Chord Piano

Free Piano Chord Lessons for Beginners

The Basic Chord; the Triad:

C major chord in root position:

3= The third is two steps up (to the right. It very important, since it gives the sound of either major or minor to the chord.

5= And the fifth is… count from one, two, three, four, and five! The fifth gives a more complete sound to the chord.

Playing Chord Piano:

• Place all your right hand fingers on white keys next to each other. Finger one on your right hand- the thumb- is on the root, finger three on the third, and finger five is on the fifth. (Leave the left hand for now.)
• Play the three notes together- congratulations! You just played a chord!

Here is a free printable Piano Chords Chart for you!

Let us look closer at the pattern of the major and minor chords:

• Your root can be any note.
• The third has to be either two whole steps up, a major third which gives the color of major to the chord. Or 1 and ½ steps up, this is minor. Magic!

• The fifth has to be 3 and 1/2 steps up from the root- because a basic major or minor chord must have the interval of a “perfect” fifth between the lowest and the highest note.

What other fun can you do with the chords when you play chord piano?

The seventh chord:

You can add other notes, as spices, to change the sound of the chord. You can add a 7; just continue counting from the root as number 1, 1-3-5-7! Nice huh?

This gives the chord a strong pull- it wants to go somewhere! The strongest “pull” is in the small 7th chord (C7). The “major” (refers to the 7th here) 7th chord is more open and “jazzy” (Cmaj7).

“Sus” stands for suspension. Try to exchange the 3 for a 4; play 1, 4 and 5. Wow! Beautiful- especially if you go back again to 3. This is called a C sus-4.

Change 3 for a 2, and do the same. Similar? We call this C sus-2.

Now play the root position chord 1-3-5 with a minor third. Lower (to the left) the 5 by ½ step. Cool. This is a diminished chord! (Only small/minor thirds stacked together.)

The augmented chord:

Try the other way: Root position chord 1-3-5 with a major third. Now raise (to the right) the 5 by ½ step. Wow. This is an augmented chord!(Only big/major thirds stacked together.)

Here is a handy piano key notes and chord finder that you can print and place behind the keys.

Finally, let’s look at how to decode the chord piano symbols:

This is a 4-note chord; a minor seventh:

1. C is the root, number 1.

2. “m” means minor 3rd. (The Major 3rd is never written).

3. 7 is the seventh step up from 1. (Here is a small or minor 7- the "big" or major 7 would be written “Maj”).

Other numbers like 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, and 13; are additions to the 1-3-5 formula. The 5 can be left out - But the 1, 3 and "spice notes"; for ex. 7 should be used - since they give character!

More About Piano Chords:

• Learn piano chords
  An introduction to Chord piano and how to play piano chords.
  
  
• Chord Inversions
  This chord piano lesson continues here with more about chords and how you can "turn them around"!
  
  
• Common Chord Progressions
  Learn ways to combine chords to create well known accompaniment styles, or use the chord progressions as foundations for improvisation. Fun!


• Printable Piano Chords Chart
  For your convenience, you can print out this free chart for easy reference of the most common piano chords in "root" position.


• Piano Key Chart and Chord Finder
  Print out and place behind the piano keys! An easy way to learn the note names on the keys and some simple chords.

Fretboard map: If you want to find out how guitar chords and music theory apply to the guitar fretboard map from a fresh perspective, visit Guitar-Theory-in-Depth.com.

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