Seven different piano notes create all of the music we know and love. 

A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that. But a piano is built around this simple pattern. It repeats again and again, up and down the keyboard. 

It’s a repeating pattern of 12 notes, or pitches. It is made up of 7 white keys and 5 black keys that give you your sharps and flats. 

A sharp raises each note you play by a half step. A flat lowers each note you play by a half step. This represents the smallest change in the keyboard; the smallest change you can have between musical notes. 

So the black key between A and B, for example, represents both A sharp and B flat. 

Simple.

One of the first lessons every piano student has is to commit this pattern to memory. 

You can start at the bottom and run your hands across the keyboard playing the pattern over and over again. 

Almost every modern piano has seven octaves. The keyboard has 52 white keys and 36 black keys to represent these seven octaves. That’s a total of 88 keys. And while some pianos may have less or more, the 88 keys is considered standard in the music industry. A piano with 88 keys will give you a lifetime of enjoyment. 

If you want a simple challenge to help you learn the piano notes, start at the bottom and find all As. Then Bs. And so on. 

When you’re comfortable with that, select a note at random and define it. Your goal is to learn every note and its placement on the keyboard, so they will easily come as you read music. 

This simple activity will improve your piano practice immediately.