Specific Info About the 88 Piano Notes and Keys

Most of the internet images only show a small portion of the piano notes and keys available which is a shame as a full chart should be presented for anyone taking piano lessons on a modern upright or even grand piano. When these ‘hard-core surfers’ are then expected to play on an acoustic piano or even large digital or electric piano they get completely lost in not knowing where to start.

The most important reference note you should use is ‘middle C’ which is located in the fourth octave of the piano.

What does that strange word octane, octagonal, octopus….octave mean?

Every time you count seven notes on the piano keys, they make an octave.

Start from the lower note of an acoustic piano, which is usually an A. Some Boesendorfer and Fazioli pianos add extra notes, going all the way to F or even C just to throw us off. Nah! Probably just to be little different, as there as very little sound difference in that register. Just my opinion.

So start counting the white keys upward A – B – C – D – E – F – G (Bingo! You’ve just climbed up one octave!)

Now the next octave A – B – C – D – E – F- G … octave 2 out of the way!

Continue until you get to the fourth octave and their you’ll find the holy grail –The Famous “Middle C”.

You see there’s nothing to it. Once you can pick out the Middle C during the day or night, you’ll be well on your way to learn piano like a pro.

There is absolutely no reason to feel intimidated by the large number of piano notes and keys. Anytime you read piano tabs the letter will be followed by a number indicating which octave of the piano that note is referring to – usually that’s the 4th, 5th octave. Don’t worry about the notes in between by now, but do play around with them so that you can instantly recognize which piano notes can be raised. For example E raises up to F, but F raises up to F sharp (a black key).

As your knowledge of piano notes progresses, you’ll discover information about how scales work. For example, every time you went up an octave in the previous example, you’ve played a A minor scale.

We’ll have more on scales updated on our site soon, so stay-tuned! Only through a ton of piano practice does one become fast at recognizing and performing piano notes and keys. The good news is that according to the definition of music, you only need to know a minimum of two piano notes!

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