Frequently asked questions

Pianotype is a trainer for anyone who wants to learn to read music and play the piano. The app puts practice first and helps you learn to read music faster. A smart algorithm adapts your practice to how you play and to your skill level.

Pianotype teaches through practice, not theory. You see a note on the screen, play it (on the on-screen keyboard, a real piano or a MIDI keyboard), and the app checks it right away. Exercises adapt to your level: what you already know well comes up less often, and new exercises open once you have mastered the previous ones. Step by step, you go from your first note to real pieces of music.

Pianotype is built on varied, adaptive practice. First, the app helps you learn the notes and where they are on the keyboard. Then it keeps bringing them back in exercises, in different combinations, giving more time to what is still hard for you and less to what you already know well.

Practicing on the on-screen keyboard complements playing a real piano: you learn to recognize notes quickly without being distracted by technique, and you can practice anywhere, anytime. A smart algorithm adjusts the difficulty to your level. And when you sit down at the piano, the notes are already familiar, so you can focus on your hands and the music itself.

Yes, you can learn with Pianotype for free. Every exercise and difficulty level is open to everyone. A free session lasts 5 minutes, and the next one opens 45 minutes later.

A PRO subscription removes the time limits, adds 10- and 20-minute sessions and lets you play every piece in “Music” from start to finish.

On the home screen:

1. Tap “Start training”.
2. Choose what to practice. There are three modes, each with its own difficulty:
   • “Treble Clef” — easy.
   • “Bass Clef” — medium.
   • “Both hands at once” — hard.
3. Choose the practice time: 5 minutes for free, 10 or 20 minutes with PRO.
4. Tap “Let’s start!”

Pianotype picks exercises based on your level and progress. You can combine modes to make practice more varied.

Play the notes you see on the staff. You can play on the on-screen keyboard, a real piano or a MIDI keyboard. If you hesitate, the app hints at the right key. Which notes you get, and in what order, depends on the modes you chose. As soon as you finish an exercise, the next one appears: keep playing until your practice time runs out.

If even the easy level feels too hard, slow down the cursor. The speed button on the control panel above the keyboard switches between:

• 1x — normal speed.
• 0.5x — slower speed.

At 0.5x, you have more time to read each note and play it on the keyboard.

To turn off hints during a session:

• Tap the gear button on the control panel to open the settings.
• Under “Notes & clefs”, find “Hints”.
• Turn the switch off.

This switch hides the note names that appear on the staff. It doesn’t affect the key that lights up when you hesitate.

To turn off visual effects during a session:

• Tap the gear button on the control panel to open the settings.
• Under “Notes & clefs”, find “Visual effects”.
• Turn the switch off.

To change the note names during a session:

1. Tap the gear button on the control panel to open the settings.
2. Under “Note names”, choose the one you like:
   • Auto — follows the app language.
   • Off — no note names.
   • Letters — C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
   • German (H) — C, D, E, F, G, A, H: B is written as H.
   • Solfège — Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si.
   • Cyrillic solfège — До, Ре, Ми, Фа, Соль, Ля, Си.

If you change nothing, the course starts with treble clef notes, then adds the bass clef, and two-hand exercises appear once you have mastered each hand on its own. To practice with both hands right away:

• When you start a session, leave only “Both hands at once” on.
• Or, during a session, tap the gear button on the control panel and, under “Notes & clefs”, leave only “Synchronously” on.

To practice the left hand only, keep “Bass Clef” on and turn off “Treble Clef” and “Synchronously”.

Yes. You can choose the range of notes you practice, depending on your goals. By default, practice covers the whole range. To change it during a session:

1. Tap the gear button on the control panel to open the settings.
2. Under “Octave range”, use the sliders to choose the range for the treble clef. There are 6 octaves:
   • Great octave
   • Small octave
   • First octave
   • Second octave
   • Third octave
   • Fourth octave

To set the range for the bass clef during a session:

1. Tap the gear button on the control panel to open the settings.
2. If the “Bass Clef” block under “Octave range” is grayed out, turn on “Bass Clef” or “Synchronously” under “Notes & clefs”.
3. Under “Octave range”, use the sliders to choose the range for the bass clef. There are 6 octaves:
   • Sub-contra octave
   • Contra octave
   • Great octave
   • Small octave
   • First octave
   • Second octave

Your progress percent shows how much of the course you have mastered. It grows as you play exercises more accurately and faster. If an exercise goes worse than before, the percent can dip a little.

Your progress is always at hand: you can see it on the home screen. During a session, the bar at the top shows how much of it is left. To see how many minutes you have practiced today, open “My progress” by tapping the percent on the home screen.

Hearts are your allowance of mistakes in an exercise. In new exercises you can make as many mistakes as you like: an infinity sign is shown instead of hearts. Once you have mastered an exercise by more than half, you get three hearts, and each wrong note takes one. When you run out of hearts, the exercise doesn’t count, and the app soon gives it to you again, a little slower.

This helps you play carefully, while new exercises leave you room to learn.

No. You can learn to play right on the screen of your phone or tablet.

If you want to practice on a real piano or a synthesizer, during a session:

1. Tap the piano button on the left of the control panel. The “How you play” window opens.
2. Choose the way that suits you:
   • On-screen keyboard — play right on your device.
   • Microphone — the app recognizes the notes you play through the microphone. It works with an acoustic piano or a synthesizer.
   • MIDI keyboard — connect your synthesizer over USB or Bluetooth, and this mode turns on by itself. It is the most accurate and fastest option, since background noise does not affect it.

For the best recognition through the microphone, make sure that you:

1. Have allowed Pianotype to use the microphone.
2. Play one note at a time, without extra noise.
3. Practice in a quiet room, without music or other background sounds.
4. Don’t use the pedal while the app is listening.
5. Don’t cover your device’s microphone with a case or anything else.

In microphone mode, the app turns its own sound off so it doesn’t hear itself.

MIDI sends the app the keys you press, not the sound. Connect a synthesizer or MIDI keyboard to your device with a USB cable or over Bluetooth, and the app starts recognizing the notes you play by itself.

MIDI gives the most accurate recognition: room noise, the instrument’s volume and other sounds don’t affect it. A MIDI keyboard is optional, though: you can play on the screen or through the microphone.

If the app doesn’t see your MIDI keyboard:

1. Try another USB cable: some cables only charge and don’t transfer data.
2. Close other apps and browser tabs that may be using the keyboard.
3. Reconnect the keyboard and start a session again.

If it still doesn’t work, write to us.

To change the app language:

1. On the home screen, open the “Settings” tab.
2. Choose “Language”.
3. Pick the language you want.

To change the instrument sound:

1. On the home screen, open the “Settings” tab.
2. Choose “Instrument”.
3. Pick one of the 12 instruments:
   • Concert Grand
   • Bright Grand
   • LivingRoom Upright
   • Electric Guitar
   • Electric Piano
   • Marimba
   • Harpsichord
   • Celesta
   • Glockenspiel
   • Organ
   • Synth Pluck
   • Bass Guitar

If you have a question or a problem with the app, write to support right from the app:

1. On the home screen, open the “Settings” tab.
2. Under “Help & Support”, choose “Contact support”.

You can also email us directly: support@pianotype.com.