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We have the most comprehensive Piano Note Chart available for download. Below is a download of the chart which contains a layout of piano keys.

The chart shows the piano keyboard along with the grand staff. It shows each note on the staff and what note on the piano that goes along with that note.

Also, we have a chart showing the treble clef notes and bass clef notes. These charts are helpful so you can remember the notes that fall on the lines and the spaces on the treble and bass clef.

The Piano Note Chart

Here is an image of the piano chart. This chart is an easy to use reference guide that will show you the notes on the staff, and where they are on the piano keyboard.

Click Here to download a PDF version of the Piano Note Chart.

The Piano Staff

The staff is made up of two clefs, the treble clef and the bass clef. Each clef tells the musician which hand they should use to play each note. The treble clef, (the top row) is to be played with the right hand, and the bass clef, (the bottom row) is to be played with the left hand.

These two staves are joined together to make what is called the grand staff.

Treble Clef and Bass Clef

These two staffs have notes that lay on either a line or a space. This tells us which note to play on the piano keyboard.

Use the piano note chart below to help you find the notes that fall on the lines and spaces on the treble clef and bass clef.

Treble Clef Spaces

Treble Clef Lines

Bass Clef Spaces

Bass Clef Lines

These charts are great to help beginners remember the note names on the piano keyboard.

Learning Piano Keys

Learning the piano keys amy seem difficult but it is actually very easy. There are only twelve notes that you need to learn.

Once you learn these twelve keys all you have to do is repeat them all the way up the piano keyboard. If you need a more extensive lesson on piano keys check out our lessons on piano keys.

If you are still struggling to find the keys and where they are located on the piano you can us our Piano Key Chart. This chart is great to learn the notes and the pattern of the piano keys and did I mention its free to download!

Finding C On The Piano

On the piano note chart I have included Middle C. If you can find C on the piano then you should be able to label all of the other notes.

If you sit at your piano keyboard and find the two black notes that are together and move to the white note that is to the left of them you have found middle C.

If you look up and down the piano keys and find the two black notes together and move one note to the left you will always be on a C. This is helpful because all of the notes on the piano keyboard repeat over and over again. Look at piano keyboard diagram that we have included and you will notice how C repeats itself.

Knowing where middle C is important because this is generally where the notes split between staves. Middle C can be played with the right hand or the left hand, it depends where the note falls on the staff. If it is on the treble clef then you play it with the right hand, if it is on the bass clef then you play it with the left hand.

This note is most generally where the two clefs split. However, this is not always the case.

As you start learning more advanced piano music you will sometimes see that you will need to play some notes lower than Middle C with the right hand and some notes that are above Middle C with the left hand. It all depends on what is more comfortable for the player and what each hand has to play at a certain moment.

If you have to play a high note and a note that is close to Middle C, you will most likely play the high notes with the right hand and the notes around Middle C with the left hand.

I hope these charts have been helpful. Make sure to print it off and set it next to your piano or keyboard are a music tool to help you.

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Have you been looking all over the internet for a free printable piano chord chart? Well, look no further.

I have compiled a piano chords chart containing the two most important chords that you will ever learn, the major and minor chord.

These two chords are the foundation of every chord you will ever learn. Once you learn the major and minor chord, you will be able to build almost any other more complex chord.

The reason for this is because each chord is a derivative, or built from, the major chord or minor chord.

Don’t believe me?

Take a look at the two chords below. There is a C Major Chord on the left and a Cmaj7 chord on the right. Notice anything in common?

The Cmaj7 contains the exact same notes as the C Major Chord, with only one additional note. C Major is made up of C, E, and G, while Cmaj7 contains the notes C, E, G, and B.

Crazy isn’t is?

This is just one example of how once you learn major and minors you can then use the foundation of those two chords to start building more difficult and complex chords.Click here to Download a Free 25 page piano chord chart!

Type of Piano Chords Charts

Here I have included one printable piano chord chart for major chords and one for minor chords.

Not only have I included the notes labeled on the piano keyboard, I have included the chords labeled on sheet music.

