Easy Chopin pieces: 15 piano works in our catalog, ranked easiest first

On our 0–10 difficulty scale, where 0–3 is beginner, 4–6 is intermediate, and 7–10 is advanced, Chopin in our catalog starts at difficulty 4. Each rating follows the busiest bars of the score at the written tempo rather than its opening line, so a slow piece with wide chords or a dense climax carries the number of that peak. For reference, Für Elise and the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata are both difficulty 5, and Debussy’s Clair de lune is difficulty 6. The fifteen pieces in this guide and the six next steps at the end fall into three stages:

• Difficulty 4–5, early intermediate (roughly Henle 3–4, Clementi sonatinas and early Czerny Op. 849): the C minor Prelude at difficulty 4, then nine pieces at difficulty 5: four preludes, two waltzes, a mazurka, the Funeral March and the Nocturne in G minor.
• Difficulty 6, intermediate (roughly Henle 5, later Czerny Op. 849 and two-part inventions): four nocturnes and the Étude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3, where the hands spin rapid ornamental runs or voice two parts in one hand.
• Difficulty 7–9, late intermediate to advanced (roughly Henle 6–8, Czerny Op. 299 to Op. 740): the Op. 64 waltzes, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Revolutionary Étude, Ballade No. 1, and Heroic Polonaise.

Within difficulty 5, three short preludes train chord voicing before left-hand dance leaps and longer forms, ending with the Nocturne in G minor; within difficulty 6, the four nocturnes move from a 4/4 broken-chord bass to triplets, long scale runs, and 12/8 leaps before Op. 10 No. 3. Test each piece’s hardest bars with hands-separate practice at half tempo first.

Our catalog has twenty-nine Chopin pieces at difficulty 4 to 6. This guide picks fifteen of them so that you meet each kind of piece Chopin is known for: five preludes, two waltzes, a mazurka, the Funeral March, five nocturnes and one étude. The other fourteen (four preludes, four mazurkas, two nocturnes, the Polonaise in A major, the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise, and two movements of the Sonata in C minor, Op. 4) are on our Chopin composer page. Each card shows the piece’s difficulty, what it trains, and its hardest spot: the bars where the hands are busiest at the written tempo, worth trying before you commit to the piece.

The Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20 (difficulty 4, 13 bars, about 1:40), is a slow procession of heavy chords marked Largo. The fortissimo chords of bars 1–4 sink to piano in bar 5, and the last phrase is played twice before the closing C minor chord. With no fast passages, it lets a first-time Chopin player focus on the sound of each chord, but the left hand plays octaves from bar 1 onward, so choose it once octaves sit comfortably in your hand.

The hardest bars are bars 5–6 and their repeat in bars 9–10, marked p. The right hand holds three-note chords framed by an octave and adds a dotted-eighth-to-sixteenth step on beat 3 of each bar while the left hand steps down chromatically in octaves. Play the right hand’s top fifth-finger note alone with the left-hand octaves first, then add the inner chord notes quietly with blocked-chord practice.

In the Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 (difficulty 5, 25 bars, about 1:50), a sighing right-hand melody hangs over left-hand chords that change one note at a time. After an octave pickup on B (Largo, espress.), the melody in bar 1 (non staccato) hovers, rises once to a forte climax and sinks to a hushed close. There is almost nothing fast to play, which makes it a good piece for learning to keep a melody connected.

The hardest spot is the climax in bars 16–18. Bar 16 (stretto) accelerates through a right-hand delayed turn and upward leap over chromatically falling chords; in bar 17 (f), the left hand strikes a low B octave and leaps to four-note chords beneath wide right-hand eighth-note intervals before subsiding in bar 18 (dim.). Drill the bar 17 left-hand leap alone, touching the upper chord silently before pressing it.

