Piano tab notation will help you learn melodies without knowing sheet music. In this piano lesson you will learn to read easy piano tabs. You will also learn to play Happy Birthday To You!
If you do not know how to read piano sheet music I suggest that you try to learn it. If you start with very easy melodies with just a few notes you will not get too frustrated. Learn the names of the keys of your piano. Also, learn the names of the notes as they appear on an easy music sheet, focusing on just a few at a time.
To read sheet music well you have to have the patience and devote time to practicing. This practice time will pay off as you will have an immense amount of sheet music waiting to be played. Until you have mastered the art of playing sheet music you can use piano tabs to help you play melodies.
With the help of piano tablature you can easily learn melodies, chords and other music on your piano. Tabs cannot replace sheet music but you can notate much musical information even with this type of notation.
What is piano tablature?
Piano tab notation is an established system for reading and writing music. Actually there are several systems, some with numbers and others with letters but we will use a simplified form of the most common system on the net.
Sheet music notation shows the actual notes to play but not how to play them on your piano. This task you have to perform yourself. Piano tablature on the other hand is a way of showing which keys to play on your piano. When you have learned the system you will find it easy to play melodies. But, first you have to learn the note names.
The note names
We will use the note names on the piano as the basis for the notation. You will have to learn the names of the notes on the white keys of your piano. The first note we will learn is the middle c. It is easy to understand that the middle c is at the middle of the piano but exactly where?
You have probably noticed that the black keys on your piano or keyboard are organized in groups. You will find groups with two and with three black keys all over the keyboard.
If you take a look at the two black keys at the middle of your piano you will find middle c immediately to the left of these black keys. This middle c is sometimes called c4. The number 4 shows that it is the c in the fourth octave.