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Free course · 13 lessons

Learn piano online
Thirteen lessons, one playable piano

Start from zero and finish with a real song in your hands. Each lesson takes about ten minutes, explains one idea, and ends with an exercise on a piano that runs right on the page - mouse, touch, computer keyboard or MIDI.

Start lesson 1 Start the 7-day free trial
A risograph poster of a winding path of note-shaped stepping stones in pink, cyan and yellow leading over dark hills to a glowing star
Your first minute

Play your first five notes

C, D, E, F, G: the five notes under your right hand in lesson 2. The green key is the next one. Press Listen to hear them first, then Start and play them in order.

Learn piano course

Thirteen lessons, from the keys to both hands and the pedal

Thirteen short lessons, in order, each with a playable piano and an exercise. Your progress is saved in this browser - no account needed to learn.

  1. A risograph poster of ten piano keys with the C keys in cyan, arcs marking the groups of two and three black keys Start here Piano keys and note names Seven letter names, the pattern of the black keys, and how to find any note in a second. 8 min
  2. A risograph poster of a pink right hand in the five-finger position, the thumb on a cyan middle C Middle C and hand position Where middle C sits on any keyboard, finger numbers, and the five-finger C position. 8 min
  3. A risograph poster of a large pink treble clef on a sweeping cyan staff with yellow notes climbing the lines and spaces Reading the treble clef The lines and spaces of the right-hand staff, three landmark notes, and a reading drill. 10 min
  4. A risograph poster of a cyan bass clef on a five-line yellow staff with heavy pink notes resting low over ripples Reading the bass clef The left-hand staff: the F clef, its lines and spaces, and where it meets the treble. 10 min
  5. A risograph poster of a giant pink sharp sign and cyan flat sign above a black key between two white keys Sharps and flats Why every black key has two names, what a half step is, and the two spots with no black key. 9 min
  6. A risograph poster of a whole note, a half note, a quarter note and two eighth notes marching on legs under a yellow metronome Note values and rhythm Whole, half, quarter and eighth notes, rests, dots and time signatures - and counting out loud. 10 min
  7. A risograph poster of nested pink, cyan and yellow arcs leaping from one dot to dots further along a line Intervals The distance between two notes: from the half step to the octave, and thirds and fifths by ear. 10 min
  8. A risograph poster of eight rising steps with a yellow note bouncing up them, the two half steps marked in pink The major scale Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half: the pattern behind every major key, with fingering. 10 min
  9. A risograph poster of three overlapping pink, cyan and yellow circles above three stacked notes on a staff Chords and triads Three notes a third apart: major and minor triads, and the chords behind thousands of songs. 10 min
  10. A risograph poster of open sheet music on a piano with notes, stars and confetti bursting out in front of a yellow sun Your first song Put it all together with Ode to Joy: hand position, reading, rhythm, then the full sheet music. 12 min
  11. A risograph poster of a grand staff joined by a yellow brace, a pink right hand by the upper staff and a cyan left hand by the lower one Playing with both hands The grand staff, a left hand of long notes, and the hands-separate method that makes it easy. 12 min
  12. A risograph poster of eight steps descending under a yellow crescent moon, a cyan note drifting down them Minor scales Natural, harmonic and melodic minor, relative keys, and the fingering of A minor. 11 min
  13. A risograph poster of three yellow piano pedals, a pink shoe pressing the right one and ribbons of sound rising Using the sustain pedal What the three pedals do, changing the pedal after each chord, and reading pedal marks. 10 min
How it works

A course built around a piano you can play

No video to pause and rewind. Every idea comes with keys to press and an exercise that answers back.

A piano on every page

Each lesson embeds a real sampled piano. Play it with the mouse, a finger, your computer keyboard - QWERTY, AZERTY or QWERTZ - and see the notes appear on a staff.

Exercises that check you

Find a note, name one on the staff, play a scale or a chord in order: the page tells you right away when a key is wrong, and how long you took.

Ten minutes a lesson

One idea per lesson, in the order a teacher would use. Thirteen lessons take two or three weeks at one or two a day, and they build on each other.

Straight into real music

The course ends on a real song, and the sheet music pages and the piano studio take over from there, with scores that light up the keys for you.

