Welcome to the first tutorial in our step-by-step piano tutorial for beginners series.
In this tutorial, we will see the basic principles that you need to know before starting to play.
This post will cover the following subjects:
- What is music?
- What are musical notes?
- The 12 musical notes
- How musical notes are classified
What is music?
Before getting into the matter, we have to have a clear definition of what music is.
Music is a collection of sounds that are pleasing to hear. Simply stated, music consists of a continuous flow of silences and sounds.
Now we will see what those sounds are and what they are called.
What are the musical notes?
Musical notes are the sounds that make up music.
Any sound source, including voices, musical instruments, and even commonplace objects like whistles or falling coins, can produce them. In short, everything we hear comes from a sound.
Each sound has a unique name, and we’ll learn them in the next section.
The 12 Musical Notes
In music, there are seven basic notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. These notes are like the colors of a rainbow, each with its own special sound. Imagine playing the white keys on a piano, one by one, to hear these seven notes.
But there are also other notes that we can play, called sharps and flats.
Sharps (#) make the notes sound a little higher, like adding a bit of sunshine to the rainbow.
Flats (b) make the notes sound a little lower, like adding a bit of shade.
These sharps and flats are like the different shades and tints of each color, giving us even more variety in the music we can create.
In the image, we can see that the main notes are seven: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. And these notes are repeated by adding a sharp sign (#) or a flat sign (b), which form the 12 notes of music.
The altered notes, i.e., sharps and flats, represent the black keys of the piano.
So, you can find the sharps and flats on the black keys of the piano. It might take a little practice to learn all 12 notes, but don’t worry, we’ll take it step-by-step in the next lesson.
However, you have to learn these twelve musical notes by heart, no matter what, since they are the basis for learning any instrument.
How Musical Notes are Classified
There are two main groups in which these musical notes are classified, and they are the following:
Natural Notes
Natural notes are the notes that do not have any alteration, that is, which do not have any sharp (#) or flat (b) signs and are:
C, D, E, F, G, A, and B.
These natural notes represent the white keys on the keyboard.
Altered Notes
Altered notes are the notes that do have an alteration, either
going up, ascending, as sharp notes (C#, D#, F#, G#, A#) or
going down, descending, with flats (Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb).
The altered notes represent the black keys of the piano.
Learn by heart the 12 notes of music in ascending and descending order before moving on to the next lesson, or you could break it down into smaller steps, like learning the seven basic notes first, then the sharps and flats separately.
Piano Notes for Songs
- Perfect - Ed Sheeran (Easy)
- Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
- Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley (Easy)
- Faded - Alan Walker - Notes and Chords (Updated)
- A Million Dreams - The Greatest Showman (Easy - Updated)
- Everything I Do, I Do It for You - Bryan Adams
- A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay (Notes and Chords)
- Diamonds - Rihanna
- Demons - Imagine Dragons
- Let It Be - The Beatles
- Believer - Imagine Dragons (Melody and Chords)
- The Winner Takes It All - ABBA
- My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion (Easy - Melody and Chords)
- The Scientist - Coldplay
- Let Her Go - Passenger
- Shallow - Lady Gaga - Bradley Cooper
- Alone - Alan Walker
Easy Piano Songs For Beginners
- Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley (Easy)
- A Million Dreams - The Greatest Showman (Easy - Updated)
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
- Christmas Song: Jingle Bells
- A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay (Notes and Chords)
- Let It Be - The Beatles
- My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion (Easy - Melody and Chords)
- Yesterday - The Beatles (Easy for Beginners)
- Thunder - Imagine Dragons (Easy)
- The Scientist - Coldplay
- Birthday Song - Happy Birthday to You
- Imagine - John Lennon
- Wings - Birdy (Very Easy)
- Yellow - Coldplay (Easy)
- The Wheels on the Bus - Kids Song
- Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver (Easy)
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat - Song for Children
- What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
- Dame tu Cosita - El Chombo
Piano Notes
- Say Something - A Great Big World - Christina Aguilera
- Earth Song - Michael Jackson
- Viva La Vida - Coldplay
- Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish
- Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter
- Daylight - David Kushner
- Merry Christmas - Ed Sheeran and Elton John
- Shake It Off - Taylor Swift (melody and chords)
- Rockstar - Lisa and Ryan Tedder
- Treat You Better - Shawn Mendes
- Too Good at Goodbyes - Sam Smith
- Unstoppable - Sia
- Ocean Eyes - Billie Eilish
- As It Was - Harry Styles
- Dark Horse - Katy Perry
- Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter
- Fortnight - Taylor Swift
- Imagine - John Lennon
- CHIHIRO - Billie Eilish
- Radioactive - Imagine Dragons