Piano songs · Easy to intermediate
Für Elise on piano
Für Elise is probably the most recognised piano piece in the world, and the opening is easier than it sounds: two notes rocking back and forth, then a falling line. Here's the famous first section, with the notes in letters and both hands to hear.
The tune in letter names, lit as it plays. Right hand in peach, left hand in lilac. Turn off "Both hands" to hear the tune alone.
About the piece
Beethoven wrote Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, WoO 59) around 1810, but it wasn't published until 1867, forty years after his death. Nobody is sure who Elise was: one theory is that the scholar who found it misread the name of Therese Malfatti, a pupil Beethoven hoped to marry.
The notes
The letters above are the tune, played by your right hand: E D♯ E D♯ E B D C A C E A B E; G♯ B C E E D♯ E D♯ E B D C A C; E A B E C B A; A B C D E G F E D F E D C E; D C B E E; E E D♯ E D♯ E D♯ E D♯ E B D C A. Longer boxes are longer notes. Press Play and follow along, then slow it down with the speed slider and play with it.
How to learn it
- The rocking E and D♯. Use fingers 4 and 3 of your right hand (or 5 and 4) and keep the wrist loose: it's a gentle sway, not two separate taps.
- Passing the line between hands. After the first A, the left hand plays a quick A–E–A and the right hand answers. Practise just that handover until it sounds like one hand.
- Counting in three. It's in 3/8: count "1-and-2-and-3-and" slowly at first. The A at the end of each phrase gets its full length before the next E.
- The middle phrase (C–D–E, then G–F–E–D) climbs higher and flows; keep it lighter than the opening.
Learning Für Elise? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a rhythm that runs away. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
Is Für Elise hard to play?
The famous opening section is a good early-intermediate piece: a few weeks of practice for most adults who've been playing for six months or so. The later sections are harder.
What are the first notes of Für Elise?
E, D♯, E, D♯, E, B, D, C, A, then C, E, A, B, then E, G♯, B, C.
More songs to play
Notes checked against the public-domain Mutopia Project edition (mutopiaproject.org). Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm, CC BY 3.0.