Piano Tabs: Learn To Play White Christmas With Keyboard Tablature

This piano lesson will help you read piano tab notationThe easy piano tablature notation we will use as we
or keyboard tablature. You will find that this type oflearn to play White Christmas has these easy rules:
notation is easy to understand even if you cannot read1. Lowercase letters show the white keys you are to
music sheets. As an example we will use theplay. For example, c d e f g a b
Christmas song White Christmas.2. Black keys will be shown by uppercase letters. The
If you do not understand sheet music at all I encouragenote C shows that you are to play the black key to
you to start learning it. Learn just a few notes at athe right of c. Here is an E-major chord written this
time and give yourself time to commit the names, howway: e G b
they are played and how they look at a music sheet3. The octave in which you are to play a note is
to your long-term memory.represented by a number after the letter. As
Making this effort will give you great rewards. Knowingmentioned before, the note c4 tells you to play middle
how to read and play piano sheet music will give youc. The note E5 is the black key to the right of e in the
access to a nearly unlimited amount of music sheetsoctave to the left of middle c. The notes following a
with melodies, piano solos and more.note with a number will only have a number when you
Piano tabs can be of great help as you work onchange octave. Here is the beginning of Twinkle,
learning sheet music notation. They are an easy wayTwinkle, Little Star: c4 c g g a a g
to learn melodies, chords and other things on yourNow it is time to learn White Christmas with the help
piano.of piano tab notation. I will write the lyrics and the
There are a few different types of piano tab notationcorresponding tabs below:
on the net. In this article we will use a simplified form ofI'm dreaming of a white Christmase4 f e D e f F g
the most common keyboard tablature notation.Remember, the notes following e4 are played in the
In this system you will use the note names of the keyssame octave. The note D is the black key to the right
on your piano. The first note we will localize is the noteof d. Let's continue:
commonly called middle c. Before you can find it weJust like the ones I used to knowa b c5 d c b4 a g
have to take a look at how the black keys areWhere the treetops glisten and children listenc d e e e
organized.a g c c c g
Looking at the black keys you will find groups with twoHere is the last line of the first verse:
or three black keys together. Middle c is located in theTo hear sleigh bells in the snowf e f e d c d
middle of your keyboard to the left of two black keys.Now it is time to play the next verse. It starts the
Middle c is often called c4. Actually, all white keys tosame way as the first verse but ends with a change
the left of two black keys are called c. The number 4in the two last lines:
shows that this c is in the fourth octave of a pianoI'm dreaming of a white Christmase f e D e f F g
keyboard. An octave is the interval from one c to theWith every Christmas card I writea b c5 d c b4 a g
next c.May your days be merry and brightc d e e e a g c5
The names of the white keys from one c to the nextAnd may all your Christmases be whitec4 d e e a b3
c is c d e f g a b c. The last note c is called c5b b c
because it is one octave higher than c4.In this piano tab notation you will not see the length of
Middle c is called c4 even on a smaller type ofthe notes but if you try to sing the lyrics as you
keyboard with less number of octaves. The c onememorize the tablature lines you will get the rhythm
octave to the left of c4 is called c3.right!