Piano numbers for beginners

Every key a song uses wears a coloured number. You read the numbers, press the keys, and the tune comes out. Here is exactly what the numbers mean, how they differ from the numbers in piano books, and what to learn next.

What the numbers mean

1 is the lowest key the song uses. The next key up that the song uses is 2, then 3, and so on, from left to right. Keys the song never plays get no number, so the numbers can jump over a key.

So the numbers always grow to the right, and a melody that climbs reads as numbers that grow: 1 2 3 goes up, 3 2 1 comes down. Numbers show which way the tune moves, not how far: from 3 to 4 can be the next key, or a skip over a key the song doesn't use. Each song page says which real key is 1 (for Mary Had a Little Lamb, C4, middle C) and gives a table of all its keys.

Find key 1 on a real piano

The black keys come in groups of two and three. Every C is the white key just left of a group of two; middle C (C4) is the C nearest the middle of the keyboard, often right under the maker's name. Each song page says where its key 1 is (Find key 1: C4, or E4, above middle C): find that key, then count up the keys the song uses. Play with your right hand, one finger per key at first.

Before you play

• Sit facing middle C, far enough back that your elbows are a little in front of your body, forearms about level with the keys.
• Curve your fingers as if holding a ball, and play with the fingertips, not flat fingers.
• Right hand, thumb on key 1 (or on key 2 when the song page says so), one finger per key, and keep the hand relaxed.

Key numbers are not finger numbers

In piano books and sheet music you will also see small numbers from 1 to 5 over the notes. Those are fingers: 1 is the thumb, 2 the index, 3 the middle finger, 4 the ring finger and 5 the little finger, on both hands. Pianumero's numbers are keys, not fingers.

Many easy songs fit under one hand: five white keys side by side, like C D E F G. Put your right thumb on the lowest and one finger on each key, the classic five-finger position. Finger numbers and key numbers then match only when the song skips no key: in Mary Had a Little Lamb, key 4 is G, played by finger 5. Songs with more keys need the hand to move, and any comfortable finger will do at first.

Why it works

• Nothing to decode. No staff, no clef, no note values: you see a number and press the key that wears it.
• Success from the first minutes. A short song you know, played to the end within a few tries: that first finished tune is what makes people come back to the keyboard.
• The ear does the rest. The songs are tunes you already know, and you can listen to each one first, so the rhythm is in your head before your fingers start.
• The shape of a melody shows. Numbers that climb, fall, repeat or jump are the melody's contour, which is what you need to play by ear later.

What numbers don't teach

Numbers are a first step. They don't write the rhythm down (you hear it instead), they don't tell you the song's key (C major, G major…), they don't cover the left hand or chords, and they don't let you read a piece you have never heard. That is what letter notes and sheet music are for. For the rhythm, every song also has falling notes: each note falls onto its key, and its length shows how long to hold it.

From numbers to letters

Every song page also gives the whole song in letter notes (C D E F G A B), line by line, and a table of its keys with their letters. Play a song you know in numbers, then play it again reading its letters: you will soon know every white key by name. The note names guide explains the letters, do re mi and the German H.

From letters to sheet music

On the treble staff, the notes on the five lines are E G B D F from the bottom (often remembered as Every Good Boy Does Fine) and the notes in the four spaces spell F A C E. Once you know a melody and its letters, finding them on the staff is easier, but reading music is a real new skill: rhythm values, both clefs, the two hands together. Give it its own time.

After the first ten songs

Once the Start here songs feel easy, three things take you further: play the same songs with falling notes to get the rhythm right; start using the left hand (a beginner method book or a teacher is the best guide for that); and learn to read the treble staff, a few notes at a time.

Piano numbers: questions

Try it: Mary Had a Little Lamb (4 keys) · Ode to Joy (6 keys) · Für Elise (9 keys)

More guides

Written by Loïc Berthod, who makes Pianumero.