What Songs Are Best for Beginning Pianists to Learn?

Piano aficionados say it’s easy to learn the basics of piano playing, but it’s probably the hardest musical instrument to master. Some beginner piano players often quit before giving themselves or the piano a fair shake. Many have unrealistic expectations that they’ll be playing like Liberace or Elton John when they haven’t learned the necessary foundational theory and techniques before attempting to move on to more complex pieces. 

So, before we talk about the best songs to learn on the piano for beginners, or any other level of playing, we must point out that the first building block to learn is the piano alphabet. While there are 88 keys on a standard acoustic piano, there are only 12 different notes, all centered around the basic, C, D, E, F, G, A and B. These are the white keys. The corresponding black keys in between these express a different version of these. Knowing the names of the notes are where they are on the keyboard is a must before learning songs.

A beginner piano player should master playing with each hand separately before moving to playing both hands at once. The best songs to learn on the piano for this exercise are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday or Jingle Bells. While each has a version available with both, all can be played with one hand. 

A great two handed basic piano song that even not piano players will recognize is Chopsticks. Following the link for an easy tutorial. Another great basic beginner piano song that many piano teachers use is Beethoven’s Fur Elise. The possibilities for this song range from very basic to the super complex worthy of the stage at Carnegie Hall (don’t try that one yet). 

There are other choices, too, depending upon the teaching style of the piano teacher. For more information about choosing a teacher or renting a piano, log onto our online site at pianorentals.com and follow the links.

To start the path of having a piano of your own, contact SoCal Pianos, serving Southern California since 1991. We have a wide selection of pianos from which to choose.