Practice & Performance
Warming up, practice habits, gigging, showmanship, and band/studio work.
16 articles · 19 tools
Guides — 2 guides
How to play piano: a beginner's guide
Start playing piano step by step: posture, the keyboard, your first notes, reading music, scales, chords, rhythm, and how to practice.
How to recognize intervals by ear
A repeatable method for naming intervals by ear: pin each one to a familiar song, drill both directions daily, and beat the common mix-ups.
From the books — 14 articles
How to Learn Scales
How to approach this book and practice scales effectively, so each pattern truly sinks in.
Studio Tips
Get an overview of the three stages of recording a CD — tracking, mixing, and mastering — and learn when a home studio works and when you need professional help.
Band Work
Learn where to gig with your band, matching original rock, covers, and acoustic jazz to the right clubs, bars, restaurants, and listening rooms.
Joining or Forming a Band
Find ways to join or form a band, from local music-store bulletin boards and rehearsal studios to ensemble classes, when you're missing some or all of your bandmates.
Solo Work
Explore the pianist's edge in solo work — playing melody, harmony, and rhythm at once — and find your first solo gigs at open-mic nights and coffee houses.
Showmanship and Faking It
Pick up performance survival tips from the trenches, including the golden rule of never stopping mid-piece and staying "in the pocket" so the audience misses your slips.
Interpretation and Improvisation
Discover when to play a piece exactly as written and when to improvise, with guidance on interpretation across classical, pop, and jazz performance settings.
Preparing for the Gig
Get gig-ready with practical advice on rehearsing your parts, running your set on consecutive days, and preparing to perform live whether it's a metal bash, jazz gig, or recital.
Arpeggios
Break left-hand chords into flowing arpeggios in a new version of "Wonderful Tonight," working with a metronome and the damper pedal for a lush pop-ballad sound.
Playing the Melody with Both Hands
Play your first true hands-together song with "Jingle Bells," doubling the melody an octave apart in both hands while staying in C position.
Getting the Most Out of Your Practice
Turn limited practice time into real progress with productive habits that keep your sessions focused, effective, and even fun.
Warming Up Before Playing
Prepare your hands and mind with warm-up routines built around scales and arpeggios, so you arrive at any performance ready to play your best.
Benches and Chairs
Find the right bench or chair height and learn why sitting properly helps you develop correct hand, arm, and posture habits from the very start.
About the Audio
Discover the online demo recordings, including hands-separate stereo tracks and full-band accompaniments you can play along with by turning down a channel.
Tools — 19 tools
Practice & Performance tools →Interactive tools for Practice & Performance — try them right in your browser.
Virtual piano
Play a piano in your browser — use your mouse, touch, or computer keyboard. Real piano sound, and a free Pro tab with up to 61 keys, sustain, MIDI keyboard input, a metronome, and recording.
Note finder
Pick a note and see every place it sits on the piano keyboard, named — and tap any key to hear it.
Keyboard ear trainer
Hear a note, then click the matching key on the on-screen piano — with instant feedback, the right key revealed on a miss, and a running score.
Chord progression player
Browse the progressions behind pop, rock, jazz, blues and classical music, hear each one in any key on piano or guitar, and loop it at your own tempo to practice or write over.
Metronome
Set the tempo and time signature and practice in steady time, or open the Pro tab for subdivisions, per-beat accents, a speed trainer, a gap trainer, click sounds, and recording yourself under the click — all free, right in your browser.
Note ear trainer
Hear a note, name it, and get instant feedback and a running score — with a reference C to anchor your ear, right in your browser.
Note reading trainer
Practice reading the treble, alto or bass staff: a note appears, you click it on the piano. Instant feedback, the note plays, your score tracks.
Chord finder
Pick a root note and a chord type — major, minor, sevenths, suspended and more — and see the chord on the piano, named and spelled out for you.
Tuning drone
Hold a steady reference pitch on any note, in any octave, at A = 440, 442 or baroque 415, with an optional fifth — tune to it and practice intonation, scales and long tones right in your browser.
Tap tempo (BPM tapper)
Tap the button or the space bar in time with any music and it reads the tempo back in BPM, with a matching tempo marking.
Scale finder
Pick a root note and a scale type — major, minor, the modes, pentatonic, blues — and see every note light up on the piano, spelled out for you.
Chord analysis tool
Pick a major or minor key and see its seven diatonic triads with numerals, chord symbols, and notes — click a numeral to light the chord on the keyboard and hear it.
Interval reading trainer
Two notes appear on the staff, you name the interval between them, and you can hear it — with instant feedback and a running score.
Chord ear trainer
Train your ear to recognise chords: hear a chord, name its type — major, minor, diminished and more. Instant feedback and a score.
Interval ear trainer
Train your ear to recognise intervals: hear two notes, name the interval. Instant feedback and a running score.
Interval finder
Pick a root note and an interval — from a minor second to an octave — and see and hear the two notes on the piano.
Chord reading trainer
A chord is stacked on the staff, you name its type, and you can hear it — with instant feedback and a running score.
Scale ear trainer
Hear a scale played from a random root and name its type — major, minor, the modes, pentatonic, blues — with instant feedback and a running score.
Scale reading trainer
A scale is written on the staff, you name its type, and you can hear it played back — with instant feedback and a running score.