{"id":15121,"date":"2021-04-15T17:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T15:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edwinm29.sg-host.com\/?p=15121"},"modified":"2025-07-04T10:49:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T08:49:55","slug":"piano-music-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Piano theory basics explained for beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #103133;color:#103133\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #103133;color:#103133\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Piano_theory_helps_you_to_read_and_interpret_music_faster\" >Piano theory helps you to read and interpret music faster<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Basic_piano_theory_for_beginners\" >Basic piano theory for beginners<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Understanding_theory_will_make_you_a_more_fluent_player\" >Understanding theory will make you a more fluent player<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Piano_theory_will_help_you_to_see_the_bigger_picture\" >Piano theory will help you to see the bigger picture<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Learning_music_theory_will_increase_your_creativity\" >Learning music theory will increase your creativity\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/#Piano_theory_helps_you_communicate_with_other_musicians\" >Piano theory helps you communicate with other musicians<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You might think of music theory as a purely abstract concept. After all, isn\u2019t theory reserved for the realm of intangible objects? What good is a theory in the real world? What benefit is there to learning music theory if it isn\u2019t ever used in real music by real musicians?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may be asking yourself all these questions and wondering why you should even bother with theory. However, the truth is learning piano theory, even just a little bit, will improve your playing in unimaginable ways! You will open new doors to your understanding of music and access creativity you never knew existed!<\/span><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--><\/style>\n<p><span data-sheets-value=\"{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;&lt;div class=&quot;componentContainer&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;row&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;column&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;h2Notable&quot;&gt;Start your musical journey&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fall in love with the music -&lt;\/strong&gt; Learn your favorite songs, at a level suitable for you.&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enjoy interactive piano lessons -&lt;\/strong&gt; Explore courses covering music theory, technique chords &amp; more.&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get real-time feedback -&lt;\/strong&gt; Skoove&#039;s feedback tells you what went well and what needs practice.&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/li&gt;&lt;\/ul&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;column&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/optimized\/iPhone15-1A-3-800.webp&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1024&quot; height=&quot;846&quot; class=&quot;alignnone size-large&quot; \/&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;\/small&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;skooveButton skooveButtonWithin&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; title=&quot;Book a trial lesson&quot; href=&quot;https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=btf&amp;utm_campaign=7d-blog-npd&amp;t=Start%20a%207%20day%20free%20trial&amp;st=No%20credit%20card%20required!&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Book a trial lesson&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;small&gt;No credit card details required&lt;\/small&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&quot;}\" data-sheets-userformat=\"{&quot;2&quot;:769,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;11&quot;:3,&quot;12&quot;:0}\"><div class=\"componentContainer\"><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"column\"><div class=\"h2Notable\">Start your musical journey<\/div><ul><li><span><strong>Fall in love with the music -<\/strong> Learn your favorite songs, at a level suitable for you.<\/span><\/li><li><span><strong>Enjoy interactive piano lessons -<\/strong> Explore courses covering music theory, technique chords & more.<\/span><\/li><li><span><strong>Get real-time feedback -<\/strong> Skoove's feedback tells you what went well and what needs practice.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"column\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/optimized\/iPhone15-1A-3-800.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"846\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" \/><\/div><\/div><small><\/small><a class=\"skooveButton skooveButtonWithin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Book a trial lesson\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=btf&utm_campaign=7d-blog-npd&t=Start%20a%207%20day%20free%20trial&st=No%20credit%20card%20required!\" rel=\"noopener\">Book a trial lesson<\/a><small>No credit card details required<\/small><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Piano_theory_helps_you_to_read_and_interpret_music_faster\"><\/span><strong>Piano theory helps you to read and interpret music faster<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Piano music theory is essentially music theory applied to the piano. It is a tool musicians use to describe tendencies in music. If you learn how to speak the language of piano theory, you can use the patterns and structures in many creative ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you tried to sound out every letter of every word of this article, it would take you forever to finish. Your comprehension would likely be poor and you would probably need to read this a few more times to really understand it. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"LC20lb DKV0Md\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Basic_piano_theory_for_beginners\"><\/span>Basic piano theory for beginners<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, you don\u2019t read words like this. By learning how to read language, your mind learns to identify groups of letters and words so you don\u2019t have to constantly think about every sound. The ability to recognize words and their context in a larger sense means you can grasp larger concepts easier and more deeply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The same thing is true for music. By learning music theory concepts like triads and scales, you can learn to identify the common patterns that appear visually. This means that you won\u2019t have to think so hard to spell out each individual note of a chord or scale, and can instead learn the music more quickly and have a greater understanding of what exactly is happening in the music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, take a look at these two measures of music:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15123 size-large\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image1-1024x160.png\" alt=\"measures of music\" width=\"1024\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could approach this in two ways. Without using piano music theory, you could sound out each note, write it down, and then practice it until you don\u2019t need to think about it. With piano theory, you could zoom out, look at the big picture and see that in these two measures you are simply arpeggiating a C major triad, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/piano-chords\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one of the most basic <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chords on piano<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously, this is a basic example, but do you see how having some understanding of theory and how it relates to piano will increase your ability to read and interpret music?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_theory_will_make_you_a_more_fluent_player\"><\/span><strong>Understanding theory will make you a more fluent player<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you gain some piano theory skills.