Virtual Piano Sheets

Common questions

How do I read a virtual piano sheet?

Each letter or number is one computer key, pressed once, and the spaces separate the notes. Play a row from left to right, then go to the next row: one row is one phrase of the tune. The Notes column names the same notes as pitches, where C4 is middle C and a sharp is the black key above its letter, so you can play from either column or check one against the other. With the octave control on 4, Z is C4, M is B4, Q is C5 and E is E5, and the labels on the board show every other key.

Which songs are here, and why not popular songs?

Seven melodies that are in the public domain: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb, which are traditional, Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont, Happy Birthday by the Hill sisters, two by Beethoven and one by Scott Joplin. Ode to Joy is written in G rather than C so that its lowest note stays on the board, and Für Elise and The Entertainer are their well-known opening bars, melody only. Film, game, anime and chart songs belong to their writers and publishers, so they are not written out here, however often they are asked for.

Do these letters work on other virtual piano sites?

No. Each online piano maps the computer keyboard its own way, and many put a whole row of white keys on the number and letter rows with Shift for the black keys, so a sheet written for one site plays wrong notes on another. These sheets are written for this page's layout: the lower octave on Z X C V B N M with its sharps on S D G H J, the upper octave on Q W E R T Y U with its sharps on 2 3 5 6 7. The Notes column is the same everywhere, so it is the one to use on any other piano.

What if the octave control is not on 4?

The tune still works. The same letters play the same tune an octave lower on 3 and an octave higher on 5, because the whole keyboard moves together. Set it to 4 to hear the notes at the pitches written in the Notes column. The page remembers the octave you last chose in this browser, which is why it may not open on 4.

Does it play the tune for me or mark wrong notes?

No. It does not play a tune by itself and it does not follow along or grade what you press: it is a keyboard and a sheet to read from. To check yourself, turn on Score under the piano and it writes down the notes you played, in order, so you can compare them with the Notes column.

Is a computer keyboard good enough to learn these?

For learning where the notes are and the order of a melody, yes. It cannot teach touch: a computer key is either down or up, so every note plays at the same volume, and many keyboards stop reporting keys once several are held at once. For reading the same notes on a staff, Sight Reading Practice drills them one at a time.