...let's share some basic science about keyboards, shall we?

I'll be dropping some tidbits in here to get all a y'all playing keys well in no time.

First lesson: What's that (white) key?!!!

OK, look at your keyboard...what do you see?

Big white keys on bottom, little black keys on top and in between, right. Notice the black keys form a pattern: a group of two, a group of three, a group of two, a group of three, etc. Saying 2 black (gap) 3 black (gap) will help you memorize this pattern.

Noticing this pattern is the first step in learning the keyboard, it's your visual reference point for all the white keys.

Now check out the "group of 2" closest to the middle of your keyboard: the first white key to the left of this group is the note middle C (cause it's the C in the middle of the keyboard, duh...). Cool..you've found the first key! All the others will fall into place soon. There are 12 to learn in total

*THING TO REMEMBER* The musical alphabet consists of only seven letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The 12 note names use variations of these letters...

OK, back to middle C: What's the next white key to the right? Well, what's the next letter in the alphabet? D, right? One white key to the right of that is the next letter in the alphabet: E. OK, that's easy. Just keep going to the right and the next white key gets the next letter in the alphabet. F, then G, then H, then WHOA...backup!

Didn't I say A thru G? Yep! The next white key after G is A. If you got lost, look at the black keys: we are at the white key between the last two black keys in the "group of three". The next white key to the right is B and so the next must be C...again! Think of the keyboard like a visual representation of a loop and you'll get the idea. Starting at C, the white keys go C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C....looped all the way up the keyboard.

Now remember how I said the black keys are the visual reference point right? The pattern of 2 black (gap) 3 black (gap) is all over the keyboard. If you play the white key directly to the left of "2 black", it's ALWAYS a C, no matter where you are. Play C in different spots, always looking for the white key to the left of the 2 black group. It sounds the kinda the same, right? Just higher or lower sounding, but still the *same*. That's cause you're playing the same note in different OCTAVES (or registers).

Same goes with all the white notes: the white note to the left of the group of 3 black is ALWAYS F... The white note to the right of the group of 3 black is ALWAYS B. The white note to the right of the group of 2 black is ALWAYS E.

So you can memorize the note names by memorizing their position relative to the pattern of 2 black (gap) 3 black (gap).

Next time, we'll learn the names of the black keys.

Peace,
Salim

https://soundcloud.com/salimsivaad/lets-get-free <-- my best work

http://www.soundcloud.com/salimsivaad <-- some other joints