef signify two important things – Pitch and duration. Pitch is the highness or lowness of the melody, while duration is the length of time that the melody is held.
It also follows that melody in bars with the bass clef is played using the left hand. Checking out the keyboard, the left notes are the ones that have a lower pitch while the right notes go higher in pitch.
Piano Tutorial Lesson #2 – Understanding the Piano Keyboard
Typically, a piano has 88 keys all in all. It is comprised of white and black keys. Electronic keyboards actually have fewer keys. You will see 12 different notes comprised of 7 white keys and 5 black keys. This 12-note pattern is repeated several times across the piano keyboard.
The white notes are usually named after letters of the alphabet: From A to G. To quickly recognize notes, you just need to take a look at their patterns. They are also relative to the black keys.
Looking at the black keys, you’ll see that they are arranged in 2 & 3 patterns. Take note that in the piano world, everything revolves around the C note. It is the white key found at the left of a group of 2 black notes.
In a full-sized piano keyboard, there are 8 C notes. The C note closest to the middle section of the keyboard is called the Middle C. It is important that you learn to identify this note at first glance. When you find it, you’ll be able to easily figure out what the other white notes are, primarily because they are always arranged alphabetically. This means the white key on its right side (when you are facing the keyboard) is the D. The one to its left is the B. Since there are only 7 white notes, after reaching G, you will start with A again.
Make sure you memorize the 7 white notes by name. You also need to identify them easily on the keyboard.
After learning about the “treble clef”, “bass clef” as well as the white keys and the black keys, your next piano tutorial lessons would be about the staff, sharps & flats, note duration and finally, you can try out what you’ve learned by playing some familiar melodies. The more you practice, the faster you you can move to more difficult piano pieces.