Virtual Piano

Look for a group of two black keys. The white key immediately to its left is C. From C, the white keys run D, E, F, G, A, B and then C again. The black keys are the sharps and flats between some of those white notes.

The pattern of two and three black keys repeats across the keyboard. Once you can find one C, you can find every C. That is more useful than trying to count dozens of white keys from the far left. The Note System explains how the letter names repeat.

Use the computer-key labels shown on the piano keys. Those labels are shortcuts to the musical keys; the letter C on a computer keyboard is not necessarily assigned to the piano note C. Click or tap the visible keys if you would rather begin by pointing at them.

Play one note at a time first. Then hold two keys together and listen to the distance between them. Finally try C-E-G. A chord is a group of notes heard together, and the Piano Chords Chart gives you more three-note sets to try.

Start by identifying the notes you pressed. C-E-G is C major. C-E flat-G is C minor. Both share C and G, so the third note is the change you can hear and name. For a chord with an unfamiliar note set, compare it with What Is a Chord? rather than guessing from the lowest key alone.

You can also spread a chord out: play C, then E, then G. The notes are the same, but the broken version is an arpeggio. That difference is easy to hear with a free keyboard and harder to understand from a printed diagram.

Find C, play every white key up to the next C, and listen for the two places where adjacent white keys have no black key between them: E-F and B-C. Then return to C-E-G. You have moved from a note, to a scale, to a chord using the same keyboard map. The Pianolab Chord Player is the guided next step when you want to choose a chord by name.