Music theory basics

No need to read notation first. This page goes names → distances → scales → chords → beats, five steps, and every step makes a sound so you can hear it before you read about it.

How to read sheet music: click every positionIf the page of notes means nothing to you, start here — click a position and the matching key lights up. The page ends with a find-the-key drill.

Step 1 · Learn the names

A piano has two kinds of keys: white and black. The twelve names repeat, each cycle simply one octave higher. Tap any name below to hear that note near middle C; the row of keys at the bottom of this page carries the same labels, so you can find the note on the keyboard too.

White keys have a single name. It is the black key between two white keys that carries two — the one between C and D is C♯, also called D♭.

Step 2 · Measure the distance (intervals)

Musical distance is counted in semitones: two neighbouring keys are one semitone apart, even where there is no black key between them. Drag the slider to move the note up from C4 and see what each distance is called.

Semitones above C4C4 → C4: unison (the same note)

The octave (12 semitones) is special because two notes an octave apart sound like "the same note, only higher or lower" — which is why the twelve-key pattern repeats up the whole keyboard.

Step 3 · A scale is one fixed pattern of steps

Walk the fixed pattern whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half from any starting note and you get that key's major scale. Starting from C:

C4wholeD4wholeE4halfF4wholeG4wholeA4wholeB4halfC5

Step 4 · A chord stacks every other note

Take the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of that scale and press them together: that is a triad. When people talk about the "one, four and five" chords of a song, these are the triads built on those scale steps.

C4 + E4 + G4

Step 5 · A bar is a cycle of strong and weak

Bar lines cut the staff into chunks, each one a bar. The top number of a time signature says how many beats fit in a bar, the bottom one says which note value counts as a beat. What it really decides is where the weight lands: 4/4 goes strong-weak-medium-weak, 3/4 goes strong-weak-weak — that is the waltz's boom-chick-chick.

1 strong2 weak3 medium4 weak

4/4 means 4 beats to the bar. Listen to the bar first, then count the beat ticks between the bar lines on a real score.

Now try it: chord library and scale drill

The two tools below are for repetition. The chord library sounds any chord on tap (sevenths and suspensions included); the scale drill highlights the next note to press on the keyboard.

This is the row of keys

Note names

Everything above lives on these keys. The names are printed on them, so tapping a key plays it; your computer keyboard works too — the small letter on each key is the letter you press.

Root octaveC4

Pick a score in the library Back to free playing