Piano For Dummies

Piano For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. All music engravings and illustrations © John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938973

ISBN: 978-1-119-70097-5 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-70102-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-70106-4 (ebk)

Piano For Dummies®

To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for Piano For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.

Table of Contents

Cover

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1: Getting Started with Piano

Chapter 1: Preparing to Play a Piano

Knowing Why the Piano Is So Special

Understanding Why People Take Piano Lessons(And Why They Often Quit)

Getting to Know Your Instrument

Comprehending the Language of Music

Starting to Play the Best Way

Being Aware of What You Already Know about Playing the Piano

Chapter 2: Meeting the Keyboard Family

Looking at the Acoustic Ones

Identifying the Electric Ones

Chapter 3: Finding the Perfect Keyboard

To Hum or Not to Hum: Electric or Acoustic (Or Both)?

Picking the Perfect Acoustic Piano

Selecting a Digital Keyboard That Lasts

Before You Drive It Off the Lot: Sealing the Deal at the Store

The MIDI Places You Can Go

Chapter 4: Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard

Providing a Good Place to Live

Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard

Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs

Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano

Chapter 5: Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet

Finding the Keys, Easy Peasy

Discovering What Your Parents Never Told You about Posture

Paying Attention to Hand Positioning

Pedal Power: Getting Your Feet in on the Action

Part 2: Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound

Chapter 6: Reading Lines and Spaces

Your Guide to a Piano Score

Double Your Staff, Double Your Fun

Punctuating Music: Bar Lines

Continuing to Read: Don’t Stop

Chapter 7: Joining the Rhythm Nation

Eyeing Tempo: The Beat Goes On

Serving Some Musical Pie: Basic Note Values

Faster Rhythms, Same Tempo

Listening for the Sound of Silence: Rests

Counting Out Common Time Signatures

Playing Songs in Familiar Time Signatures

Chapter 8: Changing the Beaten Path

Getting a Jump on the Start: Pickup Beats and Measures

Adding Time to Your Notes with Ties and Dots

Playing Offbeat Rhythms

Playing Songs with Challenging Rhythms

Part 3: One Hand at a Time

Chapter 9: Playing a Melody

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Getting into the Right Position

Crossing Your Fingers and Hoping It Works

Playing Melodies in the Right Hand

Chapter 10: Scaling to New Heights

Building a Scale, Step by Step

Stepping Up to the Majors

Exploring Minor Variations

Showing Your Rebellious Side with Blues Scales

Playing Songs Made of Scales

Chapter 11: Hey, Don’t Forget Lefty!

Exploring the Keyboard’s West Side

Tackling Some Left-Hand Melodies

Practicing Some South-Paw Scales

Trying Accompaniment Patterns

Adding the Left Hand to the Right Hand

Playing Songs with Both Hands

Part 4: Living in Perfect Harmony

Chapter 12: The Building Blocks of Harmony

Measuring Melodic Intervals

Combining Notes for Harmonic Intervals

Playing Songs with More Harmony

Chapter 13: Understanding Keys

Homing In on Home Key

Playing Songs with Key Signatures

Chapter 14: Filling Out Your Sound with Chords

Tapping into the Power of Chords

Dissecting the Anatomy of a Triad

Starting Out with Major Chords

Branching Out with Minor Chords

Exploring Other Types of Chords

Adding the Seventh

Reading Chord Symbols

Playing with Chord Inversions

Playing Songs with Chords

Part 5: Technique Counts for Everything

Chapter 15: Dressing Up Your Music

Playing Dynamically

Articulating the Positive

Controlling the Tempo

Putting the Pedal to the Metal

Touching on Grace Notes

Tackling Trilling

Dazzling Your Audience: Gliss

Trembling Tremolos

Dressing Up Your Songs

Chapter 16: Great Grooves

Great Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns

Applying Great Intros and Finales

Playing Songs with Left-Hand Grooves

Chapter 17: Perusing the Aisle of Style

Taking Aim at Classical Music

Playing the Blues

Rockin’ around the Keys

You’re a Little Bit Country

Pop! Goes the Piano

Soul Searching

All That Jazz

Playing Songs in Favorite Styles

Part 6: The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance

Be Comfortable at All Times

Shut Off the Distractions

Make a Schedule and a List

Get into Deconstruction

Use a Metronome

Rehearse Your Dress Rehearsals

Know Your Performance Piano

If You Memorize …

Preempt Post-Performance Syndrome

Smile and Take a Bow

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Supplement This Book

Working through Method Books

Using Reference Books

Buying Music to Play

Gigging with Others

Checking Out the Masters

Attending Live Concerts

Listening to Recordings

Exploring Piano Sites on the Web

Enjoying Pianos on the Big Screen

Realizing You’re Not Alone

Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers

Whom Else Have You Taught?

