Find useful piano lessons and basics of music theory that will help you learn to play the piano.
Easy Piano Lessons
Get started with the basics
- Notes on piano – Get started with the Basics. Find piano chart / Layout for quick reference
- Learn about Staff, Ledger lines, Treble / Bass clefs
- Learn about Accidentals – Music Theory
- Note duration for the various Types
- More Music Theory
Related: “Music Lessons”
How to Play Piano Arpeggios: A Useful Accompaniment Pattern
As you start learning the Piano, you will soon realize that one of the challenges is to know what needs to be done with the left hand. The left hand is normally used to play rhythmic patterns while the right hand is busy playing the melody. Though it takes some time to synchronize both your hands, you can still look for some easy patterns for your left hand, such as Arpeggios.
Arpeggio is nothing but a chord played one note at a time in quick succession; some players also refer to it as a broken chord. To be able to play arpeggios, you will need to know the major and minor chords, preferably with their inversions.
The 3-note chord, played as an arpeggio, is the easiest left hand pattern that you can play. Use Left Hand fingers – 5 3 1 to play the C major Chord – C E G as an Arpeggio. The same pattern applies to minor chords as well. As you get comfortable with it, try playing 4-note arpeggios.
Advanced Piano Lessons
Advanced Piano Lessons
- Useful Piano Techniques to sound like a pro
- Chord Progressions: You need to know how to use chord progressions to prevent monotony in your piano playing.
- Circle of Fifths (5ths): Help you to improve your chord progressions skills and use it as a tool for transposition and modulation
Music Genres Styles
Once you are past the beginner stage it is important to learn a few songs across a variety of music genres to show your versatility.
Learn to play piano in various music genres & styles with these piano lessons.
- Learn how to play Classical Piano
- Learn how to play Pop Piano
- Learn to play Rock Piano
- Play Blues Piano
- Play Jazz Piano
- More on Christmas Piano, Church & Worship Music
Popular Piano Songs & Music
Every serious piano student, over a period of time, has to build a good repertoire of songs, in addition to building up a library of music, books, sheet music, which can be used for regular practice. You get better by playing as many songs as possible and that too in different styles.
Here are popular piano songs to learn on the piano, suitable for children as well as adults. We start with the easy songs and have also suggested songs for intermediate/advanced players.
You can learn at your own pace and move onto the challenging songs as you improve. Some of the songs are repeated across levels, and though the melody will be the same across levels, the piano techniques to be used and harmonization will differ in the higher levels.
Easy Piano Songs for Kids
Beginning Pieces
Au Clair de la Lune, Aura Lee (Love Me Tender), Hot Cross Buns, Jingle Bells (Short Version), Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ode to Joy, Rain, Rain, Go Away, Row, Row, Row your Boat
Amazing Grace, Ode to Joy, London Bridge, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald, Oh, When the Saints Go Marching, Bingo, Ten Little Fingers, Theme to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Clementine | Found a Peanut, We Wish You a Merry Xmas, Yankee Doodle.
Very easy songs that can be learnt and played on the piano.
- Chopsticks: Can be played with just two fingers.
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/The Alphabet Song: These two songs have similar melody, so if if you learn to play one, you will also know how to play the oher one. The melody requires you to play six white notes.
- Jingle Bells: The first half is very easy to play. The complete song will take some time to learn
- Happy Birthday to You: slightly challenging the above ones, but it will make you the life of the party if you learn to play it.
- Easy Piano Songbooks for Children
Popular Classical Pieces to Learn on Piano
Easy classical songs / pieces that you can learn & play on the piano. Even if you are a newbie to classical music, you can still learn some beginner classical pieces, provided you can play beginner level songs on the piano.
Looking for more piano songs to learn in the classical genre? Here are some. These easy to play classical songs can be learnt in a short time. These songs are very melodious as well to hear. If you have the recordings of these songs, you can even listen to them during your study/work breaks to soothe and calm your mind.
[easyazon_link identifier=”0739036882″ locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]’Notebook for Anna Magdalena'[/easyazon_link] (collection of keyboard music) by J.S. Bach (from the Baroque period). It contains several short pieces that can be used by students for keyboard study.
Fur Elise on Piano
Fur Elise is one of the more melodious classical songs and a favorite with most music students. Based on the A minor song, beginner students can attempt this song but only the first section of the song which is more melodious and moves at a comparatively slow tempo compared to the next part of the song. Buy sheet for Fur Elise.
Moonlight Sonata: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 14 in C# minor)
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 14 in C# minor is nicknamed the Moonlight Sonata. It was German critic Ludwig Rellstab who said that the sonata’s famous opening movement was like moonlight flickering across Lake Lucerne. And that’s how it got the nickname.
The opening movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 14 in C# minor, popularly known as Moonlight Sonata, is one of the most famous piece of music in classical music. And the best thing is that its very easy to play, so beginners can definitely give it a try. However, the rest of the piece is much more difficult and better left to advanced players with better technique.
