Fast Piano Lessons Blog

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.

This piano lesson is much easier to learn the song from.
I slowly walk through the whole song with a lot more clarity… The video also covers a different way to use your left hand on Great Balls of Fire. That left hand bass line is easier than in Great Balls of Fire: Part 1 and closer to what Jerry Lee Lewis actually does on his recordings.

Be sure and watch how my right hand embellishes the basic C, F and G chords in the bridge with a standard blues lick. (Although its very fast here, the lick is broken down on other videos on the blog).

Another key lesson is to thicken up any melody you play by doubling the notes in two hands, or even playing octaves in one or both hands.

*My health is doing much better, thank you all so much for all the great comments and get well soon messages! It really made my day! I have ulcerative colitis which can be very debilitating.

*This was made thanks to a a paid request!!! It received priority over the list of “suggested” requests for video lessons.

Here is the famous piano crossover lick! It gets used a lot in blues, rock and country keyboard styles. Probably one of the most popular and common licks you’ll hear used on recordings. This can be used anytime you are improvising over a C chord.

You really should transpose this to other keys. Try and see how it is based around a C major triad and it will help you take it to new keys.

Click the music to blow it up!

Video outline:
The first half of the video is a different lick over a 2 5 1 progression. In this key the 2 is Dminor, the 5 is G7 and the 1 chord is Cmajor 7.
Right around :15 is where the lick demonstration gets slowed down.

Not sure what to call this version of jingle bells… Is it more jazz or blues or rock? You decide!
This is for all the intermediate to advanced players who have been asking for something a little bit more challenging, otherwise I would normally break this lesson down into smaller steps. See if you can steal a few of my voicings for chords!

Outline:
The first half is a little reserved with some jazz voicings.. but not for long!
The second half has a walking bass line in the left hand with the right hand embellishing the melody quite a bit with some extra blues notes.
At the end I’ve attached a blues lick ending walking down from C, Bb, A, Ab, G back to C while the right hand trys to solo like crazy.
And then the final chord: C13#11 (C E G Bb, D F# A)

INSIGHT INTO THE LIFE OF BEETHOVEN:
I find that learning songs by famous composers helps me get a better picture of their life and personality. For example, after learning Fur Elise, I now know that Beethoven had a girlfriend named Elise and she was furry.

This lesson covers the famous classical song by Beethoven called Fur Elise, which you’ve all heard a million times, but this time there is a twist! It ROCKS! By using power chords in the left hand, not only can we simplify the song, we can give it more energy and a contemporary “facelift”.

First I show you an example of the final version of fur elise with power chords.
Then a slowed down left hand example covering the chords Am and E major and how to turn them into power chords.
Then we cover the right hand fingering and slowly put most of the song together.

Post a comment if you have any questions and…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!