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just recently i decided i wanted to finally start to learn to play the piano been studying learning a lil bit of everything. I have the notes memorized and all but i dont understand how you know what note to play. Like what i mean is when your reading a music sheet and you see a lets say A note on the treble clef how do you know which A key to press? wouldnt there be more than one? Also for a learning beginer could you guys point me to any nice sites to help me learn to play piano better thanks

Hello, welcome to this lovely helpful forum. I am six months into my learning piano and have had some expert advice from here. If learning to read music, you will know that middle C is your base starting point and that from there you can find any other key, so if the A you need to play is below middle C, then usualy you would play this with your left hand, and if above middle C then with your right hand. Then so on as you go up the octave.
Many people here would recommend a teacher if only for two or three lessons, to guide you as you begin your journey.
If you prefer, you could use a tutor book which could help you gain your grounding intro and from there you would practise what you learn to perfection.
Whatever you do, you can enjoy the learning of this wonderful hobby, and there are several sites which can help also.
Just use the search tab on this page, and you should come across all kinds of help to assist you in your learning. Shey

www.musictheory.net is a good starting point.

or get an instruction book which will have a clue for mapping notes from sheet to keys. it's always a good idea to finish a basic instruction book or a course even if you're on your own.

Take a look at your keyboard, and you'll
notice that the keys are in an identical
pattern along the board. This is
especially noticeable with the black
keys, which occur in a repetitive pattern of
twos and threes from the bottom
of the keyboard to the top.

The white key to the immediate left of
lt. key in any group of two black keys
is a C, and the white key to the rt. of
the rt. key in any group of three black
keys is a B. Notice that immediately
to the rt. of the B is a C, so you
have a repeated pattern along the
keyboard. Between the C and B white
keys just mentioned, the white keys
are labeled D, E, F, G, A. Thus
the repeated pattern is: C, blk. key,
D, blk. key, E, F, blk. key, G, blk.
key, A, blk. key, B--12 keys, 5 black
and 7 white, that occur along the keyboard
in a repeated pattern.

All keyboards will have some type of
"center mark," a way of determining
where the "center" of the keyboard is.
On acoustic pianos this will be the
brand name of the piano printed near
the center of the keyboard. On digital
pianos it will be similar. On portable
keyboards it might be that the display
screen is put near the center of the
board. This "center mark" is important
because it indicates where "middle C" is.
The C key that is nearest the "center mark,"
whatever it might be, is called "middle
C."

"Middle C" orients you with respect to
the notes that are printed in sheet music
on the two staffs, the treble staff and
the bass staff. The treble staff is
the upper staff, and consists of 5 horizontal
lines and is marked with the "treble clef"
sign, which looks sort of like a cat with
a tail. The bass staff is the lower staff,
and consists of 5 horizontal lines and
is marked with the "bass clef" sign, which
looks sort of like an ear with
a colon to the rt. of it. "Middle C"
is printed in sht. music as a small oval
with a short horizontal line through it,
immediately below the bottom horizontal
line of the treble staff, or immediately
above the top horizontal line of
the bass staff--and this is the white key
to the lt. of the lt. key of the group of
two black keys that is nearest the "center
mark" on the board.

D, the white key to the rt. of "middle
C" is marked in sht. music as a small
oval just under the lowest of the 5 lines of
the treble staff, and touching it. E,
the white key to the rt. of D, is marked
as being cut in half by the bottom
line of the treble staff. F, the white
key to the rt. of E, is marked in the
space between the bottom line and the
next highest line on the treble staff.
G, the white key to the rt. of F, is
cut in half by the 2nd line of the treble
staff. A, the wh. key to the rt. of G,
is in the space between the 2nd and 3rd lines
of the treble staff. B, the wh. key to
the rt. of A, is marked as being cut in
half by the 3rd line from the bottom of
the treble staff. And because the
key pattern on the board is repetitive,
the note between the 3rd and 4th lines
of the treble staff is again a C--
this C has the same basic sound as
middle C, but it is at a higher pitch
than middle C. Then the note cut in
half by the 4th line from the bottom
of the treble staff is D, the white key
to the rt. of C. And so forth.

