Fast Piano Lessons Blog

There is a great technique that will add some cool new sounds to your playing and improvising. It plays with adding tension and then resolving it, taking a note that sounds really bad at first and then switching to a new note. Your ear forgets about how bad that first note sounded because the new is so refreshing!
 

Minor Chord to Major Chord:

We’ll get started by sliding from minor chords into major chords. The only note that changes is the 3rd, the middle one, so slide off with your middle finger. That might take some coordination practice so you can also use index finger at first if you need to…
 

The C Blues Scale:

The C blues scale has the notes C Eb F F# G Bb C. The Cminor chord fits perfectly over that scale. All of the notes in the blues scale sound great over the C minor chord.
 

 
To transpose this scale to another key, you should think of the scales structure rather than the note names. Rather than thinking C Eb F etc. try and remember [Root, b3rd, 4th, #4th, 5th, b7th, Octave].
 

Scales & Chords:

What scale to use on which chord is pretty easy to figure out for minor chords. On a C minor chord, use the Cminor scale. Lesson: Use the scale with the same name as the chord.
 
On major chords its a little different. On a C major chord, if I wanted to use a blues scale, my first choice would be A minor blues scale.
 
It has the notes A C D Eb E G A. You’ll notice that all the notes of a C chord are in the A blues scale and also that one black note we are sliding off of in the video, the Eb.
 
So the lesson for major chords is to remember, “If I play C minor, I want to go down the interval of a minor 3rd to find the correct scale, the A minor blues scale for improvising.” The structure is the same for all chords and scales, so think down a minor 3rd from the chord you’re in to find the appropriate blues scale.
 

PIANO LESSON REVIEW:

• If you’re playing in a major chord or key, slide off the flat 3rd of the chord or key.
• If its in a minor chord or key, slide of the #4/b5th of the chord or key.
• These notes are borrowed from the blues scale.

After you can get to your chords fairly quickly in both hands, the next step is to add some rhythm and the other hand! These patterns are for accompaniment, meaning they won’t have any melody. It’s perfect for accompanying your self to play and sing at the same time.
 

How to Play Chords with 2 Hands

Right hand plays the chord, left hand plays the root of the chord down lower on the piano. The root of the chord is going to be the name of the chord. If you used the right fingering, its the note you’re playing with your thumb in the right hand.
 

Simplify the Coordination Patterns

When trying these for the first time, I like to break these patterns down to simple instructions and even say them outloud: left right left right. Both left left left. You can also practice them on your lap before even trying to worry about what notes to play.
 

 

3 Accompaniment Patterns for Singing & Playing Piano

• Left Right Left Right for 4/4 songs or Left Right Right for 3/4 time songs where you count 123 123. This is good when you want the music to be uplifting or create some rhythms to dance to.
 

 
• Both Left Left Left good for rock stuff or something with energy. You can add your right hand in as much as you want for more punch.
 

 
• HOLD each chord for 4 beats - Good for jazz and ballads. or if you are just learning a song and trying to get the hang of playing and singing it.
 

WHATS THE NEXT STEP?

If you get these basic patterns down, its really easy to add a little variation in the rhythms to create a lot of new vocabulary for your playing. When you start to try and sing along with these patterns, go slowly at first.
 
These are perfect for playing and singing at the same time because they are simpler than a piano arrangement. The patterns are repetitive allowing you to focus on hitting the right pitches with your voice and remembering the lyrics. GOSH!!! There is so much multi-tasking going on!

Where to play Chords on the Piano:

Chords sounds great in the middle of the piano, they don’t sound as good on the low end… they’re too thick and muddy. The low end of the piano is really for single notes and bass lines. If you do play any chords, you want the notes to be spaced out quite a bit.
 

How to play Power Chords

Power chords are chords that only have the root and the 5th of a chord. Another way to build these chords is to take a major or minor triad and remove the middle note. Guitar players usually call these kind of chords power chords. These chords are great for rock and blues sounds. A C power chord will only have C’s and G’s in the chord.
 

 
Playing chords in the lower octaves on the piano is a great idea because it lets your right hand play melodies around middle C. Overall both hands are playing in the “richer” registers of the piano rather than the thin hollow sounding high notes.
 

Two different ways to play power chords in C:

The first measure is the easiest power chord to play. Just take the middle note out of the triad. The second measure requires a little stretching to reach the octave.
 

 
Notice that the chord symbol reads C5 when they want you to use a power chord. You can use power chords when the chord symbol only says “C” as well or “Cmajor” but when you see C5, the song writer is specifically requesting a power chord.
(Most of the time you see it when you’re trying to read something written for guitar.)
 

Smoke On The Water with Octave Power Chords

 

 
This music below shows the notes for the rock song Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple. The root is doubled and there is only one 5th. This could be played just by your left hand, freeing up your right hand to play more power chords or even make cool rock hand signals at the audience…
 

The Three Key Points from this Piano Lesson:

• KEEP all your thick chords in the middle and upper octaves of the piano.
• As you get lower, you have to space the notes out more.
• Power chords only use the root and 5th of the chord. No middle note, aka the third.

TALK TO ME!

Please tell me what you wish had further explanation! Anything that you didn’t quite understand, or aren’t sure how to apply it. Just post a comment to this post and I’ll do my best to update the course!

I really want to make the Chords 101 Course better, as you can see I’ve posted a new blog category called “CHORDS 101″ (in the right hand link bar under “categories”) By clicking on that, you’ll find all the videos that have been associated with the Chords 101 E-book. Its easier to show examples of certain piano concepts through video. Its also more fun to watch!

Til now, I’ve just been guessing what concepts you’d like to see explained in further detail. It would be really useful to hear your feedback though!

Thanks,
Chris Marx

New Chords 101 Videos:

Beginning Piano Day One - Learning Half Steps and Whole Steps - Chords 101 Course - DAY 1

Building Major and Minor triads by counting half steps - Chords 101 Course - DAY 2

The 12 Most Common Chords on Piano - Easy Lesson with Picture Chords - Chords 101 Course - Day 3

This is the first piano lesson in the chords 101 video component of the course.

In this video, we go over everything you need to know about half steps and whole steps.
This is one of the first theory concepts you should really learn on piano. Because then we will be able to count out chords and scales with whole and half steps on the piano.

Practice finding half steps and whole steps from every key like I do in the video.
Here are a few examples below:
C to D = whole step
C to C# (sharp) = half step
B to C = half step