How Long Have You Been Teaching and Playing?

How Much Do You Expect Me to Practice?

Would You Mind Playing Something for Me?

What Repertoire Do You Teach?

How Do You Feel about Wrong Notes, Mistakes, and Slow Learners?

What Methods Do You Use to Teach Piano?

Where Will the Lessons Take Place?

How Much Do You Charge?

Do You Have Student Recitals?

Appendix: About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips

What You’ll Find on the Accompanying Audio Tracks

Viewing Videos on the Website

Index

About the Reviser

Advertisement Page

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 7

TABLE 7-1 Tempos and Their Approximate Beats Per Minute

Chapter 14

TABLE 14-1 Recipes for Constructing Chords

Chapter 15

TABLE 15-1 Dynamic Markings

TABLE 15-2 Musical Articulations

List of Illustrations

Chapter 2

FIGURE 2-1: Owning one is so grand.

FIGURE 2-2: Upright, not uptight.

FIGURE 2-3: Hammers vibrate piano strings to produce music to your ears.

FIGURE 2-4: The ornate harpsichord.

Chapter 5

FIGURE 5-1: Your basic set of black and whites.

FIGURE 5-2: Chopsticks and forks on your keyboard.

FIGURE 5-3: Octave groupings on your keyboard.

FIGURE 5-4: Proper posture and positioning at the piano.

FIGURE 5-5: An adjustable piano chair.

FIGURE 5-6: Two types of piano benches: standard (a) and adjustable (b).

FIGURE 5-7: Take a stand for your electric keyboard.

FIGURE 5-8: The shape to emulate.

FIGURE 5-9: Numbers and digits.

FIGURE 5-10: The typical three pedals on a piano.

Chapter 6

FIGURE 6-1: An example of music written for the piano.

FIGURE 6-2: Music’s parallel lines.

FIGURE 6-3: The treble clef.

FIGURE 6-4: Finding treble clef G is no trouble.

FIGURE 6-5: Names for notes on the treble clef lines and spaces.

FIGURE 6-6: The bass clef.

FIGURE 6-7: Finding bass clef F on the keyboard.

FIGURE 6-8: Names for notes on the bass clef lines and spaces.

FIGURE 6-9: Clues for reading octaves.

FIGURE 6-10: Notating accidentals.

FIGURE 6-11: Isn’t this staff grand?

FIGURE 6-12: Where are the lines and spaces for these little guys?

FIGURE 6-13: Middle C written with ledger lines for both the right and left han...

FIGURE 6-14: Playing the same note with different hands.

FIGURE 6-15: Notes on the grand staff.

FIGURE 6-16: Octave lines.

FIGURE 6-17: Bar lines are vertical lines that divide music into measures.

FIGURE 6-18: The five types of bar lines.

FIGURE 6-19: Keep on reading, keep on playing.

Chapter 7

FIGURE 7-1: Bar lines help group the beats. Clap to the rhythm slashes.

FIGURE 7-2: Count and play quarter notes.

FIGURE 7-3: Save half for me.

FIGURE 7-4: Whole notes hold out for all four counts.

FIGURE 7-5: Mixing up all the notes.

FIGURE 7-6: Flags on eighth notes become beams.

FIGURE 7-7: Play and count the eighths and quarters.

FIGURE 7-8: Sixteen going on sixteen.

FIGURE 7-9: Dividing the beat into oblivion.

FIGURE 7-10: Hat off for a whole rest, and hat on for a half rest.

FIGURE 7-11: Placement of whole and half rests on the staff.

FIGURE 7-12: Practice your whole and half rests.

FIGURE 7-13: Notes and their equivalent rests.

FIGURE 7-14: Counting quarter and eighth rests.

FIGURE 7-15: You can recognize the tunes of three common time signatures.

FIGURE 7-16: The letter C is a common way to indicate 4/4 meter.

Chapter 8

FIGURE 8-1: Starting with a half rest.

FIGURE 8-2: Instead of a rest, this notation uses a pickup measure.

FIGURE 8-3: Ties that bind notes of the same pitch.

FIGURE 8-4: The dotted half note.

FIGURE 8-5: Dotted half notes in 4/4 and 3/4 time.

FIGURE 8-6: A dotted quarter note paired with an eighth.

FIGURE 8-7: A dotted eighth, a sixteenth, and their beams.

