Easy Piano Lesson – The First Few Things You Should Know About The Piano

When you’re an absolute neophyte of easy piano lesson, it is always best to start with something you are familiar with or something you can become familiar with fast. How about the Middle C? You’re not sure what it is? It is the centermost key of the piano. If you know how a C key looks like, you would easily identify the Middle C since it is adjacent to the printed name of the piano manufacturer.

From there, you could work out the meanings of the note, scale, octave, chord and chord progression.

As your first lesson, place your right thumb on the Middle C. This is what is called the 1st position. Note that when it comes to playing the piano, each finger on your hand correspond to a specific number. Thumb is the number one finger and the rest of the fingers are the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers. for the first position, your right thumb or number one finger should rest on Middle C. On other basic piano exercises, both thumbs rest on Middle C, but for now, only your right thumb should do that.

Moving on, set all your fingers in their positions. Now press each key from Middle C down to the next C. What you just pressed are the 3 different keys of a scale, the C Major scale. Note that this scale only uses white keys. As you discover new scales, you will learn that all other scales involve the use of black keys.

From this scale, you can start creating chords. Chords are any set of keys on the piano or notes that are played as one group. Using the C Major scale, you can form several different chords. Now set your thumb on Middle C again. Start pressing this key, skip one white key and press your middle finger on the E key, then skip another white key and press the G key. Now that is the C major chord triad. Triad means that there are three notes are played in a single chord. Other chords require the use of four to five notes.

Another chord that may be formed using the keys of the C major scale is the F Major chord. This chord is formed with 3 notes, F-A-C. Now go ahead and play this chord.

Did you notice something? Both the C major and F major chords are composed of chords that make up a pattern. This is called the formula of the chord.

The pattern for major chords goes like this – root key, 4 halftones and 3 halftones. Remember that a halftone is the least possible interval between two notes. On the piano, this is the interval between two individual keys.

As you move on with your lessons, you will know that chord patterns apply to all chords. Now, using the above formula, find all the keys that make up the G major chord.

This easy piano lesson ends with the chord progression. Remember the chords you have learned earlier – C Major, F major and G Major? Play these chords in succession and finish with a final C major. You just played your first chord progression.

An easy piano lesson is designed for for beginners who know not a single thing about the piano. This is, perhaps, the best way to become familiar with the instrument. For more information about this lesson and other lessons, check out my website.