Tips That Will Make You Learn Piano Chords Easier

There are some things about the piano that you can’t just play without, piano chords for example. Included in this article are some tips that will allow you to learn piano chords faster.

First, know the piano keys.

Despite the number of the keys on your piano, there are actually only 2 types – the white and the black keys. The white keys correspond to natural notes, which correspond to the 7 letters of the music alphabet – A, B, C, D, E, F, and G – and the black ones are for the accidentals or the sharp and flat notes, denoted by the flat or b and sharp # sign. The accidentals are actually the slightly modified versions of the naturals. As such, the accidentals create slightly higher or lower pitches as opposed to the natural pitch produced by the white keys.

In theory, the black keys have half as high or as low tone as the natural they modify. Learning what each key does and could do will help you a great deal in reproducing the sound of each chord.

Second, learn some important terminologies.

What makes learning piano chords quite difficult, but not necessarily impossible, is the fact that there’s so much to learn before one can actually identify which key goes to which chord. The easiest among these theories perhaps is the definition of the word ‘chord’ itself.

By definition, the word ‘chord’ warrants the use of 3 to 4 notes to create a specific tune; these are player as a group. Depending on the type of chord, there are several different types including major, minor, and dominant seventh, the notes required could vary in position. This may seem a bit difficult to understand already, but know that it only gets more harder from here. How about familiarizing yourself with the various scales as well as the 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 formula for each chord group.

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

The best way to know learning all piano chords, therefore, is to know how they are constructed. Yes, there are actually formulas used to construct each chord and formula varies depending on which type of chord is needed.

Major chords, for example, are usually composed of three to four keys or notes. These are constructed using the formula – root key, 4 halftones and 3 halftones. Note that a halftone is the least possible interval between two notes (in piano, it can be simplified into two keys). In the piano, you can easily recognize this as the distance between two keys, for example: distance between C and C#, C# and D, D and D#, and D# and E. Find the keys that comprise the C Major chord, find the root key, which could be any C key on the keyboard, the key four halftones down to its right and the key 3 halftones down to the prior key.

You see, if you know these things, specially the formula for each chord, it will be easier for you to learn piano chords.

There are many ways to learn piano chords. To learn more about the shortcuts and ‘proper’ methods of learning all the useful chords, check out the helpful resources on website.