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Joined: Sep 2004
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I have been taking lessons off and on for the past three years. I have a new teacher who recommends that I learn my chords. I have a couple of books which reference the chords, but other than just placing my hands on those keys, trying the different inversions, and trying to memorize the chords, I don't know the best way to learn the chords. Can someone recommend a good instruction method and a good book which helps to make it fun and a little less boring?
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It's necessary to know the intervals for memorizing chords. A lot of books point that out.
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Scott the Piano Guy's Favorite Piano Fake Book. It is on the expensive side, but unlike most Fake Books it has the fingering for the needed chords right on the top of the page where you need them. So this makes it a lot easier to actually play without spending a lot of time looking up or figuring out chords. After you work with chords for a while you won't need this as much, but it is helpful book in the beginning. http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Piano-Guys-Favorite-Fake/dp/1423413172
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Joined: Sep 2007
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I've written several long posts on this topic. In short, memorizing the myriad chord forms by rote is essentially impossible, and even if you somehow managed to do it, you still wouldn't be able to actually use them. You're right; you don't just want a "fun" way to do it because it's fun, you need a musical (i.e. fun) way to learn about how combinations of notes sound together.
Here's a simple exercise that I positively demand that you try:
Do you know the basic C, F and G Major triads? Congratulations. In about two minutes you will be playing more than a dozen different chords, many of which you probably never even dared to try to learn before.
All you'll be doing is playing C, F and G triads (try these inversions first, written from bottom to top: G-C-E, A-C-F, B-D-G) over various other bass notes.
Here's a good one, play C Major, F Major, G Major, F Major over a C bass note, then A bass, then F, then G. Sounds almost like a song, doesn't it? Try those chords over some other notes, D and E for instance. Try C, D, F, G. Try changing the bass notes with every chord, or every other. Try a different order of triads.
In the process, without having to concentrate on the names of the chords or how to construct them, you will have played:
**Major Chords with the Root, Third and Fifth in the bass **3 different minor 7ths (A, E and D) **2 Major 9ths (the C triad over the F bass note and the G triad over C) **3 9sus4s (the F triad over G the C triad over D and the G triad over A) **and a chord that is most simply described as G/F.
Better yet, you'll have heard them, and in various musical contexts. There's even a pretty ugly one, if you hold it. That's worth hearing too.
Learning what happens when you try combinations like the ones above is an important part of learning to make up your own "unwritten" parts. Sometimes it's good to learn the sound and the feel first. You can learn the names afterward.
Try it. Really.
Have you tried it yet?
Really.
Now.
Let me know how it goes.
Greg Guarino
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I tried it. A great help for a classically trained pianist who's just getting into jazz.
Steinway 1905 model A, rebuild started 2008, completed 2012 Yahama CVP-401 Will somone get my wife off the Steinway so I can play it!
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Hi gdguarino,
I am having difficulty understanding what "F Major over a C bass note, then A bass, then F, then G" means. I understood the inversion part but this I am having trouble with. What do I actually play on my right hand and what do I play on my left hand? Please let me know.
Thanks.
Irene
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With you right hand you'll play a repetitive "cycle" of Major triads: C Major (G - C - E), F Major (A - C - F), G Major (B - D - G), F Major (A - C - F).
For the left hand, if you'd like, you can can start off with the "regular" Bass notes to get oriented: C for the C triad, F for the F triad, etc. Now it will sound like La Bamba, or Twist & Shout, or Good Lovin'.
Now let's change it up. Keep playing the same cycle of chords in the right hand, but in the left hand, play a C bass note under each of the four triads. After you've finished one four-chord cycle, change the bass note to A and play another cycle. Then change the bass note to F and play another. Then change the bass note to G and play another.
When you get comfortable with that, try to add a little rhythm to it. Play each triad twice, (two quarter notes), maybe a little staccato. Add a little syncopation if you can. It sounds like any number of pop songs, doesn't it?
If I were to write you out a lead sheet for what you just played, it would have all sorts of scary things on it: CMaj9, G9sus4, G/F, and you'd probably struggle trying to work out each chord "academically", missing the really simple relationships between them. The names we give the chords are useful for communication, but they are not how the songwriter wrote the song. He or she would use chord and melodic motifs and changing patterns of bass notes, only writing out the chord names afterwards.
The exercise above (I'm not a teacher, so "exercise" may be too formal a term) is intended to start you off on exploring the sounds of the "chords within the key" - chords made up of the notes of a single scale. There are an awful lot of songs that are composed mostly, or completely, of a set of chords like that.
