The piano is an iconic instrument, known for being difficult to play and sounding great. Read this article to learn how to play the piano and let the strings and notes dance to your heart’s content.
Equipment and Installation
Most teachers recommend that you buy a real piano at home to practice on. Pianos are large and for many people expensive, a medium-sized upright piano will do just fine. It doesn’t take up as much space as a large piano, but it sounds better than a compact piano. Although it may be possible to buy a cheap or even free piano, don’t go for it because it can be dangerous and difficult to move. Make sure there is a door-to-door delivery service when buying a piano.
- When you buy a cheap used piano on the private market, you may need to have it tuned or even repaired. Check to see if your local seller has given you a phone number and have your piano’s condition evaluated.
- You can also buy a high-performance keyboard if necessary (say, if you live in a small apartment), but this is not recommended. Because you will encounter more difficulties when learning the preparation position and hand position, and you can’t really control the sound of the piano with the skills of playing the electronic keyboard.
Buy accessories. Once the piano is set up and professionally tuned, it’s time to get a stool and the right tunes to play. Many pianos come with stools; these can also be found at secondhand or music stores. To adjust the stool to the appropriate position, the height of the stool is very important. Don’t use a living room chair or ottoman in place of a dedicated piano bench unless it’s the right height for playing.
- Ask your local music store to recommend some basic, easy-to-play music books. The salesperson will know some books you can use. Try buying a book that provides beginners with an overview and some tips on how to play. The book should be concise and contain some songs that can be practiced, such as classic old songs.
- If you have trouble keeping a rhythm, you can buy a pacemaker. The rhythm machine can be placed on the piano and will make ticking sounds based on your settings. You can use a rhythm machine to maintain the tempo you started playing at.
Prepare for correct posture. Sit on the piano bench and place the music book on the piano keyboard. Forearms point toward the keyboard and remain parallel to the floor. If your stool is the right height, your fingers should rest lightly on the keyboard without bending your wrists or raising or lowering your arms. Adjust the height of the stool until you no longer feel tension in your arms or shoulders.
- Place your feet a comfortable distance apart on the floor, with your toes pointed straight forward. Sit and straighten your back – your shoulders should not be hunched forward and your spine should be straight. Adjust your body until your hands can rest on the keyboard without any tension. You should move your feet forward onto the pedal and then back until your thighs are completely relaxed.
- If you don’t have an adjustable piano bench, or you can’t adjust it to a comfortable height. Then you can use cushions or pillows to increase your sitting height. Just make sure they are tall and stable enough so they don’t slide down when you play.
Check your hand position again. You should sit in the middle of the piano. All ten fingers should be on the white keys. The thumb of your right hand should be placed on the white key to the left of the two black keys in the middle of the keyboard, which is the position of the C key. Place the other fingers of your right hand on the next few white keys, namely D, E, F, and G. The left hand is also placed according to the pattern of the right hand. The little finger of the left hand is placed on the key of C, and the other fingers are placed in sequence until the key of G. There should be two white keys (A and B) between your thumbs.
- The key of C on the right thumb is a turning point, located in the middle of the keyboard, also known as “middle C”. Beginners often use a small marker to mark the key of middle C. Once you get better at playing, this mark can be erased.
- It is convenient to learn these middle notes first because the pianist needs to sit in the middle of the keyboard so that he does not have to stand up when playing high or low notes.
Basic Techniques and Theories
A piano’s keyboard repeats several octaves of tones from top to bottom. This means that the pitch changes from bottom (left) to high (right), but there is no change in pitch. The piano can produce twelve tones: seven white keys (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) and five black keys (C sharp, D sharp, F sharp, A flat and B flat). By playing the white keys from C to B to C, you can create an octave with C as the main key. By playing the black key tone from C sharp (next to the key of C) to B flat, you can create a fifth scale. And if you play each key from C and back to C, you can create a twelve-note scale.
- Pianos are mainly in the key of C, so C is a very commonly used key. However, other keys can also play different rising and falling tones along with the black keys or white keys. Any tone that appears in the score can be played on the piano. It is a very versatile instrument.
- It’s easy to double-check that a piano is tuned correctly by playing matching notes in different octaves. The notes should sound the same; if they don’t, then at least one of the matching pairs should be too high or too low and need to be returned.
Play some notes. Start playing in the key of middle C, pressing the keys gently. Spend some time trying to press the keys quickly or slowly, softly or heavily, until you feel you have a handle on how the piano sounds. Without moving your hands, play ten notes with both hands. Some notes (like those on your pinky finger) are difficult to play loudly, while some notes (like those on your thumb) require practice playing softly.
- Play the black keys. In general, playing the black keys requires moving your fingers on the keys, except for your thumbs. Because it’s difficult to get your thumbs to play the black keys without moving your hands, starting from middle C, you can lift your fingers and move them left or right to play C sharp and D sharp keys.
Try playing the key of C with the little finger of your left hand, then work your way up to the key of C with the thumb of your right hand. Play the white keys in sequence. When you get as big as your left thumb, bounce the next note (A), then bounce the next note (B) with your right thumb, and then play middle C to complete this fingering exercise. Keep practicing until the flick of your thumb is as simple as moving your hand, and your technique will begin to improve.
