Learn How To Play the Piano Keyboard

One look at the piano and the first thought one gets is “So many keys? How do I know which is which”? Well, let’s see if we can demystify the piano for you so you cannot only learn piano keyboard but also learn how to play the piano keyboard.

The textbook definition of a musical keyboard would be “A set of adjacent depressible levers or keys” especially on a piano. The western musical scale comprises 12 notes that include small short keys and large long keys that repeat “at the interval of an octave”. On your piano keyboard layout, you will see long white keys and shorter black keys. The white keys represent the 7 “natural” notes of the scale C major, that are, C,D,E,F,G,A,B. raised and set in black are the remaining 5 notes, that are, C♯/D♭, D♯/E♭, F♯/G♭, G♯/A♭, A♯/B, but these are not part of the C major scale.

In the piano key chart, remember that the keys are not the notes and each key can have 2 or more different names. The black keys are either a flat or a sharp. A sharp is identified by the italicized pound sign or # and it indicates that you have to play the next HIGHER key which could be white or black. A flat looks like a small ‘b’ and it indicates that you have to play the next LOWER key on the piano keyboard which again can be either black or white.

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Here is a piano keyboard diagram so you know what your piano keys layout looks like –

You can see here that the 7 “natural” notes are repeated across the keyboard. For beginners, the first thing to learn is the middle row of white keys that is C, D, E, F, G, A, and B.

Here is a piano keyboard diagram that shows you what the piano key chart looks like -

Look carefully and you will see the sharps and flats. The reason why keys do a double job is because the piano would have been impossible to play if every flat, sharp, double flat etc had their own key. The notes are called enharmonic as they are very close in pitch and most people cannot tell the difference but they are essential when you play a piece of music. Now the black key between ‘D’ and ‘E’ can be considered as a ‘D#’ sharp or an ‘Eb’ flat and so on and so forth.

Your keyboard chord chart is the one that guides you on how you can play a range of chords and scales. The keyboard chord chart is basically a visual image of the keyboard where the black dots indicate the keys to be played. All types of scales, modes and chords can be found by beginners and skilled players alike on a keyboard chord chart.

So now that the piano keyboard is not a mystery anymore you can now learn how to play the piano keyboard.

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