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PIANO BY CHORDS

The Basics

On this page I am going to explain to you some of the fundamental pieces of knowledge thatyou must have before you can play a piece of music. If you already know this stuff then feel

free to skip ahead. These will be divided into the following sections. If you dont already

know this stuff then I have some bad news, this is the stuff that *must* be memoried and

learnt. !ont worry its fiarly simple stuff and you will be playing your first song very soon"

The #eyboard $ %ote names and positions

&hords and 'cales $ (hat are they

 

The Keyboard

Ok the first thing you need to do is learn the names of the keys on the keyboard, this is not as

difficult a task as it sounds, there are only ) uni+ue keys on the keyboard. The musical

alphabet goes from through to -, so every white key on any keyboard will take one of

these letter namesforget about the black keys for the moment/.

 %ow if we look at the keyboard below all the uni+ue white keys have their letters written

under them. %otice that the black keys come in a group of two followed by a group of three,

this is what we can use to identify the white keys. 0or example, the white key immedately tothe left of a group of the two black keys is called &. The white key in the middle of the two

 black keys is !, the white key to the left of the three black keys group is 0 and so on. The

note names repeat after every 1 white keys as can be seen on the keyboard below. 2ou only

need to learn the positionsn and names of the seven uni+ue white keys, this allows you to

name any white key on the keyboard.

'o go on, learn the positions of the white keys now, spend a little while on it, its best to do it

in front of a real keyboard. Once you think you know them fairly well, try closing your eyes,

 pressing a white key at random, opening your eyes and trying to name what key it is.

The unique white keys on a keyboard

Ok, I3ve focused on the white keys so far, and thats because the black keys are easy to learn

once you know your white keys. In fact the names of the black keys are based on the white

keys near them. There are only 4 uni+ue black keys on the keyboard, these have been named

and shown below.

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I must explain to you what sharp and flat means before you can understand the black key

names. Basically sharpening a note means raising it to the next note immidately to the right

of it. 'o if we find the 0 key its to the left of the three black keys/ and sharpen it, the note

immidiately to the right of it is a black key and is called 0 sharp or 05. 'imilarly the note

immidiately to the right of - is the black key -5 and so on.

The black keys on the keyboard in terms of sharps

One little thing I must explain before moving on is that each black key has two names, this is

 because of the flat operator. The flat operator is the opposite of the sharp operator, instead ofgoing up to the next note above, you go down to the next note immidiately below. 6ets look

at the next graphic to see this in action.

The black keys on the keyboard in terms of flats

'o the black key immidiately below - becomes - flat or -b, the black key below becomes

b and so on. It is important to learn and remember both the names for each black key the

sharp and the flat name/ because both names are used in music.

This should be your next task, to learn both the names for each of the black keys on the

keyboard. 'pend a little bit of time on this to get it right, because you are going to be using it

all the time throughout this webpage as well as any piece of music you may decide to play.

Chords and Scales

Ok, you3ve come this far, let me 7ust explain a couple of terms used commonly by musicians

all over the world.

chord is a group of notes played at the same time. 2es its that simple" Ok it gets a bit more

complicated, because the exact notes that are being played determine the type of chord.

&ommon chords are usually played with , 8, 9, 4 or indeed any number of notes that people

can possibly play with their hands. The chord is the basic building block of all modern rock

and pop music. In a piece of music the melody is usually based on the chord being played at

that time, we3ll see exactly how this works a little later on.

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scale is basically a se+uence of notes, it might be best to demonstrate with an example. The

most popular scale is the & :a7or scale, you can play this yourself right now. 'tart at the note

& and play every white note in succession until you get to the & above the one on which you

started. 2ou3ll notice this scale as you3ve no doubt heard it many times before.

6isten to this scale here

 %ow this is 7ust one possible scale, there are hundreds of different types of musical scales,

thankfully we will only need to know a couple to be able to play rock and pop music.

