Founder and Piano teacher
Piano sheet music for beginners is ideal for an easy and motivating introduction to learning the piano. Especially when you play familiar melodies, practising becomes much easier and is more enjoyable right from the start. In this article, you’ll find 6 carefully selected pieces, complete with fingering, designed to make your first steps at the piano as easy as possible. Most of them are popular children’s songs or classics you’ll likely already know – and that’s exactly what makes it so easy to achieve quick successes and enjoy the learning process.
Table of contents
Beginner-friendly piano pieces are characterised primarily by simple keys. C major is particularly well suited, as it has no sharps or flats. As you progress, keys with sharps, such as G major or D major, will follow.
The rhythmic level also remains deliberately simple at the beginning: most learners start in 4/4 time before gradually approaching more complex time signatures like the syncopated 6/8 time.
Finally, the familiarity of the pieces plays a crucial role — well-known melodies boost motivation and make practising significantly easier.
Now it gets exciting: here you’ll find piano sheet music for your very first attempts at playing. To make practising as easy as possible, all pieces are set in the beginner-friendly key of C major — with no sharps or flats, so you can focus entirely on playing. We’ve also kept to the comfortable 4/4 time, so there’s no need to worry about complicated rhythms.
To help you navigate the piano keys, each note includes a small number indicating the fingering. This tells you exactly which finger plays which key. That way, you can get started even if reading music is still new to you.
This simple yet charming French folk song, Au Clair de la Lune, dates back to the 18th century and has stood the test of time with its gentle, catchy melody. Like many traditional folk songs, it was originally passed down orally before being written down, for example by Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin.
Because the melody of Au Clair de la Lune mostly moves in small, stepwise intervals, it’s ideal for practising playing adjacent notes and smooth finger changes. It also helps improve hand-eye coordination when reading music and supports beginners in developing a feel for connecting notation with the keyboard.
Note: The double barline with dots at the end indicates the piece should be repeated.
Aura Lee is a romantic American song from 1861, originally about tender love and parting. It became a popular song among students and soldiers, often sung at farewells. Later, Elvis Presley used the melody for his worldwide hit "Love Me Tender", turning Aura Lee into a pop culture classic for a new generation.
The calm melody often spans thirds and fourths, requiring careful hand positioning and precise legato playing. This piece primarily focuses on the left hand, helping you develop an even touch, which is fundamental for expressive playing. Aura Lee is ideal for practising expression, phrasing and an even touch.
Hänschen klein is a very popular and simple children’s song, often the first piece budding pianists learn. Like the others, it’s written in C major and avoids the use of black keys. It consists of short, simple phrases that are easy to memorise. This makes Hänschen klein not only musically accessible but also great for developing rhythm and melody awareness through its repetitive structure.
Whole bar rests distributed throughout the piece help strengthen rhythmic awareness as players learn to count carefully and improve their timing. Thanks to its simplicity and popularity, Hänschen klein is perfect for achieving your first successes at the piano and solidifying your foundational skills.
Ode to Joy is an iconic piece from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, considered one of the most famous works in classical music and, since 1972, also serves as the anthem of the European Union. Ode to Joy symbolises humanism, brotherhood and unity, giving it great cultural significance.
The first verse of this famous chorus is especially well suited to familiarise yourself with classical melodies. Like the others, it’s written in C major. Compared to Hänschen klein, Ode to Joy conveys more dynamics and emotional depth, encouraging a deeper sense of musical expression.
What makes this piece special is its catchy melody and steady rhythm. In our arrangement, the melody is simplified to a single line, preserving the expressive power of Ode to Joy. The 4/4 time signature with a clear emphasis on the first beat trains both rhythm and articulation.
One of the most well-known Christmas songs of all time, Jingle Bells was composed in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont. Originally intended not as a Christmas song but for Thanksgiving celebrations in the USA, its catchy melody and cheerful character helped it become a festive staple worldwide.
The melody thrives on its lively, spirited motif, moving in brisk quavers over a 4/4 time signature — something that can present a small challenge at first. For this reason, we’ve left out this section for now and instead focused on accompaniments using fifths and fourths to support the melody while introducing early hands-together playing.
When practising Jingle Bells, the focus is on developing rhythm, timing, and coordination between the hands — making it a valuable exercise for beginners.
Frère Jacques (Brother John) is a traditional song rooted in French folk music. The original title lends itself beautifully to exploring musical repetition. If you like, you can even play the melody as a canon and develop a feel for overlapping musical phrases.
Thanks to its clear structure of quarter and half notes, it’s ideal for practising steady timing and flowing touch in combination with the left hand, which plays whole notes forming the C major triad (C, E, G). At the end, the left hand briefly takes over part of the melody in the final two bars.
For beginners, it’s perfectly fine to start with the melody in the right hand only, focusing on clean tone sequences and precise rhythm. Later, you can add the root note C in the accompaniment, followed by the complete triad.
When learning the piano, reading music is fundamental to bringing music to life. As you probably know, a piano has 88 keys, divided into white and black notes. The white keys represent the natural notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B (H in German notation); the black keys mark the semitones in between. To start with, C and G are especially important as they provide orientation on the keyboard.
As your finger dexterity improves, so too will your understanding of reading music. Step by step, you’ll learn to connect written notes with the sounds you produce. That’s why it’s so crucial for beginners to start with simple pieces to internalise this connection without becoming overwhelmed.
Are you looking for a flexible yet effective way to learn the piano?
Then music2me is the right place for you. With our online course, you can learn piano at your own pace - whether you're a beginner or an advanced student.
With our piano sheet music for beginners, you’ll lay the perfect foundation for your musical journey. You’ll start with simple keys like C major, familiar melodies, and clear rhythms to ease you in. But this is only the beginning: with each practice session, you’ll build your skills and prepare yourself to tackle more complex works.
Curious to know what masterpieces might lie ahead? In our article "The Hardest Piano Pieces of All Time", we introduce five pieces that even challenge experienced pianists.
There are many difficult piano pieces. We present five pieces that are so demanding that they were considered unplayable at times. Even today, they still demand skills from pianists that cannot be acquired through practice alone.
Is it even possible learning to play the piano as an adult? Of course it is! Discover how to play piano at any age.
Vivaldis Four Seasons is probably his most famous piece. We provide you its genesis and Vivaldis history.
