Introduction

Face the middle of the keyboard, so middle C is in front of the middle of your body. Sit toward the front of the bench, feet flat on the floor. If your feet do not reach, put a book or a stool under them.

• Set the bench so your elbows are about level with the keys and your forearms are roughly level.
• Sit tall. Let your shoulders drop. Keep a little space between your elbows and your sides.
• Wrists stay about level with your forearms — not collapsed down, and not cocked up.

Middle C (C4) is the C nearest the middle of the keyboard. The white keys run A B C D E F G and then start again. One full repeat is an octave.

The black keys repeat in groups of two and three:

• C is the white key just to the left of any group of two black keys.
• F is the white key just to the left of any group of three black keys.

Notes get higher as you move to the right, and lower as you move to the left. The right hand takes the higher side. The left hand takes the lower side.

A black key has two names. The one just to the right of a white key is that note's sharp (C♯ is the black key right of C). The same key, named from the white key on its right, is a flat (that C♯ is also D♭).

Curve the fingers as if you were holding a small ball. Play on the fingertips, not on the flat of the finger. The thumb rests on its side, a little curved, near the front edge of the key.

Both hands use the same numbers, counted from the thumb outward. These are the numbers you will see on the scales lab.

The first shape is five notes, one finger each, in C:

• Right hand. Thumb (1) on middle C, then 2 on D, 3 on E, 4 on F, 5 on G.
• Left hand. Pinky (5) on the C an octave below middle C, then 4 on D, 3 on E, 2 on F, and the thumb (1) on G.

Press the key straight down to the bottom with the fingertip, then let it come all the way back up. A quicker drop is louder. A slower drop is softer. The arm stays loose either way — volume comes from the speed of the drop, not from a stiff wrist.

• A little every day. Ten focused minutes beats an hour once a week.
• One hand, then both. Learn the right hand alone and the left hand alone before you put them together.
• Slow enough to be clean. The metronome is the bar at the bottom of every page. Start near 60. Raise it only when the notes are even.
• Stop if it hurts. Pain means a tight wrist, a raised shoulder, or a collapsed hand. Shake the arm out and check how you are sitting.
• Leave the right pedal alone for now. It holds every note that is still ringing, and beginners blur the sound with it. Use it when a piece asks for it.

Learn one thing until you can play it slowly, then take the next step. Start in C, all white keys.

1. Sit, number your fingers, and find a note. You are here: how to sit, the finger numbers, middle C, and a five-finger shape in C.
2. Learn a major scale. C major is C D E F G A B C. The pattern is on the major scale page.
3. See how a chord is built from it. Take notes 1, 3, and 5 together, then see what each of those chords is for in a song. How chords are built does that for C, and for every major key.
4. Learn the minor scale, then play both. The minor scale is the darker pattern. The scales lab plays either one, with fingering.
5. Play them in a song. Play along puts those chords under real tunes. Change chords in time before you chase speed.

Modes, sight reading, and finger drills come later in the book. They make more sense once a scale and its chords feel familiar.