Most people don’t think that it’s important to read music once they start learning chords. It’s actually the exact opposite.

Once you start to learn chords, it makes it easier to learn to read to sheet music.

You can use the printable piano chord chart to help to become better at reading sheet music as well.

One of the benefits of using the sheet music that is included in the piano chords chart is that you will help you start to recognize chord structures in sheet music. You will start to notice what a Major chord and a minor chord looks like on the piano staff.

This is helpful because rather then having to read each note individually, you can now start to recognize chord shapes on the staff. You will be able to recognize each chord and the shape that it makes on the staff without reading the notes individually or taking the time to study the sheet music.

Major Chart

Minor Chart

Chord Chart Sheet Music

There’s Still More

There is a whole lot more then just knowing the notes in the printable piano chord chart, such as Fingering, Inversions, and so on. Simply recognizing the chords above leaves out a lot of essential information. Click here to Download a Free 25 page piano chord chart!

How The Printable Piano Chord Chart Can Be Used

Having this piano chord chart is great. It allows you to have a chart of the major and minor chords right there with you at the piano when you are playing or practicing piano.

Printing these charts can use up a lot of ink in your printer though. Because of the density of the black keys in the chart, you should be careful not to print these charts too often.

You can also lower the density of the printing in your printer settings. Search through the printer settings and find where you can adjust the quality of the images. Use a lesser quality printer setting to use less ink.

Print out the printable piano chord and leave it with you at the piano. When you get stuck with the notes in a chord, go to it to find the chord you need.Click here to Download a Free 25 page piano chord chart!

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When reading piano music a musician must know more then just the notes on the staff. There are many other factors involved that need to be addressed when reading piano notes.

There is so much information on a piece of music that it is important that the musician scans the entire piece and takes note of each detail before attempting to play the song.

There are so many small details in a piece of music, that if not prepared, will pass you by.

Remember, every song has a steady rhythm that it follows, it’s not going to stop to let you catch up from a missed cue in the music.

The best tip on sight reading music I can give you is to

Know What’s Going To Happen Before It Happens!

Take a look over the piece of music before you start to play it and take notes. Look for these important parts of a piece of sheet music listed below so you will be ready for them when they show up.

Recognize Key

The very first thing you need to take note of when sight reading music is the key signature. The key signature is used to show how many sharps and flats are in a particular piece of music.

The key signature is located at the beginning of each line of music on both the treble clef and bass clef.

At the beginning of both clefs there will be a varying number of sharps or flats. The number of sharps and flats will tell you which key the song being played is in.

Use this key signature chart as a guide for learning key signatures fast!

Tempo

The tempo of the song is how fast or slow the song should be played.

Tempo is usually shown in Beats Per Minute or bpm. The higher the number of of beats per minute the faster the song, the lower number the slower the song,

At the beginning of each piece of music, look for a numeric number representing the bpm. You can put this number into your metronome when reading piano music to make sure that you are in perfect time.

Dynamics

Always take the time to scan for dynamics when reading piano music.

Throughout a piece of music the volume in which you play can change dramatically.

Without dynamics, a song would be lifeless. There would be no emphasis, no character.

Start by looking at the beginning of the piece for dynamic symbols. Some songs start out soft and raise in volume as the piece goes on. Others start loud then get soft.

There are constant changes in dynamics that you need to check for in order to really nail the performance. Check for crescendo’s and decrescendo’s and other music note symbols such as forte, piano, and pianissimo.

Make sure you mark when and where there are volume changes when sight reading music.

Repeats

In order to consolidate space, most pieces of music use repeat sings to show when a passage, or part of a song repeats itself.

There are a lot of different types of repeat sings that you need to be away of when reading piano music. Check out this page to learn more about repeat sings.

Go through the piece of music and make sure you know the layout of the song. The repeats are used as a roadmap to guide you through each section of the song. Don’t get lost when the sheet music asks you to start back over at the beginning.

Make sure you know exactly where to go so that you won’t get mixed up while playing the song.

Key Changes

Key changes can happen anywhere in a song. Say you are playing a song in C, and then all of a sudden it wants you to play in Db, you need to be aware of all instances of key changes in a song.

