Piano Chords A Chord Book And Forty Eight Popular Chords For Beginners

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:53:32 +0000

I am sure you have heard of Piano Chords. Well, that can be a little misleading because when you play chords, normally with you left hand, you would play chords on an electronic keyboard or electric organ rather than a piano.
When learning to play the piano you would normally learn, what I call a moving left hand rather than a three note or four-note chord. You can still use chords with a piano but you must put the bass note in first before playing the chord. So if you are playing a C chord you would play the C bass note first with your left hand then the C chord. With an electronic keyboard, you would just play the C chord and the auto-chord feature that most keyboards have will add the bass note for you.
So, for all you keyboard and organ beginners out there all you need to start with is some basic triad and seventh chords. There are hundreds of chords to learn, but guess what; you don’t need to learn them now.
Let me give you an example, if you are playing your favourite song on your keyboard and you come across a chord called C6 or C9 or even C11 what do you do, stop, and learn these chords or carry on playing and learn these chords later, if you want to. Sound confusing, it’s not really, what you do is play a simple C chord instead of the C6, C9 or C11.
When you see a number attached to a chord it means you are adding another note to that chord. So for example C6 means play a C chord and add a sixth to it, and if you don’t know what the sixth is just play the C chord and learn the sixth later.
Now I don’t want to bombard you with theory but there are certain rules when playing ninth and eleventh chords, the rule being you must include the seventh when playing these types of chords. Now, as a beginner you can substitute ninth and eleventh chords with seventh chords. So now, you have a choice, if you see a C9 chord, you can play either a C chord or a C7 chord, both are adequate and both will sound correct.
Here are the chords I recommend beginners learn first.
12 Major Chords
12 Seventh Chords
12 Minor Chords
12 Minor Seventh Chords
The 12 Major Chords are:
C, G, D, A, E, B, F#/Gb, C#/Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F
The 12 Seventh Chords are:
C7, G7, D7, A7, E7, B7, F#7/Gb7, C#7/Db7, Ab7, Eb7, Bb7, F7
The 12 Minor Chords are:
Cm, Gm, Dm, Am, Em, Bm, F#m/Gbm, C#m/Dbm, Abm, Ebm, Bbm, Fm
The 12 Minor Seventh Chords are:
Cm7, Gm7, Dm7, Am7, Em7, Bm7, F#m7/Gbm7, C#m7/Dbm7, Abm7, Ebm7, Bbm7, Fm7
That’s 48 of the most popular chords used in modern music today. If you learn these chords, you will be able to play hundreds of songs that are widely available in songbooks and sheet music.

Should I Learn To Play Piano, Keyboard Or Organ?

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:31:34 +0000

The first thing to consider when choosing the instrument you want to learn is which one do you like the best. If you like them all, then we can move onto which one is the most practical for you.
The easiest and cheapest option is the keyboard. You can buy a keyboard for less then 100 pounds and you only need to learn to read music for the right hand. The left hand is made easy because you just learn left hand chords as you need them. Typically, you would start with C chord and G chord. With a keyboard, you should be playing a simple tune within a day, it’s that easy.
The piano is a more expensive option. If you buy a real piano (not electric) then you need the room, if you go for the electric option then you really should be looking at an 88 note keyboard especially if you intend taking exams. With piano sheet music, you will need to learn to read right hand (treble clef) and left hand (bass clef). You can expect to play a simple tune within a week, based on at least half an hour practice a day.
The electric organ can be a very expensive option if bought new, fortunately, there is a healthy second hand market and you can pick up a bargain. Like the piano, you need room for the organ because they are big and heavy. At the moment, there are no portable options available in the UK. However, you can import the Yamaha D-Deck organ or the Yamaha Electone Stagea organ, which are portable and very modern looking. The organ has two keyboards and a pedal board. The right hand plays the top keyboard the left hand plays the lower keyboard and your left foot plays the pedal board. It is initially more the most difficult to learn because you need to learn to play the bass pedals however when starting to learn the organ, like the keyboard you just need to learn to read music for the right hand and use chord symbols for the left hand and bass pedals.
I personally started on piano then moved to organ and I prefer the organ because of the vast amount of sounds. With a piano, you will only ever have a piano. If I had to answer the question for you then I would say start with a cheap keyboard. If you like it, move on to a bigger keyboard, a piano, or an organ, if not, it’s not cost you a lot of money to find out that this music lark is not for you.

PSR-OR700 - Yamaha PSR-OR700 » C Chord

Piano Chords A Chord Book And Forty Eight Popular Chords For Beginners

Should I Learn To Play Piano, Keyboard Or Organ?