Bach/Gounod – Ave Maria
This is one of the most famous and recognized classical pieces. The original arrangement is quite long, but you can always play the opening and main theme.
[easyazon_link identifier=”0793525969″ locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]’Songs Without Words’ by Mendelssohn[/easyazon_link] is a beautiful romantic solo work, suitable for intermediate level players (you may require to learn for 2-3 years before attempting this).
[easyazon_link identifier=”B000FTP11E” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]’Mikrokosmos’ by Bela Bartok[/easyazon_link] (twentieth century composer) has over a hundred and fifty modern pieces that provide keyboard players with unique rhythmic and harmonic challenges (keyboard students love lessons in harmony).
Clair de Lune (Easy Piano No.2) by Claude Debussy. Sheet Music for Easy Piano.
The Blue Danube (Easy Piano No. 42) by Johann Strauss, Jr. Sheet Music for Easy Piano.
Canon In D – Easy Piano By Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), arranged by Dan Coates. This is a baroque piece with a nice melody that is frequently played at weddings and included on most classical music compilations. Single piece for easy solo piano.
Easy Piano Classics Edited by James Bastien. Collection of solo piano for the older beginner.
Twilight: The Score [SOUNDTRACK Audio CD] by Carter Burwell (Composer): From the much talked about movie Twilight, this includes the hauntingly beautiful main theme – Bella’s lullaby. Buy Sheet.
Chopin Nocturne Opus 9 (No.1, No.2) Sheet Music
The Nocturnes, Op. 9 by virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin is a set of three nocturnes. It’s soft, elegant, and relaxing piano music and over time these compositions have more or less become obligatory repertoire items for pianists, with the Nocturne no. 2 becoming one of Chopin’s most popular pieces, if not the most popular.
The Nocturne no. 2 in E flat major, features a more peaceful melody that is replayed a number of times, albeit with more ornamentation in each iteration.
The Nocturne no. 1 in B flat minor, features a rhythmically free right-hand melody (characteristic of Chopin’s later style.)
‘Piano Book’ by Lang Lang is a collection of popular pieces for students by Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang.
This book includes several miniature classics that generations of piano students have learnt while learning to play the piano. It includes popular classical pieces such as Beethoven’s Für Elise, Debussy’s Clair de lune, J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C Major (from The Well-Tempered Clavier). Modern classics that have been commonly used on Television and movies — such as Yann Tiersen’s Valse d’Amélie, Max Richter’s The Departure and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music for Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. Music popular in specific cultures, such as Sweden’s Limu, limu, lima and the popular Chinese Jasmine Flower.
See Also
More on Classical Piano
Rondo Alla Turca Sheet Music: Popular Mozart Music
Rondo Alla Turca by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 (300i) is a piano sonata in three movements. The last movement, “Alla turca”, is one of Mozart’s best-known piano pieces and is quite often played on its own. Mozart titled the rondo “Alla turca” as it imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue at that time.
The Turkish March theme was first used in Beethoven’s “6 Variations on an Original Theme”, Op. 76, of 1809.
Reading in de series Anatomy of a classic: Mozart Sonata in A Major, K 3312, (ed Maurice Hinson, 1990) there is a strong suggestion indeed evidence that Mozart did not write the melody of strong part of his Alla Turka movement ( i.e. bars 24.25) that has the typical Turkish march rhythm but merely arranged an actual Turkish march played frequently in the period of before 1830 and beyond, by the Janissary marching bands.
The broken octaves in one of the repeats of the theme try to imitate the sound of the brass bands and their kettle drums. Page 4 relates an observation that in 1917 in a remote mountain village near Medeah, the melody was heard, sung by some Arab urchins. It had been left behind and became Algerian folk music when the Turks left in 1830 ( to be replaced by the French. During their time in Algeria the Janissary prestigious and highly disciplined troops acted as the military police there. they will have taken their normal music units with them.
It was quite common to plagiarise folk music or foreign music into classical music.
Popular Songs for Piano
Take my Breath Away – Berlin
Easy to play (classic 80’s anthem) but sounds cool. Here’s a simple version that you can use.
Love me Tender – Elvis Presley
This is one of those popular, yet easy piano songs, that you can play from start to finish when you’re starting out, and of course its a great feeling and you get a great sense of achievement when you’re able to do that as a beginner.
How to Play INTERSTELLAR Main Theme on Piano
The melody is simple but what makes it so beautiful is its chord structure / progressions; that really makes this piece of music so special. Although the notes of the basic melody is simple, its what he’s doing with the left hand that makes the piece so beautiful.
The Pink Panther Theme
The ‘Pink Panther’ theme is one of the most popular music theme songs. The theme is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written for the 1963 comedy film The Pink Panther. American jazz musician and tenor saxophonist Plas John Johnson Jr. played the (now legendary) saxophone solo for this theme.
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