Best Sites for Free Online Piano Lessons

If you're searching for free piano lessons online you've probably become weary of all of the dead ends. Most sites that say they offer free lessons are actually trying to get your email address to sell you their product. Their product might be great, but it isn't free. So, below I've listed five sites that actually do have free piano lessons.

Most are geared towards the complete beginner; even the ones that have advanced material don't really go into too much depth. Free lessons are a great way to get started learning the piano, but they will only take you so far. Eventually, you will probably need to either take private piano lessons or purchase some software or DVD piano lessons. You can also find some good lesson books for teaching yourself piano. Best of luck in your piano journey!

Ricci Adams Music Theory - For understanding music theory and notation this is probably your best free site.  I couldn't find any video demonstrations that teach technique, but their diagrams and explanations of theory are excellent.  The diagrams are very similar to a powerpoint presentation and take you through the fundamentals in small steps, which helps reinforce your knowledge. 

Zebrakeys - Good coverage of piano playing basics.  Their lesson format is structured well.  Their 50 lessons are divided into four sections: Preparation, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.  Each section contains lessons that fall under five categories: learn songs, chords, theory, improvisation, and technique.  Each lesson includes flash animation and diagrams to assist your learning. 

Piano Nanny - This site has some good material, which is divided into 34 lessons (starter, intermediate, and advanced).  Topics are explained well and pop-up diagrams are available in most lessons.  The problem with this site is the navigation isn't very user-friendly.  To proceed through the lessons you click through a series of "next" buttons, but then end up getting lost and finding it difficult to navigate back to the main lesson page.  I ended up having to click the home button and going back to the beginning each time I wanted to try a different lesson. 

Piano Tricks - This website has about 25 lessons, primarily in the beginner category.  The instructor explains things in a clear way and mp3 or video files are offered with many of the lessons.  Most of the material covers reading music notation, but there are about five lessons that teach you some simple waltzes.  The site says that they update material often, but it looks like it has been a while since they have done so. 

Free Online Piano Lessons - Good coverage of the basics of scales and chord construction.  They also teach the rudimentary basics of reading music notation.  There is also some coverage of blues chord progressions as well as improvising basics.  The explanations are well-written and they include some useful diagrams also, but there really isn't anything in the way of video demonstrations or interactive learning.  Overall, the material just touches the surface of piano playing.

I'll update with more free online piano lessons as I discover them.