Similarly, the note marked as immediately
above the top line of the bass staff
and touching it is another B, but
at a lower pitch, and so forth down
the staff.

So when you play the piano using sht.
music, first locate when middle C is,
to orient yourself with respect to the
keyboard and the printed notes. And
then press the keys according to how
the notes representing each key
are presented on the sht. music.
It is just a matter of practice in order to
do this fluently.

Yes, it is important to note (pun not inteded) that when you see an A marked on the music it will be a SPECIFIC A on the keyboard.

For example the A on the top line of the bass stave will be just below middle C, the next A up on the sheet music will be the next A to the right on the keyboard.

In time you will memorise which note on the sheet music refers to which note on the keyboard.

thanks guys the past few days now i been studying and playing the piano finally and now i know how stupid of a question that was i asked. Anyhow i have new issue ok im reading a music sheet trying to play a song little by little but im having trouble playing the bass clef too.So my question is how did you guys learn to read and play both clefs? like i just cant see both my hands most the time so like its hard to hit keys with my left hand when i cant see it.So do you guys have any recomendations for me or what im doing wrong?

Most people recommend practicing each hand separately before trying to put them together.

I have a gut feeling that you really should consider taking some piano lessons with a teacher. How old are you? Can you sign up for a class on group piano at your local junior college? Or can you find a qualified music teacher to help you get started on reading the bass and treble clefs, and learning hand independence.

Since you have so little knowlege of the piano keyboard and how to read music; it would be worth it to take some music lessons initially.

Or at least you could maybe watch the Piano Guy show on KCTS as he shows the basic stuff and breaks it way down for beginners on his pledge drive show (his first show that runs often on the local pBS stations). He shows you middle C right away.

You really cannot learn to read sheet music and play the piano from it by just grabbing some sheet music and looking at it; it's like putting a classical novel in the hands of a 4 year old and asking the child to try to figure out how to read itk. You need a teacher.

Some folks don't need teachers and can pick things up by ear naturally. Such folks don't really need to know a lick of theory (Chet Atkins never could read music but he became a legendary guitarist).

But by asking so many questions you send a red flag that you probably would do better having someone you can ask "in person" to show you and tell you those things you need to know.

The internet is a great thing... but it is no substitute for a teacher who may be able to help you to learn what you need to know. Find a teacher is your best option as you seem pretty lost and spinning your wheels.

The problem is that you're trying to look
at your hands and the sheet music at
the same time. That's ten fingers and
numerous printed characters on the score
that you're trying to keep track of
with your eyes every split second--this
can't be done efficiently, which is why
the proper technique for playing is to
play without looking at your hands. When
you do this, you can focus full attention
on the printed score, which makes playing
from sht. music much more efficient.

The piano keyboard in fact was deliberately
designed with the black keys sticking
up above the white ones so that you can
play without looking at your hands.
Since the black keys occur in a repetitive
pattern of twos and threes along the
keyboard, they can be used as tactile
reference points for playing without
looking: C is always the key to the lt.
of any group of two black keys, D is
the key between any group of two black
keys, and so forth. (A keyboard with
all white keys would be all but unplayable.)

I'd really recommend working on scales and arpeggios. This should get you started.

http://www.pianoworld.com/fun/vpc/piano_chords.htm

Don't forget about the chromatic scale (basically hitting all black and white keys between a given area). Finger it this way, starting on C and going up:

1,3,1,3,1,2,3,1,3,1,3,1,2

Thumb is 1, middle finger is 3, and forefinger is 2. This is going to take a lot of practice, but you'll get it.

Also, learn how to do scales in parallel motion; this is extremely important. Once you can play scales well with hands seperate, play them hands together going in the same direction. This is going to take PRACTICE and DISCIPLINE, but it will become second nature if you do it enough.