The Prelude in A major, Op. 28 No. 7 (difficulty 5, 16 bars, 48 seconds), is the shortest piece in this guide. Marked Andantino and p dolce, its two-bar phrases in 3/4 repeat one gentle dotted-eighth-and-sixteenth figure like a slow mazurka, swelling to a wide chord at mf before falling back to p. At under a minute, it works as a first Chopin piece or paired with another short piece at a recital.

The hardest bars are bars 11–12. In bar 11, the right hand holds a tied inner third for two beats with its lower fingers while playing a high third twice on beats 2 and 3; in bar 12 (mf), it spans a tenth across a five-note chord over a four-note left-hand chord. Smaller hands can roll the right-hand chord quickly from bottom to top so the top note still lands on the beat.

The Prelude in B minor, Op. 28 No. 6 (difficulty 5, 26 bars, about 1:50), turns the usual roles around: the left hand sings the melody and the right hand plays the accompaniment. Marked Lento assai (very slow) and sotto voce (in an undertone), bar 1 sends the left hand rising through four sixteenth notes into a dotted melody beneath repeated eighth-note chords in the right; after two passages marked sostenuto, it dies away pp. Pick it if you want to build a stronger left-hand tone.

The hardest bars are bar 7 and bar 13. In bar 7, both hands weave ornaments and moving lines at once while the right hand keeps its lower eighth-note intervals pulsing under an upper line with a grace note; in bar 13, the left hand twice sweeps over two octaves in sixteenths from low C. Practise the right hand’s two voices in bar 7 alone first until the thumb stays loose.

The Waltz in A minor, B. 150 (difficulty 5, 80 bars, about 1:55), is a short waltz published after Chopin’s death and a good choice for a first Chopin waltz. Marked Allegretto and p, its wistful melody enters in bar 1 over a plain 3/4 waltz bass on low A, gives way to a livelier passage, and returns several times. Its length and tempo suit a first try at the left-hand waltz leaps.

The hardest spot is bars 20–21. Bar 20 opens with a two-note grace-note figure into falling eighth notes, and bar 21 (f) sends an E-major arpeggio climbing more than two octaves in a single bar, accelerating from three eighth notes into five sixteenth notes up to a high dotted rhythm. Press each octave of the bar 21 E-major chord as a blocked three-note group first so the thumb passes under smoothly.

The Mazurka in F major, Op. 68 No. 3 (difficulty 5, 60 bars, about 1:10), is a quick taste of the mazurka, the Polish dance Chopin wrote all his life. It opens forte with a crisp dotted rhythm in bar 1 and parallel sixths in bars 6–7, then a quieter, slightly faster B-flat major middle section (Poco più vivo) dances over a repeated left-hand fifth before the opening tempo (Tempo I) returns. Choose it if you would rather start with something lively than something slow.

The trickiest stretch is bars 37–40, at the start of the Poco più vivo (p). While the left hand repeats a quiet open fifth on every beat with third-beat accents in bars 38 and 40, the right hand leaps an octave from a grace note on F in bar 37 and dances through high eighth-note figures. Keep the left hand on the keys for the repeated fifth and drill the bar 37 octave grace-note leap alone first.

The Waltz in B minor, Op. 69 No. 2 (difficulty 5, 145 bars, about 3:20), alternates a melancholy theme with a brighter middle section, which makes it a good recital piece if you want something just over three minutes long. Opening Moderato on an accented F-sharp pickup tied into bar 1 (p), its melody (slipping chromatically in bar 8) alternates with a livelier con anima section around a sweet B major centre with dotted rhythms and right-hand chords.

The hardest bars are bars 33–36, where the con anima begins. Each bar links a dotted quarter note to three eighth notes under a slur in the right hand, leaping up into bar 34 and stepping down through bars 35–36 while the left hand jumps from bass notes to three-note chords. Practise linking each bar’s last eighth note to the next bar’s dotted quarter note in the right hand alone, lifting the wrist lightly between slurs.