A key change happens when there are sharp or flat symbols in the middle of the music.

Remember when I said that the key signature of a song is always at the beginning of each line?

To show that there is a key change, the music will have these symbols sitting in the middle of the music letting you know that it’s time to switch keys.

Scan through the piece before you start to play. Mark the key changes, if any, so you are ready to make adjustments in the sharps and flats in a song.

Preview the Piece

Reading piano notes can be a little difficult. To make sure that you are going to play a song the best that you can, make sure to scan the music before you start playing.

Being able to sight read a song without every looking at it is a skill that takes quite some time to master, but if you are still a beginner at reading piano music then need to make sure to scan, scan, scan!

Take your pencil and write all over the sheet music. Take as many notes as you can so that when you are practicing and performing the piece, that you are ready for any sudden changes that take place.

There is a lot that can happen in a piece of sheet music, study the piece so you won’t miss a thing.

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A repeat sign is an indicator that guides you through a piece of sheet music. These signs are important because they condense the music into much more manageable parts.

If it weren’t for repeat signs, sheet music would be many pages making it difficult for the musician to play. These signs make it easy to add repeats into music to take away a lot of extra pages and wasted space.

What They Do

There are many different types of repeat sings that are used in music. They all have a different purpose, and tell the musician to go to different parts of a song.

Some of the more simple signs will tell you to go the beginning of a song, while others will direct you to a particular part in the middle of a song. These signs are like road signs for a piece of sheet music. They direct you through the sheet music telling you were to go and what to play.

What They Look Like

There are a variety of different repeat signs. Some are Italian phrases, while other are music symbols.

The most common is the traditional repeat sign. This sign looks like similar to a double bar. A double bar is normally used at the end of a piece of sheet music to show the end of a song. See what a double bar looks like at our in-depth instruction on the piano staff.

The repeat looks a little different in the fact that it has two dots facing to the left. A combination of a double bar and two dots create a traditional repeat sign.

There is also an inverted repeat. This repeat looks identical to the traditional repeat except it is facing in the other direction. This is commonly used to show where to repeat back to.

Repeat Terms

There are number of terms that represent a repeat.

• Coda
• Da Capo
• Dal Segno
• Da Capo al Fine

Each of these terms are Italian, and have a specific instruction for the musician to follow.

Coda

Coda is a musical symbol that navigates the musician through the piece of music.

It looks like a plus sign with circle around it.

This sign is used to show where in a piece of music you need to jump to. When the music shows a coda sign, you need to find the next coda sign, and start playing the section that has the coda sign above it.

A Coda tells you to skip a particular part of a piece of music. It tells you to move from the first coda sign to the very next coda sign.

This sign is simple navigation mark telling you where to move to in a piece of music.

Da Capo

Da Capo is another Italian phrase that tells the musician to return back to the beginning of a piece of music.

You will very rarely see this phrase written out. You will more likely see it written as D.C.

Whenever you see D.C. it tells you that you are to move from the section you just played, and return back to the very beginning of the piece.

Dal Segno

A Dal Segno is sign that looks like an S with a line cutting through it and two dots on both sides.

Dal Segno is normally abbreviated as D.S. and tells you to move back to Dal Segno sign. Once you reach the Dal Segno sign, you continue playing the piece of music like normal.

Da Capo al Fine

This is similar to the Da Capo in the regards that you return back to the beginning of the piece of music. The only difference here, is that you are to return to the beginning and play all the way through to the end of the piece.

This is also usually abbreviated as D.C. al fine.

How to Follow a Repeat Sign

There are many different repeat signs in music. They can get very confusing trying to follow them. We are going to go over some examples of repeat signs, and show how to follow them in a piece of music.

Repeat

There are two instances that you will see a repeat sign; at the end of a piece of music, and within the piece of music.

If at the end of the music, this directs you to return to the beginning and repeat the entire song. You are to return back to the beginning of the piece of music and play all the way to the end.

If you encounter a repeat sign in the middle of a piece of music you are to play up to the repeat sign, return back to the beginning, and play through to the end of the piece.