!ont worry you3re doing well, you almost know enough to play your first song"

 Your first piece

;xcellent, you3re doing fantastic so far" %ow I am going to show you how to play your first

 piece of music, 'ilent %ight. I know, its a far cry from the Beatles but dont worry once you

get these few basic chords down you will be able to pick up a Beatles or any other song and

 play it.

I3m going to throw you in the deep end here, you need to work out the melody for 'ilent night

 by yourself by ;<. This means listening to the piece and using trial and error to work out

how the melody goes. Its not that difficult and its the only way to learn a tune if you dont

want to learn to read music.

=eres a midi of the melody of 'ilent %ight to help you work it out. 6et me help you get

underway, its all white keys and it starts on -. The first bit goes --;, the next bit is

!!B&&-. Ok thats all I3m going to help for the time being, you need to learn to pick upsongs by ear so you3ll have to keep playing the rest of it and working out what notes it

contains. :ake sure to play the melody with your right hand as we3ll need the left hand in a

minute to play some accompaniment.

 Your first chords

 %ow that you3ve got the melody down you want to make it sound a bit more like a piano

 piece by adding something with your left hand to it. That something is going to be chords.

The reason I have chosen 'ilent %ight as your first piece is because it only contains three

chords, and they are all of the same type $ :a7or.

<emember, a chord is 7ust two or more notes played at the same time, for the purposes of this

song we are going to be using three note chords also known as triads.

'o what are the chords you need to know> & :a7or, 0 :a7or and - :a7or, I will now show

you how to play each of these chords on the keyboard. To play the chord simply press the

keys marked for the chord. 'o to play & :a7or I would press &, ; and - at the same time.

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& :a7or

0 :a7or 

- :a7or 

2ou should memorie the above chords because you3ll need them when you try to play thesong.

The next thing you need is a ?chord sheet?, this is a way of telling you where the chords come

with respect to the melody and lyrics. 'o If you look below I3ve included a chord sheet for

'ilent %ight, now what you need to do is play the melody which you picked out by ear earlier 

and the chords as specified by the sheet below, together.

'o to start you off, you would play the first note of the song a -/ with your right hand while

at the same time playing the & chord as given above with your left hand. %ow simply keep

holding the & chord while you play the first line of the song. (hen the melody gets up to the

section where the - chord is simply play a - chord in your left hand and continue with themelody in the right. &ontinue this all the way through until you can play the whole song with

chords in your left and melody in your right hand at the same time. 2ou might want to print

out the chord sheet below and take it over to your piano or keyboard.

n example of playing 'ilent %ight with chords and melody at the same time. 2ou3ll notice

on the example that I am moving the chords around a little bit. That means that i3ll play the &

chord low down then next time play it higher up on the keyboard. 2ou can try this once

you3re comfortable with the chords as well, it makes the song a bit more interesting.

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C

Silent night, holy night

G C

All is calm, All is bright

F CRound yon Virgin, Mother and Child

F C

Holy Infant so Tender and mild,

G C

Slee in hea!enly eace,

C G C

Slee in hea!enly eace"

#$nding Riff%

C G C

nd there you go" 2ou3re first piano song, that wasnt so difficult was it>

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Whole tones and Half tones

-reat well now that you3ve got your first song down its time to do a tiny bit more theory, dont

worry I3ll try to keep it short.

 %ow that you know three :a7or chords & 0 and -/, I3m going to give you a formula that willallow you to work out any :a7or chord that you may need.

Whole Tones and Half Tones

Before I can give you the formula I 7ust need to take a second to explain to you what a whole

tone is and what a half tone is.

half tone is the smallest possible interval between two notes on the piano, so looking at the

keyboard below & to &5 would be a half$tone, &5 to ! would be a half$tone, ! to ;b would

 be a half tone. Interestingly ; to 0 and B to & are also half tones because they do not have a

 black note separating them.

 %ow very simply, a whole tone is twice the width of the half tone intervalstrange that, isnt

it>/. 'o looking at the keyboard below we see some whole tones as being & to !, ! to ;, ; to05, 05 to flat, flat to Bflat and Bflat to &. There are of course more, to B, B to &5 etc,

these are all whole tones, once you get the idea of what a whole tone and a half tone is you

are ready to move on.