Getting back to the fun part ; Try some more variations. Play the triads in a different order, maybe C, G, F, G. Try changing the bass note after every two chords, or changing it with each chord. Try them over some other bass notes in the C scale, (D and E). Try different inversions of the triads. Throw some new triads into the mix: D minor, E minor and A minor.
I started you off with a foolproof set of combinations, ones in which all of them would sound good. As you expand your experiments, you'll find some that most of us would consider ugly, an F Major triad with an E bass note is one of them. But at this stage it's really important for you to hear for yourself what works, and what doesn't, for yourself. Reading it in a book really won't cut it.
You can keep at this for quite a long time by the way. There are twelve Major scales after all, so you can repeat the whole thing in G, for example (beginning with G, C and D triads and G,E,C,D bass notes.
I'm not a beginner, but 45 years in, I'm still learning, still trying out new permutations of notes, new patterns, still having fun. Get started!
Last edited by gdguarino; 07/17/09 07:19 AM.
Greg Guarino
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I'm a structured kind of guy and this made since to me. Generic patterns that end up being chords. R = the root note or name of the chord. R+4+3 is telling you to use the R as the start of the chord, then go up scale four notes (four semi tones black and white)for the second note of the chord - then go up 3 notes (semi tones black or white) and you end up with three notes of the chord. R+4+3 = any major chord, AKA C. R+3+4 = any minor chord, AKA Cm R+3+3 = any diminished chord AKA Cdim (little O or however) R+2+5 = any sus2 chord AKA Csus2 R+5+2 = any sus4 chord AKA Csus4 R+4+3+2 = any major 6th AKA C6 R+3+4+2 = any minor 6th AKA Cm6 Notice we are into extensions - I think you get the idea of major or minor so I'll just show Major chords from here on out. R+4+3+3 = any dominant seventh AKA C7 R+4+3+4 = any major seventh AKA Cmaj7 Extensions recap: + 2 = 6th + 3 = dominant seventh + 4 = maj7 Beyond that you get into two handed broken chords, etc. and I'd suggest looking them up. For example: Slash chords AKA C/F Make the C with the right hand and sound a bass F note with the left. Once you know the basic "block" chord you can work out the inversions. The 9th, 11th and 13th take two hands and all your fingers, in fact you run out of fingers -- and have to start omitting notes - so look them up. http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/Good luck.
Last edited by majones; 07/17/09 10:17 AM.
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I've written several long posts on this topic. In short, memorizing the myriad chord forms by rote is essentially impossible, and even if you somehow managed to do it, you still wouldn't Yes. At least it was impossible for me. Learning styles do differ. But with a different approach, it was easy. I suggest "How to play from a fake book." It's a decent book, but the approach is what matters. Rather than learning random chords so eventually you can use them, you learn them only in context and only as you use them.
gotta go practice
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I've written several long posts on this topic. In short, memorizing the myriad chord forms by rote is essentially impossible, and even if you somehow managed to do it, you still wouldn't Yes. At least it was impossible for me. Learning styles do differ. But with a different approach, it was easy. I suggest "How to play from a fake book." It's a decent book, but the approach is what matters. Rather than learning random chords so eventually you can use them, you learn them only in context and only as you use them. I wholeheartedly agree. Learning chords is difficult and boring, learning music is much better; The chords come along for the ride. I learned mostly by playing along with records, back when records were thin, delicate vinyl things. I still strongly recommend that as a method, especially these days when the playback device is small and easy to "rewind" without the possibility of wearing out the grooves. The great thing about it is that there's no "translation" involved. It allows your brain to compare sound (recorded) to sound (what you play), and the feedback is immediate: a wince or a smile. Having said that, the occasional tip wouldn't have hurt me. The "exercise" I suggested above has to do with one of my earlier revelations; I stumbled on the idea that chords I already knew could make other chords, and cooler-sounding ones than I had been playing. I think I can still remember that the first one was a G triad over an E bass. Some time thereafter I believe I played a D Major triad over an E bass. At maybe 14 years old, alternating between those two was like discovering how to turn lead into gold. It took a while longer to discover the other common permutations. I think that discovering it myself helped cement the idea into my head, but I'd have welcomed a little guidance, even if it did come from someone over 50.
Greg Guarino
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Thank you Greg and everyone else. I will get started on this. I should have a new DP soon; I'm just waiting for it to arrive and I can start exploring.
Irene
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
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