These piano lessons for beginners start at the very first step, finding your way around the keys, and finish with chords under a melody. There are six lessons, meant to be taken in order, and each comes with a playable keyboard that lights up the keys it teaches. You don't need to read music or own a piano to begin: a computer, tablet or phone is enough, and every lesson gives exact note names and finger numbers, so you always know which key to press and with which finger.
Who these lessons are for
Complete beginners of any age: adults who want to try the piano before buying one, children learning with a parent beside them, students who need to find middle C for music class, and anyone returning to the piano who wants the basics in the right order.
The order to take them in
1. Piano keys. The layout of the keyboard: white and black keys, the groups of two and three black keys that show where you are, the seven letter names, octaves, and where middle C sits on an 88-key piano.
2. Hand position. How to sit, how to curve your fingers, and the finger numbers 1 to 5 used in all piano music. It sets up C position, with your right thumb on middle C, and ends with five-finger exercises.
3. Your first song. Mary Had a Little Lamb and then Beethoven's Ode to Joy in C position, line by line, with a finger number for every note and the counting that makes the rhythm right.
4. Reading sheet music. The grand staff explained in words: treble and bass clef, the sayings for the lines and spaces, landmark notes, note values and rests, time signatures, sharps and flats, and repeats.
5. The C major scale. Your first scale, with the standard fingering for each hand, the thumb crossing that lets you play more than five notes in a row, a two-octave version and a short daily routine.
6. Basic chords. C major, F major, G major and A minor, the I–IV–V–I progression, inversions that keep your hand still, and left-hand chords under the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star melody.
After that, keep going on the song pages. Each shows the letter notes of a public-domain song and has two modes: Listen plays the melody and lights up the keys, and Practice lights the next key and waits for you to press it.
How to practice
- Short and often. Ten to fifteen minutes on most days works better than one long session a week.
- Slowly first. Play slowly enough to get every note right; speed comes later, from correct repetitions. If you keep stumbling in one spot, slow down instead of pushing through.
- Hands separately. Learn each hand's part alone, and when you combine them, go slower than either hand could play by itself.
- Small pieces. Take one line, or one bar, at a time, and play it correctly a few times in a row before adding the next.
- Count out loud. Saying 1, 2, 3, 4 keeps long notes long and short notes short.
- Stay relaxed. If your hand, wrist or forearm feels tight, stop, let your arms hang and shake them loose.
What you need
To start, only a device with a web browser. The piano on this site works on computers, tablets and phones (a phone is easier to use turned sideways), and it's free, with no signup, download or install.
A real keyboard helps once you want to build finger technique and play with both hands. Any keyboard with 61 or more keys covers every note these lessons use, since they stay between C2 and C6, and touch-sensitive keys, which play louder when you press harder, let you practice playing softly and loudly. Sit at a height where your forearms are about level with the keys.
A MIDI keyboard plugged into your computer plays the site's piano sound, with soft and loud playing and a sustain pedal, in Chrome, Edge, Opera and Firefox on computers. Safari doesn't support MIDI keyboards in the browser.
How this site's keyboard helps
The full piano has all 88 keys, from A0 to C8, and several features that make beginner practice easier:
- Key labels: note names (C D E), solfège (Do Re Mi), the computer key that plays each note, or none. Start with note names, then turn labels off to test yourself.
- Computer keys: the bottom row, Z X C V B N M, plays white keys starting on C, with S D G H J for the black keys, and the top row, starting at Q, plays the next octave up. The arrow keys move the range by an octave, and the space bar holds the sustain pedal.
- Recording: record what you play and listen back, which makes uneven rhythm easy to hear, then download it as a MIDI file or copy a link that plays it for someone else.
- Chords and scales: the chord finder lights up and plays any chord and its inversions, and the scales page plays every major and minor scale up and down.
The keyboards inside the lessons have the same labels and answer to your computer keys, so you can check a note or try a finger pattern without leaving the lesson.