Lesson 3 Piano Keyboard Layout and Key Names Video Lecture - Piano Tutorials

all right so we're at lesson three
already some pretty simple things again
today today we're actually finally going
to get to the keyboard a little bit I'm
going to teach you how to find notes on
the keyboard pretty simple but you know
we're getting into there as I said the
next couple lessons will finally get
playing examples on the keyboard so
things should start to get a little more
interesting if you're already familiar
with with these very you know
introductory subjects and things like
that another thing I'm going to explain
our note durations which is how long to
hold the notes you know quarter notes
half notes dotted half notes things like
that so I have an exponent X planation
there for you and one more thing we're
going to talk about is reading notes on
and off the staff and give you a little
more experience reading notes because
that's very important that's probably
something we'll practice going on as we
move forward and I'll probably make
maybe some supplementary videos about
note reading as well just to give you a
little more practice also try to post a
link somewhere to a site that gives you
some experience note reading so you
don't have to keep you know watching the
videos over and over and you can
actually go and learn on your own which
i think is very important so there you
have it that's what we're going to do in
lesson 3 and I hope you enjoy
okay so we're finally at the keyboard or
piano or whatever you want to call it
this thing here with the keys is known
as the keyboard some people have been
have a piano and I happen to have a
professional keyboard so the layout of
the keyboard goes like this I'm sure
you've noticed already that on the
keyboard there are white keys and there
are Black Keys of course and that the
black keys go in on a pattern of group
of two group of three group of two three
to three and then it just keeps
repeating all the way to the end so I'm
with this knowing this I'm going to show
you how to find the note C so how to
find the note C first you want to find a
group of two Black Keys here's one and C
is always going to be directly down into
the left of your first
or leftmost black key so here you go and
that one's going to be C so let's find
another one so the first thing if you
remember is to find a group of two Black
Keys here it is and remember C is going
to be right to the bottom and to the
left of that group of two so there's
your C so we're going to go back to our
first C which is here this C happens to
be the middle key middle of the keyboard
and it's commonly referred to as middle
C if you know your musical alphabet you
remember that musical alphabet goes from
A to G and then goes on H no it repeats
so we have C what's after seeing the
alphabet d e f g and then a b c so if we
take our C then what's right before C in
the alphabet B a so if you ever get lost
you can always look for the note C and
count up or down from there that's why I
think in the other video I told you to
be able to read the musical alphabet
forwards and backwards because that
gives you a lot of practice going from c
to d e f and then back down EDC B a so
you can find notes a little bit quicker
another thing I recommend is to memorize
where the other notes are on the
keyboard so you can do that in their
relation to the groups of two and three
black keys so you could say okay C's to
the left of that group of two Black Keys
D is in the middle of that group of two
e is to the right of that group of two F
is directly below to the left of the
group of three G is in between you know
the first two and that group of three a
and so forth I think you get the idea so
I recommend that but if not if all else
fails and you forget how to memorize or
where the locations of these other keys
are should at least be able to find the
note C and count up or down from there
to be able to figure out where you are
okay so here I have a couple different
types of notes and what these will tell
you
is how long to play to play the piano
one thing I want to point out is that
mostly every note has what's called a
head and a stem the head is this thing
here and the stem will either go up or
down sometimes you'll see the note like
this depending on where the note is
located on the staff so the first one we
have here this first example is called
the quarter note the quarter note you
can tell has a filled-in head with a
straight stem coming off of it and that
one is going to get one beat or you
might want to say one count you'll play
the piano and count to one
the next kind of note is known as the
half note a half note has an open head
with a straight stem and this one is
going to get two beats or two counts and
then this third one we have here is
called the dotted half note you can tell
because it looks like a regular half
note with a dot attached and this one is
going to get three counts so here last
but not least and this one is a little
bit of an exception to the rule because
it just has a head with it and no stem
so when you see that you know that you
are playing a whole note and a whole
note will get four counts so if you
remember before we were talking about
the lines of spaces of the bass clef and
how to read notes on the staff
knowing the lines and spaces for each of
those cliffs so there's one thing little
thing detail I wanted to point out about
that that I feel is pretty important and
that's when you put the lines and spaces
together so you'll have line space line
space so you're basically just lining
them up so the bottom line as we know is
e then F G a B C so you should have
noticed something about this and it's
when you put the lines and spaces
together the letters will go in
consecutive order of course knowing that
the musical alphabet repeats after G the
same thing about the bass clef we have
that bottom line we all know as G and
then begins ABCD so when you put the
lines and spaces together the
we'll go in consecutive order so I just
wanted to point that out you may have
noticed it maybe not but I think it's
worth pointing out so here was a brief
explanation of this of the use of ledger
