Chords learn on the piano
If you master piano chords, you hold the key to a musical wonderland. Whether you want to play along with any song or accompany yourself while singing, piano chords make it possible.
And you’ll find out how it all works in this article.
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Gordon November
Gordon November
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What are Piano Chords?
Chords are an essential part of playing the piano. Many songs, especially pop and jazz songs, are based on chords. You could say: They are the foundation for being able to play the piano properly.
To use chords for yourself, you should first understand what a chord even is. In short, a chord is nothing more than two or more notes played or struck simultaneously.
Most chords consist of three notes, a root and two other notes. Sometimes four- or five-note chords are played, but this is rather rare.
Playing Piano Chords - With the Left and Right Hand
It is extremely important for you to understand the basics of chord playing. Only then can you successfully play chords on the piano. So, let’s dive straight into the world of major and minor chords.
Block Chord vs. Arpeggio
Chords can be played on the piano in different ways: as an arpeggio or as a block chord. Don’t worry, you don’t have to master both techniques right away. But if you’re just getting to know piano chords, you should at least have heard of both.
Arpeggios are – in my opinion – a particularly beautiful and elegant technique when playing chords on the piano.
Here, each note of the chord is played one after the other. This means that instead of striking the notes of the chord at the same time, you play the notes of the chord one after the other in an arpeggio.
In this way, you create a melodic figure. This playing pattern requires a lot of feeling and control over the movement of the fingers – but also a sense of the speed of your song. Over time, you will notice that this happens all by itself.
Block chords are generally easier to play than arpeggios. In this case, all the notes of the chord are struck simultaneously. In practice, these chords are most often played on the piano.
To play block chords correctly on the piano, you should organize your fingerings well and allow your fingers to comfortably reach each individual note.
With the right practice and patience, you will be able to use arpeggios and block chords on the piano and enrich your piano playing with chords!
Note: Piano chords are usually played with the left hand, while you play the melody of a song with your right hand. But you can also play piano chords with your right hand or with both hands together.
Learn piano chords, understand chord letters, and read chord notes
Let’s get started right away. Sit down at your piano and play a simple basic chord in C major with me: C – E – G (strike simultaneously).
Sounds great, doesn’t it? But if you look at the notes for the chord – and perhaps also add bass notes with your left hand – it can look quite complicated on the sheet music. Anyone who plays from sheet music has to look closely to play without mistakes.
But how practical: The C major chord C – E – G is communicated to us by the letter ‘C’. So if you see the letter ‘C’ written, you immediately know that you should play C – E – G.
“You can also rearrange the chord as you like and play, for example, E – G – C (first inversion) or G – C – E (second inversion).”
By the way: The three notes of a chord are also called a triad. The triad consists of a root, a third, and a fifth. These three notes form the basic building block of every chord.
Writing chords correctly on the piano
There are different ways of writing chords. I’ll show them to you so that you can play from any sheet music in the future (be it American, German, Swiss, etc.).
What you have already learned: As soon as there is a ‘C’, you know that you should play C – E – G – no matter in which inversion.
Major Chord vs. Minor Chord
Minor Chords
There are not only major chords on the piano, but also minor chords. You can already recognize minor chords by their melancholic and sad sound. Major chords, on the other hand, sound more cheerful.
Major and Minor – What’s the Difference?
The C minor chord is composed of the notes C – Eb – G. The notation for the C minor chord is ‘Cm’. Alternatively to ‘Cm’, you may also encounter the American jazz notation ‘C-‘
Tip: Here you will find the detailed article Major vs. Minor
However, there are other chord options. For example, seventh chords like C – E – G – Bb. This has the notation ‘C 7‘ In this case, you add a minor seventh to your C major chord.
You don’t know what that is? Don’t worry, in this article I’ll explain everything about intervals and also what a seventh is all about.
If, on the other hand, you are to play a major seventh to your C major chord, you will encounter the notation ‘Cmaj7‘ or ‘C𐊅‘
Attention. Now it could get a little complicated. But don’t worry, once you understand the system behind the chord notations, you will be able to effortlessly play all chords on the piano according to the instructions. It’s worth persevering.
