Easy Piano Sheet Music - Get Started With These Hits on Your Piano!

What Makes Sheet Music "Easy"?

Let's look at what "Easy" in sheet music really means before you start to play:

• Clearly structured notation with fingerings: You should have a close look at sheet music before buying. Pay attention to a clearly structured notation layout. Check for any confusing notation signs or instructions you do not know (yet). The clearer and more homogenous the score sheet is, the easier it is to find your way through the arrangement.
• No, or very few, accidentals: Accidentals can psychologically make a piece seem more complex and harder to play than it actually is. This is why easy piano sheet music should not be fraught with accidentals. Don't worry: As a piano beginner you might wish for a world without accidentals, but you can totally handle a piece with one or two of them.
• Easy left hand: The simpler, calmer, and more constant the left hand is the more you can concentrate on the melody and your right hand. Pieces with an easy left hand will have notes that are close to each other in range and rhythm, and that are probably even in a repetitive pattern.
• Few jumps: How to recognize an easy linear melody: Notes follow each other "on a path" up or down and are within the range of notation you have learned to read and play, ideally within an Octave, or better even, within the range of a Fifth.

3 Types of Easy Arrangements

• Easy piano arrangements: This type of easy piano sheet music is ideal for beginners of any age. Clear notation, few accidentals, a calm left hand, an easy rhythm, etc. guarantee a great sound and learning experience, but are well suited to be played to an audience!
• Leadsheets with chord symbols: Leadsheets can look simple because they just notate the song's melody, and if you combine it with a simple chord progression you might produce a polyphonic sound experience that can be quite motivating. But - the devil is in the detail. Chords may be more intricate than they seem at first glance, and you have to decipher and translate each symbol into what it tells you to play on the keyboard. This may tire a beginner.
• Children's piano books: Children's songs are easily recognizable, they usually have a regular rhythm and a structured, repetitive song pattern. This makes them ideal for piano beginners. Adults, however, are often underwhelmed when expected to start their piano journey playing music for children.

3 Easy Neoclassical/New Age Favorites You Can Play

"River Flows in You" by Yiruma

This piece by South Korean composer Yiruma is probably most famous for NOT being featured in the “Twilight” series. Fans proclaimed it the perfect piece for Edward to play to his love interest Bella. Apparently, Twilight producers were considering it, but in the end they settled for something else. But this did not stop Yiruma’s piece from climbing charts all over the world. To this day, it has remained a favorite for piano players. While the original piece sparkles like moonlight hitting the river surface, our easy version of "River Flows in You" glows like a ray of sun dancing on the waves. Try it!

"Le Onde" by Ludovico Einaudi

Virginia Woolf's novel "The Waves" inspired Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi to write his first album "Le Onde" (which means "The Waves" in Italian). Visualize a long sandy beach, and a lonely man walking along its waterline, never meeting anyone, but occasionally looking at objects - a stone, a wave, a crab. Apart from the waves, he hears a seagull scream every now and then. Our easy version of "Le Onde" lets you dream of the sea, the clouds, and a wide horizon. Enjoy!

"Comptine d'un Autre-Été" by Yann Tiersen

We love this piece's easy playfulness and the way it evokes pictures of a joyful afternoon spent playing in a French park. Yann Tiersen's enchanting soundtrack to the 2001 hit movie "Amelie" contains many other lovely melodies - but try this easy version of the main theme, and leave your worries behind while you take a romantic piano journey to France!

3 Easy Classical Pieces You Know By Ear

"Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven

This piece is not only a joy to play, it has arguably got the most famous hook line in all of music history! Beethoven himself cared so much for "Für Elise", he rewrote it 3 times before he was fully satisfied with it. The original version is somewhere between beginner and advanced - ideal for intermediate players with 1-2 years of experience. If you want to experience the piece's flow in a version that has defused many of its challenges, try this version and fall in love.

Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel

Imagine how chuffed Johann Pachelbel would be if he knew that he wrote a hit song that is still popular 300 years from the day it was first performed at Johann Sebastian Bach's elder brother's wedding! Our easy version is perfect if you already have some slight piano experience - and there are seriously ambitious versions for piano around, too, if you are advanced and prefer a good challenge. However, the deep repeating bassline we all love is all there in our easy version, as is the famous chord progression of D - A- Bm - F#m - G - D - Em - A.

