—————————————— ◊ Piano Palette Way easier to grok than guitar. —————————————— You Are Here ---> • The guitar was invented a bit earlier than the piano. So was the harpsichord. In fact, stringed instruments have been around since before the dawn of written history. Pianos and harpsichords were invented to make it easier for "those lacking the subtle dexterity of Olympians," to play music. And they do. Far, far easier. In fact, no instrument comes closer to the quintessence of 12-tone music than the piano. You might say it is the Mac OS of music. Sure, we love stringed instruments for all they're nuance and direct feel. And lest we come to disdain the piano, remember: It too is a stringed instrument. Colorful Keys Your basic piano is colored ebony and ivory which fit together in perfect harmony side-by-side. Colors are added to show which notes belong to your chord. Green keys indicate the root of the Current Chord. The Layman's Layout The white keys on a piano are all natural notes in the key of C / Am. (The black keys all belong to the F# / Ebm pentatonic scale.) The relationship between keys and - well - keys follows the circle of fifths: C has no black keys. Moving clockwise, G gains a black key (F#). Next, D gains C#. This progress continues until we get to B when all the black keys are used. Then F# and C# have all the black keys but different white keys. Beginning with Ab we begin to lose black keys again until we get back around to C. You can demonstrate this effect by using the Transpose Button. First fill up the C scale with the Scale Button. Next use the Transpose Button and click-drag up and down the Scale Palette. Tickling the Ivories • Click a piano key to hear a note. You can drag too. • Double-click to toggle a note in your chord. • Triple-click to add a triad to the chord. •