- Try playing different fingering exercises. Starting with the other finger on the left hand, play on the keyboard until you reach the same note on the right hand. If necessary, you can use black keynotes for the opening notes. This is the difference between other fingering exercises and C key fingering exercises. For example, the fingering practice for the key of D starts with the key of D (ring finger of the left hand), then E, F sharp (black key), G, A, B, C sharp (black key), and D (index finger of the right hand).
- It is important to learn additional fingering exercises from a teacher or from a book. It is important to try some other fingering exercises so that you can master them quickly.
Although it doesn’t take long to learn to play the tune of “Hot Cross Buns,” to fully demonstrate the charm of the piano, you need to learn to play multiple notes at the same time, using all your fingers. To play great sounds, you have to understand how chords work. This is a very esoteric principle that we can’t fully explain here, but you can use these points to guide your practice.
- Adjacent notes cannot be harmonized. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a role in some advanced mixes, but for now, remember: it’s hard to make a good sound by playing two adjacent notes. There needs to be some distance between the notes of a chord.
- The distance between the notes of a chord is called the “interval.” The most commonly used intervals on the piano are five, four, or three. For example, C and G chords, C and F chords, and C and E chords.
- The chord interval can also be the fourteenth interval, which is a hybrid interval and spans several scales. Chords can also be changed by introducing sharp, auxiliary notes. However, you don’t need to worry about these advanced techniques just yet.
- Playing the same note on a different scale is called a “unison” chord.
Improve Your Skills
Learn to play sheet music. The language of musical notation may seem difficult at first, but with a good teacher or introductory book, and some practice, most people can master the basics within a few weeks. Having the ability to read music music can open up a whole world of art to you. The steps involved in reading music scores will not be shown in full here, however, some basic outlines are mentioned below.
- Music notes are solid or hollow ovals (called heads), sometimes with other symbols (a straight line is a “stem”, and a “hook” is attached to the “stem”), drawn on a set of horizontal lines, this group of horizontal lines is called “staff”. These notes are based on the first clef of the staff.
- Different forms of notes have different lengths. A hollow head without a bar is a whole note, the longest form; a solid head with a bar and a hook is an “eighth note,” which is only one-eighth the length of a note. Your teacher or introductory book will explain the different forms of musical notes in detail.
- Each note is arranged from left to right in the order of playing time, and the position is also determined by the pitch at which the note is played. Notes on the same vertical line are meant to be played at the same time.
- To add structure and regularity, notes must be separated by “bars,” which are made up of vertical lines. Each measure takes the same amount of time to play, so there are fewer long notes or more short notes in a measure, but they all have to be played at the same time.
- The two numbers next to the clef are the “time signatures.” A time signature shows how long each measure needs to be played. For example, a regular 4/4 beat means that 4 notes need to be played in each measure.
- Many special notes represent stops, called “rests.” Rests are written in measures and also read as notes.
Practice with one hand. Many pianos require you to play one melody with one hand and another with the other. In particular, the left-hand plays the bass, while the right-hand plays the treble melody. Like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time, this technique takes some time to learn. Practice playing the melody with your right hand and the chords with your left hand.
Practice moving your hands to play. Eventually, your hand must leave middle C and play the fringe notes. Get used to this by practicing playing high or low notes from time to time. Sit normally and don’t move the stool – at a concert, you won’t have time to move the stool. Gently turn your torso to the side (without rounding your back) and extend your arms to play the fringe notes.
- Try changing some positions. Play something simple, like a fingering exercise or a broken chord, starting from the bass position and suddenly jumping to the second scale. If you start with your left hand, cross your left hand with your right hand to play the main key before you play the second scale. After playing these notes, the right-hand returns to the higher notes.
Learn to use the pedals. Long before the advent of electric guitars, pianos used pedals to change the sound coming from the strings. There are two or three pedals on a modern piano, each with an important function. In classical music, special notes often indicate when and how to use a pedal. Your piano teacher will explain it to you.
- The muted pedal is usually on the left. It can weaken the volume of the sound and also soften the timbre. The muted pedal is often used in Beethoven’s works.
- The sustain pedal is on the right. It increases the oscillation of the strings, making notes easier to blend and sustain. Skillful use of the sustain pedal can emotionally connect chords and notes. It is common in romantic music of the 19th century.
- The third type is the center pedal, which is often used as a sustain pedal in large pianos. Sustained notes are selective rather than uniform. In an upright piano, the center pedal is used to eliminate sound.
The piano is one of the most difficult instruments to master, but it can also be the most rewarding: the sound it produces is distinctive and deeply moving, and its playing techniques are easily transferable to other instruments. The key to becoming a good piano player is constant practice. Spend at least half an hour practicing every day; if you can practice for more than an hour, even better. Even if you feel like you’re making no progress, practice will eventually improve your performance.
Tips
- If you find it difficult to play with both hands together, try playing with one hand first. Once you become proficient in playing with both hands, practice together.
- Set a small, attainable goal to stay motivated. If you encounter difficulties in a new stage, setting a small goal is the first step. Then set a second small goal, and so on.
- Don’t forget the beat.
- Your fingers must be kept bent, with your fingertips resting on the keyboard rather than your entire fingers lying on the keyboard. Straightening your fingers while playing is a bad habit that is easy to get into, but it will affect your technique in the long run.
- Another way to learn a difficult technique is to practice it with one hand apart and then bring the two hands together once you’ve mastered it.