Fast Piano Lessons Blog

Now that you’ve learned all about half steps and whole steps, you are ready to learn the formula for building the 2 most common chords, Major triads and Minor triads. All triad means is a group of 3 notes… As far as what major means, think of it as a chord quality. Major means happy. A minor should be thought of as a sad sound.

Here are the key points in this video:

There are 12 major chords and 12 minor chords, 24 total.
They all look different, white keys, black keys, etc. so don’t learn them based on the color patterns.

SHORTCUT: To find each chord, count up the half steps:
Major Chords = 4half steps + 3half steps
Minor Chords = 3half steps + 4half steps

It’s easier to remember all the major chords by counting up 4 half steps for the distance between the first 2 notes. Then three half steps for the distance between the second two notes. This works for every major chord. Minor chords are the same way, but you have to think 3 half steps and then 4 half steps.

This is the first piano lesson in a 3 part series with examples for how to play a ballad similar to the style that Elton John uses on songs like “Your Song” or “Tiny Dancer”. In this lesson we start of with some very simple patterns for the C major and F major chords. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be comfortable with your inversions of chords and arpeggios. Don’t practice for perfection here.

Use these patterns as guidelines, making sure to change a few of the notes here and there each time you play them.

OUTLINE:

:10 - Example #1: The Easy Version: Rolling the chord Up

:25 - Example #2: Rolling the chord up & down.

:37 - Experiment with different rhythms and patterns for endless possibilities. Its up to you to be creative!

1:03 - Explanation of Chord Tones: Chord tones are the notes in the chord. Cmajor is made up of the chord tones “C E G”. Non-chord tones are all the other notes not in the chord (D, F, A, B,).

Practice Tip: Using Chord Tones and Non-Chord Tones

Use only the chord tones at first and then try to add non-chord tones as you get more comfortable with how they sound. Non-chord tones don’t always sound good with a chord so use caution. For example if you play the note F in your right hand, with the chord C major in your left hand, the E&F notes will clash. This clashing doesn’t sound good if you hold on the F for a long time. If you play the F note only for a short duration as just a passing note, then the clashing will not be that noticeable.

The fingering in the Right Hand for the C major scale is: 1231234.
(ON BOTH HANDS, Your thumbs are finger 1, index = finger 2, middle = finger 3
and pinkies = finger 5).

This is probably one of the first things you should learn on the piano. Not because it sounds good or is showy, but this exercise can teach you the basic method of moving your fingers around on the piano. Crossing under with your thumb is the smooth and fast way to span large distances on the piano.

While you’re playing, make sure that your fingers are relaxed and not lifting up from the keys. If you’re playing a note with your index finger, your pinky should still be touching the keys.
Practicing scales not only helps give you more control over your fingers, it helps you understand harmony and improvising better.

On the left hand the fingering is 54321321

With just 10 minutes a day on the Chord Master 5000, you can be on your way to the perfect chord shapes you’ve always desired… JUST KIDDING! It almost sounds like an ad for Bow-flex! If there were one exercise that I would do for fun and get good at my chords at the same time, I would play arpeggios.

The reason they are so helpful is because you practice finding the chord 8 times in each arpeggio in multiple different situations. AND THEY SOUND COOL! In the video below I walk you through how I play them:

I will play four octaves of the same chord. Lets use C for example:

1. I’ll start with two C major chords in each hand, C E G.
2. Then roll them from bottom to top, pinky to thumb in each hand (See video).
3. Left hand finishes then switched to right hand rolling from thumb to pinky.
4. While the right hand is rolling the chord, the left hand will start moving to the next highest C chord, crossing OVER THE TOP of the right hand.
5. Left hand start rolling the chord, while the right hand begins crossing UNDER the left. It moves to the next highest C chord.
6. Left hand then hits a single C note on the top when the right hand is finished and you play the opposite direction (from right to left).

NOTE: When you’re playing from right to left, this is the HARDEST part. You still play the C chord, but you’re starting with the top note G first, then E, then C. So you need to look for the G notes to correctly place the chord.

With my private lesson students that I teach in person, I ask them to play their 12 major chords and 12 minor chords in 30 seconds each and this is the exercise that helps them get up to speed! Some of them can even play 12 chords in 10 seconds!

Here is a country piano lick that would work for any part of werewolves of london or sweet home alabama. I like to use it in Jazz songs as well. For now, try and use it on ANY SONG that you’re playing with a major triad! In the video, In the video I show you how to play it on D major, C major and G major, but it will work on any major triad! Challenge yourself by trying to figure out the same notes on an F and A chord!

The pattern for this lick is: FLAT3, 3 8. These numbers are relative to any major scale. For example, lets use the C major scale (C D E F G A B).
The 8 means you count up 8 notes in the C major scale. The 3 means go up three notes (to E), and the Flat3 means count up three notes in the C major scale (to E) but then lower or flat whatever that note is a half step (Eflat).

To take this to other keys, you really should know the major scale for the key you want to play it in so that you can use FLAT3, 3, 8 to find the notes.

IF you don’t know the major scale, the trick is to find the third of the chord or triad. Lets start off with a triad like C which has the notes C, E, G. The E is the major third because its three notes up the C major scale from C (3). Count down one half step from E the major third and that is your minor third (Flat3). And then to find 8 is easy, its just the root of the chord (C) but 8 notes up.