The White Keys

Before we dive into scales, chords, and progressions, there’s one incredibly important thing to learn about the piano: its notes. Whether you’re familiar with music notation or not, don’t worry—if you’re new to this, that’s completely fine!

Here’s the deal: Just like letters in the alphabet (A ➔ B ➔ C ➔ D ➔ E ➔ F ➔ G), the piano has seven unique “notes” (or pitches) that make up its sound. Each note has its own distinct tone and character.

Let’s take a look at these seven notes:

default:
  Piano.Chart: 
    showKeyName: true
    octaves: 1

Here are some examples of an octave on the piano:

default:
  Piano.Keyboard: 
    showKeyName: true
    children: C,C
    label: Key C in Two Octaves - both notes sound the same but in different pictches
    first: C0
    last: B1

Notice how these same seven notes repeat over and over again. They sound identical, but each one is slightly higher or lower in pitch when played differently. For example, if you play a C note (the first key from the left) and then move to the next set of white keys until you reach another C note, those two Cs will sound exactly the same—but the second one will be higher in pitch.

This repetition of notes is called an “octave” (literally “eight”), and you’ll learn a lot more about it as we go along.

The C note on the piano is like the letter “A” in the alphabet—it’s super important!

default:
  Piano.Keyboard: 
    showKeyName: true
    children: C,C
    label: The middle C 
    first: C0
    last: B2
    activeColor: [null, red]

The middle C marks the center of the piano keyboard, and just like its position, the C major scale is one of the simplest and easiest scales to play. It starts at any C key and goes up through all the white keys until it reaches the next C key.

default:
  Piano.Keyboard: 
    children: C,C
    label: Key C in Five Octaves
    first: C0
    last: B4
    activeColor: [null, null, red]

You’ll soon learn how to play all twelve major scales!

default:
  Piano.Keyboard: 
    showKeyName: true
    children: C Major
    label: C Major Scale
    octaves: 1

If you’re struggling to remember which notes are which, here’s a helpful tip:

The C note is always found on the second pair of black keys from the left end. The F note is one step above that—on the third pair of black keys.

default:
  Piano.Keyboard: 
    showKeyName: true
    first: C0
    last: B0
    children: C, F
    activeColor: ['', red]