Piano chord charts are used to help you keep track of chord changes. And the cool thing about them is that you can use them for improvisation and composition. Here’s how.

Let’s say you have an 8-bar phrase to play. There are no chord symbols yet so you don’t know what chords you’ll be playing. You just have 8-bars in front of you. The first thing you need to know is the time signature. For our purposes here, we’ll keep it simple and use 3/4 or 4/4 time.

Now let’s select 4/4 time for our 8-bar phrase. Now we know the meter but what about the chords? Here’s where we can jot down chord progressions for either improvisation or composition. For example, you may want to begin something in the Key of F Major. Having made that decision, you know that you have 6 chords to use right away. These are F Major, G minor, A minor. B flat Major, C 7, and D minor.

All that’s left to do now is begin your piece in the Key of F Major. We usually start with the F Major chord itself so you now know that your first bar or 2 will be the F Major chord. But now a problem arises - how do you fill up the rest of the space? By using an 8-bar phrase to begin with, you don’t have to worry about filling up a lot of space and taking forever to complete a section of music.

For instance, let’s suppose we want to chart out an 8-bar phrase for improvisation purposes. We know what chords we will be working with. Now it’s just a matter of fooling around on the piano and playing with the chord choices. You may want to place a chord change at every 2-measures. You can even use 2 chords for the entire 8-bar phrase such as F Major and B flat Major.

The whole point of the piano chord charts is to have a tool that will help you navigate what chords to play and when to change chords.

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!

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The piano is a great instrument to learn and an excellent one for the beginning musician. A variety of musical styles can be played on the piano including rock, jazz, show tunes, blues, and classical music. This is a great way to expose your aspiring pianist to a variety of musical styles and also enhance their creativity and musical know-how.

Instead of purchasing a bulky traditional piano, why not opt for its space saving counterpart- the digital piano? A digital piano can be purchased to have the feel of a regular piano key but not all of them come this way. You can find full piano size digital pianos or smaller varieties if your aspiring pianist is just a beginner. Here is some additional information that will help you make a digital piano purchase.

Why Purchase a Digital Piano?

While you can find digital pianos that are quite expensive, most are quite affordable. However, a new acoustic piano can cost thousands of dollars depending on the style. Digital pianos cost much less in general than acoustic pianos.

There are other reasons why digital pianos are a great purchase. They save space because they take up less room. This make sit ideal for smaller homes or to put in your child s room. Also, they inspire creativity and enhance the learning experience because a lot also come with drum beats and different settings to mimic different instruments and styles.

Both the space saving aspect and the money saving aspect are huge considerations especially if your aspiring pianist is a complete beginner. It would be really upsetting if you purchased an acoustic piano only to realize that your child actually didn t like it. If you purchase a digital piano, then you didn t waste a lot of money.

Making Decisions

The first thing you should do when purchasing a digital piano is to do some research. Find out what is out there. Visit a few music stores to try some of them out. Read reviews. Talk to other musicians. Once you narrow down your choices, you can do some price matching and comparing.

Before you are ready to make your purchase, make sure you test it again. Testing an instrument a few times on different days is a good idea because you could have different impressions of it. And, if you decide to purchase it online, it is also a good idea to go to a store before you make the purchase.

When it comes time to buy the digital piano, you ll know that you prepared for it as best as possible.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Guitar Warehouse the best place to Buy Guitar and learn Guitar Playing Techniques. Visit our site for over 60 Free Guitar Lessons and Information about playing Guitar.

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When most of us think about taking piano lessons, the last thing we think about is turning on our computer. But now, thanks to the Internet, you can take piano lessons online and learn from an online instructor. Let’s see how this might work.

First, you need a computer with speakers. Most computers today either come with speakers or have them built in. If you need them, they are relatively inexpensive and can be purchased at any electronics store. It’s important that your online lessons include audio samples. These will help you immensely as you get to hear your online teacher perform the example for you.

Second, you want to be able to communicate with the instructor. You’re going to have questions so make sure there is a message board or forum available for questions and comments. Also, make sure your instructor actually exists! There are some websites that say they provide feedback to students but this just may be an interactive forum with no instructor present.

Third, make sure the lessons you take are easy to understand. Do you want to learn classical piano? Then make sure the lessons you’ll be taking aren’t over your head. Do you want to learn how to improvise? Take a look around and see if you can actually do it from the examples provided.

Taking online piano lessons is a good choice for you if you like to work on your own and take your time. There’s usually no pressure to perform or complete tasks, so you can relax and work at your own pace.

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!

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