Reading piano notes is much easier than many beginning pianists realize. Ultimately, piano note reading is simply a matter of memorization and repetition. In other words, once you learn the basics, all you have to do is put them into practice, and do it as many times as it takes to fully internalize your note reading skills.

No doubt you have seen what is known as the staff: the system of five lines and four spaces in which musical notes are arranged. In music notation, at the far left of a staff you will always see a clef, which is basically a symbol indicating how the notes on the staff should be read.

There are many different types of clefs, but luckily for beginning pianists, the vast majority of piano music deals with just two clefs, the treble clef and the bass clef. The treble clef is typically used to notate the first few octaves to the right of middle C, while the bass clef is typically used to notate the few octaves to the left of middle C.

On all staves, no matter what the clef, successive lines and spaces represent rising notes in the scale. For example, in the treble clef, the lowest line represents E. So the space just above the lowest line represents F, the line just above it represents G, the space above that is A, and so on. .

In the treble clef, which looks like a sort of inverted “S” with a few extra notes and centered on the second line up, the notes are as follows: The five lines, from bottom to top, represent EGBD and F, while the four spaces represent FAC and E. All beginning pianists should memorize them very early in the learning process. FACE is an easy acronym to remember, while EGBDF lends itself to a variety of mnemonic phrases, which you can make up yourself. For example, when I took my lessons, I was forced to memorize “Every good boy deserves fudge.”

Often when reading music, you will see additional “lines” added above or below the staff. These are simply extensions of the staff and follow the same sequence as the notes within the staff. For example, the invisible line one space below the treble clef staff, a note you’ll see very, very often, represents middle C, since it’s one space and one line below the E represented by the first line.

The bass clef, which looks like an inverted “C” with a colon around the second line from the top, has this configuration: the five lines represent GBDF and A, while the four spaces represent ACE and G. Again, there are plenty of resources mnemonics to remember them, but it is always better to make up your own.

With many piano songs, especially those for beginners, the left hand plays the notes in the bass clef, while the right hand plays the notes in the treble clef. The two areas meet at middle C, which is two notes below the lowest line on the treble clef staff and two notes above the highest line on the bass clef staff.

Beyond this basic memorization of notes represented by lines and spaces, piano note reading also involves some knowledge of what various symbols mean. Most commonly you will see the symbols for sharp and flat. The sharp symbol, which looks a lot like the number symbol (#), indicates that the note it accompanies should be raised a half step. Meanwhile, the flat symbol looks like a lowercase “b” and indicates that the accompanying note should be played half a step lower. Also, once you start learning more keys and scales, you’ll need to know the natural symbol, which cancels a sharp or a flat dictated by the key. Also, it’s important to remember that when you see a sharp, flat, or natural symbol, that symbol remains active for the entire measure.

From this point on, things get more complicated. But do not worry. Learning to read piano notes is a process of baby steps. Try not to learn everything at once. Instead, focus on one thing at a time and practice until it’s as easy as breathing. As always, this is the key to learning piano.