FIGURE 8-8: Practice with dotted notes.

FIGURE 8-9: Congrats! You have triplets.

FIGURE 8-10: Counting triplets.

FIGURE 8-11: Practice with triplets.

FIGURE 8-12: Swing those eighths.

FIGURE 8-13: This notation tells you to swing it.

FIGURE 8-14: Suddenly syncopation by emphasizing upbeats.

FIGURE 8-15: After You’ve Gone, without (top) and with (bottom) syncopation.

Chapter 9

FIGURE 9-1: Playing a key.

FIGURE 9-2: Getting into C position.

FIGURE 9-3: The melody of Frere Jacques requires the right hand to be in C po...

FIGURE 9-4: The melody of Ode to Joy calls for C position.

FIGURE 9-5: Skip to My Lou uses C position but extends your thumb to play B.

FIGURE 9-6: The melody of Kumbaya uses C position and stretches RH 5 to play ...

FIGURE 9-7: Chiapanecas stretches and shifts C position.

FIGURE 9-8: Gee, I like G position!

FIGURE 9-9: Little Bo-Peep is a breeze in G position.

FIGURE 9-10: This Old Man uses G position with some stretching.

FIGURE 9-11: One song, two hand positions.

FIGURE 9-12: Crossing over your thumb to play more notes.

FIGURE 9-13: J. S. Bach’s Minuet features an RH 2 crossover.

FIGURE 9-14: Row, Row, Row Your Boat is a classic melody that requires the th...

Chapter 10

FIGURE 10-1: Stepping out.

FIGURE 10-2: The C major scale follows all the white keys.

FIGURE 10-3: The G major scale employs one sharp: F-sharp.

FIGURE 10-4: The F major scale uses B-flat.

FIGURE 10-5: A joyful melody made from a major scale.

FIGURE 10-6: A frugal melody needs only five notes of the major scale.

FIGURE 10-7: Building your C major scale chops.

FIGURE 10-8: Major and minor C scales.

FIGURE 10-9: Joy to the World in C minor.

FIGURE 10-10: So many minors, not enough chaperones.

FIGURE 10-11: The A natural minor and A harmonic minor scales.

FIGURE 10-12: The A melodic minor scale.

FIGURE 10-13: Exercising the three C-minor scales: C natural (a), C harmonic (b...

FIGURE 10-14: Getting the blues.

FIGURE 10-15: Using the blues scale for a cool melody.

Chapter 11

FIGURE 11-1: Assume C position with the left hand.

FIGURE 11-2: Reading and playing notes in the bass clef, starting from LH C pos...

FIGURE 11-3: Lower notes in the bass clef, starting from LH G position.

FIGURE 11-4: Melody in the left hand: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

FIGURE 11-5: Another melody in the left hand: Little Brown Jug.

FIGURE 11-6: C, G, and F major scales for the left hand.

FIGURE 11-7: A, E, and D natural minor scales for the left hand.

FIGURE 11-8: A harmonic and melodic minor scales.

FIGURE 11-9: Root-fifth-top patterns in C, G, F, and A.

FIGURE 11-10: Three-note arpeggios in quarter-note patterns.

FIGURE 11-11: Three-note arpeggios in eighth-note patterns.

FIGURE 11-12: Four-note arpeggios based on C.

FIGURE 11-13: Up and down the four-note arpeggios.

FIGURE 11-14: Four-note arpeggio patterns in eighths.

FIGURE 11-15: RH and LH share a melody.

FIGURE 11-16: A simple melody and accompaniment from Mozart.

FIGURE 11-17: Old Smoky with a three-note LH pattern.

FIGURE 11-18: Double the melody.

Chapter 12

FIGURE 12-1: Numbering the notes of the C major scale.

FIGURE 12-2: A family of intervals on the C major scale.

FIGURE 12-3: London Bridge uses major seconds.

FIGURE 12-4: A minor second in action in Beethoven’s Für Elise.

FIGURE 12-5: Major and minor thirds paired for the symphonic theme of Beethoven...

FIGURE 12-6: The major third lifts the spirits.

FIGURE 12-7: A minor interval close to children’s hearts.

FIGURE 12-8: The perfect fourth in (loco)motion.

FIGURE 12-9: Though unfinished, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony is still a perfe...

FIGURE 12-10: A shining star, the perfect fifth.

FIGURE 12-11: A fifth interval descending perfectly.

FIGURE 12-12: Perfect fourth and perfect fifth, together forever in "Here Comes...

FIGURE 12-13: Augmented fourth or diminished fifth, depending on how you spell ...

