Piano Key Notes

Learn about the piano key layout using this piano key chart

Let's start with the pattern of black and white piano key notes - the piano key layout.

I've included this piano lesson in video format below, as well as my written page that you see here.

Let's take a look at your piano (or keyboard). If you have a standard size piano, there should be 88 keys in total (36 black, 52 white). Some of the older pianos might have 85.

At first glance, that's a lot of keys on a piano to get your head around.

Does that mean that you need to "learn" 88 different keys?

Not really. It's not as hard as it looks...I'll show you why.

A Simple Pattern

You'll see that the black keys are grouped together, either in twos or threes. They alternate, 2, 3, 2, 3 over and over again...like a pattern that repeats itself.

Aha! There's a method to the madness!

So although the piano may look like just a jumble of keys at first glance, there is a structure and "order" to it that makes it easy to follow - especially once you know the letter names associated with each note.

We'll move onto the next lesson and learn a little more about the piano key layout - we'll take a look at the white notes and musical alphabet.