Beethoven’s famous Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement, with letter notes.
LETTERED NOTES
Each note in this sheet music is labeled with its associated letter-name, such as E, D#, Ab.
Some markings (dynamics, etc.) have been omitted, so as to leave extra room for the added letters.
AUDIENCE
My letter-note labeled sheet music is primarily for adults who are not taking piano lessons–especially those who’ve had past experience reading music, but who might have forgotten many of the details.
Below is a list of currently available selections with lettered notes. This list is growing fast, so you might bookmark this page, and check back often.
I’ve added a new custom sheet, Prelude in C by Bach, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One. Prelude in C is an extremely popular piece that will never lose its appeal to piano players and listeners alike.
This sheet music has each note labeled with its musical letter-name, such as E, D#, A… Some markings (dynamics, etc.) have been omitted to make room for the added letters.
You can read about the pros and cons of marking in letters on sheet music, here.
Here’s a brand new sheet music selection from Piano With Kent. This one is arranged for early intermediate piano: Clair de Lune by Debussy. The arrangement is in the key of C, for ease of reading, plus it has been simplified (easier to play).
Today’s version of Clair de Lune has every note labeled with its letter-name, such as E, D#, Ab…
Some markings (dynamics, etc.) have been omitted, so as to leave extra room for the note letters.
Please note, this version is abridged and simplified.
These letter-note labeled sheets are primarily for adults who are not taking piano lessons — especially those who have past experience reading music, but who might have forgotten the details.
Clair de Lune is the third movement of Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, in D♭ major. Its name comes from Verlaine‘s poem “Clair de lune“, which means “moonlight” in French.
Claude Debussy is probably the best known composer of the Impressionist school, a handful of pioneers who were mostly active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Maurice Ravel, who wrote the popular orchestral piece called Boléro (along with tons of ground-breaking serious works), is also a famous Impressionist.
I’ve had requests for piano notation covering the blues licks in my course, A Study in Blues Piano.
That course is video-based, and teaches from a chord-based improvisation point of view.
I sometimes resist providing notation for improvisation-focused courses, because it can almost promote blind imitation, rather than creative playing.
That said, I’ve had a couple of convincing requests lately from students who wanted to have sheet music to supplement this class. As a result, I’ve decided to provide notation for several of the licks, plus notation for a complete blues piano solo (featuring licks from the course).
Learn the essential elements of improvising blues piano, including the (minor) Blues Scale, the 12-bar Blues pattern, left-hand grooves, coordination exercises, and plenty of raw material for your own licks.
My goal is for you to start improvising great blues solos!
Although most of this course is in the key of C, there is a detailed lesson that covers transposing the blues scale, and the 12-bar blues progression, into other keys.
Is this what you’re looking for?
Students taking this course should be interested in learning blues improvisation. Improvisation in blues usually has an underlying structure, a key center, and a chord progression that is being followed. The rhythm and the chords give us that beautiful sense of a distinct groove, and the soloists do their thing “on top of” that. In this course, you will learn the basic structural stuff, but you will also be given (taught) the popular raw materials for creating blues licks and melodies in general. It will be your job to turn those raw materials into original licks. I can give you expert guidance, hints and tips and raw material, which I do, but in the end, it’s your solo! That’s the beauty of studying improvisation. You get to own it.
Blues-inspired improvisation is at the core of, and will always have an influence on, countless musical genres. The blues scales, blues chord progressions, the “Blue Notes”…these are staples of so much great rock, hip-hop, jazz, country, gospel, and so on. That’s just to name a few of the mega-genres that have “blue blood” in their veins!
We can either forget about, or fail to recognize, the blues roots in so much contemporary music, but it’s everywhere.
So, back to the question, “Is this what you’re looking for,” I would suggest “yes,” because you read this far, still hanging in, after reading what’s what, so therefore you might like the class. That may be an odd conclusion.
Preview: To help you get an idea of how these videos might work for you, Lesson #4 (link below) is currently watchable as a full lesson preview.
Recommended knowledge or experience
You will need NO ability to read music (true for this particular course, and for most lessons on this site).
Knowing the names of the notes on your keyboard (like E, F#, G) is helpful in this class, but is not absolutely required.
We do start out hoping you already play “a bit of piano.”
Musicians who are already experienced with another instrument, including blues guitar, can benefit from this course as well. That is, you could potentially (1) pick up some keyboard skills and/or (2) learn new theory stuff and/or (3) get new ideas.
Helpful Course Documents
(Click document’s image below to download or view.)
Catalog of Chords and Scales (for Blues Piano Crash Course)Recommended Listening (Blues)
