Learn the notes on the piano

Before learning any name, look at the black keys. They are not spread evenly: they come in groups of two and groups of three, which alternate along the whole keyboard. Your eye can find a group in a split second, and every white key has a fixed place next to one.

The pattern repeats every twelve keys: seven white and five black. That stretch is called an octave. A full piano has many octaves, but they all look the same, so learning one is enough.

Try it on your own keyboard: with two fingers, press every group of two from the bottom to the top, then every group of three with three fingers. No names yet, just the shapes.

In English, the white keys are named with the first seven letters of the alphabet: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. The letters stop at G, so after G comes A, and after B the series starts again at C. We start the list on C because C is so easy to spot, and because these seven white keys are exactly the notes of the C major scale. Two landmarks are enough to find them all:

• C is just left of each group of two black keys;
• F is just left of each group of three.

From there, count along the alphabet. D sits between the two black keys of a pair, E just right of it; G and A sit inside the group of three, B just right of it.

French, like Italian or Spanish, uses syllables instead of letters: do, ré, mi, fa, sol, la, si. They name the same keys: C is do, D is ré, E is mi, and so on up to B, which is si. You will meet both systems in sheet music and chord charts from different countries, so it helps to know the match.

A black key takes its name from a white neighbour, with a sign. A sharp (♯) means “one key higher”, to the right. A flat (♭) means “one key lower”, to the left. Moving to the very next key, black or white, is called a semitone: the smallest step on the piano.

So the black key between C and D is C♯ (C sharp), seen from C, or D♭ (D flat), seen from D. One key, two names, and both are correct. Which one you read depends on the music around it; for now, knowing that both point to the same key is what matters. Notice also that there is no black key between E and F, or between B and C: those white keys are already a semitone apart.

You will meet the same signs on sheet music: a sharp or a flat written in front of a note tells you to play one key higher or one key lower than that note.

Start with the names shown and look for the key using the black groups, not the labels. When you get them right without hesitating, hide the names. Then widen the keyboard to two octaves: the same note appears twice, and either one counts.

Take your time. A key found by reasoning from the black groups is worth more than a quick guess. If you miss, open the hint: it always places the key from the nearest group of black keys.

For the black keys, the exercise uses the names you will meet most often at first: C♯, E♭, F♯, A♭ and B♭. Each one also has its other name: C♯ is D♭, E♭ is D♯, and so on.

A few minutes of this from time to time is enough to make the names feel familiar. To learn how far apart two keys are, the next step is tones, semitones and intervals.