“Hi! Nice to meet you, uhh, ummm …

I’m sorry. I don’t believe I know your name!”

If you want to get to know someone, the first thing you need to learn is his NAME!

If you want to learn to play piano, you first need to learn the names of the notes!

Meet the Notes!

The notes on the piano (or any instrument!) are called by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

Even though A comes first in the alphabet, we often name the notes beginning from C:

C, D, E, F, G, A, B

This is because C is the first note of the scale that is played using only white keys.

On a piano, these notes are all white keys. You can tell the notes apart on a piano by looking at their positions relative to the black keys on the piano.

Take a look at this image of a piano keyboard. What do you notice about the black keys?

There are two groups of black keys: one group has two black keys and the other group has three black keys.

Each white key has a unique position in relation to the black keys. C is the note before the two black keys, D is between the two black keys, and E comes after the two black keys. F is the note before the three black keys, G comes after the first of three black keys, A is between the second and third black keys, and B comes after the last of the three black keys.

Try it!

1. Starting from the lefthand side of the piano, find the first C.
2. Play the note and say “C”.
3. Working your way towards the right, find each C note.
4. Play each C and say “C”.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for each remaining note (D, E, F, G, A, B)