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Common Chords

Ok congratulations on getting this far, you3re almost ready to unlock a whole host of songs"

2ou 7ust need to know a couple of the most common chord types and how to work them outthen you3ll be in business"

Once you work out the notes of the chords given below you would normally play the chord

 by pressing all the notes of the chord at the same time. ;very time you work out a new chord

you should try this to hear how the chord sounds.

The Major Chord

2ou3ve already seen three of these& 0 and -/ before, in 'ilent %ight. %ow I am going to

give you the power to work out any :a7or chord anywhere on the keyboard.

'ay we wanted to work out the ma7or chord - :a7or the process is as followsits probably

 best to practise this at the keyboard/.

0ind the note - on the keyboard this is known as the root note of the chord.

G major chord

 

 %ext count up 9 half tones from - to get you to B, this is the second note of your chord. %ow

count up 8 half tones from B to get you to !. This is your - ma7or chord -$B$!"

'o the :a7or chord consists of the root note, a note 9 half tones above the root note, a note 8

half tones above the middle note. Thats it" s soon as you read that you 7ust learnt all the

ma7or chords on the keyboard"

The Major chord consists of the an interal of ! half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of %

half tones

6ets try another one, work out the :a7or chord.

0ind the root note, in this case .

&ount up 9 half tones from to get &5.

&ount up 8 half tones from &5 to get ;

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nd wolah" we have the ma7or chord, $ &5 $ ;"

(ant some more practise> (atch the video examples for how to work out & :a7or  and ;

:a7or .

Ok you3re almost there, two more chords to go.

The Minor Chord

The minor chord is another chord that is used commonly in many popular songs, it has a

sadder more laid back tone to it then the ma7or chord.

The Minor chord cosists of an interal of % half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of ! half

tones

(hat does this mean> (ell the process is the same as the process to work out the ma7or

chord. 'uppose we wanted the - minor chord commonly denoted as -m/ we would start byfinding the root note, in this case -. %ow count up 8 half tones from - to get Bflat, now

count up 9 half tones from Bflat to get ! and theres your -m chord, - $ Bflat $ !"

I want you to convince yourself that the following minor chords are indeed correct, it will be

easier to do this if you have a keyboard in front of you.

m @ & ;

&m @ & ;flat -

0m @ 0 flat &

;xcellent" One more chord to go then we can start looking at some tunes.

The 7th Chord

This is another very popular chord in music, it is known as the Ath chord or dominant Ath. It

is usually written on chord sheets as &A, !A, ;A etc, and it is very similar to the ma7or chord.

The &th chord consists of an interal of ! half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of % half

tones follo"ed #$ an interal of % half tones

The Ath chord thus is comprised of four notes, not three like the previous chords.

I will walk you through the process of working out a Ath chord. 'uppose we want ;A, we find

the root note $ ; on the keyboard.

 %ow count up 9 half tones from ; to get to -5

 %ow count up 8 half tones from -5 to get you to B

 %ow count up 8 half tones from B to get you to !

'o your ;A chord would consist of ; $ -5 $ B $ !

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Try to work out the following Ath chords

-A @ - B ! 0

A @ &5 ; -

;A @ ; -5 B !

 hew" That was a lot of information wasnt it> (ell now that its done, you are ready to forge

on and play some tunes"

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'in(erin(

I3ll take a minute here to explain the basic fingering that you should be using with the three

note and four note chords taught on this site. &orrect chord fingering is important as it will

allow you to play chords easily as well as change between different chords +uickly.

 Your Hand

'hown above is the left hand with each finger numbered. <emember the finger numbers as Iwill be using them in this section. The right hand is similarly numbered.

Major and Minor Chord Fingering

6ets take the - ma7or chord we learnt in the last section, it looks like this.

G major 

 Left Hand 

The simplest fingering for a three note chord such as this with the left hand is 4$8$), that is,

 pinky, middle finger and thumb. The pinky would go on the -, the middle finger on the B and

the thumb on the !. This fingering can be used for all ma7or and minor chords on the

keyboard regardless of whether they have black keys or not.

