Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is the fourth episode in my How To Play Piano for Beginners series. Obviously, when you play piano you use both hands, and the music for each hand is usually written on separate staves, most often with treble clef for the right hand and bass clef for the left hand. So in this tutorial I look at the bass clef, how it's different from the treble clef from a pianist's point of view, and why it's important to learn how to read bass clef just as well as you can read treble clef.
Bass clef helps us notate the area of the piano keyboard where our left hand spends most of its time - that is, the octaves below middle C. The tutorial includes a full explanation of the lines and spaces of the bass stave and (in the accompanying PDF) an exercise to help you learn them.
Then I move on to covering the scale of C major in both right and left hands. Pianists (like most musicians) often complain about scales - and they can seem dull and pointless to learners - but they are incredibly important, because they help both physically and in understanding and internalising music theory.
PDF download page: billspianopages.com/beginners
Previous piano lesson in series: youtu.be/NUVQIwO1SEI
Next piano lesson in series: youtu.be/1JVtPB8VJXE
All piano lessons in series: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QnP46wUgQudOySX_z2UOhXs
Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/billhilton
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/billhilton
Like me on Facebook: fb.me/billhiltonpiano
#pianolessons #pianotutorial
This is the fourth episode in my How To Play Piano for Beginners series. Obviously, when you play piano you use both hands, and the music for each hand is usually written on separate staves, most often with treble clef for the right hand and bass clef for the left hand. So in this tutorial I look at the bass clef, how it's different from the treble clef from a pianist's point of view, and why it's important to learn how to read bass clef just as well as you can read treble clef.
Bass clef helps us notate the area of the piano keyboard where our left hand spends most of its time - that is, the octaves below middle C. The tutorial includes a full explanation of the lines and spaces of the bass stave and (in the accompanying PDF) an exercise to help you learn them.
Then I move on to covering the scale of C major in both right and left hands. Pianists (like most musicians) often complain about scales - and they can seem dull and pointless to learners - but they are incredibly important, because they help both physically and in understanding and internalising music theory.
PDF download page: billspianopages.com/beginners
Previous piano lesson in series: youtu.be/NUVQIwO1SEI
Next piano lesson in series: youtu.be/1JVtPB8VJXE
All piano lessons in series: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QnP46wUgQudOySX_z2UOhXs
Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/billhilton
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/billhilton
Like me on Facebook: fb.me/billhiltonpiano
#pianolessons #pianotutorial
