Useful tips on how to play piano

The standard piano keyboard has eighty-eight keys. To someone who has no piano experience whatsoever, that long row of white and black keys may seem

as incomprehensible as hieroglyphics. Piano keyboard basics, however, are quite easy to learn -- It's performing at Carnegie Hall that requires a tad more

skill!

Here, step-by-step, are tips for learning the piano keyboard.• Memorize the first seven letters of the alphabet. You got it, just learn

the letters A through G. There is no such thing as the Key of H, so don't concern yourself with the rest of the alphabet. The piano's white keys are

merely a repetition of these seven letters.• Sit down at the piano and point to the white key farthest to your left.

That key is an A. The next six white keys are B, C, D, E, F, G. If you play every white key from left to right, you will see that the pattern of A through G repeats itself seven times with three white keys left over -- A, B and C at the right end

of the keyboard.• Take a look at the black keys. You will notice that, with one exception,

the black keys come in sets of two and three. With your balled hand, strike every set of two, then repeat the process with every set of three. This exercise

will help to orient yourself to the positioning of keys on the piano keyboard.

You'll notice that the sets alternate. You will see a similar pattern -- There are seven sets of two-black keys and seven sets of three-black keys. There is an

orphan black key to the far left of the keyboard. This single black-key is somewhat of a mirror image of the extraneous three white-keys at the

keyboard's far right.• Learn to name the white keys quickly using the black keys as a guide. This will take time and practice but is relatively easy. For starters, look at a set

of two black keys. The white key to the immediate left is a C. With this knowledge, randomly find all the Cs you can on the keyboard. If every white key to the left of two black keys is a C, then you can reason that every white

key between a set of two black keys is a D, and so on.

With practice, you should be able to name any random white key quickly.• Learn the concepts of "sharp" and "flat." In very crude terms, "sharp" means up a little, while "flat" signifies being a tad below. These terms refer to

both pitch and physical location. If your church choir director tells you, "Sopranos, you're a little sharp," it means you're singing a little too high. On a piano keyboard, a "Sharp" key will always be to the right of a particular key.

Conversely, a "Flat" key will be to the left.• Learn to name the black keys. This is a bit trickier. Let's find a set of

two black keys once again. You know that the white key to the immediate left of the set is a C, but what do you call the first of the two black keys? Since it is a

little bit up from the C, this key is C-sharp. But, it is also a tad below D, so it can also be called a D-flat. To keep things simple the two black keys are, left to right: C-sharp/ D-flat followed by D-sharp/E-flat. The three black keys, left to

right: F-sharp/G-flat; G-sharp/A-flat; A-sharp/B-flat.• 7. Impress your friends. The next time you're at a party and some

musician calls out, "Gimme an A-flat," you'll know just what to do.