12 Classical Piano Pieces to Learn in Order: From the Minuet in G to Für Elise and The Entertainer

The Minuet in G, the first stop on this path, is not by Bach. Anna Magdalena Bach copied it, with no composer's name, into the notebook her husband gave her in 1725, and it was long credited to him. In 1979 the scholar Hans-Joachim Schulze found it inside a harpsichord suite by Christian Petzold, an organist in Dresden.

Every piece below comes with its real story, told as carefully as the sources allow, a few of its bars engraved from a checked score, the one new skill it teaches, a practice tip and a link to our free printable study of it. The twelve pieces run from late beginner to early intermediate, in a suggested order.

How the path is ordered

Each stop asks for one thing the stop before did not: a second tune in the other hand, a hand that jumps to a new position, sixteenth notes at speed, the damper pedal, a melody in the left hand, scales that cross the thumb, a longer form. Stops 1 to 4 are short, and their scores mark no pedal. Stops 5 to 7 add the pedal, staccato in 6/8 and a tune in the left hand. Stops 8 and 9 are Classical sonatinas, and stops 10 to 12 are early-intermediate music, with more happening in each hand. Learn every piece on the path with the five-step routine at the end of this guide, from our How to Practice sheet.

The twelve stops in order. Stops 1–4 need no pedal; 5–7 add the pedal, staccato in 6/8 and a tune in the left hand; 8–9 are sonatinas; the coral stops 10–12 are early-intermediate pieces.

As a cross-check, the music publisher Henle rates the difficulty of the piano works it publishes on a scale from 1 to 9, and its current assessor reserves level 1 for pieces "ideally playable after a year of good piano instruction." This path climbs that scale without a step back: the first four pieces are level 1, the Gymnopédie level 2, the two Schumann pieces, both sonatinas and Für Elise level 3, and the Chopin prelude and The Entertainer level 4. Exam boards use their own scales: ABRSM sets The Wild Rider for Grade 3 of 8, and the Royal Conservatory of Music lists Für Elise at Level 7 of 10, while Henle files it under "easy." Treat any grade as a rough guide.

Three of these composers wrote their pieces for students on purpose. Burgmüller's Op. 100 studies were "composed and fingered expressly" for small hands, Schumann's Album for the Young began as a birthday present for his daughter Marie, and Clementi called his Op. 36 sonatinas "progressive," each a little harder than the one before.

Friedrich Burgmüller (lithograph by Fr. Meyer, c. 1840), Robert Schumann (lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1839) and Muzio Clementi (engraving by Edward Scriven, 1819). Images: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Stops 1–4: first classics

1. Minuet in G — Christian Petzold

Petzold (1677–1733) was organist of the Sophienkirche in Dresden, and the minuet comes from a harpsichord suite he wrote around 1720. A copy of the whole suite in the music manuscript of Johann Benjamin Tzschirich is what Schulze identified. In 1965 the tune became "A Lover's Concerto," a pop hit for The Toys.

Petzold's minuet as Johann Benjamin Tzschirich copied it around 1735, inside a complete harpsichord suite by Petzold; each line continues on the facing page, and the bottom line belongs to the second minuet, in G minor. Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung, Mus. ms. 29. Image: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The new skill is two hands, two tunes. The right hand drops from D to G and climbs back by step, all under one hand in G position, while the left hand walks a slow line of its own: G and A in bar 1, then one long note per bar, B, C, B.

Minuet in G, bars 1–4, with suggested fingering. The left hand walks its own slow tune, G and A, then B, C, B; above it the right hand drops from D and climbs back by step, then starts the same idea from E in bar 3.

Play the left hand alone and sing the right hand, then swap. Keep the quarter notes slightly detached and the eighths smooth, and add the ornaments last: the mordents in bars 3, 5, 11 and 13 and the grace note in bar 8. Inside the Minuet in G maps its two 16-bar halves.

2. Musette in D — composer unknown

The musette comes from the same notebook, with no composer's name attached: the Bach catalog lists it among doubtful works as BWV Anh. 126. A musette was a bellows-blown bagpipe, fashionable at the French court, and the piece imitates its drone: the left hand keeps hammering D, low and high.

The new skill is moving the hand. In bars 1–2 the left hand leaps an octave on every eighth note, finger 5 on the low D and thumb on the high one, and between bars 2 and 3 the right hand drops a whole octave to a new position.

Musette in D, bars 1–4, with suggested fingering. In bars 1–2 the left hand is the bagpipe drone, octave leaps on D; in bars 3–4 both hands play the same notes an octave apart, the right hand an octave lower than before.

Practice just the jump, from the last note of bar 2 to the first note of bar 3, slowly and with your eyes on the music. Keep the left hand open in its octave shape and let the arm carry it. Inside the Musette in D shows both hand positions on a keyboard map.

