Posts Tagged ‘Piano Keyboard’

In this piano lesson you will learn to read easy piano tab notation. You will also learn to play an easy piano melody with the help of tabs. We will use the popular song Yesterday as an example.

To really learn to read piano sheet music is a goal worth striving for. It will open a world of music waiting to be played by your fingers. However, it will take some time to really master the art of reading sheet music.

Piano tabs are tools that can help you learn melodies fast. They are not a complete substitute for sheet music notation but can be an easy way to learn easy melodies as you develop your sight reading skills.

There is an established system for reading and writing piano tab notation. In this system you will have to learn the names of the white keys on your piano. The first note to find is middle c. This note is located at the middle of a piano keyboard. If you take a closer look at the black keys you will find that they are organized in groups of two or three keys.

The middle c is located immediately to the left of a group of two black keys in the middle of your keyboard. It is sometimes called c4 as it is in the fourth octave of an ordinary piano. On a keyboard with a less number of keys the key at the middle of the keyboard will still be called c4.

What is an octave?

If you start with the note c and play the notes to the right of c you will play a c-major scale. The notes are c d e f g a b. The note that comes after b is the next c. As you can see the next c has the same position to the left of two black keys as the middle c. This c is sometimes called c5 because it is in the fifth octave of a piano or grand.

The notes you play from c to the next c is called an octave. Octave means eight and you have played eight notes when you play from c to the next c. This interval is repeated all over the keyboard. c3 is the c to the left of middle c and so on.

The piano tab notation we will use in this article is a simplified form of the piano tabs used on the Internet. Here are the rules:

1. The white keys we will use are notated with lowercase letters. That is, c d e f g a and b.

2. The octave in which you are to play the notes are indicated with a number. c4 means middle c. If the following notes are in the same octave there will not be any numbers after the notes until you change octave.

3. If you are to play a black key it is indicated with an uppercase letter. C means the black key immediately to the right of c. In ordinary sheet music notation this note is written C#.

Now it is time to try to play the first notes of Yesterday by Beatles with the help of our simple piano tab notation. I will show you the first line of lyrics and below the corresponding melody written with piano tabs.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

d4 c c e F G a b c5 b4 a a

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay

a4 a g f e d f e e

Oh, I believe in yesterday

d4 c e d a5 c4 e e

Now we have completed the first verse. The second verse have the same melody so we will jump right into the bridge:

Why she had to go I don’t know, she wouldn’t say

e4 e a b c5 b4 a b a g a e

I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

e4 e a b c5 b4 a b a g b c5 g4 f e

After this you can complete the melody by playing the verse again. I recommend that you memorize the melody one line at a time. This little piano tab exercise is an introduction to the complete tab notation system you will find on the net.

When submitting an order for a customer made piano cover it is important to measure the instrument correctly so that the piano cover can be made according to the right specifications. I have witnessed people turning in measurements either too big or too small, with smaller measurements being far worse, and not been satisfied with their purchase. Almost always the issue that caused the incorrect measurements to be turned in is a lack of understanding about what and how to measure your piano for the size to make the process a great one for both the customer and the manufacturer.

To begin to take the measurements, it is very important that you understand what the piano cover manufacturer is looking for. Typically the piano cover manufacturer will want to take all measurements around the outside of the piano. Start by taking the measurements from the floor to the keyboard, the keyboard to the base, the base to the crown, and from the beginning of the crown to the rear of the piano. Then measure from the crown to the floor along the back side, since the measurement in the front only took from the keyboard to the floor. It is also important to measure from the keyboard extending upward to the rear of the piano and finally, the width of the piano at the keyboard.

The manufacturer and model number are also important because with that data, the piano cover manufacturer can look up drawings related to that model and double check the figures provided to ensure an accurate measurement has been taken. We often get asked why the measurements should be taken if the model and manufacturer are available. The answer to the question is simple; when you are making anything custom it is much better to measure twice and cut once. With that concept in mind, everyone will be happy with the end product.

When you improvise you need to know the relationship between chords and scales. You can of course use your ear when you improvise over chord changes but you will benefit from the freedom of knowing what you are doing when you press down the keys to create music.

