A piano keyboard might look intimidating at first, but it’s built on a simple, repeating pattern. Look at the black keys. You'll notice they’re grouped in sets of two and three, running all the way up and down the keyboard.

This pattern is your map. The white keys are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. This sequence repeats over and over.

To find any specific note, just use the black keys as a guide. For instance, the note C is always the white key immediately to the left of any group of two black keys. Once you find one C, you can find them all.

Try it out. Find all the C's on a keyboard. Then find all the F's. With these two notes as anchors, you can easily figure out the rest. D is between the two black keys. G is between the first two black keys in the group of three.

Middle C is the most common starting point for learning piano. It’s simply the C located closest to the center of the keyboard. On a standard 88-key piano, it’s the fourth C from the left. It's often labeled on beginner keyboards.

Think of Middle C as your home base. It helps you orient yourself no matter where your hands are on the keys. In musical notation, it's also called C4.

Once you find a note, like C, you'll see that same note repeats up and down the keyboard. The distance between one C and the next C is called an octave.

An octave contains 12 keys in total: seven white keys and five black keys. The entire keyboard is just this same 12-note pattern repeating. This makes the instrument much simpler than it looks. If you understand one octave, you understand the entire layout.

Now that you can find your way around the keyboard, you're ready to start playing. Let's review what you've learned.

Understanding the layout is the first big step. With the black key pattern, Middle C, and octaves as your guides, you'll never get lost.