> **From theory:** pitch lives on [/theory/western/#pitch](/theory/western/#pitch).

# Learn Piano — Introduction

> Interactive page: [`introduction.html`](introduction.html)

## Where the name comes from

Around **1700**, **Bartolomeo Cristofori** built a new keyboard at the Medici court in Florence.
A harpsichord plucks every string at one volume. His hammers answer the touch, soft or loud, so he
called it the *gravicembalo col piano e forte* — “harpsichord with soft and loud.” That shortened to
**piano**. His instruments had about **54 keys**; a modern piano has **88**, from A0 to C8. Sources:
[The Met](https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-piano-the-pianofortes-of-bartolomeo-cristofori-1655-1731),
[Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bartolomeo-Cristofori).

## How to sit

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.

## Finding a note

**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♭).

On the interactive page, click a key to hear it, or press **Hear Middle C**.

## Your hands

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 on the scales lab.

| Number | Finger |
|--------|--------|
| **1** | Thumb |
| **2** | Index |
| **3** | Middle |
| **4** | Ring |
| **5** | Pinky |

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.

## How to practice

- **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.

## Where to go next

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](major-scale.md) 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](building-chords.md) does that for C, and for every major key.
4. **Learn the minor scale, then play both.** The [minor scale](minor-scale.md) is the darker pattern. The [scales lab](scales-lab.md) plays either one, with fingering.
5. **Play them in a song.** [Play along](songs.md) 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.