In a nutshell chords are three or more notes played at the same time. Specific patterns create chords.

In order to learn these patterns that make chords we will start with learning about Major Scales.

Where W= Whole Step and H=Half Step, the pattern to making a Major Scale on the piano is….

W-W-H-W-W-W-H

In the key of C (in case you don’t know where C is on the piano it is the white key located immediately to the left of the 2 black key grouping) that pattern results in

C-D-E-F-G-A-B and again to C

Okay so now you know how to make scales. (of course you should take this pattern and try it with other keys on the piano).

Let’s move on to chords.

What we call a Major Chord is also is built from a pattern that pattern is…

R-2W-3H

Where R=Root or where you are starting from, 2W=2 Whole Steps and 3H = 3 Half Steps.

There are other ways to figure our how to make Major Chords but for the sake of simplicity this is what we are going to use. Now you can go to the piano and starting on any key use the above formula and find all Major Chords from C to Eb and beyond.

The nice thing about chords and their patterns is that your hands start to memorize, rather quickly I might add, the position it takes to form these chords and it becomes as natural as speaking…sort of.

Here are few to get you started:

C Major = C-E-G

Eb Major = Eb-G-Bb

D Major = D-F#-A

I’ve picked these 3 because their particular hand positioning are the three most common and the rest (that you will be figuring out on your own or using the chord chart at http://www.strugglingchurchmusician.us) will come much easier.

Happy Playing!

K Quinn has been playing the piano for 10+ years. She picked up the guitar 5 years ago and both for her church. Visit her website at http://www.strugglingchurchmusician.us for more church musician tools and tips.

Copyright 2005 IDE

People that play the piano beautifully fascinate me. It is interesting the different paths some of them take to become good at it. There are so many options now days for children and adults interested in becoming concert pianists, or just become comfortable with this instrument and play it whenever they feel like it, carry a tune for their enjoyment or to please others like myself.

Many excellent piano players started their education at a young age, because they were given the opportunity by their parents, relatives or friends, and with time they found a way to express themselves, increasing their self confidence opening doors of inspiration and self satisfaction to become better at their new enterprise.

In this technological age of computers and video games, these have become an excellent way to transmit information at an early age to children. The challenge remains in figuring out which video games should we buy and keep.

As far as piano learning is concerned, recently I have been shown and become interested in the PianoWizard video game package from Allegro Multimedia. piano instruction game computer software provides a fun attention grabber display setting to users, teaching them to play music first by being involved with game activities on the screen that they can interact with a fun color coded keyboard. This makes children start enjoying music without them even realizing they are stepping into the piano-playing world. This computer instruction game teaches music notation while children get more into the game, making the learning curve transparent, pressure free, fun and enjoyable.

The system works with MIDI files that one can download to a computer, in fact, the company’s main site has links to many sites that have a large amount of MIDI files and information.

I find that the price for the keyboard and PianoWizard video game package is very affordable for all the capabilities included in the piano instruction software. I really do like the fact that one can up-load any type of song in MIDI format into the game and start playing it along in minutes. I believe your time will be well spent while visiting their site http://www.pianowizard.com/piano-instruction/ and learn about their excellent piano instruction game purchasing offer.

My best wishes to you and your children in this musical and uplifting venture.

About the author:
About the author
Ivan Alegre is a Technology Market Analyst and apiano instruction game enthusiast.

I’ll never forget the time I took my first piano class. It was at the Community College of Philadelphia 1984. It was a group class with 20 or so electronic keyboards arranged around the room. We each received a class text book titled “Class Piano.” No shocker there.

I opened up the book and saw that I would be learning how to read music and play triads. I also saw that I would be playing very simple classical pieces. Now, while I enjoyed this and learned how to play these easy pieces, it just didn’t do it for me. It was because as I soon as I put the book down, I was dumbfounded! I didn’t know what to do on the piano without the book!

I soon realized that I didn’t want to become a professional note reader. No. I wanted to be able to sit down at the piano, place my fingers on a chord that called to me, and just play. I wanted to express myself at the piano in the same way visual artists are able to take pen and paper and artfully color their inner worlds. Why was this so difficult to do?

It was at this time that I started to look for new ways to play. I came upon a book that taught a modern chord position which could be used right away to make music with. Amazing! No note reading. Just chords. And once I learned a few chords, I was able to create my own music. This open position chord structure allowed me to improvise music quite easily.

Another book influenced me as well. This one showed how to play chord progressions using 4, 8 and 16 bar phrases. With this chord charting technique, I could see that I could create my own pieces. It taught me the principles of repetition and contrast - the cornerstones to musical composition.

A few chords arranged for 8-bars is repeated 2 or more times giving you what is called an “A” section of music. Another few bars of different chord changes and the “B” section is produced. And all of this was taught within a very slim volume. Maybe 46 pages or so.

After a few years of working with this material, I synthesized both methods so beginning piano players can take a modern sounding chord and work with it within a set framework. The result is a method where students are able to improvise their own music right away!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!