Simple 5 finger Piano Songs - Easy Tunes for complete beginners

Chopin's Left Hand

It's a dillemna for many piano teachers and perhaps a frustration for beginning piano students. They want to play tunes they know and recognise, but in the interests of reading music, they'll have to plough through exercises in their tutorial book, playing one or two notes at a time. However, there's a lot of five finger piano tunes you can learn or teach quickly. Furthermore, there's merit in getting all five fingers moving to develop finger independence early on. It's also very motivating for a student to start playing familiar tunes.

Starting on C - Five Finger Position Pieces

Ode to Joy (theme) - from Beethoven's 9th Symphony
E E F G  GFED CCDE EDD
3 3 4 5   5 4 3 2  1 1 2 3  3 2 2

EEFG    GFED   CCDE  DCC
3 3 4 5  5 4 3 2  1 1 2 3   2 1 1

Oranges and Lemons

 535 31 234 2 5 31


Jingle Bells
333 333 35123 444 4433 3332 325
333 333 35123 444 44 33 55 421


Frere Jacques (theme)
123 1 123 1 345 345

Pieces that can be played on the black keys
Starting position 1,2,3 fingers on three black notes  (F# G# and A#) and the 5th finger on  the higher (C#).

Merrily We Row Along AND Mary Had a Little Lamb3212 333 222 355
321 233 322 321

Likewise these pieces can be played on the same five finger pattern starting on C as well.


Hot Cross Buns (submitted by Golda Levitan)
Played on 3 black keys
Left Hand; 1 2 3 RIGHT HAND 3 2 1

HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab Gb
HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab Gb
ONE A PENNY Gb Gb Gb Gb
TWO A PENNY Ab Ab Ab Ab Ab
HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab G b

Young children like to sing and play it at the same time. Play one hand at a time - then play them together. Enjoy. When you've mastered this, why not take it a step further and learn Simple 10 finger Piano Songs - Easy Tunes for complete beginners. 

Further Reading

• When will my child be ready for the grade 1 exam? [Mypianoteacher blog]