The Funeral March (Marche funèbre) (difficulty 5, 85 bars, about 8:25) is the third movement of the Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 35. It tolls at piano from bars 1–2 on a repeated B-flat in a slow dotted rhythm over swaying low chords; a quiet D-flat major trio sings a long melody over a rocking left hand before the march returns. Nothing in it is fast, but holding a slow, even pulse for more than eight minutes takes stamina, so pick it when you want to learn to carry a long piece to the end.

The hardest spot is the sudden eruption across bars 21–22. Bar 21 stays piano, but bar 22 strikes at fortissimo (ff) as a grace note launches thick dotted-rhythm chords while the left hand keeps the low alternating chords moving and drops on beat 4 to a deep bass octave. Use metronome timing practice on bars 21–22 so the jump to ff and the fourth-beat octave drop do not rush the tempo.

The Prelude in D-flat major (Raindrop Prelude), Op. 28 No. 15 (difficulty 5, 89 bars, about 5 minutes), takes its nickname from the note that repeats through the whole piece like falling rain. Opening Sostenuto and p in bar 1, a repeated A-flat eighth note sounds beneath a calm melody, turns to G-sharp in the dark C-sharp minor middle section as it swells to a heavy climax, and subsides when the opening returns. The contrast between its calm outer sections and the dark middle makes it a strong choice if you need a recital piece of about five minutes.

Focus on bars 28–35 and bar 79. In bars 28–34 (sotto voce), the right hand takes over the repeated G-sharp eighth notes above a dark two-voice left-hand melody, expanding in bar 35 (cresc.) into repeated octaves; in bar 79 (smorzando), the right hand floats ten sixteenth notes over four left-hand eighth notes across beats 3 and 4. Keep the left hand’s four eighth notes in bar 79 strictly even while the right hand glides above.

The Nocturne in G minor, Op. 37 No. 1 (difficulty 5, 90 bars, about 5:20), is the only nocturne in this guide at difficulty 5, which makes it the one to learn first. Marked Andante sostenuto, it opens softly with an ornamented right-hand melody over left-hand quarter-note chords and rises to forte and fortissimo; a quiet chordal middle section in E-flat major follows, the opening melody returns, and the piece ends pianissimo on a rolled G major chord.

The fastest spot is bar 36 and its return in bar 86. On beats 3 and 4, the right hand lets an accented, tied high A spill into sixteen thirty-second notes that slide down chromatically, drop to the E above middle C and climb back to C, while the left hand keeps steady quarter-note chords. Fit eight thirty-second notes to each left-hand chord at half tempo first, then bring the run up to the written tempo.

The Nocturne in C minor, B. 108 (difficulty 6, 44 bars, about 3:10), is a short nocturne published after Chopin’s death and the best one to start with at difficulty 6. Marked Andante and p, it opens after a G pickup with a rising dotted-rhythm melody in bar 1 over a 4/4 eighth-note broken-chord bass that spreads more than two octaves up from a low C.

The hardest bars are bars 27–28. Against the steady eighth-note bass, the right hand cascades nearly three octaves from high F down through a sixteenth-note triplet and eight thirty-second notes in bar 27, then climbs back in six slurred pairs of sixteenth notes in bar 28. Block each octave of the bar 27 descending arpeggio as a chord first before playing it as one continuous run.

Chopin wrote the Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (difficulty 6, 57 bars, about 4:15), when he was about seventeen, and it is a good place to practise a long melody over a triplet accompaniment. Marked Andante and molto legato (p), bar 1 sets a steady accompaniment of wide broken-chord triplets in the left hand, above which the right hand enters in bar 2 with a grace-note leap to a long singing G.

The hardest bars are bars 34–35, where thirty-second-note runs ride over the left-hand triplets. In bar 34 (dim.), the right hand leaps from a grace note to an accented high F-sharp and plunges two octaves through an eight-note thirty-second-note arpeggio; in bar 35 (p), after four grace notes and repeated eighth notes, it finishes with a ten-note thirty-second-note trill run. As in our guide to piano trills and ornaments, anchor the left-hand triplets first and align the start of each run with the beat.