3. La Candeur — Friedrich Burgmüller

Burgmüller (1806–1874), born in Regensburg, settled in Paris in 1832. His 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op. 100, were published there in 1851, each with a picture title. La candeur means candor, or sincerity.

The new skill is a singing legato. The right hand plays slurred groups of four eighth notes, each starting on a high note: G, G, C, C in bars 1–2. Lean into the first note, let the other three fall away, and keep the left hand's whole-note chord soft underneath. The first edition marks no pedal, so the legato comes from your fingers.

La Candeur, bars 1–4, with fingering from the 1851 first edition. In bars 1–2 each slurred group of four starts on a high note: lean on it and let the other three fall away over the left hand's held chord. In bars 3–4 one slur covers the whole bar, dipping to B and climbing back.

Play bar 1 twice: once with every note the same, once leaning on each G. Keep the version that sings and find the same lean in bars 2, 5 and 6, where the four-note groups return. The Phrasing sheet explains the shape, and Inside La Candeur covers the rest of the piece.

4. Arabesque — Friedrich Burgmüller

Op. 100 No. 2 is marked Allegro scherzando, fast and playful, with a quarter note at 152 in the first edition. An arabesque is a decoration of scrolling, interlacing lines, and here the curl is four quick sixteenths ending on a short eighth.

The new skill is fast fingers in a quiet hand. Each curl is one gesture: drop into the first note, roll through the fingers and lift off the staccato eighth. In bar 4 the curl runs straight up the hand, A–B–C–D–E, fingers 1 to 5. From bar 12 the left hand takes over the curls.

Arabesque, bars 1–4. The left hand sets the tempo alone with staccato A-minor chords; from bar 3 the right hand plays the curls, four slurred sixteenths and a staccato eighth.

Set the metronome where every curl is even, then go up 4–8 clicks at a time. Stop on each eighth note and wait: fast fingers, calm hand. The lift is the drop-lift motion of Two-Note Slurs, and Inside Burgmüller's Arabesque has the full plan.

Stops 5–7: pedal, staccato and voicing

5. Gymnopédie No. 1 — Erik Satie

Satie (1866–1925) finished his three Gymnopédies by April 1888 and published the first that year. The title borrows the name of an ancient Greek festival with dancing, and the marking, Lent et douloureux, means slow and sorrowful. The piece is 78 bars long, but bars 40–71 repeat bars 1–32.

The new skill is the damper pedal, along with a left-hand leap. On beat 1 the left hand plays a low bass note with finger 5; on beat 2 it jumps up to a three-note chord and holds it. Press the pedal just after each bass note and change it at the next one, so the bass keeps ringing under its chord.

Gymnopédie No. 1, bars 1–2, the left hand alone on one staff (the original prints the chords on the upper staff). Bass on beat 1, chord on beats 2–3: Gmaj7 in bar 1, Dmaj7 in bar 2. Finger numbers in parentheses are options for smaller hands.

Loop bars 1–2, counting "1" on the bass and "2–3" on the chord, until the leap feels automatic, then try it without looking down. The Chords of Gymnopédie No. 1 names every chord, and The Damper Pedal teaches the pedal change.

6. The Wild Rider — Robert Schumann

Schumann (1810–1856) wrote his Album for the Young in 1848 and published it that year: 43 short pieces, most with titles that paint a picture. Wilder Reiter is No. 8; picture a child galloping on a hobby horse.

The new skill is staccato from the wrist, in 6/8. Almost every note is short, so bounce the hand off the keys like a ball instead of pressing each note down. Feel two beats per bar, ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six, and give the slurred pairs marked sf a drop-lift: lean into the first note, let the second go.

The Wild Rider, pickup and bars 1–4. The right-hand tune gallops up the A-minor chord; almost every note is staccato, and the slurred pairs marked sf open bars 2 and 3.

In bars 9–16 the same gallop moves to the left hand, a tenth lower and in F major. Practice those bars hands separately until the left hand bounces as lightly as the right. Inside The Wild Rider sets the two hands side by side.

7. The Happy Farmer — Robert Schumann

No. 10 of the album has a longer title, Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit zurückkehrend, "the happy farmer, returning from work," and the marking Frisch und munter: fresh and lively.

The new skill is voicing, with the tune in the left hand. The left hand plays the melody forte and legato while the right hand answers with light chords in between: in bars 1–8 it never plays on beat 1 or beat 3.

The Happy Farmer, pickup and bars 1–4, with left-hand finger numbers from the Peters edition. The tune is in the left hand, marked forte; the right hand's chords answer in between and never sound on beats 1 or 3.

Play bars 1–4 three ways: chords loud and tune soft, both equal, then tune loud and chords soft. Keep the version someone in the next room could whistle back to you. Voicing and Balance has the exercises, and Inside The Happy Farmer follows the tune when it moves up to the right hand.

