Practice - Try some piano practice with a demo song

Run PianoCheater and click the "edit the songlist" button (leftmost one) to see:
   

Click the download toolbar button (hover to find it)
   to download a "song pack"...
   Download the "_Tutorial" one then close the "Download Song Packs" window.

Click the find toolbar button (magnifying glass)
   Choose the PianoCheater\Song\Pack\_Tutorial folder then click "Ok" to
      load the .mid files in that dir into the SongList.

Click the _ScarboroughFair.mid line on the left then
   Click the "copy to practice" button (right pointing arrows)

Now you can close this "edit songlist" window to go back to the main window:
   

   The drop list box contains filenames of song files to play.
   Pick _ScarboroughFair.mid from it.

   PianoCheater shows the current song's "tracks" in it's main window.
   What's a track?

      Midi files can hold music for a whole band, not just the piano player.
      A track in a midi file holds music for ONE of the band members.
      Maybe even just a portion of the dude's music.
      For example, it's handy to keep left hand notes and right hand notes in
         seperate tracks so they show differently for practicing.
   

   Click in the little empty square to the left of the "right hand" track.
      It'll toggle to ? which means we'll LEARN this track.
      (We don't care about learning drums.)

   Now that there's a track to practice, we see Learn: shown towards the top
      of the tracks.
   Click on it, and it'll toggle between the various learning modes.
      Click it till it says "wait4me"

   Now, you'll also see the Learn window:
      

 - See the notes?

      white keys and black keys are shown as they are laid out on the keyboard.
         They run side to side just like your fingers do.

      You'll see octave numbers on the C notes.  (octave 4 = middle C)
   

 - See the seperate hands?

      Left and right hand tracks will have different colors.
      As you play the right hand, the computer plays the left hand.
         That's since the right hand track has a ? (learning track)
            and left hand track doesn't (background track).
         It's good to learn each hand seperately at first.  then together.
   

 - See the fingering for the notes?

      1=thumb, 2=index, 3=middle, 4=ring, 5=pinky

      Click on a note to edit fingering for it.
         The double numbers mean "press with 1st and hold with 2nd"
         to scoot your hand over.

      Don't put fingering on every dang note.
         Only when your finger needs to MOVE to it.
         (during hand position changes or REUSE of a finger)
         1 and 5 are usually obvious.
         Only add fingering when things get TRICKY.

      You can also click in the white area on the right side of the window
         to put in dynamics notes (or any notes, really:)
         (I use <- for crescendo, -> for decrescendo)
   

 - See the rhythm?

      Time goes by top to bottom as you'ld expect.
         Not as sheet music does :)
         Nor as guitar hero does - that's UPSIDE DOWN!

      Notes are shown in a grid in the order (rhythm) they're to be played.
         You'll see dark lines at the bar.  Lighter lines on the beat.
         And (if set up for it), faint lines on the subbeat.
                                                 (on the 16th note, for example)
   

   Notes keep scooting closer to the keyboard.
   When they reach it, PLAY em.    When they leave it, let em GO, man.

   If you haven't hit em, the key turns green meaning "HEY PLAY THIS".
   If you play the wrong note, it turns red   meaning "HEY QUIT THAT".
   If you get it right, the note will be blue.  The blues are awesome.

   Thin green lines show what should be played NOW and NEXT.
      (what your fingers should be covering or ready to cover.)
   

   A video might help...
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"Phases" of piano practice:
   

   See that Learn=Wait4Me at the top of the window?
   Click it to toggle between different practice modes...

   Learn=play4me

      This shows you the notes you'll play and sounds em.
      It's useful so you can hear just your part and
                             see how complex it'll be to play.
   

   Learn=show2me

      This ONLY shows you the notes going by...
      You record em live as best you can.
   

   Learn=wait4me

      This is the main practice mode.  You play the ? tracks.
      But if you don't play it in time,
         PianoCheater WAITS for you to hit the correct notes.
      This'll help you
       - find the notes you need
       - figure out when to change hand positions and fingering
         (can you reach the leftmost with your thumb and rightmost with pinky?)
       - learn the rhythms in detail.
         Especially against a drum track with 16th notes.  metronome=ANNOYING !!
   

   Learn=wait4me(EASY)

      Just like wait4me except that you don't need to HOLD all notes down.
      It'll only wait for you on initial note presses.
      This is useful for songs where the hold pedal is sustaining notes,
         but the song has a looong bass note for example.
   

   Learn=sync2me

      This mode shows you the ? tracks
      But it plays the background tracks according to
                                       =YOUR= tempo and expression !!
      Background notes only go out upon YOUR next note down.
      And your LIVE tempo will update the timer's tempo making the background
         tracks play in LOCK STEP with you.
      Your last note's velocity will SCALE the velocity of the bg tracks
         so the whole "band" follows   =YOUR= awesome expressiveness ;)
      If you play 4 notes that aren't what PianoCheater is expecting,
         sync2me will search the song for those notes.
         And move to THAT position for playing.
         This way, you can drill thru JUST tricky sections without having to
         setup stupid looping points.
   
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Next up, maybe you just wanna play midis