Piano guides for beginners
Everything you need before your first full song: how to read music, how to sit, which notes go where, and how to keep time. Short guides, plain English, no theory degree required.
How to Read Sheet Music
The grand staff, note names on lines and spaces, and note values — with mnemonics you won’t forget.
Read guide › Guide · TechniqueFinger Positions & Posture
Bench height, curved fingers, the five-finger numbering system, and a five-minute daily warmup.
Read guide › Guide · HarmonyBasic Piano Chords
Your first four chords — C, G, F and A minor — plus the pop progression that unlocks hundreds of songs.
Read guide › Guide · TimingRhythm & Tempo
Beat vs. rhythm, BPM, 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures, and a simple clapping exercise to steady your playing.
Read guide › Guide · 7-day planYour First Song in One Week
A day-by-day plan that takes you from finding middle C to performing Ode to Joy — in about 20 minutes a day.
Read guide ›How to use these guides
Order matters more than speed. Start with reading sheet music so the notation on any song page stops looking like a code you can’t crack. Next, fix your posture and finger positions — five minutes now saves months of unlearning later. Then pick up basic chords and rhythm in whichever order fits the music you want to play.
The realistic path: one week of short daily sessions, and you play a real song. That’s exactly what the 7-day plan is for — it ties all four guides together and ends with you performing Ode to Joy from start to finish. Open the online piano in a second tab as you read; every concept here works better the moment you play it.