HEY PIANO 4UPiano Keyboard Layout: Notes, Octaves and Middle C Explained
The piano keyboard looks complicated, but it is built from one simple pattern that repeats. Once you understand that pattern, you can find any note.
White keys and black keys
A full-size modern piano has 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. The white keys are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. After G, the pattern starts again at A, one octave higher.
The black keys are grouped in twos and threes. This grouping is your map. The white key just to the left of every group of two black keys is C. The white key just to the left of every group of three black keys is F.
Sharps and flats
Each black key sits between two white keys and has two names. The black key to the right of C is C sharp (C♯), meaning a little higher than C, and also D flat (D♭), meaning a little lower than D. They are the same key. In an octave there are 12 different keys when you count the white and black keys together, and the distance between neighbouring keys is called a semitone or half step.
| Notes in one octave (C to B) | Keys |
|---|---|
| C, D, E, F, G, A, B | 7 white keys |
| C♯/D♭, D♯/E♭, F♯/G♭, G♯/A♭, A♯/B♭ | 5 black keys |
| Total | 12 keys, 12 half steps |
Notice there is no black key between E and F or between B and C. Those pairs of white keys are each one half step apart.
Octaves and middle C
An octave is the distance from one note to the next note with the same name, for example from one C to the next C. Pianos number their octaves. Middle C is the C closest to the middle of a standard piano and is written C4 in scientific pitch notation. It is also MIDI note number 60. The lowest key on an 88-key piano is A0 and the highest is C8.
Why Hey Piano 4U shows 61 keys
The keyboard in Hey Piano 4U has 61 keys, from C2 to C7. That is five octaves plus the top C, and it is the size of many portable keyboards and organs. It fits comfortably on a laptop or phone screen and covers every note in our songs. If you have an 88-key keyboard, connect it by MIDI and the notes will still light the matching keys.
How to practise finding notes
- Find every C on your keyboard, then every F.
- Find G by counting up from C, then D, E and so on.
- Say the note names aloud as you play a C major scale up and down (all white keys from C to the next C).
Once you know where the notes are, move on to rhythm or try a short song on the keyboard.
Keep learning: How to Learn Piano Online for Free: A Beginner’s Roadmap · Piano vs Organ: How the Two Keyboard Instruments Differ