Beginner piano guides
Short, practical guides for your first months at the piano, plus every lesson of the Academy's first year written out with diagrams. Read them on their own, or use them alongside the app.
Start here
- How to sit at the piano: posture, bench height and hand shape
How to set the bench height and distance, sit well, shape your hands and keep your wrists relaxed, plus a short warm-up for beginner pianists. - Piano finger numbers explained for beginners
Learn piano finger numbers 1 to 5 for each hand, the C position for both hands, how fingering is written in music and simple exercises to practise. - How to read piano notes: keys, the staff, treble and bass clef
Find any note on the piano keyboard, then read notes on the treble and bass clef using landmark notes, steps and skips, ledger lines, sharps and flats. - Note lengths and rhythm: how to count music on the piano
Learn the beat, whole, half, quarter and eighth notes, rests, dotted notes, ties and time signatures, and how to count aloud and practise with a metronome. - How to practise piano: a simple routine that works for beginners
Practise piano well with short daily sessions, slow practice, small sections, hands separately, a metronome ladder, fixing mistakes and reviewing old pieces. - How to connect a MIDI keyboard or digital piano to a computer, phone or tablet
What MIDI is, USB versus Bluetooth, which cables and adapters you need, which browsers support Web MIDI, and how to fix a keyboard that isn't detected. - Learning piano with a real piano and a microphone
How piano apps hear an acoustic piano through a microphone, what pitch detection can and can't do, where to place your device, tuning and privacy.
Written lessons, Year 1
Each Academy lesson as an article you can read anywhere. In the app, the same lesson has exercises that listen as you play.
Unit 0: First week at the piano
- How to sit at the piano and find middle C
- How to find D and E on the piano and play C D E with three fingers
- How to count beats and hold a note for two on the piano
- How to play in C position and find F and G on the piano
Unit 1: Pulse and rhythm through playing
- How to read quarter notes and count to four
- How to read half notes and hold them for two beats
- How to read whole notes and quarter rests in piano music
- How to count 3/4 time and play the dotted half note
- How to count 2/4 time and read half and whole rests
Unit 2: Reading landmark notes
- How to read the treble clef staff, starting with middle C and G
- How to read notes on the treble staff by steps from landmarks
- How to read the bass clef and the grand staff for the left hand
- Steps and skips on the staff, plus G position and middle C position
Unit 3: Hands together, eighth notes, p and f
- How to play piano with both hands together for the first time
- How to read and count eighth notes on the piano
- How to play soft and loud on the piano: p and f dynamics
- How to learn a piece hands together, step by step, with Lightly Row
Unit 4: Intervals, first chords, legato and staccato
- Piano intervals for beginners: how to find a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th
- How to play C, F and G chords on the piano with your left hand
- Legato and staccato on the piano: how to play smooth and short notes
- How to play broken chords in the left hand on the piano
Unit 5: Sharps, scales and G major
- Sharps, half steps and whole steps on the piano: finding F sharp
- How to play the C major scale on piano with the thumb under
- The G major scale and key signature: one sharp, F sharp
- How to read and play easy piano pieces in G major
Unit 6: Ties, dotted rhythms, upbeats and phrasing
- What is a tie in music? How to read and hold tied notes
- How to count a dotted quarter note and eighth note
- What is a pickup (upbeat) in music and how do you count it?
- Musical phrasing for beginners: playing Amazing Grace in phrases
Unit 7: F major, flats and changing dynamics
- Flats on the piano and the F major scale with B flat
- Piano dynamics explained: mp, mf, crescendo and diminuendo
- How to read and count eighth rests in piano music
- How to play Haydn's Surprise Symphony theme on piano (easy)
Unit 8: Minor keys and a Baroque minuet
- Major vs minor on piano: hearing the difference and the A minor scale
- The A harmonic minor scale on piano: G sharp and the natural sign
- Playing two voices on piano, and reading A5 and B5 above the staff
- How to learn an easy Baroque minuet in A minor on piano