Learn to play beautifully

Piano tablature (or “piano tab” for short) is an abbreviated method of music notation. While used for modern pop music, the idea is nothing new: Tablature for keyboard instruments has been around since the mid-fifteenth century!

Tablature derives from the Latin word meaning to...

Question: I learned piano through the Suzuki method, and when it came to piano theory, I was aurally-dominant enough to fake it, too lazy to want to learn, and not smart enough to know what I was missing. Naturally, without the practice I never learned how to sight read.

I am now 35 and I have...

Question: How do you write music notation of songs or hymns? How do you concentrate on musical beats?

– Rozario (India)

Albert’s reply: If you’re new to writing music, you should familiarize yourself with writing music notation by copying simple pieces of music. Notice all the...

Question: Hi Mr. Frantz,

I thoroughly enjoy reading your website. I have played single-clef instruments most of my life with very little formal piano training. Approximately seven years ago, I began practicing sight reading on the piano, which is substantially more challenging given the two...

Question: I can read notes but I don’t know which finger I’m going to use with that note. I just wish to have sheet music with finger number on every note or notes/number/finger chart.

– Josh Jardinel (Philippines)

Albert’s reply: There are several things in your...

Question: What does the bottom number of the time signature tell you about?

– Upneet (Chandigarh, India)

Albert’s reply: In simple meter, the top number of a time signature tells us the number of beats in a measure, the bottom number tells us the note value, or the length of each...

Question: I really hate to bother you with something so trivial, but I am trying to play a game and I’m stuck since I don’t know anything about music. I need to know what keys to press. It’s the first page to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I have 10 white keys and 7 black...