First songs

Easy songs to play along the way

You can open these from lesson 2 onwards: each one fits under one hand, and the score waits for you to find the next key.

Beginner

Ode to Joy

Ludwig van Beethoven · Easy Version. Free sheet music that plays, highlights the keys and waits for you in practice mode.

Play it → Beginner

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Traditional · Easy Version. Free sheet music that plays, highlights the keys and waits for you in practice mode.

Play it → Beginner

Au Clair de la Lune

Traditional · Easy Version. Free sheet music that plays, highlights the keys and waits for you in practice mode.

Play it → Beginner

Jingle Bells

James Lord Pierpont · Easy Version, Chorus. Free sheet music that plays, highlights the keys and waits for you in practice mode.

Play it →

What you will learn

The course follows the order most piano teachers use with a new student. The first two lessons are about the instrument itself: the names of the keys, the groups of black keys that work as a map, and where your hands rest around middle C. Lessons 3 and 4 teach you to read the two staves of piano music, the treble clef for the right hand and the bass clef for the left. Lesson 5 explains sharps and flats, and why every black key has two names.

The second half turns notes into music. Lesson 6 covers note values and counting, so you play in time and not just in order. Lessons 7 to 9 are the theory every pianist uses without thinking: intervals, the major scale and its fingering, and the triads that make up most chords. Lesson 10 puts it all together on Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which you will be able to read and play.

The last three lessons take you further. Lesson 11 adds the left hand under the melody, with the grand staff and the hands-separate method. Lesson 12 opens the minor keys, natural, harmonic and melodic. Lesson 13 teaches the sustain pedal, the secret of a warm, connected sound.

The right hand in C position: thumb on middle C, fingers 1 to 5 on C, D, E, F and GCDEFGABCDEFGABC12345
Where you will be by lesson 2: the right hand in C position, one finger per key.

What you need

A computer, a tablet or a phone with a recent browser. The piano on each page plays with the mouse or a touch screen, and your computer keyboard works as a small piano too. A real keyboard helps a lot once you reach scales and chords: any MIDI keyboard plugged into your computer works in the GOONS piano studio, and a basic 61-key model is plenty for this course. You do not need an account to follow the lessons. Your progress is kept in this browser, and each finished lesson is ticked off in the list above.

How to get the most out of it

Short and often beats long and rare. Ten minutes a day, every day, will take you further than an hour on Sunday, because what you are building is a reflex: seeing a note and finding the key without thinking. Do each exercise until it feels easy, then come back to it the next day before starting the new lesson. Say the note names out loud while you play, count the beats out loud too, and keep the names on the keys switched off as soon as you can.

After the course

When you finish lesson 13, you can read a simple piece on the grand staff, play it in time with both hands, in a major or a minor key, and connect the chords with the pedal. From there, the piano sheet music pages take over: each song has a score that plays, highlights the keys, and waits for you in practice mode.

Questions

Frequently asked

Is this piano course really free?

Yes. All thirteen lessons, their playable piano and their exercises are free, with no account. The GOONS piano studio, with 88 keys, MIDI, recording and a sequencer, comes with the GOONS Studio subscription and its 7-day free trial.

Can I really learn piano online by myself?

You can learn to read music, find the notes and play simple pieces on your own, and that is what this course covers. A teacher is still the fastest way to fix posture and technique later on; the course gives you the vocabulary to make those lessons count.

Do I need a piano or a keyboard?

Not to start. Every lesson has a piano you can play on screen, with a mouse, a finger or your computer keyboard. A real keyboard becomes useful from the scales and chords lessons, where you play several notes with several fingers.

How long does it take to finish the thirteen lessons?

Each lesson takes about ten minutes to read and practise. At one lesson a day, with a short review of the previous exercise, you finish in two weeks. Going faster is fine, as long as each exercise feels easy.

Will I learn to read sheet music?

Yes. Lessons 3 and 4 teach the treble and bass clefs, lesson 5 sharps and flats, lesson 6 rhythm. By the last lesson you read a real melody from the score, and the exercises keep the reading in your hands.

Ready when you are

Ready for more than one octave?

The GOONS piano studio has up to 88 keys, real piano samples, MIDI keyboard support, recording, a sequencer and songs with sheet music that light up the keys. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.

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