 Right Hand 

The same fingering reversed can be used for playing this chord with the right hand, )$8$4. 'o

in this case the thumb goes on -, the middle finger on B and pinky on !.

 Excercises

Try working out and playing these chords and playing with either hand to test out this

fingering. 2ou can play each hand separately or play both hands togetherC

& :a7or 

; :a7or $ %otice that the fingering still works even though -5 is a black key.

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- :inor $ B flat is a black key in this chord.

flat :inor $ This is a tricky one, its notes are flat, B and ; flat.

7th Chord Fingering

<emember from the common chords section that Ath chords are four note chords, because of

this we cannot use the 4$8$) or )$8$4 fingering used to play ma7or chords otherwise we3d

have no fingers left to play the top note"

6ets take the -A chord for our analysis, it looks like this.

G7 Chord

!oes this make sense> If not try going over the common chords section again.

 Left Hand 

The fingering for this chord with the left hand is 4$8$$). inky on -, middle finger on B,

index finger on ! and thumb on 0. If you have small hands this might be difficult to play.

 Right Hand 

The same fingering reversed can be used for the right hand, )$$8$4. Thumb on -, index on

B, middle on ! and pinky on 05.

 Excercises

Try out this new fingering on the following four note chords $ -A,A,BA.

These fingerings should work for all 9 note Ath chords on the keyboard. In the advanced

chords section the ma7or and minor Ath chords are explained and these fingerings will workfor those as well. Basically what you have 7ust learnt is that two basic fingerings will work

for all ma7or, minor, Ath, ma7or Ath and minor Ath chords" Too easy isn3t it>

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Inersions

Inersions

0irst things first, dont panic" This isnt as complicated as it sounds, its a simple techni+ue that

will make your songs sound a lot better and also give you much more choice in choosingwhat to play when you see a chord symbol.

Dp until now you have been playing all your chords in what is known as root position, this

means playing the note with the same name as the chord as the lowest note of your chord.

C Major Chord

The & :a7or chord shown above is in root position because the & note is on the bottom, but

hold on a second, what if we dont play & at the bottom, but we play it at the top like this.

C Major Chord first inversion denoted as C/E

 %otice that its still the same chord, & :a7or. It contains the same notes as your regular &

:a7or chord, but the root note &/ is now at the top. Try playing this and comparing the

sound it makes with the regular & :a7or chord, it sounds slightly different but has the same

+uality as the normal & ma7or chord. 2ou can play this version of the chord almost anywhere

you see a & chord specified. If they specifically want you to play this version of the & chord

then they would denote it as &E;. This means ?play me a & chord but use ; as the bottom

note?.

=ow many such inversions are there for a particular chord> (ell simple maths tells us that

for a 8 note chord there are three possible ways to play it. ;ither with the & on the bottom, the

; on the bottom or the - on the bottom. The third way to play the & chord is shown below,

with - on the bottom.

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C Major chord second inversion denoted as C/G

0or a four note chord such as &A & ; - 5/ there are four possible ways to play it. (ith

either the &, ;, - or 5 on the bottom. Try out each of the different ways of playing this

chord and see how they sound. It may take you a while to work out the chord in the new

 positions but believe me its well worth the effort.

This applys to any chord you may care to come across, they can all be played inverted to give

a slightly different feel to the chord.

(ell thats all there is to inversions, they are a simple yet powerful way of giving yourself

much more freedom when choosing what notes to play for a given chord.

 %ow what you need to do is go back to some of the songs you did on the previous pages and

try to play them using some inverted versions of the chords. ;xperiment with this, try

different inversions on different chords, play some chords in their root positionsthe position

you have always been playing them in/ while playing others in their inverted positions. 2ou3llsoon find that you can get a much nicer sound by using the inverted versions of the chords at

the right times. good song to try this with first would be Dnder the bridge. This song

sounds good no matter what position you play the chords in.