Inverted Repeat

The inverted repeat is identical to a normal repeat, except it is facing in the opposite direction. Instead of facing to the left, it faced to the right.

To play a section with an inverted repeat, you play to the original repeat. You then go back to the inverted repeat, and play to the end.

Da Capo

To play a Da Capo or D.C., you play until you reach to the D.C., then go back to the very beginning of the piece of music. As soon as you see the D.C. you return to the beginning of the piece.

Dal Segno

To play a Dal Segno, look for the abbreviation D.S. This tells you to go back in the piece of music until you reach the Del Segno sign. You continue playing to the end.

DS al Coda

This stands for Dal Segno al Coda. If you remember, Dal Segno means to return to the Dal Segno sign.

Play until you reach the words D.S. al Coda. Then return back to the Dal Segno sign. When you see the first Coda symbol, skip over that section, and go to the next Coda symbol.

DC al Coda

D.C. al Coda is almost exactly the same as the D.S. al Coda. The only difference here, is that instead of returning back to the Dal Segno, you go back to the very beginning of the piece of music.

You still follow the Coda rules of skipping over the coda.

DC al Fine

When you see the D.S al Fine, return to the beginning of the piece. The word Fine tells you where the song is supposed to end.

You then play through the rest of the song until you reach the part that says Fine. This will be the end of the song.

DS al Fine

D.S. al Fine is a mixture of Dal Segno and Fine. You play to the D.S. al Fine, and then return to the Del Segno sign. Once you reach the sign, play until you reach the Fine which expresses the end of the piece.

Alternate Ending

This shows the musician that there are multiple ending for a piece of music. Rather then playing through one ending, you repeat back through the music and play the alternate ending that may be little different then the first.

There are brackets that are used to separate the first ending from the other endings.

To play this, you play through the first ending. Then return to the beginning of the piece. Then play through the piece again skipping the first ending. Instead of playing the first ending, you play the second ending.

A repeat sign is very important when learning to read music. Most all sheet music has some type of repeat in it. If you don’t know where to go in a piece of music, you will be lost. It’s like being lost in your car. If you don’t know the road signs, then you’ll be lost. If you don’t know the musical directions you’ll be lost.

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Sharps and Flats

Flats and sharps are important in music because they tell us when a note or a tone is lowered or raised.

When a note goes down or gets lowered it is said to be flat. When a note is raised it is sharp.

For example, if a person is singing a song and the note they are to be singing is supposed to be a G, but they are slightly lower than that G they are said to be singing flat.

On the other hand if they were a bit higher than G they are said to be sharp.

Most people, when it comes to listening to pitch cant tell the difference in a sightly sharp or flat note. But when a note become to far flat or sharp it now becomes a new note.

When a note becomes lower in pitch by a semitone or “half step”, it is flat. The same goes for a note that is raised or higher by a half step is sharp.

Sharp and Flat Symbols

When a note or pitch is said to be flat it will be represented on musical notation with a symbol that is similar to a lower case b. When a note is sharp it will be represented by a symbol that looks like a number sign. Both a sharp and flat sign are pictured below.

Sharps and Flats in Music

To determine when to play these flats and sharps you have to look at the key signature. This tells you how many sharps and flats you have to play in that key.

For example, if you are in the key of G the staff paper will tell you that every time an F is to be played you must play an F# instead.

This is important because they don’t put the sharps and flats next to the notes every time they want you to play it. They will only put it at the beginning of each row so its important to remember what keys have certain sharps and certain flats.

Naturals

A natural is another symbol that you have to know.

A natural sign tells you when to take a note that is normally sharped or flatted and make it the natural note instead.

That doesn’t make any sense does it.

Lets do an example.

In the key of G there is one sharp, F#. So throughout that song you know that every time the music says to play an F that you have to play and F# instead.

Sometimes music has to break the rules. The music might want you to, one time in the song, to play an F instead of the F#. This is known as playing the natural.

All the white notes are naturals so the song puts a natural sign next to the F# note and that tells you to play an F instead.

Below is what a Natural Sign looks like.

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