The Nocturne in C-sharp minor (Nocturne No. 20), B. 49 (difficulty 6, 64 bars, about 3:55), is often simply called the posthumous nocturne. Marked Lento con gran espressione (slowly, with great expression) and opening with quiet chords in bar 1 (p), its middle section recalls Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor and his song Życzenie before fading through delicate closing runs.

Those closing runs in bars 57–58 are the hardest spot. Over eight steady left-hand eighth notes per bar, the right hand holds a half note on beats 1–2 and fits an 18-note scale into beats 3–4 of bar 57 (delic., p), followed in bar 58 (delicat., sempre più piano) by a 35-note scale spanning over two octaves within the same two beats. Decide first which left-hand eighth note each scale’s top D-sharp lands on, then practise toward that point with a light touch.

The Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2 (difficulty 6, 36 bars, about 3:20), is one of Chopin’s best-known nocturnes, and its melody returns with richer ornaments each time. Marked Andante (espress. dolce) in 12/8, the melody leaps a sixth into bar 1 over a left hand that jumps on every beat from a staccato bass note to two chords, and the piece closes after a short cadenza.

The hardest spots are bar 16 and the cadenza in bars 33–34. Bar 16 asks the right hand to leap a tenth and drop through staccato thirty-second notes over wide left-hand jumps; in bars 33–34, while the left hand rests, the right hand repeats a high four-note sixteenth-note turn figure eight times in bar 33 (cresc.) and four times in bar 34 (dim., rallent., smorz.) before a descending scale. Rotate the forearm lightly toward the fifth finger in bars 33–34 to keep the high notes relaxed.

The Étude in E major (Tristesse), Op. 10 No. 3 (difficulty 6, 77 bars, about 3:20), is the easiest Chopin étude in our catalog; the nicknames Tristesse and Farewell are not Chopin’s. Marked Lento ma non troppo, bar 1 (legato) voices a singing E major melody above a rocking sixteenth-note accompaniment inside the same right hand before an animated middle section climbs to a fortissimo climax. The slow opening makes it look easier than it is, so play through the middle section before you choose it.

The middle section in bars 38–41 and bars 46–47 makes the piece a true étude. In bars 38–41 (cresc.), the right hand climbs while the left hand descends, both in sixteenth-note augmented fourths and diminished fifths; in bars 46–47 (con bravura, f), both hands leap back and forth in wide sixteenth-note double notes. Split these bars into two-bar units as in how to practice difficult piano passages, playing the top notes of the right-hand double notes with the fourth and fifth fingers first.

Once you can play the difficulty 6 nocturnes and Op. 10 No. 3 at tempo, these six famous Chopin works in our catalog form the climb from difficulty 7 to difficulty 9:

• Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 (difficulty 7, 192 bars): a wistful Tempo giusto theme alternates with a whirling Più mosso in running eighths (bars 33–36) around a slower D-flat major Più lento centre.
• Minute Waltz (Waltz in D-flat major), Op. 64 No. 1 (difficulty 7, 140 bars): right-hand eighth notes circle at Molto vivace from bars 1–4 onward; Minute Waltz and Little Dog Waltz are not Chopin’s names.
• Fantaisie-Impromptu (Impromptu in C-sharp minor), Op. 66 (difficulty 8, 138 bars): right-hand sixteenths lock against left-hand triplets from bars 5–6, around a singing D-flat major Moderato cantabile.
• Revolutionary Étude (Étude in C minor), Op. 10 No. 12 (difficulty 9, 84 bars): Allegro con fuoco left-hand sixteenths pour across the keyboard from bars 1–2 under fierce right-hand octaves.
• Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 (difficulty 9, 264 bars): Chopin’s first ballade opens in bar 1 with a Largo, pesante rising figure and unfolds across 264 bars.
• Heroic Polonaise (Polonaise in A-flat major), Op. 53 (difficulty 9, 181 bars): a Maestoso fanfare and proud dotted theme lead to an E major middle section over descending left-hand octaves.