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Slash Chords

Slash Chords

(ell if you havent noticed by now, I3m trying to show you things in such as way as to allow

you to pick up any chord sheet and play the song on it. nd no, slash chords are not thechords used solely by the -uns3n3<oses guitarist 'lash"

!on3t worry, theres nothing tricky about this either. slash chord will be denoted on a chord

sheet as something like E; or !mE& or ;AE. (hat this means is you play the chord

specified on the left hand side of the slash but below the chord you add the note specified on

the right hand side of the slash. The note on the right hand side may be part of the chord

specified on the left hand side, or it may be a completely unrelated note. ll you have to do is

 play this note below the regular chord.

'o to illustrate my point E; would be :a7or chord, with the ; note played below it like

so.

If you have been paying close attention on the last page and this one you would notice that

this is infact the second inversion of with an extra ; added on top/. If you dont understandthis, dont worry, its 7ust a bit of unimportant musical theory.

!mE& would be the !minor chord played with a & below it like this.

nd so on for any chord. Theres nothing tricky about this, it is very common on chord sheets

and guitar tabulature as a way of specifing the exact notes that should be played to get the

same sound as the performer was getting. 'o now when you see symbols like &E; or -AE

you will know exactly what to do"

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Advanced Chords

!ont be fooled by the title here, there is nothing more complicated about the chords I am

about to show you from the ones you already know. These chords are 7ust different  thats all.

I3m showing you these chords because they are also +uite common in popular music and as

such, come up +uite often on chord sheets you may find on the internet. Once you learn these,even more songs will open up to you"

Major 7th

If you3ve been following the pages in order then you would already have come across the

ma7or Ath chord in Dnder the bridge and Imagine. The ma7or Ath chord is commonly denoted

as -ma7A, ma7A, Bma7A etc. Its +uite simple to play

The Major &th consists of an interal of ! half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of % half

tones follo"ed #$ an interal of ! half tones)

'uppose we wanted to work out the -ma7A chord we would take the following steps

G major 7th chord

0ind the root note -, count up 9 half tones to get B, count up 8 half tones to get !, count up 9

half tones to get 05. -iving you the -ma7A chord.

lease take care to notice that the -ma7A is different from the -A chord which has notes - B

! and 0. The musical guru3s who came up with this stuff are really out to confuse us"

Minor 7th

Fust as the ma7or Ath chord is very similar to the regular ma7or chord, the minor Ath chord is

very similar to the regular minor chord. In a chord sheet the minor Ath chord would bedenoted as &mA -mA mA etc.

The minor &th chord consists of an interal of % half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of !

half tones follo"ed #$ an interal of % half tones)

'o here are some minor Ath chords make sure you understand how to work out the notes they

contain. The process is exactly the same as every other chord, 7ust follow the formula for the

minor Ath chord.

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C Minor 7th chord

G Minor 7th chord

Ok if you3re getting confused by all these new chords then dont worry, in the next section you

can review all the chords you know to get them clear in your mind. Then you3ll be ready to

try out some tunes that use these new chords"

 

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Chord Revision

2ou might be getting a little confused with the five chords you now know, and its

understandable, they all have similar names and similar notes so its easy to get them

confused. 6ook at the table below and memorie it if you dont already know it to clear up any

confusions about what notes belong to what chords. In the following table, G denotes anyletter of the musical alphabetie B&!;0 or -/

&hord %ame 'ymbol

Chord Name S$m#ol Interals *Co+nt in half tones,No) Notes In

Chord

G:a7or G 9 followed by 8 8

GAth lso known as

dominant Ath/GA 9 followed by 8 followed by 8 9

G:a7or Ath Gma7A 9 followed by 8 followed by 9 9

G:inor Gm 8 followed by 9 8

G:inor Ath GmA 8 followed by 9 followed by 8 9

lease be careful to note the subtle differences between these chords, they are by far the most

common chords used in music so you will be re+uired to work them out when you3re playing

a tune. 0or this you need to know the intervals column which is probably best to memorie.