Tip: If it gets too much for you, process the information first. Preferably overnight. You will see: The next day you will understand the chords for piano much easier.
Play Piano by Intuition
So, to make things a little more complex: Options can still be added to the chord notations learned so far.
“Example: You play a C7 chord (C – E – G – Bb) and should play it as a minor chord (C – Eb – G – Bb). In this case, it says ‘Cm7’. Or in the jazz version ‘C-7’ ”
All these chords can also be inverted.
Particularly popular in jazz are chords with five notes. For example, the ‘Cm7‘ supplemented by a ninth (what a ninth is, you will also learn in my article on intervals).
So you play C – Eb – G – Bb – D
This chord has the notation ‘Cm79‘ or ‘Cm9‘
Playing and Writing Piano Chords with the Left Hand
Let’s take a quick look at how to write piano chords that are played with the left hand.
Let’s say you should play a C major chord (‘C’). Then you can simply play the root with your left hand – i.e. a ‘C’. If, on the other hand, you should not play the root, but in the case of the C major chord the E or G with the left hand, you will encounter the notation ‘C / E’ or ‘C / G’.
“C/E means: Play a C major chord in the right hand and an E as a bass note in the left hand. “
How many chords are there on the piano?
If you are just learning chords on the piano, a comprehensive overview with all piano chords should be helpful, right?
Unfortunately not – because there are too many different chord possibilities on the piano. Strictly speaking, more than 800 per key. With the 12 keys that are available to us on the piano, that adds up to a lot.
So instead of presenting you with a list of almost 10,000 chords to memorize – nobody really wants that – I’d rather introduce you to the different chord types. These differ in their structure.
If you understand the differences here, you will understand piano chords better overall and improve your piano playing all by yourself. Ideal prerequisites for intuitive piano playing.
How are the chords structured?
As you just learned, there are different chord types for each key. Let’s take a closer look at that.
There are 12 keys on the piano. Each key corresponds to a key. So C, C sharp / D flat, D, D sharp / E flat, E, F, F sharp / G flat, G, G sharp / A flat, A, A sharp and B.
You can play different chord types for each of these notes. As already mentioned, there are around 800 of them per key. Don’t worry – you don’t have to know them all by heart.
Instead, I’ll tell you how the individual chord types are structured. So that you can put together your piano chords independently in the future.
Piano Chords as a Triad
Triads are, so to speak, standard when playing the piano. We differentiate here between major and minor chords, Sus2, Sus4, diminished and augmented chords.
You always put major chords together from a major third and a minor third.
Minor chords are composed of a minor and a major third. Almost like the major chord, only the other way around.
Note:
Major third + minor third = major chord
Minor third + major third = minor chord
Sus2 chords are structured like a minor chord. The only difference: The middle note of the chord is played a half step lower.
Similar principle with the Sus4 piano chord: It is structured like a major chord. However, the middle note is played a half step higher.
The diminished and augmented chords are still missing.
If the highest note of a major or minor chord is changed, it is called a diminished or augmented piano chord.
If you play the highest note of a minor chord a half step lower (root + two minor thirds), you are playing a diminished chord.
If, on the other hand, you play the highest note of a major chord a half step higher, you are playing an augmented chord (root + two major thirds).
Seventh Chords
Now that you know the triad chords, it will be particularly easy for you to understand the 7th chords. Their structure is quickly explained. They are composed of a triad chord – such as a major or minor chord – which is extended by one or two notes.
The result is a four- or five-note chord. Such chords sound particularly full and heavy. They give your songs the necessary depth.
Note: A seventh chord is composed of a triad and a seventh extension. It is therefore a four-note chord that is composed of root, third, fifth, and seventh.
You have already learned that there are different triads. This is also the case with the seventh chords.
7th Extension
If the root of your triad is supplemented by a seventh, you get a standard 7th chord. If the chord is extended by a major seventh, you get a chord that is marked as ‘j7’ or major7. You will often encounter this chord on sheet music for pop and blues pieces.
There are many other seventh chords. But for now, the knowledge you have gathered so far is enough. That was a lot, too.
How do you find the right chords for a song?
