Also, make sure your keyboard is at a sensible height – for reference, the average grand piano keyboard is set at a height of around 72cm – and that you’re not sitting too close to it. Try not to slouch! Instead, focus on keeping your back straight, shoulders relaxed, with your arms forming a series of gentle arcs from the shoulder through the elbow to the forearm and wrist. As with any learning process, though, there are a few do’s and don’ts to try and keep in mind when starting out on keyboards.

Once you know the pattern, identifying notes on the keyboard becomes second nature after a bit of practise – one good exercise is to have a friend call out random note names for you to find and play.

These pairs of names are known as enharmonic equivalents, for example C# and Db, which are the two names for the key on the keyboard that lives between the white keys C and D. Step 3: So each black key actually has two names, as black notes can either be referred to as sharps or flats, depending on which key you’re in.

Midi number to note chart