Power Chords - Big on Bass, Low on Mud - Easy Piano Lesson
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.
Hi Chris!
The blues boogie near the beginning sounded great! Could you teach how to improvise in a “blues” manner like you did as a demo?
(I really like the boogie style!) xD
Thank-you!
Hi, Chris.
you are grate teacher, it’s true. I know how to play on piano, I learned 5 years in music shcool. now my daughter learn piano, and we have little problem - she can’t read notes, she don’t want to learn notes. and I can’t exsplain her what this very important. what I need to do?
just free cord 101 helped me out. I love the blues. thanks Lanny
Can you give some left handed accompaniment for Blue Moon? Thank you.
can u do something more big and exciting.thanx i luv ur videos.
bonjour
Je suis très interresé par ta méthode que je trouve génial et je serais ravi d’avoir la chanson :hit the road jack avec le didactique,c’est très fort à bientôt
cordialement yves