#Once and for all piano chords how to#

Usually, they’re comprised of three notes in the same scale.

Chords: Chords are groups of notes that are played at the same time.

Simply put, they sound good together! There are many scales with many different combinations of notes.

Scale: A scale is a set of notes that work together or are complementary.

Here are a few more important terms to know. On a piano, any sharp or flat are always black keys.

Sharps and Flats: These are variations that raise or lower the tone of a note by a half step.

Notes: Simply put, notes are the names for the sound that each piano key produces.

Keys: This term can have more than one meaning, but for our purposes a key is one of those shiny black or white things on your piano.

But if you’re trying to decide between a digital piano ( 2), acoustic piano, or keyboard, check out this post.

Piano: The piano is a musical instrument that… Just kidding! I doubt you’re reading this if you don’t know what a piano is.

Let’s get some basic terms out of the way: A lot of sites claim to teach beginners, but not many keep it this simple. Internalizing a few simple formulas for piano chords. I’m talking about memorizing 12 notes, and really memorizing them. I believe that most people will benefit more from a streamlined, truly basic start to piano. Learn to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and maybe eventually move on to “Ode to Joy” or the national anthem. Learn some notes, practice some scales (over and over and over again!). Traditional piano lessons seem like they start out simple. But what I’m about to share with you will demystify piano chords so you can begin to play with confidence and ease. That might sound a little confusing, especially since we haven’t gotten into what chords are yet.

#Once and for all piano chords how to#

Simply put, this guy had learned how to enjoy the power and freedom of chords. It wasn’t a magic trick or a result of extraordinary natural talent, either. Here’s what blew me away: When he showed me his method for playing, it wasn’t anything complicated. Because after all, what’s the point of music ( 1) if you don’t enjoy it? He clearly knew something I didn’t, and I really wanted to find out what. He could look at chord progressions and play them without hesitation.

(I’d rather have been playing pop or rock music.) How to Enjoy the Power and Freedom of Chordsīut then I met a person who – unlike me – could easily play tons of popular songs. Twelve years for two songs – that I didn’t even like. In fact, it took 12 years before I could play two songs well. And like most beginners I sat there, tried to follow the teacher’s instructions, but didn’t make much progress.

I went to lessons, sometimes cheerfully but more often not. I was your normal piano student as a child. I’ll walk you through all the basic information and steps you need to learn to play piano chords. Since you’re here, stick around for a bit. You’ll find charts for chords, sheet music with confusing piano chord notation, articles, blog posts, and about a million YouTube tutorials. Not everything you read is accurate, let alone communicated in a way that’s easy to understand. All you have to do is type in “chords” or “piano chords” and start browsing the results.īut there isn’t a clear way to sort out the good info from the bad.

And that makes sense, because there is a smorgasbord of piano information and resources out there on the internet. Like most people these days, you decided to start the process with a good ol’ Google search.