\u00a0As you delve into piano theory and start making connections between songs and musicians, consider the influence of <a href=\"\/blog\/6-great-black-musicians\/\">famous black pianists<\/a> who&#8217;ve significantly shaped the music we love today. The biggest differences between songs are how these patterns and structures are combined together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding this concept will make you a more fluent and agile player and allow you to develop and manipulate the basic building blocks of music like a master of time and space! After all, music is just the organization of vibration, like the physicists have determined all matter is vibration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you take the time to study the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">major and minor scales<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, music will begin to make more sense and seem more like a cohesive, logical organism than a random string of notes connected in some mysterious and unknown way. Take these measures for example:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15131 size-large\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image2-1024x387.png\" alt=\"what is a measure in music\" width=\"1024\" height=\"387\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once again, if you approach these measures without knowledge of piano theory, you would most likely be bogged down in sounding out the pitches and then need to practice for a while to be able to perform the notes successfully.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, with knowledge of piano theory, you can again zoom out and see that the first 2 measures are moving in eighth notes around the C major scale, while the second 2 measures are moving in eighth notes around the A natural minor scale. Easy! All of a sudden, by incorporating a little piano theory, you have made yourself a more fluent and agile pianist.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Piano_theory_will_help_you_to_see_the_bigger_picture\"><\/span><strong>Piano theory will help you to see the bigger picture<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you dip your toes (or fingers) into the world of piano theory, you will likely become so curious that you will not want to stop. You will begin to see the larger structure of music and begin to make important connections between songs and musicians that you love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For example, if you learn about <a href=\"\/blog\/key-signatures-beginners-guide\/\"><span class=\"s1\">the nature of key signatures<\/span><\/a>, and combine that knowledge with your understanding of chords, you will unlock many hidden secrets of chord progressions. You will find that many songs follow the same chord progressions, or with subtle variation. Spending some time learning how piano chords fit into key signatures will help you to learn chord progressions faster and transfer them to different keys or tonalities with ease.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, it will take a little mental effort to get these concepts under your fingers, but the rewards are certainly worth it. Here is a little example of the possible triads in the key of C major:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15139 size-large\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image3-1024x199.png\" alt=\"C major scale\" width=\"1024\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using this knowledge, you can be almost 100% certain that any song in the key of C major will use some combination of these 7 chords. This knowledge helps narrow down the realm of possibilities and can be a guiding light in what can appear to be an endless sea of piano keys.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Learning_music_theory_will_increase_your_creativity\"><\/span><strong>Learning music theory will increase your creativity\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A common mistake among beginning students is to think that learning theory will somehow trap you or box in your creativity. The truth is, if you think you will be boxed in, then you are already boxed in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Piano theory is simply a tool used to describe tendencies in music. By learning how to manipulate these tendencies, you can master their designs and patterns. The knowledge gained by doing this will allow you to exercise your own creativity with these tools and unlock you from any boxes you may be trapped in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, by understanding how chords work on the piano, you can build more unique and interesting chord progressions. Chords are essentially any combination of two or more notes. There are basic chord patterns like the progressions of triads in C major we learned a moment ago, but there is an (almost) infinite amount of other possible chords. Learning piano theory will help you to identify, organize, and make use of these chords in creative situations. It is to your advantage to learn how to use these tools.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Piano_theory_helps_you_communicate_with_other_musicians\"><\/span><strong>Piano theory helps you communicate with other musicians<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously, not all musicians know about or care to understand music theory. But, if you learn to understand the tools of music theory you will be able to communicate more clearly with other musicians. You will be able to accurately communicate things like chord changes, key centers or key changes, which scales to use when improvising or creating melodies, and any information about <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/time-signatures-explained\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">time signatures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding all of this will make you more valuable to a group of musicians and deepen your enjoyment of the creative process. So when you are next jamming with your friends and somebody asks you <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/understanding-piano-intervals\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">what are intervals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you will be able to answer and sound like you know what you are talking about!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Try out your free trial of Skoove today!<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 46.21% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/479012867?autoplay=1&amp;loop=1&amp;title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;muted=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Start free trial\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/en\/app\/account\/promotion\/ONBOARDING\/12-month?utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=contextual&#038;utm_campaign=free-trial&#038;utm_content=contextual-link-free-trial\"><span class='mb-text'>Start free trial<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Piano theory is an extremely useful tool to learn as a beginning piano student. Don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking it useless or constraining. Quite the opposite is true. Learning how to use piano music theory will allow you to read and interpret music more quickly, make a more fluent performer, allow you to view larger structures in music, enhance your creative music making, and help you to communicate about music more clearly with other musicians. All of these benefits make the study of piano theory well worth the efforts!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Author of this blog post<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6965 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Author-Box-Edward-1.png\" alt=\"Edward Bond\" width=\"212\" height=\"217\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Eddie Bond is a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer, and music instructor currently based in Seattle, Washington USA. He has performed extensively in the US, Canada, Argentina, and China, released over 40 albums, and has over a decade experience working with music students of all ages and ability levels.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You might think of music theory as a purely abstract concept. After all, isn\u2019t theory reserved for the realm of intangible objects? What good is a theory in the real world? What benefit is there to learning music theory if it isn\u2019t ever used in real music by real musicians? You may be asking yourself &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"\/blog\/piano-music-theory\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Piano theory basics explained for beginners<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":15138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Piano theory basics explained for beginners","_seopress_titles_desc":"Piano theory will unlock new possibilities to your creative endeavors! 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