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Piano guides

Practical, honest advice for learning the piano: how to read music, how to practise so it sticks, and the technique that makes playing feel easy. Each guide gives you steps and exercises to try at the keyboard today.

Reading music and sight reading

From your first look at a page of music to reading new pieces fluently.

How to sight-read piano music The whole skill, one part at a time: the 30-second look, keeping going, reading shapes, choosing music, and practising daily. How to read sheet music For complete beginners: the grand staff, note names, note lengths, key signatures and your first piece. Landmark notes Seven notes on the grand staff by heart, and every other note read from them. Read bass clef faster Stop translating from the treble: bass landmarks, chord shapes and drills. How to count rhythm Counting beats, eighths, dotted notes and rests out loud, with examples counted for you. Reading ahead What the eye-hand span is, what research says about it, and how to train it. A daily sight-reading routine What to do in 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day, and how to adjust it. Sight-reading as an adult beginner Why reading lags behind what you understand, and how adults close the gap. Practise with a MIDI keyboard Connect a USB keyboard in Chrome or Edge and practise with note-by-note feedback.

Practising well

How to spend your practice time so pieces come together sooner and stay learned.

How to practise effectively A goal for each session, a plan for 20 or 40 minutes, and working on the hard bars. Learn a piece faster Study it first, fix the fingering, learn in chunks, and start from the end. Memorize piano music Four kinds of memory, starting points, and a memory that holds up under nerves. Practise with a metronome Choosing a starting tempo, stepping it up, and not chasing the click. How long does it take to learn piano? An honest answer, goal by goal, and what makes progress faster or slower.

Both hands and chords

Putting the hands together, and giving the left hand something to play.

Play with both hands Step by step from hands separately to hands together, without the two fighting. Left-hand chords Triads, inversions that move smoothly, and the patterns that turn chords into accompaniment. Stop looking at your hands Learn the keyboard by touch so your eyes can stay on the music.

Technique

How to sit, which finger goes where, and how to play evenly, smoothly and fast.

Hand position and posture Bench height, distance, the shape of the hand, and the faults to watch for. Finger numbers and fingering What the numbers mean and how to choose a fingering you can keep. Finger exercises for beginners Short, useful exercises for control and evenness, and how long to spend on them. Finger independence Why the fourth finger feels weak, and gentle exercises that help. How to practise scales C major first, the thumb under, hands together, and which scales to learn next. Playing legato Joining notes smoothly with the fingers: fingering, listening and exercises. Play faster Speed from relaxation and small movements: bursts, rhythms and metronome steps. The sustain pedal Pedal markings, changing the pedal cleanly, and fixing a pedal that works backwards.

Practise as you read

Reading about the piano only goes so far. Our free sight-reading exercises give you graded pieces to read, and the note-reading tools drill the notes on the staff.

Read music the way you read words

Pianomi listens to your MIDI keyboard and teaches you to read fluently, from single notes to both hands. It’s free.

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