Editor’s comment/ It is important to get your playing technique correct before you tackle chords. These words of wisdom come from pianist April Wright who nowadays plays mainly chord related pieces.
Kids take years and years to learn the piano. Practicing and perfecting. Adults who want to learn to play the piano may feel overwhelmed by the enormity of what they need to learn. Learning to play classical piano will take a lot of time but there is another option.
Chords
Learning chords can take weeks instead of years. It is important to get the proper piano playing technique at first. Then it is a matter of learning certain musical patterns.
To learn chords you need to learn about these things:
1. What the keys on the piano are called
2. The different types of chords and how to read them
3. How to form chords (by ear or by learning about key signatures and other methods)
With chords you can play a number of things like…
~ Songs you hear on the radio – rock, pop, etc
~ Play off of lead sheets (they have a basic melody and chords)
~ You can write your own songs and chord progressions
~ You can improvise and play with a band
How do you start?
1. Begin by learning the notes of the piano
2. Start learning about chords – make sure you research piano chords or you’ll find a lot of guitar related material
3. Find a song you like online and look up the chords for that song. Here’s a great chord finder.
If you do decide to go on and learn to play more piano off written notes, learning chords will make that easier and faster. It’s a great way to start and to be able to play the piano without taking so long.
About the Author
April Wright is the author of www.piano-lessons-info.com. Starting out playing classical piano, she mainly enjoys playing chord related pieces now.
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