lines now ledger lines are for notes
that don't fall on the staff they fall
either
directly above the staff or directly
below the staff so they add the in these
little lines so you can be able to
basically tell where you are and
figuring out these notes now a rule of
thumb when you're trying to figure these
out is define the next nearest note so
say you know I cover that up in your
like oh gee that falls outside of the
staff what do I do
well you find the next nearest note what
you do know and you probably know the
the first line of the treble clef if you
don't that letter is e so E and then
what's right before in the alphabet D
right before that C B and a so this goes
in consecutive order as well but because
you're going down it will be in
backwards order of course same thing
with the base clef we have these ledger
lines so you're like oh man I don't know
what note that is that's the the you
know that's below the staff I don't know
that well I'll find a note on the staff
that you do know you know that first
line or you should anyway and that is of
course going to be G well what's before
G in the alphabet of course it's going
to be f4 that's e D and C and once again
it's important to point out because
we're going down below the staff it will
go in backwards order so let's get some
practice with these here we have that
some treble clef let me move this out of
the way move a little further other way
there we go
so we have the treble clef we have that
bottom line we know that as a of course
because it's every good bunny deserves
fudge so e bottom line now we have this
below it oh no what does that note it's
below the staff well remember this is e
so this is write directly below E so
that's going to be that's right D
hopefully you said D anyway so knowing
that that's D what's this one take a
second think about it maybe
that's right see excellent good work
okay so moving on knowing that that's
see first thing I want to mention about
this I want you to memorize this one
because only because this specifically
is middle C and you will be seeing this
note quite a lot in the next couple of
exercises we're going to do in the next
and in the first couple of exercises
really any piano student comes across so
it's really important to know that
that's middle C so what's the next one
down let's see oh that's right below it
I'd say because there's a ledger line
someone's right below it what's before
seeing the alphabet you said B you are
right on the money there you go all
right
falling all over the place today okay
let me move that out of the way now
we're going to have a little experience
doing notes that are directly above the
staff on the treble clef so I put this
one out here for you hopefully don't
panic you can get this so if you know
remember that this is right it's outside
of the staff and this is remember that
top line that's probably should be the
closest one that you know at this point
and of course you know that this note is
the top line I mean would be F so if I
denote there that would be F what's
right after F in the alphabet G of
course there we go so that one's out of
the way knowing that this is G we have
the next one so G and a yep a is the
next one and then we have a over here
and what's this one this one is going to
be D of course so there you go that's
the general idea that's the treble clef
of directly below and directly above the
staff now of course we have our old
friend the bass clef so here we go
that's our bottom line you remember that
as G I hope and then knowing that that's
G what is this one well gee let me think
about ABCDE F so f is going to be right
before G I'll stick this one over here
knowing that that's F
this one is you probably get the idea by
now right before it on the first letter
ledger line below the staff that's going
to be an E and below that even is going
to be D so that's generally how that
works
that's the below the bass clef now real
quick I'll show you right above the bass
clef here we go so oh no freak out now
don't freak out remember that the top
line is a and then this next one is
going to be B of course you're a pro at
this by now I'm sure another one I want
you to memorize this one as well B C and
specifically this is middle C so I
showed you middle C before hopefully I
can find it here here we go B the other
way so if you remember you're like oh
man I thought he said this was middle C
well I have news for you they're both
middle C C if you put the bass clef down
here in the treble clef right above it
they actually connect and they kind of
meet at this middle C note so if you go
way up above the the you know the bass
clef you'll actually kind of wind up in
the treble clef area so that's kind of
how it works that they are actually
interconnected they're not exactly two
separate things but when memorizing
notes for each we kind of consider them
separate so those were some interesting
things to point out about reading notes
on the staff you know knowing that if
you put the lines of spaces together it
goes in consecutive order and you know
we talked about reading notes directly
above and below each of the staffs so
there you have it and we'll move on to
the next segment so there you have it
end of lesson three already um we talked
about note durations today which is how
long to hold the notes feel free to look
at that part of the video again if you
need to we also talked about finally
talked about finding notes on the piano
so that's something especially if you
haven't done before i really suggest you
really review that information as well
as practice on your own on your own
keyboard finding those different notes
you should probably practice that almost
every day until you're like you're
really really good you can find any note
anybody could come up to the piano play
a note and you know exactly what it is
all so what we did was we talked about
reading notes on and off the treble clef
and bass clef as well as giving you a
little more experience reading notes in
general so there you have it lesson
three as always I hope you learn
something hope you maybe you had a
little bit of fun I don't know and I'll
catch you on the flipside whatever that
means