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Play-along piano

Plug your digital piano into the computer, pick a piece, and play. The sheet music scrolls past a line on the screen and the page listens to the keys you press. Play the right note and it turns green and the music moves on. It is free, there is nothing to install and no account to make.

How it works

1. Plug in your pianoUse the USB socket on the back of the piano (often marked “USB to Host”) and an ordinary USB printer cable. An older keyboard with round 5-pin MIDI sockets needs a USB MIDI interface.
2. Press “Connect your piano”The browser asks once for permission to use MIDI devices. Say yes and the button shows your piano’s name.
3. Play the lit keyThe next note is lit on the keyboard picture, with the finger to use. Play it on your piano and the music moves along.

No piano handy? Click or touch the keys on the screen, or use the computer keyboard: the row from Q is middle C upwards (Q W E R T is C D E F G) and the row from Z is the octave below. That covers the easier levels. For the few notes outside those rows, open More settings and switch on “Any octave counts”.

Three ways to practise

• Wait for me. The music stops at each note until you press the right key. There is no rush, so this is the place to start a new piece.
• In time. You get a count-in, then the music runs at a steady speed. Play each note as it reaches the line. Notes you play in time turn green, notes you miss turn red, and you get up to three stars at the end. Half speed and slower speed are there for when full speed is too quick.
• Listen. The page plays the piece on a grand piano so you can hear how it goes and watch which keys light up.

From Level 2 the pieces have a left hand as well. Choose Right hand, Left hand or Both, and the page plays the hand you leave out.

The pieces

These are the same 201 beginner pieces as our piano sheet music for kids: nursery rhymes, folk songs, carols, hymns, rounds and classical themes, all out of copyright, all in C major or A minor. They are sorted into six levels by the notes the right hand needs, starting with C position (thumb on middle C). Every piece has its own page with the printable sheet music, practice notes and a short history.

What you need

• A digital piano or keyboard with USB or MIDI. Almost every digital piano made in the last twenty years has one or the other. See our guide to connecting an older keyboard with a USB MIDI interface.
• Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a Windows PC, Mac, Linux computer or Chromebook, or Chrome on an Android phone or tablet.
• iPhone and iPad: Safari can’t talk to a MIDI keyboard, and every browser on an iPhone or iPad is Safari underneath. You can still play on the on-screen keys there.

The page hears your piano through the cable, not through a microphone, so an acoustic piano won’t work with it.

Questions and answers

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser: nothing you play is uploaded and no account is needed.