Notes

Having a sound understanding of the notes on a piano will help you in understanding what chord you are playing as chords, basic ones anyway, are made up of 3 notes.

Here are the basic note names:

Notice how they repeat themselves over and over again.That is, to the left of the two black notes is a C and to the left of the next lot of two black notes is also a C and so on.

The black notes aren't given a unique name like the white notes, they get their name depending on the white notes around them. These are the sharps and flats.

If we move to the right of a white note to arrive at a black note then the black note is a sharp.

 

If we move to the left of a white note to arrive at a black note then the black note is a flat.

 

Therefore, the notes C# and Db are the same note, but have two different names.

In this easy to play series the note you play first ( or the note on the bottom of the chord ) will be the name of that chord. That is, if you are playing an F on the bottom then you will be playing an F chord.