This is technically our first piano lesson; since the first post was just an introduction to the "idea" that music is "tension and release" and that we were going to be playing piano the hacker way.
Note thought, that I'm not a teacher and these posts shouldn't replace a proper music class; this will just give you the basic knowledge to play any song with the piano without sounding 'bad'.
Ok, ok, now that you can properly define what music is; let’s apply music to the piano. First things first, you need a piano or else you’ll just find yourself lost; so get one, or get a virtual piano. I’ll be using Aldo Pianito Studio for the posts and pictures, so if you don’t have a physical piano feel free to download aldo’s trial (or google Aldo Pianito Studio).
Once you get a keyboard, lets take a look at it.
Keyboards/Pianos come in different sizes; but every single one of them follows the same pattern. Can you see it? Look closely at the picture above.
If you count the first 5 black keys (left to right) you’ll notice that the rest of the piano follows the same pattern, sets of 5 black keys (a pair in front, and a trio afterward). The same division can be done with the white keys, count 7 white keys (starting from the far left to right).
Can you see the pattern now? Every piano has sets of 5 black keys, and 7 white keys; we’ll call those our notes. Since you can identify the different sets of notes, you’ll notice that you shrunk the piano. You don’t see 60++++ keys, now you see sets of keys, and its precisely those sets of keys that will let you play the piano easily. First we need to name the keys (and if you still can’t see the pattern, now you’ll forcibly see it).
Naming the Keys:
Every set is a repetition of notes, what this means is that if you play the first note on the keyboard (the very first key on the left) it will emit an equal sound in every key that’s in the same position in every set. Confusing enough? lets break it down.
On your piano, find the very first pair of black keys (remember, left to right), now play the first black key, and now play the same black key on the following set. Like this:
And then play:
The sound is almost the same, that’s because they are the same note; the only difference is that the first one sounds heavier than the other one right? Well, that’s what we call pitch; in music we identify sound with pitches, a “low voice” is a “heavy voice” a “high voice” is a “Michael Jackson voice” (ok ok I added that last example).
In piano, we have a big array of pitches, from very low (very left) to very high (the last key on the keyboard to the right) and so we can Identify every “set” of keys by their pitch ( when we reach the same note on a different set we call that group an Octave). The sounds will be the same (the note), but in a higher or lower pitch (the position).
Note: I took the liberty of highlighting the ‘set’ of keys, in case you couldn’t identify the sets of 7 white keys and 5 black keys throughout the keyboard.
Now you know that the sets of black keys and white keys differ in pitch; but the notes are the same. But wait Loth, what are these notes you keep talking about.
Simple my fellow readers; you’ve asked about the only thing that you have to remember when playing any instrument.
The Musical Notes. --- Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do.
Those are musical notes, each one represents a sound. The keyboard has many notes, but just like we saw before these notes are divided in sets, and differ only in pitch.
The names of these notes in English are:
Do = C
Re = D
Mi = E
Fa = F
Sol = G
La = A
Si = B
and when we reach the C note again, we complete an octave.
So, let’s put them in the piano.
The White keys are whole notes; they produce complete sounds (so to speak), and they represent the complete notes.
This is actually the only thing you HAVE to remember, repeat the order until Si/B and memorize it.
After memorizing the notes (not the positions, just the notes) we can start with some real playing.
For now, did you find something strange in the order? :D We only have 7 notes, and they repeat in different pitches. Every song in the world, uses those notes; 7 powerful notes. In the piano, the notes are in order, but we can’t just play heavy notes every time; pianos have a pretty awesome sound, and I know you know they don’t sound heavy all the time. Let’s find the balance.
Looking at the piano from a foot away, can you find the middle set? Find the set of 2 black keys that are mostly in the middle of the piano.
There we go, even if it’s not on the middle per se; that set marks the middle of the piano. On the LEFT side of the first black key in the pair set resides the Do/C note. Can you see the repetition? If the Do/C note is there, can you identify the rest of the notes?
That goes on for the rest of the keys. You’ve just named all of the white notes. If I tell you to press a G note, you should already know where that is, by counting or reading from the C note, or by comparing the position that the white note take when you look at the black keys. Be it like it is, you should memorize a way to find any of the 7 notes (that’s really the hardest part of this whole thing - and you'll learn the easy way soon).
The black keys are called Sharp/Flat and they are complemented notes - half notes, so to speak. Every black key represents a bended higher sound of the note that’s on the LEFT side of the key. So, the first black key, represents C sharp (written as C#), the next one represents D sharp (D#), E doesn’t have sharp, so we go to the next black key, F sharp (F#) and so on.
Black keys have 2 names, since they can represent a lower bent sound of a key as well, a “Flatted” sound of a note. Those are identified by a little “b” by the note, and it simply relates the black note to the note on its “RIGHT” instead of the left. So, the second black key of the middle pair, is E flat (Eb), the first black key is flat for D (Db), and so on with every other key.
Now you know the whole names for each key; memorize them and on our next post we'll try a more hands-on approach. For now, note that the C note that’s on the middle of the piano (or the middle set) is called “middle C” and it’s called “middle C” to identify where you’ll start playing and ‘mark’ the neutral area of the piano (a not too low not too high pitch - balance). On the next Post we'll finally move to using the piano, instead of just looking at it.
Right now just practice repeating the name of the notes "C D E F G A B", in our next post you'll need to have those memorized so you can put those notes on your fingers.
---Lets summarize: in this post we learned the names of the keys, we also shrunk the piano; you no longer see many keys, you see sets of 7 whites and 5 blacks (which you can name, whole notes and sharps/flats). Note that when 'shrinking' the piano, some pianos start in different keys (they don't start in C, or some start with the trio of sharps instead), that shouldn't be a problem; just remember that the sets of whole notes or white keys start with C, if your keyboard starts from another note, just skip those for now and start counting from the following C in the next set of notes.
Our next stop is fingering, and the start of chord formation and the uses and differences of "whole notes" and "half notes".
You can Google those terms, to expand your knowledge; for now just keep practicing; we are only 2 posts away from playing Piano, and I'll give you some chords to play "Just the way you are" by Bruno Mars so search for the song and listen to it so you get familiar with the rhythm and sounds.
Take care Future Readers!
~Lothmak
Sloths are awesome... this one's like "hey leaf... you're green". Aahh, I wish I had that kind of life.
Hi. I’m a social researcher, developer and consultant. Bringing you news that would probably make your head hurt and some others that will make you want to hug a puppy.
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