=eres a +uick midi where I play each of the chords in a se+uence so you can hear them. I will

 play each type of chord with a root note of &, so it3ll be &, &A, &ma7A, &m, &mA. %otice thedistinctive sound each type of chord has.

Ok you doing fantastic" %ow move on to the next section and play some tunes using the new

chords you3ve 7ust learnt"

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Bl+es

I3m not a professional pianist but I have been messing around with blues and 7a so I thought

I3d show you how to play some very simple blues piano. 'imple blues consists of only three

chords, let3s play in the key of -. This makes our blues have the following chords.

-A . . . H -A . . . H -A . . .H -A . . .H

&A . . . H &A . . . H -A . . .H -A . . .H

!A . . . H &A . . . H -A . . .H -A . . .H

Fust play notes of each chord, the root and Ath. I.;

-A @ - 0

&A@ & Bb

!A @ ! &

'o if you play it through it should be something like thisC

'imple Blues &hords

 %ext you need a melody, blues is great because you simply mess around with the blues scale

which has 4 notes in it"C

-, Bb, &, &5, !, 0

Try messing around till it sounds something like thisC

'imple Blues :elody Improvisation

 %ow all thats left is to put them together into something like this"C

'imple Blues

#eep in mind all the 3right hand3 stuff your hearing is made up of exactly those 4 notes above,

sometimes I might play more than one note at a time but never any notes other than those 4.

The left hand is only ever the root and Ath as I described above. The great thing is when you

 put it together it sounds more complex than it really is" Timing is very important, and

something I struggle with, you have to get that 3swing3 feel to make it work.

!ouncy !lues

6ets go through a few more ideas for what you can do with a Blues chord progression. Try

 playing the bass line with your left hand as follows

Bouncy Blues Bass 6ine

This is what I3m playing to get this soundC

-AC -, -one octave up/, B,!..B,!

&AC &, & one octave up/, ;,-..;,-

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!AC !, ! , 05, .. 05,

 %ow with your right hand noodle around the - pentatonic scale. -,,B,!,;,-up high/. It3s

almost identical to the blues scale, in fact you can play both interchangibly, or play mostly

 pentatonic and throw in the extra notes from the blues scale Bb, !b/ here and there to 3blues

up3 your sound. I find the pentatonic is more of a happy sound and the blues scale is, wellmore of a bluesy sound. This is very personal though, 7ust play around and see what feels

right.

ut them together and you3ve got something like this"

Bouncy Blues

Classic !lues

6ets try a very classic sounding blues, the bass line should sound like this

&lassic Blues Bass 6ine

=ere3s what we3re doing with the left hand for bass

6eft hand

-AC -! -!, ;, ;

&AC &- &-, ,

!AC ! !, B, B

 %ow play with the blues scale on your right to get this

&lassic Blues

Wal"in !lues

=ere3s an example of a walkin bass line style blues.

(alkin blues

This is a very simple walking bass line, basically walk up and down the notes of the chords.

-AC -, B, !, ;, 0, ;, !,B

&AC &, ;, -, , Bb, , -, ;

!AC !, 05, , ! 2ou only sit on !A for one bar so there isn3t enough time to walk up and

down/

(ith the right you can dab the chords on the off beat or improvise around the blues scale.

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-a..

I want to show you how to play some basic Fa piano. The beauty of Fa is that it can be as

simple or as complex as you like, and 7ust because it3s simple doesn3t mean it should sound

 bad. 6ets take a look at the song 3aper :oon3 made popular by ;lla 0itgerald, 'inatra and a

host of others. By the end of this lesson and with a bit of practise you should have it sounding

like thisC

aper :oon 0ull

=ere are the chordsC

aper :oon &hords

I wish I could sing because then I could show you how to sing along with this, basically hit

the root note with your left hand, and play the chord with your right hand and sing the

melody over the top.

