A playable keyboard — click, tap or use your computer keys. Turn on note names, highlight a scale or a chord, shift octaves, and hear every note.
Computer keys: A S D F G H J K play white keys, W E T Y U play the black keys. Z / X shift octave.
Play with the mouse, with a finger on a touch screen, or with your computer keyboard — the home row plays the white keys and the row above plays the black keys, the way a piano teacher would point them out. Chords work: press two or three keys together.
Turn on Highlight and pick a root and a scale or chord to see exactly which keys belong to it, with the root in red. This is the fastest way to learn a shape before you move to a real keyboard — see C major, then D major, and watch the black keys move.
For the theory behind what you are playing, the Scale Library and Chord Library give every scale and chord its own page, and the free Cloud Atelier courses teach it in order.
1. Play with the mouse, a finger on a touch screen or your computer keyboard — the home row plays the white keys and the row above plays the black keys.
2. Switch on Note names to label every key, and use − and + to change octave.
3. To study a shape, pick a root and a scale or chord in the highlight menu; its keys light up with the root in red.
Choose root C and major scale: the highlighted keys are all white — C D E F G A B. Change the root to D and two black keys join, F♯ and C♯. Every major scale uses the same step pattern — whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half — and the highlighting shows how that one pattern lands on different keys.
How do I play the virtual piano with my computer keyboard?
The middle row of letter keys (A S D F G H J K) plays the white keys, and the row above (W E
T Y U) plays the black keys, starting from the highlighted C. Z and X shift the whole
keyboard down and up an octave.
Can I see the note names on the keys?
Yes. Turn on "Note names" and every key is labelled. You can also pick a scale or a chord
and the keys that belong to it are highlighted, with the root in red.
Is the sound real?
The sound is generated in your browser with the Web Audio API — a layered tone with a soft
attack and release, tuned to equal temperament at A4 = 440 Hz. It works offline once the
page has loaded.
How do I find middle C?
Middle C is the C nearest the centre of a full 88-key piano, written C4. On any keyboard, C
is the white key just to the left of each group of two black keys.
What are the black keys called?
Each black key has two names. Going up from C: C♯/D♭, D♯/E♭, F♯/G♭, G♯/A♭ and A♯/B♭. Which
name you use depends on the key — F major uses B♭, while E major uses G♯ and D♯.