The Grind Piano

learn by playing along

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Mode
Hand
Repeat
–
Editing fingers
Falling notes
Bar— Correct0 Wrong0 Missed0 Accuracy100% Timing— Length— Streak0 (best 0) Points0 Best—
0:00 0:00
Sections

Exercises — read notes on the staff, find them on the keys, play and name chords: sets of 20, in levels, with reviews days later.

Settings

This piece

No piece is open.

Your hand & fingering

The suggested fingers are worked out for the hand you describe here.

or choose above and below yourself

Try the stretch on the keys: thumb on a C, how far up can the little finger reach and still press a key cleanly? The hand span in centimetres (thumb tip to little-finger tip, spread flat on a table) is turned into an interval by a rule of thumb (a white key is 2.35 cm wide) — the interval you can actually play is the better guide. Shifts are jumps of the whole hand, passes thumb-unders and finger-overs, stretches spans past what is comfortable for your hand, and a wavy line on a falling chord means it is wider than you can hold: roll it, or take the far note with the other hand.

Falling notes

Auto: a section's falling notes are there while you learn its notes, fade as it gets cleaner, and are gone once it is clean at full tempo — then you read the score. A rule of thumb, not a law: Always keeps them.

Colour scheme

Also on the black keys of the menu

Panels

The three ways of following the music.

Show

Drawn on top of the panels.

Coach

How strictly a note is judged, and what happens after a clean pass.

Next (N) picks the section that needs it most for the hand you practise: first the ones due for review, then one you started but can't play cleanly yet, then new ones in order (learn the notes in Wait), then Follow from 60%, the slowest first; a clean pass raises the tempo. A section is mastered after the clean passes above at full tempo on different days — a night's sleep in between is when it sets — and then comes back for review after 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 days. These are rules of thumb; change them above.

Required means a note is not correct until it has been held for its written length: in Follow a clipped or overheld note comes off the accuracy; in Wait the playhead does not move on until the chord has been held for most of its value, and letting go early means striking it again.

Metronome

A click at a tempo of its own, as on the Metronome page.

With a piece

Clicks while a piece plays in Listen or Follow (Wait waits for you, so it has none)

Sound

Both clicks sound like this.

Beats per bar follows the score's time signature unless you pick one — useful for a MIDI file that carries a wrong one. Subdivide adds softer clicks between the beats (“and” / “și” when counting in 2), which is what makes a dotted rhythm or a triplet easy to place.

Sound & keyboard

MIDI keyboard
Hands-free

Choose a key you never play — the top or bottom key of the keyboard is usual. It stops making a sound and controls the app instead, so you can start, pause and repeat without reaching for the screen. A keyboard with Start / Stop buttons works without setup.

Wireless headphones hear everything late. Without this, Follow mode marks every note you play in time with the sound as late. Measure it plays eight clicks for you to tap along to; the falling notes, the cursor and the scoring are then shifted to match what you hear.

offline synth

Your data

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Statistics

Google Analytics, only if you allow it.

Not chosen yet

What is counted, and what is not

Shortcuts

The page reloads in the language chosen; your pieces and progress stay as they are.
Space
Play / pause — and skips the count-in while it's running
← →
Seek 5 seconds
, .
Step back / forward one chord
M
Metronome on / off (its sound and count-in are in Settings)
B
Repeat the bar you're in
C
Stop repeating
N
Next: the coach picks the section that needs work most and sets it up — repeated, in the right mode and at the right tempo
[ ]
Tempo down / up 5%
1…5 0
Set a finger, or back to automatic, while fingering edit is on
Esc
Fingering edit: done (the practice controls come back)
Z X
Move the typing keyboard down / up an octave
Esc
In the exercises: end the set; again, back to the piece
Space Enter
In the exercises: hear it again (Shift: one note at a time) · go on
1…9 = −
In the exercises: choose an answer · sharp / flat for the note you place
?
This list

The marks on the falling notes

The finger: 1 is the thumb, 5 the little finger. With one hand selected (Hand), the other hand's notes fade back.
A ring around the number: a finger you set yourself (Fingering, in the toolbar), not the app's suggestion. in this piece
Two bars under a note: the hand lifts and lands in a new position: the fingers leave the keys, so the line breaks there for a moment. Lift early and lightly, and look ahead to where the hand lands. in this piece
One bar under a note: the hand moves on without lifting: a finger stays on its key while the hand slides to the next position, so the line stays joined. in this piece
An arc under a note: the thumb passes under the hand (or a finger crosses over the thumb) and the hand glides on — how a scale goes past five notes. in this piece
A wavy line up a note's left edge: too wide for your hand to hold as a chord — on every note of the chord. Roll it, quickly from the bottom up, or take its outer note with the other hand. in this piece
Outlined: the notes to play now — in Wait, the ones the music is waiting for (their keys are marked too, with the finger).
Faint, without a number: played for you — another instrument's part (backing), or a note too far for either hand from where it is. in this piece
An amber ring with a dash: missed — the note went by without being played (Follow). It fades after a few seconds.
A red ring with a cross: a wrong key, where it was played (it fades too).

The marks follow your hand: Settings → Hand & fingering. Switch them off in Settings → View → Hand moves.

The keyboard plays like a piano

The home row is the white keys; the row above holds the sharps, each one sitting in the gap it divides. R and I stay silent, because a piano has no black key between E–F or B–C — that gap is what lets you find your place by touch. The reachable stretch is marked in green under the on-screen keys, and Z / X move it an octave at a time. Keys are read by position, so the layout is the same on a Romanian, German or French keyboard.

The Grind Piano · version 2.5.1

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