Why start with chords and not with notes?
Most piano lessons start with reading notes and scales, and many people give up before they play anything they recognize.
I start with the four chords that sit under hundreds of pop, rock and soul songs: C, G, Am and F. In your first lesson you learn those four shapes with your right hand and one note for each with your left. That is enough to play a verse.
This is how songwriters write and how bands learn.
What do I read, and when?
- From day one: chord charts. The chord names written over the bars.
- By mid-year: lead sheets. The melody on a staff, the chords above.
- In the second half of the year: notes on the staff, for both hands.
Each step is attached to a song you are already working on. Once your hands know the chords, notation stops being a wall of dots and becomes a map of something you already play.
I quit piano lessons as a kid. Does this work for me?
Yes. The program suits people who stopped years ago as well as complete beginners. We start from where you are, with chords you can play today.
You can see how the first two weeks look in the sample lesson.
More questions
- How much do in-home piano lessons cost in McLean, VA?
- What are the four chords used in hundreds of pop songs?
- Do I need an acoustic piano for lessons, or is a digital keyboard enough?
- What happens at a first in-home piano lesson?
- Is a piano teacher better than a piano app?
- How long does it take an adult to learn to play a song on the piano?
By Eric Imhauser, piano teacher in McLean, VA. Published October 2026.