Piano: Most Popular Articles

Top 10 Piano Pieces
Ten of the most popular piano pieces that rank as favorites by almost everybody. From beginners to concert pianists, most piano players come across these pieces at one time or another in their careers.

Invention of the Piano
Discover how, when and by whom the piano was invented. Learn about the problems that had to be overcome and where the piano gets its name.

Read Notes in the Bass Clef
Learn how to recognize and read music notation in the bass clef.

First Piano Lesson
Find out how to start playing the piano. Learn which fingers to use and where the important keys are.

Second piano lesson
Play a complete song using three numbers and a simple rhythm.

Write Great Piano Music
Ever thought you could write your own great piano music? Well, you can. Just take a melody you already know -- or make up your own -- and use these simple techniques to harmonize it and turn it into a proper piano piece.

Notes in the Treble Clef
Discover how to identify and read music notation in the treble clef.

Blues Scale
The notes in a typical blues scale as played on the piano in a scale and two sample tunes.

Play Boogie Piano
Discover how to play boogie woogie piano, which chords to use, how the left hand works, and how to add variety to the simplest boogie woogie pattern on the piano.

Play Trills on Piano
Playing trills on the piano causing problems? Here's a handy little exercise to help beginners get to grips with playing trills in time and up to speed. Practice slowly and build the tempo up gradually before tackling playing trills in longer piano pieces.

Read Key Signatures
Key signatures make you scratch your head? Here's everything you need to know to work them out.

Broken Chords
Using broken chords as a method of accompanying on the piano.

How Long to Learn the Piano?
How long does it take to learn how to play the piano?

Buy a Piano
How to buy a piano, know what you want, and get the best deal you can afford.

Boogie Woogie Piano
How to play boogie woogie on the piano with the left hand.

Chords
Using 3-note standard solid chords as a means to provide piano accompaniment.

Tour of the Piano
What are the various bits and pieces that go into making a piano? Join me on this guided tour as I highlight some of the main features of this incredible instrument.

Choose a Piano Teacher
Find a good piano teacher that can take you as far as you want to go with your studies.

Major Scales 2
The major scales including all keys with flats in them.

Read Time Signatures
How to read and understand time signatures in music notation.

Find Middle C
How to find Middle C and all other C's on the piano.

The Whole Tone Scale
The whole tone scale made up of six equidistant notes.

Minor Scales with Sharps
The minor scales with sharps as they are played on the piano.

Arpeggio Piano Accompaniment
Using arpeggios to provide variety in a piano accompaniment.

Piano Chord Inversions
Find out what chord inversions are, how they're formed and how to play them on the piano. Then use this knowledge to make the music you play and write sound more interesting and varied.

Alberti Bass
Using the Alberti bass as a way of varying your accompaniment on the piano.

The Pentatonic Scale
The structure and use of the pentatonic or 5-note scale.

The Impressionist Piano
How the Impressionists developed new ways of expressing themselves with the piano.

Your Third Piano Lesson
Play your first song reading musical notation and using both hands.

Practice Tips
Discover the techniques to use your practice time to make improvements in your playing without driving you round the bend.

The Romantic Piano
The Piano in the Romantic Period

Primary Chords Finder
Here's how to find the three primary chords on the piano for ANY key.

Major Scales 1
The major scales including C major and the sharp keys.

Play Arpeggios On Piano
Playing arpeggios on the piano giving you problems? Practice this piece to improve your arpeggio playing skills!

Write Piano Ragtime
Like ragtime piano music? Here's your chance to write your own! Find out the easy way to create music from music that already exists.

The Classical Piano
The piano's emergence in the Classical period.

Piano Lesson Four
Play a song on the piano with two hands at the same time.

Mozart, First Great Pianist
Mozart was one of the first great virtuoso pianists in the piano's history.

Muzio Clementi
Who is Muzio Clementi and what did he do?

Legato - Smooth Piano Playing
Legato is the term used to describe playing notes on the piano in a smooth, connected manner. You try to go from one note to the other without leaving any gaps between.

Piano - HowTos
An index of HowTos for the Piano guide site.

Piano or Keyboard
Should you start with a keyboard or buy a piano?

The Baroque Period
The piano's development during the Baroque period.

Staccato Legato Piano
Two of the most common ways to play the piano are staccato and legato, or detached and smoothly. Find out how to do it in this article which includes a link to a score that you can read, print or listen to.

Intermediate Lesson 1
Your first piano lesson at the intermediate stage.

Riff - Musical Pattern
A riff is a repeated musical idea which can be rhythmical or melodic, a chord, a bass line or even just a beat.

Play Turns On Piano
Turns and ornaments giving you grief? Once you know what makes up a turn, it's not so difficult any more. Find out exactly what a turn is and how to play it on the piano.

Play More Piano Turns
Here's even more information on playing and understanding turns in music. This time, you can see the turns written out and as they might be written with turn symbols.

Modal Scales 2
The 4 minor modes and how to play them.

Keeping the Beat
Keeping the beat when you practice the piano.

Lang Lang Piano Virtuoso
Lang Lang is a 25-year-old piano virtuoso from China whose performances are setting the musical world on fire. And it's not just classical, either: he's at home playing just about any style you can imagine.

Use Throughout History
How the piano developed and was used throughout the last 300 years to become the instrument we know it as today.

The Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale using all twelve available notes.

Electric or Acoustic?
How to decide on whether or not you should purchase an electric piano or an older acoustic model.

Liszt, the First Rock Star
Franz Liszt dazzled audiences with his virtuosity and flair at the piano.

Ludwig van Beethoven Profile
Beethoven bridged the gap between the Classical and Romantic styles of piano music.

Claude Debussy Profile
Claude Debussy, the most famous composer of the Impressionist period, who wrote new and interesting piano music.

Beethoven's Appassionata
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23, "Appassionata" -- third movement, Allegro ma non troppo.

Warm-up for Scales
Warm-up exercises to get your fingers ready to play scales.

Modal Scales 1
The 3 major modes and how to play them.

Crescendo
Crescendo tells you how loudly to play.

Preparing For a Recital
Learn the techniques to get yourself ready for a recital and give the best performance you're capable of.

Play a Scale
Get your fingers coordinated and make playing scales as easy as A, B, C.

Duke Ellington Pianist
Duke Ellington went from playing piano in clubs and bars to becoming one of America's greatest ever songwriters and bandleaders.

Concerto
What does the word "Concerto" mean?

Staccato - Detached Playing
Staccato -- the opposite of legato -- means to play the notes on the piano in a detached manner, so they're separated.

Minor Scales 2: The Flat Keys
Minor scales with flat keys as they should be played on the piano.

Bass
Bass means the low sounds or the low notes typically associated with music.

Piano Teacher
Find out how to choose a good piano teacher, one that's patient, experienced, encouraging, and can take you as far as you want to go with your studies.

Irving Berlin Pianist/Composer
Irving Berlin rose from humble beginnings to become one of the world's favorite songwriters.

Piano - Articles
An index of Articles for the Piano guide site.

Arpeggio
The meaning of the word arpeggio and how to play one.

Boogie Woogie
The boogie woogie left hand pattern used in 12-bar blues.

Clavichord
Clavichord, the piano's ancient cousin.

Etude - Piano Study
An etude is a study for piano that aims to help pianists master a technical skill by working on it in an actual piece of music.

Damper Pedal
The damper pedal and how it works.

Piano - Profiles
An index of Profiles for the Piano guide site.

Dulcimer
One of the piano's oldest relatives.