Locating Notes on the Piano Keyboard

Part of the Video Series How to Play the Piano

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Learn how the notes are named on a piano and where to find them on the keyboard in this free online video music lesson on how to play the piano for beginners.

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Video Transcript

Locating Notes on the Piano Keyboard
Hi my name is Omri and today we are going to talk about the naming scheme for notes on the piano. Just like the alphabet the first note on the piano is going to be A. Then we have B, C, D, E, F, and G. And then we start the alphabet over again at A because there is only seven unique white keys on the piano and then we get back to the same one that we started with A. That distance is called an Octave. We have different names for the black keys; they are called sharps and flats. We refer to them based on which white keys they are near. A sharp takes the current note and moves it up by one step to the next adjacent note. So this note right here can be described as A sharp. This note in the same way can be described as C sharp. Flats work the opposite way. Flats are going to take a note and decrease it to the next lowest step; so this same key can also be described as D flat and this one that we said was A sharp before can also be described as B flat. Now even when we have two white keys adjacent to each other and no black keys in between we can still call them by sharps and flats. So this note is B and this one is C but we can also describe this one as B sharp and we can describe this one as C flat and depending on the scale and on the music and on the circumstance we might have to do so.

About the Expert

Expert: Omri Goldshtrom has been playing the piano for over 10 years. He currently teaches lessons to students of all ages. Read More