Let us start with the C-major chord. In this piano lesson you will use your left hand to play chords and your right hand for scale improvisation. You can practice improvising with your left hand and playing chords with your right hand too. You are the one to decide what you need to practice.

This article is not written on a music sheet so I can not use traditional sheet music notation. I will instead use the note names together with an indication of which octave to play the note.

Here is the C-major chord for your left hand:

C: C3 E3 G3

The number three tells you to play the chord in the third octave of a common piano keyboard. That is, a keyboard with 88 keys. The important thing to remember is that the fourth octave is the middle octave of a keyboard. C4 is the famous middle C or keyhole C on an traditional piano.

Okey, it is time to see what scale to use together with the C chord. The most common choice would be to use a C-major scale as a base for your improvisations. The C-major scale consists of the white keys on your piano. Here is the C-major scale in the fourth octave:

C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4

As soon as you can play a piano scale by heart it is time to create music with it. You can practice to play patterns built upon these scale notes. Here are a few examples:

C4 E4 G4 B4 D5 B4 G4 E4 C4

E5 B4 D5 C5 B4 G4 E4 C4 B3

C4 D4 E4 G4 A4 4B C5 E5 B4

Another common scale to use together with the C-major chord is the C-major pentatonic scale. This scale consists of only five notes in each octave instead of the seven notes in the C-major scale. This scale is constructed by omitting the fourth and seventh note in the major scale. Here are the notes:

C4 D4 E4 G4 A4

The pentatonic scale has a few benefits:

1. With only five notes it can be used together with more chords without interfering with the chord notes.

2. It is so interesting as it is that you can create melodic patterns by just playing it up and down the keyboard.

Let us create a pattern with this scale:

C4 D4 E4 G4 D4 E4 G4 A4 E4 G4 A4 C5

You can also play it the other way:

C5 A4 G4 E4 A4 G4 E4 D4 G4 E4 D4 C4

Before we finish this piano lesson we have to take a look at another interesting scale. It is the C Lydian scale. It resembles the C-major scale but with a F# instead of F. Here is the scale written out:

C4 D4 E4 F#4 G4 A4 B4

As I mentioned before the scale looks a lot like the major scale with the exception of the raised 4th. The raised 4th gives the ear the sensation of momentum and it sounds modern. Many people feel that the normal F is dissonant together with the C major chord. The F# on the other hand can be used the same way as the other notes in the scale.

Here are two examples of patterns:

C4 E4 G4 F#4 A4 C5 B4 G4 E4

C5 B4 G4 E4 A4 F#4 E4 D4

The important thing with all these scales is to create your own melodies. Give yourself time to practice slowly which will give your heart and mind time to create music.

People love to learn a new instrument or just an instrument in general. For the beginner who is looking at learning the piano, now is just the time for you. There are websites popping up all over the internet where people all over the world can begin to learn classical piano music or any type of music they want. Want to know something else? You can begin to learn for free. Okay so maybe you are not a beginner, maybe you already know the piano but you are tired of playing the same thing over and over again. Well guess what. You are also in luck. There are many websites available to you, to allow you to download sheet music from any of your favorite songs. Again this is for free as well. So nows your chance to print off sheet music and start playing some of your favorite artist’s songs.

Since there are websites that offer you the chance to learn how to play any type of piano you want too, and that’s including classical piano music, what are you waiting for? A lot of these websites will allow you to begin to teach you the basic chords and notes by just using your computer keyboard. A lot of these websites will also teach you how to read sheet music as well, so once you have that down and piano playing, those free sheet music websites will come in handy for you. A lot of people think this is a great idea, allowing people to begin to learn for free. One of the main reason’s being is that going out and purchasing a piano or a keyboard is not exactly cheap. So you can begin to learn at home and find out if this is truly the instrument you want to learn and after you have your basic chords and notes down you can then look at paying for lessons and purchasing equipment if you wish to do so.

A lot of people love to learn a new instrument just for the fact that when they have company over they can simply begin to play right then and there for them. One of the greatest feelings in the world, said by many people and artists is just having a group of people over and everyone begins to jam together for an afternoon or an evening.

People all around the world consider the piano to be one of the most diverse instruments ever. The sound that comes from it is beautiful and soothing, so what’s stopping you from learning to play classical piano music? Nows your chance, even if your free time is limited.

