The 5 Best Free Apps for Learning the Piano

How to Learn the Piano Effectively Using Apps

Anyone who plays the piano needs to have a basic concept of chords, scales, and pitches - if not right from the start, then at the latest when tempo and playing confidence increase. With a solid knowledge of music theory, playing the piano is even more fun - and because you can't memorize everything, it's handy to have an app in which you can look up every scale, every chord, every note, and all the relationships between notes and chords.

The more you train your ear, the easier it is to memorize sequences or entire pieces. This is why ear training is an indispensable part of piano lessons. This skill can be trained very well using an app - and soon you will "hear" intervals and chords quite naturally.

To play rhythmically clean, it is best to practice with a metronome from the start - first slowly, then systematically speeding up. Whether it's the piano or another instrument, a metronome is essential if you want to make targeted progress as a musician.

Reading music doesn't come naturally to anyone - if you want to master it, you have to practice, practice and practice. Many piano players find reading bass clef particularly difficult. Not because it is inherently more difficult to read than the treble clef, but because less time is usually spent on learning it. With an app, you can practice and become fluent in reading music in both clefs.

It can also be handy to simply have a piano keyboard on your cell phone. For example, you want to decipher an interesting sequence of music while still on the tube, or do an outdoor vocal warmup with your students. Or you are trying to remember a certain pitch and don't have a piano to hand. Or you do your ear training exercises... . There are many possible applications.

These Are the Free Apps You Need for Learning the Piano

Music apps are very popular. There are thousands available, paid or free. The market is huge. But which app, which functions do you really need, and which can you safely do without? Here is our top selection. We recommend:

1. Piano Chords and Scales

For: Beginners & Advanced Learners

Why This App?

This great, intuitive app shows you every chord and every scale on the piano with a tap of your finger. You can choose whether you want to see the chord or scale (including fingerings) displayed on the piano keys or displayed as sheet music. There is the option to purchase a full version for under 10 bucks, but the free features alone make this app a music theory treasure on your cell phone.

You have free access to all major, minor, and church keys (Dorian, Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian) and all chords that you can form. So if you want to know how to play C#dim, for example, the app will tell you how to, immediately. You can also use it the other way around: Enter three or more piano keys and the app will immediately tell you which chords these could be.

A further option allows you to look up all chord progressions - in other words, determine all the "cake segments" in the circle of fifths for each key on your smartphone. In songwriter mode, you can then work with these chord progressions and receive suggestions for other suitable keys and chord variations for each key.

The default language is English, but you can change it to other languages or "Sol-le-mi" in the settings.

We like about it:

• Find every chord by piano keys or by notes
• Learn every scale by piano keys or by notes
• Press three or more piano keys to find out which chords they make up
• Enter notes in treble or bass clef to find out which chords they are
• Find every note of every scale
• Find the right key sequence and chord progression for each song

Piano Chords and Scales in the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

2. Functional Ear Trainer

For: Beginners, Advanced Students, and everyone who wants to train their ears

Why this app?

Ear training makes playing music much easier, especially when learning new pieces. This app helps you learn notes in the context of a key, i.e. pitches in the context of chords, in 10 minutes a day. When training, a cadence (a chord sequence) is played to you. You listen to it. Then you hear a single note out of that chord sequence and are asked to recognize which pitch out of that chord sequence it is. Sounds hard? It's actually really useful to train your ear in that comprehensive way. To make things easier, there are different levels - beginners start with C-Major. Then you progress to other scales, and at the very end, you will even be able to hear mixed chords. If you can distinguish the major chords and notes well, you can move on to the minor ones.

All exercises are holistic, intuitive, and designed so that even beginners can get to grips with them once they understand the training concept.

We like about it:

• Very intuitive
• Even fun for beginners
• A challenge for advanced players
• You can create your own exercises

Functional Ear Trainer in the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store.

3. Metronome Beats

For: Everyone learning an instrument

Why this app?

You definitely need a metronome for practicing. By all means, put an elegant wooden metronome complete with screws and cogwheels on top of your grand piano, and it will do the job and look classy. But the Metronome Beats app is a good solution if you are looking for a metronome to take with you wherever you go, or you want to use various additional features. The advantage of this metronome over many that you'll find in the app store is that it is very easy to use - just download and go. No subscription, no registering, no logging in first. You start straight away. The free version shows a discreet advertising bar at the bottom. It doesn't bother us, but if it bothers you, just purchase the "pro" version for less than 10 bucks.

