The piano can be a little intimidating for beginners; with lots of keys that look the same, it might seem difficult to distinguish one note from another. But there are simple repeating patterns that help us make sense of it all, and I’m going to talk you through them.
After this short article, the keyboard layout will no longer be a sea of nameless keys but a distinct group of musical notes.
Number of keys
A standard acoustic piano has 88 keys, which is a lot, but it’s important to understand that 88 keys doesn’t mean 88 musical notes.
It’s common for aspiring beginners to assume that a piano key and a musical note are the same thing. A piano key is the physical key that we press to make a sound. A musical note is the sound created by pressing a piano key.
A standard 88-key acoustic piano has 12 different notes. A 61-key keyboard has 12 different notes. A 49-key keyboard has 12 different notes. You get the idea; no matter the number of keys your instrument has, there are never more than 12 notes to learn.
The same sequence of 12 notes repeats over and over. Already, understanding the piano keyboard layout seems a less daunting task.
The easiest way to recognize the repeating sequence is to look at the black keys. You can see that the black keys follow a pattern right across the keyboard in alternating groups of two and three.
Finding the notes
Now that we can see the repeating pattern in the black keys, we can use it to identify notes. Let’s start with the C note.
As you can see, the white key immediately to the left of every set of two black keys is a C note. With the C note repeating before each set of two black keys, you can see the concept of keys versus notes taking shape.
Each C note marks the start of our sequence of 12 notes (white and black keys).
Finding middle C
Middle C is the foundation of many songs and lessons for beginners, but the name can be slightly confusing. An acoustic piano has eight C notes, so no C note is right in the middle. With 88 keys, middle C isn’t even the middle key on the keyboard.
The name middle C comes from its position on the treble and bass clefs. When we combine both clefs, we get something called the grand staff, and it’s here that middle C gets its name.
Don’t worry too much about the clefs; we’ll explore them later. For now, middle C is the focus.
Despite repeating, not every C note is the same. Every C note shares the same tonality but differs in pitch.
Try playing every C note on the keyboard with middle C as your home base. You’ll notice that every C shares the same tonal quality but gets higher in pitch as you move up the keyboard (right) and lower in pitch as you move down the keyboard (left).
Unlike the guitar (for example), while the piano has repeating notes, there is no repeating pitch; we can only find each pitch in one position. That sequential pitch structure makes the piano the instrument of choice for most composers.
With a smaller keyboard, you’ll have fewer C notes, but the theory remains the same.
Naming the white keys
Now that we can see the sequence of notes resets on every C note let’s name the remaining white keys. There’s no complex formula; we just follow the alphabet.
You might wonder why we don’t start on A when following the alphabet. C is our home base rather than A because playing from one C note to the next with only white notes creates the C major scale. It’s the only major scale with no sharps or flats, and the simplest to play and understand.
Naming the black keys
You might be familiar with the terms “sharps” and “flats” mentioned above, which typically, but not always, refer to black keys. We name the black keys by their relation to the surrounding white keys. If a black key is above the reference white key, it’s sharp; if it’s below, it’s flat.
Every black key can be sharp or flat; C sharp and D flat are the same black key and create the same tone. So, how do we know whether to use sharp or flat? Well, it all depends on the context.
The example above shows a G major scale, which includes an F sharp note. The F sharp note is the same as the G flat note, but we want to represent every note letter in our eight-note major/minor scales (CDEFGAB).
If we were to call it G flat, we’d have no F and two G notes (G and G flat). Using the context of the scale to avoid double notes is how we know when to use sharp or flat.
Putting it all together
We’ve covered black key patterns, middle C, pitch, and naming all notes. So, let’s take a broader look at the piano keyboard, highlighting each sequence of 12 notes.
I’ve heard so many students saying things like, “Every note looks the same,” but as you can see, it doesn’t take much to realize it’s not too complicated, and it changes everything!