"Air on the G string" by Johann Sebastian Bach

The German 19th-century Violinist August Wilhelmj transposed this piece, originally in D-major, to C-major and literally played the whole first part of it solely using the G string. The nickname stuck! This is actually the Second Movement of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D-major. You might also recognize some of the melody in Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale". Our easy version is almost a meditation on black and white keys!

3 Easy Traditionals/ Folk Songs to Start With

Wellerman

This New Zealand sea shanty recently went viral on Tiktok, and suddenly everyone wanted to play it. We understand why! Because it is fun to learn, and once you start you'll whistle it all day long. Try to play "Wellerman" with a bouncy sailor-walking-on-board-of-a-ship vibe, and make sure to play it fast enough!

Bella Ciao

No one knows who wrote this protest song in early 20th century Italy (presumably). What we do know is that antifascist fighters chose it as their hymn during the Second World War, and that the Netflix series "Money Heist" featured "Bella Ciao" quite heavily. Political meaning aside, it is a lively, easy-to-play piece we're sure you'll enjoy.

Sur Le Pont d'Avignon

This French Folk song is much older than the other two, some even say it dates back to the 14th century! We don't know whether anyone really danced on top of the bridge across the river Rhone - there are speculations that originally the song was called "Sous Le Pont d'Avignon" ("below the bridge of Avignon") because people danced on an island underneath the bridge where the Avignon entertainment quarters used to be located and fairs were held. Anyway, it is a charming tune, perfect for beginners. Try it here!

3 Easy Movie Soundtrack Pieces You'll Love

Schindler's List Theme by John Williams

Steven Spielberg's 1993 masterpiece won 7 Oscars and 3 Golden Globes. John William's music won one of the Oscars, among other music prizes. The movie's "Theme" is originally played by violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman in a way that evokes chills and goosebumps. In our arrangement for piano, you'll be able bring this expressive, heart-wrenching melody alive with your own hands.

Hedwig's Theme (Harry Potter) by John Williams

Far from being a children's movie, "Harry Potter" enchants audiences of all ages. "Hewig's Theme" captures the magic of the very first novel, again composed by perhaps the greatest soundtrack composer of our time, John Williams. He had already won several Oscars and other prizes when he composed this piece that critics claim is one of his best creations. With the first few notes played on a piano sounding like a bell, this film music takes on a life of its own. Feel its magic at home!

He's A Pirate (Klaus Badelt)

No, the "Pirates of the Carribbean" series does not owe its success solely to the rugged charms of Captain Jack Sparrow, but equally to Klaus Badelt's suspenseful music that makes anyone want to board a pirate ship and see new horizons. "He's A Pirate" first set sail in 2003. Hans Zimmer is supposed to have written most of the themes in one night, but handed the project on to Klaus Badelt because he already had too much to do. Badelt took on the job and created a beautiful soundtrack with the help of the then-unknown Ramin Djawadi who later rose to fame for composing the "Game of Thrones" soundtrack.

3 Easy Popular Rock & Pop Songs

"You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker

Written by the ingenious Keyboarder (and "fifth Beatle") Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher, this song was released in 1974 and became Joe Cocker's biggest solo hit in the US. "You Are So Beautiful" was featured heavily in films and advertising. The song is originally in the key of Ab-major, but for our easy version, we have changed it to D-major so you'll have less black keys to worry about.

"The Scientist" by Coldplay

This piano ballad, originally in F-major, was published on the band's second album in 2003. "The Scientist" centers around an apology sung by Chris Martin, partly in a falsetto voice, and heavy, regular piano chords. It peaked at #10 in the UK charts and won 3 MTV awards. Martin claims he wrote the song after listening to George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John

This song, written by Elton John as part of his 1994 Disney project "The Lion King", not only topped charts around the world for weeks, it won Elton an Oscar and a Grammy. He explains that he had written it in the tradition of the great Disney love songs. A survey in 2020 showed that couples that chose this song as their wedding song were more likely to stay together.