Operation is simple and intuitive. Set the beats, or the clicks per beat, or type in the tempo. A number wheel or minus plus buttons are used for fine-tuning. If the simple click track bores you, you can also use complex rhythms, a drum accompaniment, and even a polyrhythm click. What more do you need from a metronome?

We like about it:

• Simply does what it's supposed to
• Quick start
• Intuitive use for tempi and rhythms

Metronome Beats in the Play Store and the iOS App Store.

4. Solfa

For: Pianists, guitarists or singers who want to learn to read music

Why this app?

Many apps are helping to practise the note names, but with Solfa you also automatically practise where the respective note can be found on your instrument. You can also select the pitch range, the clef and the scale you want to practise.

We like about it:

• Simultaneously training sight reading and its "translation" to your instrument
• very easy to navigate

Solfa in the iOS App Store is free. In the Google Play Store, you can purchase Solfa Pro for a few bucks.

5. My Piano Phone

Für: Alle, die ein Klavier "to go" auf dem Smartphone haben wollen

Warum brauchst du diese App?

Niemand hat jederzeit ein Klavier zur Hand - oder? Mit dieser Gratis-App schon, zumindest in einem gewissen Sinn. Sie erspart dir natürlich nicht das Üben am “großen” Klavier, und das Herstellerversprechen "Ein ganzes Studio in einer App" mag etwas vollmundig sein, aber die Klaviertastatur auf dem Smartphone kann in vielerlei Hinsicht praktisch sein: Liest man unterwegs etwa digitale Noten, dann kann man erste Melodien gleich ausprobieren. Ideen, die einem unterwegs kommen, lassen sich dank Recording-Funktion schnell aufzeichnen. Praktisch ist auch die Akkord-Funktion, mit der sich schnell Akkorde “heraushören” lassen. Braucht man, etwa zum Stimmen, einen Klavierton, findet man ihn mit einem Fingertippen.

Das gefällt uns

• Funktional
• Mit Recording-Funktion
• gute Klavierklänge

My Piano Phone im Google Play Store und im iOS App Store.

OKTAV: The Allround-App for Piano Players

For: Everyone preferring to have just 1 app for everything piano-related

Why this app?

• All the sheet music for piano you could ever need! More than 20,000 pieces for your instrument! And not just any arrangements: Official piano arrangements from renowned music publishers like Faber Music, Universal Music, Sony Music, Schott, Baerenreiter, Disney, etc. - just what you'd buy from your music store.
• Every piece comes with a genius sheet music player with a versatile inbuilt metronome and auto-scroll feature. You can even upload your own piano library and use the sheet music player with your pre-owned pieces.
• Over 1000 beginner-friendly interactive scores with bar-by-bar play-along MIDI audio, marked parts and fingerings, and "Falling Notes" to help you learn exactly what you need to play.
• All the brand-new music releases, e.g. the soundtrack of a current movie, a recent Oscar-winning song, or Coldplay's latest album - if it's out there, chances are it is available via OKTAV.
• 14 genres across the musical field: Classical, Baroque, Jazz, Swing, Neoclassical, New Age, film scores, Rock, Pop, the Charts... and much more.
• Add your own comments, annotations, or fingerings digitally!
• Print the pieces you like best (24 per year, 2 per month)

No matter how well you play, OKTAV sheet music adapts to your skill level. Every piece has a skill level number, and if you know yours you'll find new pieces that match your skill level perfectly. In addition,

• OKTAV will actively suggest pieces and arrangements that match your skills and taste in music.
• OKTAV offers many popular pieces in easy versions that sound fantastic.
• OKTAV offers OKTAV Learning (in the web app, not in the iOS sheet music app) with more than 100 piano courses and song tutorials, starting at the beginner level.

For 7 days, you can test OKTAV for free!

The yearly sheet music subscription is available for less than 10 bucks per month! If you'd like to enroll in courses, too, a subscription to OKTAV Learning is available for 20,75 bucks per month.

What OKTAV users like:

• A piano sheet music paradise giving you a gigantic choice in what to play
• Current, licensed original music
• Pieces in a huge variety of genres, including Pop, Rock, and the latest movie soundtrack
• Customized recommendations, many easy arrangements for beginners
• Annotate and add your own fingerings digitally
• Organize all your piano pieces: create focus- and playlists, add your own sheet music, and use the OKTAV player (no more turning pages!)
• OKTAV web app: A large course and method book area allows you to choose to learn the piano exactly the way you want.
• Interactive scores make learning new pieces easy, even without a teacher.

You'll find the OKTAV Sheet Music app in the iOS App Store.