25 beginner piano songs for anyone to learn with these easy step by step videos for any age at any level of their piano journey. While you’re here, don’t forget to download our free printable chord chart
You’ve just begun your journey into the wide world of piano music and you want to move beyond simple exercises. What better way to integrate all your new note and rhythm reading skills then to check out some easy songs to play on keyboard? Let’s start with the classic Happy Birthday
If you go onto YouTube, you’ll be faced with an overwhelming number of videos on how to play as well as tutorials for different songs. There’s lots of beginner piano songs with letter notes as uploaders use the Synthesia software. This is great as it allows new pianists as well as more advanced pianists the opportunity to follow along without having to read music.
If you’re after a more traditional approach, some of these Synthesia tutorials also come with free printable piano sheet music for popular songs. Usually these are simplified or easy beginner piano songs for beginners with letters written under the notes.
The best simplified versions are those easy piano songs that sound complicated. Before you jump in, make sure you’re confident with reading music notation.
Most easy piano songs for beginners use very simple rhythms and time signatures. Most common would be semibreve, dotted minim, minim and crotchet values with time signatures limited to 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4. It goes without saying that key signatures would also be limited to C major!
Apart from having easy piano songs with letters written in under the notes, there are some great books and free keyboard sheet music) with letters. This means that there are many easy beginner piano songs with letters for notes.
Finding easy piano songs sheet music isn’t hard. In fact most teachers and music teaching studios will bend over backwards to try and engage students and will often have a library of music. Start off with tunes and melodies that you already know – right hand melodies initially and then slowly introduce the left hand.
Easy piano songs for kids are a good way to get started. Most of these are easy piano songs with letters already written in. Even better, the melodies are quite repetitive and simple. Think of nursery rhymes like Incy Wincy Spider.
Let’s say you’re an older beginner and the thought of playing nursery rhymes makes you violent. That’s ok. Don’t stress. There are a number of sites that specialise in piano sheet music for beginners looking to play simplified versions of popular songs. Quite often these are free or are quite cheap. Just run a quick search for the song you’re after and then add “+ free sheet music” to get the best results.
Piano songs don’t have to simplified or childish. There are some easy but beautiful piano pieces available that come from the time of Bach, Handel and even Mozart. The key to these pieces lies with the articulation and phrasing of the notes.
When you’ve just started piano, one of the most important things is to be able to enjoy playing. No one wants to do endless drills and scales all day. Easy piano songs for beginners with letters written underneath or inside the notes are a great way to expand your musical repertoire when you’re a beginner.
If we’re going to create a list of easy popular songs to play on piano then you can’t go past movie themes. Think or “Star Wars” and you’re bound to start humming Darth Vader’s theme song.
Keyboard songs for beginners don’t have to sound simple. In fact, the simpler the melody, the more creative you can get with the harmony and accompaniment. From piano chords, to a walking bass line, you can tweak an easy piano song so that it sounds complicated, complex and a lot more advanced than it really is.
If you’re after easy piano sheet music for popular songs, you can’t beat the classic rock hits of Elvis and The Beatles. It truly was a great time for music. From “Can’t Help Falling in Love” to “Hey Jude”, these songs have been done and re-done the world over by so many different artists. Even better, you’re bound to find the piano sheet music free online!
Is there a more universal beginner song than Twinkle Twinkle? For those of you who are cluey, you might have also picked up that it’s also the tune for The Alphabet Song. Oh what? You didn’t know it was also The Alphabet Song? Try switching out the lyrics. You’re welcome! If you were searching for easy piano pieces for beginners, you were bound to come across this one:
Given that the topic is all about easy keyboard songs with letters, we’re going to get very specific and target holiday standards. Did you know that if you play the C major scale descending you actually have the opening to Joy to the World? Try it out C B A G (hold the G) F E D C (hold the C). Now you can use your aural skills to tease out the rest. Or you could just check out the video below…
Oh, your neighbours are probably going to hate me for this one but here goes. Fur Elise. Beethoven’s standard for pianists everywhere has multiple reductions making it one of the most downloaded free classical piano sheet music piece ever.
Anyone who is a fan of The Sound of Music would be familiar with Do Re Mi. It was a clever way of introducing the Von Trapp children to music, but it had a flow on effect – it too, became one of the best pieces for new pianists to learn. Even better, the piano notes correspond to the Sol-Fa system of naming.
One of the most popular piano searches would have to be for Disney music. Just make sure when you’re searching for that easy piano sheet music, you use .pdf (so it should look like easy piano sheet music .pdf) in the search. Why? .pdf files hold their formatting so that when the sheet music gets printed there’s no stretching out of notes or staves.
If you’re not quite the Disneyphile, have no fear. There are lots of other contemporary options, for example Adele. You can use Synthesia YouTube tutorials combined with sheet music to make your life a whole lot easier.
If you’re after beautiful modern piano songs, you can’t go past Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”. This hauntingly beautiful piece works well with or without the vocal line and isn’t too hard to learn.
Once you learn the rhythm, notes and posture there’s no other magic trick to learning the piano. It just comes down to practice, practice, practice. Find a style that you like and listen to it carefully. Music is not just a cerebral process, it is something to be enjoyed!
There’s quite a list of basic songs that all pianists should be famliar, we’ve already gone through Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”, but there are hundreds more. Mozart’s “Rondo Alla Turka”, Debussy’s “Golliwog Cakewalk” or his “Le Petit Nigar”. Bach’s Prelude and Fugues.. The list really is endless. Where is a beginner to start? Try listening to them!
If classical isn’t your style, there are still a number of beautiful modern piano songs and pop standards that most pianists are expected to know. We’ve touched on “Angel”, but there’s also Vanessa Carlton’s “10000 miles”, Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts” and more recently Yiruma’s “River Flows in You”
If you’re into musical theatre then you can’t go past Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. This modern day genius is responsible for more than 30 musicals, chief among them The Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies. The most popular is the love duet from The Phantom that sounds amazing on the piano. Check out “All if Ask of You piano tutorial” on YouTube