Whether you are receiving formal piano instructions from a piano teacher or are learning it all by yourself, there are some things about the instrument that you can’t play without – piano chords, for example. Included in this guide are some tips that will allow you to learn piano chords faster.

First, familiarize yourself with the piano keys.

Despite the number of the keys on your piano, there are actually only two types – the white and the black keys. The white keys are called the natural keys and are denoted by the musical alphabet A to G, while the black keys are the accidental keys which are denoted by the flat and sharp signs or b and # signs. Whereas the natural notes are the original notes, the accidentals are the slightly modified versions of naturals. As such, the accidentals create slightly higher or lower pitches as opposed to the natural pitch produced by the white keys.

In music theory, the black keys basically give out pitches that are half as high or as low as the naturals they modify. Once you become familiar with what each of the keys do, you’ll be able to easily manipulate the chords of a specific music.

Second, understand the terminologies of piano music.

What is so difficult about reproducing the piano chords or playing them is the fact that there are plenty of musical theories behind them. The easiest among these theories perhaps is the definition of the word ‘chord’ itself.

By definition, ‘chord’ is any group of notes that are played at the same time. There are actually different types of chord including major, minor and dominant seventh. This may seem a bit difficult to understand already, but know that it only gets more harder from here. How about knowing the different major and minor scales and other rudiments of piano music.

The good thing is, if you want to skip the more difficult part, you can always try to memorize the components of each chord.

Third, know the chord formulas.

You don’t actually have to memorize all the piano chords. It is doubtful that all piano players have these memorized. There are two reasons that make memorizing all chords quite impractical – first there are hundreds of chords to memorize and second, there are only a few chords that are used on a regular basis.

What you need to do, therefore, is to know how chords are formulated. Yes, there are actually exact for creating individual types of chord.

Major chords, for example, are usually composed of 3 to 4 keys or notes. These are constructed using this formula – root key, 4 halftones and 3 halftones. Note that a halftone is the least possible interval between 2 notes. You can easily recognize this distance in the piano because this is quite simply, the distance between one white key and the white key right beside it or a white key and the black key beside it. To know the key of C Major chord, you need to first identify the root key which is the key of C on any octave, the key four halftones down to its right, and the key three halftones down of the previous key.

You see, when you know these things, specifically the part where you use the formula for each chord, it becomes much easier to learn piano chords.


  
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