How to learn the handpan as a beginner

The handpan is a melodic steel percussion instrument shaped like a saucer. On its top face, a central note (the “ding”) is surrounded by several notes tuned to sound right together: this is called a scale. You play it with your fingers and hands, no mallets. The result: even with no experience, everything you play sounds beautiful — which is exactly what makes the handpan so welcoming for beginners.

No. The handpan lends itself wonderfully to learning by ear. The notes are already tuned together: you can’t really “play a wrong note”. I myself left the Conservatory discouraged by music theory before relearning everything by ear — and that conviction gave birth to my method. Music theory may interest you later, out of curiosity, but it’s never a prerequisite to begin.

My method rests on three concrete cues that replace staves and black notes. First, colour: each degree of the scale gets a colour (ChromaKeys), so playing a melody becomes following a sequence of colours. Then shape: each chord draws a geometry on the instrument (Constellations), a visual tablature far clearer than a chord chart. Finally, emotion: each degree carries an emotional colour (momentum, calm, nostalgia…), so you play what you feel.

• Colours (ChromaKeys): each note has its colour → you read the music at a glance.
• Shapes (Constellations): each chord is a drawing → you memorise progressions visually.
• Emotions: each degree has an emotional colour → you play what you want to express.

• Sit comfortably, the instrument on your lap or a stand, tilted slightly towards you.
• Play the central ding with your fingertips, relaxed: listen to the note resonate before moving on.
• Go around the notes one by one to learn their position and their colour.
• Loop a short 3- or 4-note melody until it comes on its own.
• Add a chord (a shape), then link it to the melody: you’re already improvising.

Ten minutes a day beats one hour once a week. On the handpan, consistency — not duration — drives progress.

Both are played exactly the same way, with your hands. An acoustic handpan offers an inimitable resonance and physical contact. The electronic Neotone handpan can be played on headphones (perfect in a flat, at night), changes scale in a single gesture and connects to your computer. For a beginner, going electronic removes two major hurdles: noise, and the cost of a single instrument locked to one scale. I explore this choice in detail in my electronic vs acoustic handpan guide.

To apply the method, I built Handpan Studio, the app that makes music visible. It shows your notes in colours, draws chords as shapes, offers an atlas of world scales and lets you create your own. The Discovery version is free in acoustic mode; the Studio plan (from €9.90) unlocks the electronic mode, saving and advanced creation. It’s the ideal companion to practise on your own, at your own pace.

At some point, an outside eye speeds everything up: posture, hands, rhythm, scale choice. My handpan lessons, online anywhere in the world or in person in Paris, adapt to your level — from complete beginner to seasoned player. We work on the colour-and-shape method, but also groove and personal expression. To dig deeper into the method, read the handpan through colours and creating your handpan scale.