FIGURE 12-14: Bonnie’s favorite intervals — the major and minor sixth.

FIGURE 12-15: Seventh heaven.

FIGURE 12-16: Somewhere over the octave.

FIGURE 12-17: Playing intervals all together now.

FIGURE 12-18: Aura Lee is a melody that begs for harmony.

FIGURE 12-19: Harmonizing Yankee Doodle.

FIGURE 12-20: America, the Beautiful with a harmonious, single-note LH part.

FIGURE 12-21: Adding more harmony to the LH part.

FIGURE 12-22: Adding harmony below the melody in the RH part.

FIGURE 12-23: The LH harmony matches the rhythm of the melody.

FIGURE 12-24: A full, choir-like harmonic treatment.

Chapter 13

FIGURE 13-1: Good Night, Ladies in the key of C (major).

FIGURE 13-2: Good Night, Ladies in the key of F (major).

FIGURE 13-3: The sign on the line.

FIGURE 13-4: A key signature for each hand.

FIGURE 13-5: Playing a melody in the key of G.

FIGURE 13-6: Trying the same melody in the key of D.

FIGURE 13-7: The Circle of Fifths.

FIGURE 13-8: Sharp keys.

FIGURE 13-9: Flat keys.

FIGURE 13-10: Changing keys and then returning home.

Chapter 14

FIGURE 14-1: This C chord is a simple triad.

FIGURE 14-2: Making new chords from the C triad.

FIGURE 14-3: Major chords.

FIGURE 14-4: Major chords for lefty, too.

FIGURE 14-5: Minor, but not insignificant, chords.

FIGURE 14-6: Augmented chords raise the fifth one half-step.

FIGURE 14-7: Diminished chords lower the fifth one half-step.

FIGURE 14-8: Augmented and diminished chords in Old Folks at Home.

FIGURE 14-9: Suspended chords.

FIGURE 14-10: A little suspension tension.

FIGURE 14-11: There’s nothing plain about these seventh chords.

FIGURE 14-12: Transforming chord symbols into notes on the staff.

FIGURE 14-13: Building a chord from a chord symbol.

FIGURE 14-14: Traveling back to your roots.

FIGURE 14-15: There’s less effort in these chord inversions.

FIGURE 14-16: Root position grabs chords by the roots.

FIGURE 14-17: First inversions put the thirds on the bottom and the roots on to...

FIGURE 14-18: Second inversions put the roots in the middle.

FIGURE 14-19: Seventh chords and their third inversions.

Chapter 15

FIGURE 15-1: Dynamic contrasts of piano and forte.

FIGURE 15-2: Indications of gradual volume changes.

FIGURE 15-3: Get loud, get soft, get dynamic.

FIGURE 15-4: Notes grouped by a slur (played smoothly) and notes tied (held for...

FIGURE 15-5: Giving a melody some individual character with articulations.

FIGURE 15-6: Playing around with tempo.

FIGURE 15-7: Pedaling indications.

FIGURE 15-8: Use the damper pedal to connect notes melodically.

FIGURE 15-9: Create a soft sound with the soft pedal.

FIGURE 15-10: Amazing grace notes, how sweet the sound.

FIGURE 15-11: This weasel pops with the help of some grace notes.

FIGURE 15-12: What a trill sounds like.

FIGURE 15-13: Simon says, Trill this note.

FIGURE 15-14: Gliss me, gliss me, now you gotta kiss me.

FIGURE 15-15: Down and up glissandos with the right and left hands.

FIGURE 15-16: Use an RH gliss to begin and end a song.

FIGURE 15-17: Tremolo notation.

FIGURE 15-18: Tremolo chords.

Chapter 16

FIGURE 16-1: Left-hand chords in varied rhythm patterns.

FIGURE 16-2: Root-fifth-octave patterns are easy to play and sound great.

FIGURE 16-3: Practice chord picking with four different chords.

FIGURE 16-4: Left-hand chord picking in Picking and Grinning.

FIGURE 16-5: Hammer out octaves in Octaves in the Left.

FIGURE 16-6: Build octaves on different chord notes in Jumping Octaves.

FIGURE 16-7: A driving left-hand pattern with the octave, fifth, and sixth inte...

FIGURE 16-8: Open intervals that chug along in Berry-Style Blues.

FIGURE 16-9: Mosey along with the bum-ba-di-da bass pattern.

FIGURE 16-10: A boogie-woogie pattern that never goes out of style.

FIGURE 16-11: Intro #1.

FIGURE 16-12: Intro #2.

FIGURE 16-13: Intro #3.