Stops 8–9: two sonatinas

A sonatina is a small sonata: shorter, simpler and often built on the same plan. Both of these are in the Classical style.

8. Sonatina in G — attributed to Beethoven

It usually carries Beethoven's name, but there is no proof he wrote it. The catalog of his works lists it in the Anhang, the appendix of doubtful works, as Anh. 5, and Henle calls his authorship very unlikely. It has two movements, a Moderato and a Romanze.

The new skill is the Alberti bass. In bars 1–4 the left hand plays its chords as blocks; from bar 5 it breaks them up low–top–middle–top, G–D–B–D, the rippling pattern named after Domenico Alberti. Keep the low note a little louder than the others.

Sonatina in G, bars 1–4. The left hand's chords move between G (I) and D (V). Bar 4 stops on the D chord, a question that bar 8 answers; note the grace notes in bars 1 and 3.

Block each chord of bars 5–6 before you break it, then play the pattern slowly and evenly. In bars 1 and 3, flick the small grace note quickly into the main note. See Alberti Bass, Grace Notes, Phrase and Period for the question and answer, and Inside the Sonatina in G.

9. Sonatina in C — Muzio Clementi

Clementi (1752–1832), born in Rome and active mostly in England, was a pianist, teacher, publisher and piano maker, sometimes called the father of the piano. His Six Progressive Sonatinas, Op. 36, came out in 1797, and Satie later parodied this first one in his Sonatine bureaucratique of 1917.

The new skill is scales that cross the thumb. In bar 3 the third finger crosses over the thumb, and in bar 8 the right hand runs up a G-major scale, 1–2–3, thumb under, 1–2–3–4–5. The first movement is also your first sonata form: an exposition (bars 1–15), a development (16–23) and a recapitulation (24–38) that brings both themes home to C.

Sonatina in C, Op. 36 No. 1, bars 1–4, with the fingering of the 1904 Schirmer edition. Theme 1 is a broken C chord, C–E–C–G; in bar 3 the third finger crosses over the thumb.

Play the bar-8 scale in G and the bar-31 scale in C with the same fingering, then play bars 8–12 and 31–35 one after the other: the same music, moved home. Inside Clementi's Sonatina in C maps the whole movement.

Stops 10–12: the famous three

Fame and difficulty are not the same thing. Satie's Gymnopédie, one of the best-known pieces on the path, sits back at stop 5. The last three stops are early-intermediate pieces.

Erik Satie (photograph, 1909), Ludwig van Beethoven (lithograph by Josef Kriehuber after Joseph Karl Stieler, 1841), Frédéric Chopin (photograph by Louis-Auguste Bisson, 1849) and Scott Joplin (photograph published in 1907). Images: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

10. Für Elise — Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven (1770–1827) never published it. His manuscript of this bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59, was headed "Für Elise am 27 April" and is dated to 1810; Ludwig Nohl printed it in 1867, and the manuscript is now lost. Who "Elise" was is still debated: Therese Malfatti, the singer Elisabeth Röckel and Elise Barensfeld have all been proposed.

The new skill is pedal timing. Press the pedal as the low bass note sounds and lift it at the end of the bar, so each broken chord rings and the next bar starts clean. Because the pedal is already up when each new bass note arrives, you can press it with the note (direct pedaling) rather than just after it, as you did in the Gymnopédie. Bars 1 and 5, where the right hand rocks between E and D♯, take no pedal. Notice the hand-off too: the left hand starts the A-minor chord (A–E–A) and the right hand finishes it (C–E–A).

Für Elise, pickup and bars 1–4, with suggested fingering and the pedal marks of the Breitkopf & Härtel edition. E and its neighbor D♯ rock in bar 1 without pedal; in bars 2–4 the pedal holds each broken chord for one bar.

Learn the refrain first. It returns at bars 39 and 83, so it covers about two-thirds of the bars, and you can start it well before stop 10. Leave the two episodes (bars 24–38 and 61–82) until it is secure. Inside Für Elise maps the piece, and Musical Form explains the rondo.

11. Prelude in E minor — Frédéric Chopin

Chopin (1810–1849) wrote his 24 Preludes, Op. 28, one in every major and minor key, finishing them on Mallorca in the winter of 1838–39; they were published in 1839. This one is marked Largo and lasts 25 bars. At Chopin's funeral in Paris, on 30 October 1849, it was played on the organ together with the Prelude in B minor.

The new skill is chords that change one note at a time. The left hand repeats soft eighth-note chords, and from the middle of bar 2 one note slips down a half step while the others hold: E to D♯, then F♯ to F, then D♯ to D. Keep the hand shape and move only that finger, while the melody sighs from B to C above.