Playing chords from sheet music is one thing. But what if you want to play a song intuitively on the piano and you don’t have the chords for it? Just playing the melody with your right hand is one possibility – but not necessarily the best thing in terms of sound.
Imagine being able to accompany any song you can play the melody to directly with the right chords. It’s possible! And I’ll show you how.
By the way: Learning to find chords yourself doesn’t happen overnight. Give yourself time to develop a feel for piano chords. Progress will come all by itself.
Determine Chords for Songs – Step by Step
Step 1
In the first step, you have to find out which key you are in. If you have sheet music, that’s not difficult at all. Based on the accidentals, you can usually guess which key you are in. The circle of fifths will help you with this.
As a reminder: With the following mnemonic sentences, you will learn the circle of fifths by heart in no time and can use it to play the piano intuitively.
Circle of Fifths to the Right
Go Down And Eat Bread Fast.
G major = 1 sharp (f becomes f sharp)
D major: 2 sharps (f sharp + c becomes c sharp)
A major: 3 sharps (f sharp, c sharp + g becomes g sharp
E major: 4 sharps (+ d sharp)
B major: 5 sharps (+ a sharp)
F sharp major: 6 sharps (+ e sharp)
Circle of Fifths to the Left
Fresh Bread Eaten At Dawn Greatly.
F major: 1 flat (b becomes b flat)
B flat major: 2 flats (b flat + e becomes e flat)
E flat major: 3 flats (b, b flat + a becomes a flat)
A flat major: 4 flats (+ d flat)
D flat major: 5 flats (+ g flat)
G flat major: 6 flats (+ c flat)
Two tips for quickly determining a key
Tip 1: Look at the last note of the melody. This note is usually the root. Root plus accidentals = key. This doesn’t always work. But very often.
Tip 2: Listen carefully. Does the song or piece sound sad and melancholic? Or more cheerful? In the first case, you can assume that you are in a minor key. Otherwise, it will be a major key.
Step 2
Now take a closer look at the melody of your song. Which notes appear in it? You can include all these notes in your chord accompaniment in a harmonious way.
The easiest method: You play the root of the key in question plus the fifth above it with your left hand.
Step 3
Good, that already sounds better than without any accompaniment. But of course it can be even better. By looking at the most frequently used chords – and using them appropriately for your song.
The 3 most Important Piano Chords at a Glance
If you listen to a song and pay attention not only to the singer, but above all to the musical accompaniment, you will notice that most songs of our time are based on three chords.
You should definitely know these and use them for yourself. And also for your audience. Because: We are used to these chords and therefore find them harmonious. But what are these three chords called?
Piano Chords: Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant
What? Now it seems we’re diving deep into music theory! In a way, yes. But if you’ve stuck with it this far, tonic, subdominant, and dominant will be a piece of cake for you.
The tonic is based on the root note of your song, or the key. If your song is in C major, for example, the root note is C. The subdominant corresponds to the fourth note of your key’s scale. The dominant corresponds to the fifth note of that scale.
The C major scale: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C
In the case of C major, we therefore have C as the tonic, G as the dominant, and F as the subdominant.
Building the Right Chords from Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant
Now we know everything we need to use the right chords to accompany our piece. We just need to build the appropriate chords for the three identified keys. These always consist of the first, third, and fifth notes of the corresponding scale.
The C major chord consists of the notes C – E – G
The E major chord consists of the notes E – G# – B
The G major chord consists of the notes G – B – D
Now you know the most important piano chords.
Learning Piano Chords - A Real Benefit for You
Yes, chords and their notations can seem incredibly complex at first glance.
But believe me: If you take the time to learn chords on the piano and internalize their notations, it’s much easier than playing chords from sheet music. This is especially true for jazz chords, which sometimes consist of seven or more notes.
Plus: Intuition plays a role here. And that’s exactly what you and I want to achieve. Playing without sheet music. Intuitively and with joy.
Now you know how to read and play chords. Respect!
Master Keys Without Sheet Music
With the new turbo training, you'll be proficient in every musical key within a few weeks.
(no sheet music knowledge required)
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Play Piano by Intuition
Master Keys Without Sheet Music
With the new turbo training, you'll be proficient in every key signature within just a few weeks.
(no knowledge of sheet music required)