FIGURE 16-14: Intro #4.

FIGURE 16-15: Intro #5.

FIGURE 16-16: Finale #1.

FIGURE 16-17: Finale #2.

FIGURE 16-18: Finale #3.

FIGURE 16-19: Finale #4.

Chapter 17

FIGURE 17-1: Excerpt from Mozart’s Sonata in C.

FIGURE 17-2: Excerpt from Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

FIGURE 17-3: Rolling to a romantic close.

FIGURE 17-4: The 12-bar blues.

FIGURE 17-5: Chord substitutions for the blues.

FIGURE 17-6: Lefty provides the rockin’ bass line.

FIGURE 17-7: Good ol’ country music.

FIGURE 17-8: Romancing the sixth tone.

FIGURE 17-9: Motown syncopation.

FIGURE 17-10: Funky patterns.

FIGURE 17-11: Yankee Doodle swings.

FIGURE 17-12: Merrily with standard chords.

FIGURE 17-13: Merrily jazz variation #1.

FIGURE 17-14: Merrily jazz variation #2.

FIGURE 17-15: Merrily jazz variation #3.

Introduction

Welcome to Piano For Dummies, 3rd Edition. Don’t be nervous about wanting to play the piano; it’s just a big, lazy piece of oversized furniture with a bunch of black and white keys on it. By selecting this book, you’re taking the appropriate action to keep your piano from becoming a giant dust collector.

If you’ve never seen or put your hands on a piano or keyboard, no problem. This book starts at the very beginning and walks you through everything you need to know to tame that beast and make it sing sweet music. You’ll also have fun along the way.

About This Book

Because you’re in possession of a piano or keyboard or you have access to one, you may need this book to figure out how to play it. Or you may want to study how to read music. Maybe you already know how to play and you just want to improve your playing skills or develop your style. Could be you’re interested in knowing more about pianos and their performers. Or you may need some help buying a keyboard or finding a teacher. For any of these reasons, this is the book for you.

You can use Piano For Dummies, 3rd Edition, as a teaching aid or just as a reference book. Even if you already know how to play music, you may run across some new tricks or techniques in these pages. If you read every page of this book and set about to play the examples and listen to the audio tracks and watch the video clips at www.dummies.com/go/piano, you’ll be able to read piano music; know the names of notes, scales, and chords; understand a lot about different musical styles; and in general get a solid handle on some fundamental piano skills.

If you have a few specific questions about playing piano or want to go directly to something you’ve been dying to know, you’ll find the part titles, chapter titles, and section headings practical and helpful. They make it easy to maneuver through the book and find what you’re looking for.

Note: Truth be told, reading music and coordinating your hands and fingers to play musically on the piano are skills not learned in a day. It takes a bit of time and dedication. Although you may have seen or heard about methods to play the piano without reading music, this book isn’t one of them. Piano For Dummies, 3rd Edition, follows the tried-and-true method of teaching the basics of reading notes and rhythms from the get-go. And this book aims to do all that in a simple and fun way.

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I made a few assumptions about you, the reader:

You like to listen to music and especially like the sound of a piano.

When you hear someone play the piano, it sparks something in you. You say to yourself something along the lines of, I wish I could play the piano.

You haven’t had any piano lessons before, or you had some lessons at some point in your life but you basically see yourself as a beginner. Either way, you’d like it all laid out and explained in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

If you have a piano or keyboard, you aren’t playing it as much as you want to and need some help getting to the music-making.

If you don’t have a piano or keyboard, you’re considering the purchase of a keyboard and welcome some help with the whole process. Most likely, your keyboard will have at least 25 black and white keys, may or may not plug into the wall, and will cost you as much as you’re willing to part with.

You like to discover things for yourself.

If any of these assumptions is true for you, you’re reading the right book.

Icons Used in This Book

As you go through the chapters of this book, you’ll find the following friendly icons designed to draw your attention to different bits of information, from helpful guidance to pleasant diversions.

Remember Be sure to pay attention to anything that has this icon attached. As you may guess, it’s something important that you shouldn’t forget.

Tip When you see this icon, you know some handy-dandy information follows that can save you time, money, energy, and more.

Check it out This icon lets you know that there’s an audio track and, in many cases, a video clip that demonstrates the concept, playing technique, or song discussed in the text. Check out these online resources at www.dummies.com/go/piano to deepen your understanding and speed your progress.

Warning Pay attention to text featuring this icon. You can thank me later for showing you how to avoid mistakes and problems.

Webextras This icon points out bonus material you can find online.

playitnow This icon suggests different music that you can play on your keyboard.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this