Prelude in E minor, pickup and bars 1–4. The melody sighs from B to C; under it, from the middle of bar 2, the left hand's eighth-note chords change one note at a time, each change a half step down.

Play the left hand as held chords and say aloud which note moves. If you use the pedal, change it whenever a note in the chord moves: play the new chord, then lift and catch it. Inside Chopin's Prelude in E Minor charts the sinking chords.

12. The Entertainer — Scott Joplin

Joplin (c. 1868–1917) published The Entertainer in 1902 through John Stark & Son of St. Louis, subtitled "A Rag Time Two Step" and dedicated to James Brown and his Mandolin Club. Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation for the 1973 film The Sting won him an Academy Award, and his recording reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.

The new skill is syncopation over a steady left hand. The left hand is a clock: bass note, chord, bass note, chord. The right hand strikes between its ticks, and at the end of bar 5 a C is tied over the bar line, so the right hand plays nothing new on the downbeat of bar 6.

The Entertainer, bars 5–8, the first phrase of the A strain. The coral notes are struck between the beats and held; the C tied over the bar line means the right hand plays nothing new on the downbeat of bar 6.

Count sixteenths aloud, "1 e & a," with the right hand alone, then add the left hand at half speed. Joplin marked the first edition "Not fast," and the rag is a chain of 16-bar strains, so learn one strain at a time. Inside The Entertainer maps all four.

The path through time

Because the path is ordered by difficulty rather than date, it zigzags across about 180 years, from a Baroque dance written around 1720 to a rag from 1902.

When each piece was written, copied or first published, grouped by period. The Sonatina in G is left off because its composer and date are uncertain. Satie wrote in 1888, but his plain style points ahead; our Periods sheet files him as Modern. Period boundaries are conventions, and books draw them a little differently.

The period hints at the sound: independent lines and ornaments in the Baroque pieces, short, clear phrases over a chordal accompaniment in the sonatinas, and longer, more emotional melodies in the Romantic ones. The Periods of Music History shows what each period sounds like.

How to learn each new piece

Whatever stop you are at, learn each new piece with the same five steps.

The five-step routine from our How to Practice sheet, for every new piece on the path.

When a mistake happens, don't just start over. Stop, find the exact notes, play them slowly and get three clean repetitions in a row before you put them back. Some days, start with the last line, so the ending is never the weakest part. How to Practice has a weekly log for all of it.

Free worksheets for this path

• Inside the Minuet in G — two voices, sequences and the binary form
• Inside the Musette in D — the drone, the octave leaps and both hand positions
• Inside La Candeur — slurred groups, balance and a one-bar shadow
• Inside Burgmüller's Arabesque — the curl, the chord frame and the coda
• The Chords of Gymnopédie No. 1 — every chord colored, plus the pedal point
• Inside The Wild Rider — the gallop in both hands and its three chords
• Inside The Happy Farmer — off-beat chords and the tune in each hand
• Inside the Sonatina in G — grace notes, Alberti shapes and the Romanze
• Inside Clementi's Sonatina in C — a whole sonata plan in 38 bars
• Inside Für Elise — the rondo map, the hand-off and the pedal
• Inside Chopin's Prelude in E Minor — the sinking chords and the climax
• Inside The Entertainer — strains, syncopation and the left hand
• The Damper Pedal — when to press and when to change
• Voicing and Balance — melody on top, accompaniment underneath
• Alberti Bass — the low–top–middle–top pattern
• Two-Note Slurs — the drop-lift
• Grace Notes — quick notes that steal no time
• Ornaments — trill, mordent and turn, written out
• Phrasing and Phrase and Period — musical sentences, questions and answers
• Musical Form — binary, ternary and rondo
• How to Practice — the five steps and a practice log
• The Periods of Music History — what each period sounds like

Choosing your next stop

The order is a suggestion, not a rule. If one piece pulls at you, learn its first section early, as you can with the refrain of Für Elise, and come back for the rest when the path reaches it. A Tissimo piano teacher can listen to your pedal changes or the balance between your hands in a live lesson and help you pick the next stop; you can book a lesson whenever you are ready.

Sources

• Minuets in G major and G minor — Wikipedia
• Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach — Wikipedia
• Levels of Difficulty — G. Henle Verlag
• Album for the Young op. 68 — G. Henle Verlag
• Album für die Jugend Op. 68 — Schumann-Portal
• Piano Recordings Level 7 — RCM Teacher Portal
• 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100 — IMSLP
• Six Piano Sonatinas op. 36 — G. Henle Verlag
• 2 Piano Sonatinas G major and F major, Anh. 5 — G. Henle Verlag
• Für Elise — Wikipedia
• Preludes (Chopin) — Wikipedia
• Gymnopédies — Wikipedia
• The Entertainer (rag) — Wikipedia