Estimated reading time 5 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Are you a beginner pianist and want to know how to read piano sheet music? Or are you a parent and want to figure out if your child is ready to play piano? This post covers the basics of how to read piano sheet music. In addition, it has links to practical examples so you can get an idea of what it’s like to play and read piano music. Keep reading How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners to embark on your musical voyage.
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #1: Practical Examples
In this section, I have included links to practical examples that will get you or your child playing quickly:
- Subsequent sections give quick explanations of basic score reading.
- This means you can try the practical examples right away, or you can look through the sections on music notation first.
- It’s your choice.
The link to the following post will give you a hands-on keyboard experience, so you can get the idea of what it’s like to play. I designed it specifically for kids, but anyone can try it, even adults.
Conversely, these posts help you to get an idea of what it’s like to interact with a musical score. I used color coding to help make it easy to read the sheet music, which is ideal for young kids and special need students, but once again, anyone can try it.
- Playing the Piano with Color Coded Notes
- Playing Piano with Color Coded Left Hand Notes
- Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes
- Playing Piano with Color Coded Left Hand Notes and Rhythm
For a quick music notation guide in a list format:
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #2: The Grand Staff and Clef Mnemonics
Mobile users: for best results reading the examples, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
To access an online keyboard: click here.
Piano is unusual because it uses two staves joined by middle C to make the grand staff:
- This creates, in essence, a large eleven-line staff. This explains why the notes (see the white keys on the keyboard above and the grand staff example below) on the treble staff are different from the bass staff.
- When we start on the bottom line of the bass staff and progress through the notes up to the top line of the treble staff, you get the musical alphabet three times.
- Instead of focusing on how the bass and treble staves are different, you need to focus on the continuum of notes across both staves.
For more information:
Usually, beginners will learn clef mnemonics to help them remember the note names:
- Mnemonics are memory devices. Basically, they’re cute phrases like: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge or F A C E. The first letter of each word indicates the notes on either the lines or spaces of the grand staff.
- The right hand plays the trebles staff music, and the left hand plays the bass staff music.
- Because of the continuum of the grand staff notes, we need separate mnemonics for the bass and treble staves. This is why the first and most important question you need to ask yourself is, “Which hand is playing?”
If your child has trouble reading music, try color coding the notes:
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #3: Hand Positions
Once you know what note you’re playing, you need to know what finger to use:
- Beginning piano does this using five finger hand positions where each finger gets a key.
- Fingering is the biggest technical issue on keyboard instruments.
- And hand positions are the heart and soul of keyboard technic.
For more information:
These are the three most used hand positions in beginner lesson books:
Hand Icon (churien.deviantart.com/art/hand-template-blank-272630198) by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Modified by Geoffrey Keith.
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #4: Rhythm
Rhythm is represented in the score by a series of shapes, each of which is held for a set amount of time:
- The quarter note sounds for one beat.
- The half note sounds for two beats.
- The dotted half note sounds for three beats.
- The whole note sounds for four beats.
Rests tell you to be silent for a set amount of time:
- The quarter rest is silent for one beat.
- The half rest is silent for two beats.
- The whole rest is silent for the whole measure.
Here are some practical examples of how rhythmic notation works, including audio tracks you can clap along with:
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #5: Flats, Sharps, Naturals, and Key Signatures
To access an online keyboard: click here.
We’ve discussed how to play the white keys. So, how does the notation tell you to play the black keys?
- A sharp sign before a note tells you to play the next black key to the right, and the flat tells you to play the next black key to the left.
- A natural sign always tells you to play a white key.
- The sharps or flats in the key signature tell you that the sharps or flats in question will apply for the whole song.
For more information:
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #6: The Pedal
When you press the right pedal, it allows the keyboard’s notes to continue to sound even after you’ve lifted your fingers from the keys:
- The pedal is one of the coolest things about keyboard instruments.
- The modern pedal sign is a bracket (see the highlighted symbol below the bass staff in the example above).
- The beginning of the bracket on the left tells you to press down the pedal with your foot, and the right side of the bracket tells you to lift your foot.
How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners #7: Repeat Signs and Staccato and Legato
Signs of repetition tell you when to go back and play a section of music again:
Dynamic signs (e.g., forte and piano) and articulations (e.g., staccato and legato) are symbols that tell you how to play more expressively:
Conclusion
This gives you the basics of how to read piano sheet music. For more advanced concepts:
- Basic Arpeggios Explained in Less Than 3 Minutes
- How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands?
- Do My Hands’ Sizes Affect Learning Performance on the Piano?
Have fun playing!
Related Posts:
- Color Coding Music for Success
- Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music)
- Basic Music Notation Explained in Less Than 4 Minutes
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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