Chapter 3 of 25 · Getting started

The musical alphabet

Every white key on the piano has a name: a letter from A to G, the first seven letters of the alphabet. Learn where each letter lives, then make the names come fast, until any key tells you its name at a glance.

Written by Clara Sohyun Park · Updated 9 October 2026

A to G on the keys

Music uses just the first seven letters of the alphabet: A B C D E F G. The very lowest key on the piano is an A. From there, the white keys go up in alphabet order, A B C D E F G, and then A again.

The letter wheel and the octave

After G, the letters come round to A again, like the days of the week; there is no H. Each time round, the same letter comes back. From one C up to the next C is called an octave: oct means eight, like the eight legs of an octopus, and an octave is 8 white keys, counting both Cs. Same name, higher voice.

Forwards up, backwards down

Going up the piano, to the right, the letters go forwards: C D E F G A B C. Going down, to the left, they go backwards: C B A G F E D C. Backwards is the tricky one, especially the turn from A back to G.

Name any key at a glance

Walking up from C every time is slow. Instead, look at who lives there. In the small house lives Princess Clara, at the left door (C), with her Dog in his doghouse between the two black keys (D); the right door is the Exit (E). The big house has a Front door (F) and a Back door (B); inside lives Grandma (G), who loves apples, so right next to her is her Apple garden (A).

Every word starts with its key's letter, and every one sits in its key's place in the house. Don't count from C: ask who lives there.

Skip a letter

A step goes to the very next letter. A skip jumps over one: C, (D), E, (F), G. Skip all the way round, C E G B D F A and back to C, and the lines draw a seven-pointed star. On the piano, a skip jumps over one white key.

At first, whisper the letter you jump over, C (d) E (f) G, then leave the whisper out.

Play by letter names

Now the letters go straight onto the keys. Right-hand fingers 2, 3 and 4 sit on C, D and E in the small house: read each letter, see its place, play. This time the student reads the letters, not the finger numbers. Then the left hand, one small house lower.

  1. Read and playRight hand 2 3 4 on C D E, saying the letters. One circle is one steady beat.
    CDEEDCCEDCEC

Spell and play: a word made only of music letters is a tiny tune. Try BAG, CAFE, FACE, BEAD and EGG, saying each letter as you play it.

My five checks

Show each one at the piano, or say it out loud.

On the keyboard

  • I can find A to G on the keys
  • I can name any white key at a glance
  • I can read letters and play them: C D E, BAG, CAFE

Out loud

  • I can say the letters forwards and backwards, from any letter
  • I can skip up and down: C E G B D F A

Free worksheet

Worksheet page: put a dot on the key where Princess Clara, her Dog, the Exit, Grandma, the Apple garden and the two doors live, name six dotted keys, then draw who lives on each key.

Who lives where?

Put a dot on the key where each one lives, name six dotted keys at a glance, then draw Princess Clara, her Dog, Grandma and her Apple garden on their keys. One A4 page.

Print this pageThe whole chapter: Lesson Book + Workbook

Try it on screen

Tap a white key to see who lives there, watch the letters land on the keys and start again after G, step and skip round the letter chain, and spell words like BAG and CAFE on the keys.

Open the lesson

Common questions

What are the note names on the piano?

The white keys use the first seven letters of the alphabet, A B C D E F G. After G the letters start again at A, so the same seven names repeat all the way up the piano. There is no H.

How do you remember the names of the piano keys?

Use the black keys. C D E sit around the group of two black keys, F G A B around the group of three. C is just left of the two, F just left of the three, D sits between the two, and G and A sit between the three.

What is an octave on the piano?

The distance from one letter to the next key with the same name, for example from one C up to the next C. It spans 8 white keys, counting both ends: oct means eight.