Arts · Full roadmap · ~90 min read · 26 steps
🎹Piano from your first key
Sit down at a keyboard and actually play real songs with both hands
Activities in this path
Skill tree
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Unit 1
Start here
Course overview
Why the piano is the easy one to start on
Every note is visible and in order
The black keys come in groups of two and three
The black-key pattern is your map
Finding C
C is the white key just to the left of any group of two black keys
The musical alphabet and where the notes live
Seven letters, A through G, repeating forever
Unit 2
Octaves
The same letter repeats, just higher or lower
Posture and hand shape
Relaxed body, curved fingers
Finger numbers
Thumbs are 1, pinkies are 5, on both hands
Your first five-finger position
Five fingers on C through G
Playing a tiny melody
Real songs come out of the five-finger position
Unit 3
The staff and the two clefs
Five lines, with a treble clef on top and bass clef on bottom
Reading the notes on each staff
Lines and spaces spell phrases you can memorize, and middle C links the two
Note values and rhythm
A note's shape tells you how long to hold it
Time signatures and counting
The two numbers tell you how to group the beats
Half steps, whole steps, sharps and flats
The smallest distance is a half step, and it explains the black keys
Unit 4
The major scale and the C major pattern
A major scale is a fixed pattern of whole and half steps
Intervals, triads, and your first chords
Stack two thirds and you get a chord
Major, minor, and inversions
One note flips the mood, and the same chord has several shapes
Chord progressions that play pop songs
A few chords in a repeating order is most of pop music
Playing hands together
Melody in the right hand, chords in the left, is the beginner's setup
Unit 5
The sustain pedal
The right pedal holds notes ringing after you lift your fingers
Dynamics and expression
How hard you press changes the volume and the feeling
Common beginner mistakes
The same handful of habits trip up nearly everyone
Practice and sight-reading
Short, slow, hands-separate practice, plus reading ahead without stopping
Your first four weeks
A realistic plan that builds from keys to songs
Unit 6
Where to go next
Where to go next