How many keys are on a piano, and why 88?

A standard piano has 88 keys. There are 52 white keys and 36 black keys. The first pianos, built around 1700, had about 50. Composers kept asking for more notes, and piano makers kept adding them. By the 1880s, the count had reached 88, and it has stayed there.

Quick facts

• Keys: 88
• White keys: 52
• Black keys: 36
• Lowest note: A
• Highest note: C
• Range: a little more than seven octaves
• Strings: about 230
• Pedals: two or three

How the keys are laid out

The black keys come in groups of two and three. That pattern repeats all the way up the keyboard.

Each set of 12 keys, seven white and five black, makes one octave. After 12 keys, the note names start again.

The white keys are named A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The white key just to the left of any group of two black keys is a C.

Middle C is the fourth C from the left. It sits near the middle of the keyboard, close to the maker’s name. Read middle C: where it is and why it matters.

Print the piano keyboard chart to see the names.

How the count grew

When	Whose piano	Keys
About 1700	The first pianos, by Bartolomeo Cristofori	About 50
About 1780	Mozart	61
About 1820	Beethoven’s last pianos	About 78
About 1860	Many concert pianos	85
About 1890	The standard since then	88

Beethoven is one reason the count grew. He wrote notes that sat at the outer edge of his piano, and then he wrote for the next, larger piano as soon as he had one.

Why stop at 88?

The ear sets the limit.

Notes lower than the bottom A sound more like a rumble than a pitch. Notes higher than the top C are thin and short, and it is hard to tell one from the next.

Size matters too. More keys need a wider case, longer strings, and a stronger frame. A concert grand piano is already about nine feet long.

And almost all piano music ever written fits on 88 keys.

Pianos with more or fewer keys

More. One Austrian maker builds a concert grand with 97 keys. The extra nine are at the low end, and they are colored black so that the pianist does not get lost.

Fewer. Electronic keyboards often have 61 or 76 keys. Small pianos for children can have fewer still.

How many keys does a beginner need?

A keyboard with 61 keys covers the pieces in the first year or two of most lesson books. After that, a student starts to run out of room at both ends.

Teachers often ask for 88 keys from the start. They also ask for keys that are full size and that push back against the finger the way a piano’s keys do. Ask your child’s teacher before you buy. Read best age to start piano lessons and renting vs buying an instrument.

Why are there more strings than keys?

Most keys strike two or three strings at once. That makes the note louder and fuller. Only the lowest notes have one thick string each.

Things to do together

Count them. Count all the white keys. Then count the black keys. Check your totals against 52 and 36.

Find every C. Find each group of two black keys. Play the white key to its left. A full piano has eight of them.

Lowest and highest. Play the bottom key and the top key. Ask which one sounds more like a note.

Twos and threes. With eyes closed, find a group of two black keys by touch. Then find a group of three.

How many octaves? Start on the lowest C. Count how many times you can jump to the next C.

Print and play

Print the piano keyboard chart. Read the piano for kids to learn how the hammers and strings work. Read parts of the piano for kids for every part and its job. For its relatives, read keyboard instruments for kids.

For all four families, see instruments of the orchestra for kids.