In this piano lesson you will learn to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star without the use of sheet music. After this learn to play piano tutorial you will be able to play the melody with both hands!

As you know Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is a popular nursery rhyme. The melody is from France and the lyrics from an English poem by Jane Taylor.

The English lyrics are as follows:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are

In this piano lesson we will use a form of tablature instead of sheet music notation.

Tablature is a type of musical notation which will tell you where to place your fingers to play a melody on your piano. The first thing we will do is to locate the note C.

The middle C on a piano is the first white key that is to the left of two black keys. It is called middle C because on the piano keyboard it is right in the middle, near the keyhole.

In our piano tab notation the keys are numbered instead. This middle C in our type of piano tab is called 1.

This means that when you see the number 1 you are to play the middle C once. The white key to the right of C we call 2, the next 3 and so on.

Let’s play some piano tab notes:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Now you have played a scale with the actual notes C D E F G A B.

Now we will start to play the melody Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

1 1 5 5 6 6 5

Now you have played the notes C C G G A A G.

How can you use your left hand? Let’s make this piece a little bit more difficult and also more rewarding to play by using your left hand for bass notes.

The notes from C to the next C is called an octave. The keys are grouped this way on the whole keyboard.

You also have these notes to the left of the middle C. We can call these notes the left octave.

If you use the notes 1-7 in the left octave to play bass notes with your left hand we can notate the melody in the following way:

1/1 1 5/3 5 6/4 6 5/3

The note to the right of the slash is the bass note. 1/1 means that as you play the first 1 with your right hand you simultaneously play number 1 in the left octave with your left hand.

I guess you have noticed that you only play bass notes together with some of the melody notes.

Let’s continue this piano lesson with the next line:

How I wonder what you are

4/2 4 3/1 3 2/5 2 1/1

What fingers should you use as you play? You can and maybe you use your index fingers on both hands to play but it will be easier to find your notes if you cultivate the habit to use all your fingers.

On your right hand you can use your thumb to play number 1 and your index finger to play number 2 and so on.

The next piano tab looks like this:

Up above the world so high

5/3 5 4/2 4 3/1 3 2/5

If you want to use fingerings on your left hand you place your little finger above key number 1 and your thumb on number 5 and the other fingers accordingly.

On the next piano tab the melody is identical:

Like a diamond in the sky

5/3 5 4/2 4 3/1 3 2/5

Now you only have to play the beginning of the song again:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

1/1 1 5/3 5 6/4 6 5/3

How I wonder what you are

4/2 4 3/1 3 2/5 2 1/1

Congratulations! Now you can play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star as a piano solo with two hands!

This type of piano notation is probably best used as a help to find the notes until you know the melody by heart. I suggest that you memorize one line at a time until you know the whole song as this will enable you to play the song anywhere and anytime!

Sharps and flats are normally associated with the black notes on a keyboard. A sharp or flat can be applied to any note on the keyboard. Sharps are always one semitone to the right of the note you want to sharpen and always one semitone to the left for flats. Sharps to the right and flats to the left. To sharpen or flatten a note you must move one semitone to the right or left of that note.

Each note can have a sharp or flat applied to it but not all sharps and flats are black notes. For example if you wanted to sharpen E to make E sharp, you would move one semitone to the right of E to play F. Now while you might know this note as F, depending in which key you are playing this note can also be called E sharp. Other examples of white notes as sharps and flats are F flat, B sharp and C flat. In modern written music, these type of sharps and flats are not very common and are sometimes replaced to make easy reading. So instead of B sharp you will see C. However, you will never see this replacement in examination music. So if you intend to take exams in piano playing, learn them.

Sharps and flats in written music are sometimes indicated at the beginning of a piece of music. This also tells the player what key the piece is in. Sharps and flats can also appear in a bar and this occurrence is known as an accidental. When this happens, all instances of that sharp or flat remain until the end of the bar. For example, if a B is flattened in a bar, any other B’s that occurs in that bar will also be flat without the need to write the flat sign again. To cancel flats or sharps after the initial accidental a natural sign would be used. This naturalises the note back to the original. Therefore, B flat would become B again.