Everything Piano

An Introduction To Piano Chords

I think a lot of people are intimidated by the term “chords” to make their own music on the piano. The truth is, once you learn the basics, it’s really not that hard at all. Chords can also help you improve your sight reading, because your confidence will increase and you will begin to better understand the structure of the notes on the score.

I’m going to give a little introduction on how you can use chords in your piano practice. You know the song, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” right? Well, this song is made up of 3 general chords. That is, C, F, and G7. These letters are the names of chords and also the names of the root note in which each chord is constructed. The C chord has three notes: C, E, and G. The F chord has the three notes: F, A, and C. Finally, the G7 chord actually has 4 notes: G, B, D, and F.

In standard notation, which many of us pianists are used to from reading sheet music, these notes are normally written in the bass clef with corresponding stems and rhythm values. In chord style, there is no bass clef, and the left hand is written with letters and chord symbols. You can find this type of notation in jazz or popular music, or even in certain piano books which are usually labeled for “Piano – Vocal – Guitar.” Basically, if it’s not a classical piece, it mostly likely has some form of chord style notation. Pianists who are very experienced in chord style piano and theory can actually look at a piece of music with no chord symbols, and still figure out which chords correspond with the piece.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

First off, play the C-F-G7-C chord a few times, and then try to experiment with making up your own progressions. You can plan them out on a piece of paper, or just play around on the piano. If you create a new melody and are able to play it with your chord progression, you are actually improvising. If you’d like to learn more about chord style piano, I recommend getting a book specialized on this topic, such as You Can Teach Yourself Piano Chords by Per Danielsson. Once you know the basics, you can move on to some different and slightly intermediate books, such as books on jazz or improvisation in piano.