'ince I can3t sing, I3ll show you how to do an instrumental version of this song. 6et3s start

with the melody, as with everything on this site you need to learn it by ear, I don3t feel you

need to be able to read music to play 7a though it certainly does help. =ave a listen to a

 proper version of this song so you get a full feel for it, but the melody should go something

like thisC

aper :oon :elody

It3s a nice little tune, once you3ve learnt to play the melody you3re pretty much half way there"

 %ow for the bass line, for the most part it3s enough to 7ust hit the root note, so on a - chord,

 play -, and ; chord play ; etc. It should sound something like thisC

aper :oon Bass

=ave a few goes until you3re comfortable with the bass line, then put the two together to get ahalf decent rendition like thisC

aper :oon Jerse

To spice it up a bit you can add a little bit to the bassline, step to the root note from a half step

above or below the note adding a bit of swing then try playing that along with the melody like

soC

aper :oon 'wingy

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 %ow what you need is the bridge, the melody goes like thisC

aper :oon Bridge :elody

=ave a look over the chord sheet again for the chords to the bridgeC

aper :oon &hords

lay the bass line in the same style as the verse until you get it sounding something likeC

aper :oon Bridge

Once you have the chorus down you can play the full song, it goes Jerse$Jerse$Bridge$Jerse

like thisC

aper :oon

This method of playing a single note bass line with the melody can work with +uite a few

 7a songs, though not with all of them, in the next few weeksEmonths i3ll show you a few

other simple ways of constructing a half decent sounding 7a song.

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/oo0in( for a Chord Chart for the Piano1

construction of a piano chord chart can be easy once you understand the formula for each

chord.

It all follows from the intervals of the respective scales. 0or example, the ma7or scale for the

key of & is &,!,;,0,-,,B,&, where the first K&L is K)L, K!L is KL, K;L is K8LMthe last K&L

is K1L.

The notes in the extended chords, Nth, ))th and )8th, can extend beyond the last note in the

scale K1L/ so we 7ust repeat the scale pattern out to the )8th from the root including the root

note/, in this case it becomesC &,!,;,0,-,,B,&,D232'242A. The last KL is number K)8L.

Dsing the above pattern and knowledge of the ma7or scales, you can use the chord chart

 below to construct the chords for every key. %ote that a KbL in front of the number means that

the note in that position should be made flat lowered  one$half step/ and a number with a K5L

in front of it means that the note in that position should be made sharp raised  one$half stepC

Chord Name S$m#ol 'orm+la5

:a7or :, ma7, implied is

missing

) 8 4

:inor m ) b8 4

ugmented aug, ) 8 54

!iminished dim, o ) b8 b4

!ominant Ath A ) 8 4 bA

:a7or Ath :A, ma7A ) 8 4 A

:inor Ath mA ) b8 4 bA

!ominant Ab4 Ab4 ) 8 b4 bA

ugmented !ominant Ath, !ominant 'eventh

'harp 4

A54 ) 8 54 bA

:inorE :a7or 'eventh mE:A, mEma7A ) b8 4 A

!iminished :inor 'eventh, :inor 'eventh 0lat

0ive, =alf$!iminished 'eventh

mAb4 ) b8 4b bA

!iminished Ath dimA ) b8 b4 bbA

'uspended, 'uspended 9th sus, sus9 ) % 9 4

:inor 'uspended, :inor 'uspended 9th msus, msus9 ) b8 9 4

:a7or th , : ) 8 4

:inor th m ) b8 4 'ixE%ine, 'ixth dd %inth EN, addN ) 8 4 N

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:inor 'ixE%ine, :inor 'ixth dd %inth mEN, maddN ) b8 4 N

dd %ine addN ) 8 4 N

:inor dd %ine maddN ) b8 4 N

:a7or %inth :N, ma7N ) 8 4 A N

:inor %inth mN ) b8 4 bA N

!ominant %inth N ) 8 4 bA N

!ominant 'harp %ine A5N ) 8 4 bA 5N

!ominant 0lat %ine AbN ) 8 4 bA bN

:inor ;leventh m)) ) b8 4 bA 6 ))

!ominant ;leventh )) ) % 4 bA 6 ))

!ominant 'harp ;leventh A5)) ) % 4 bA 6 5))

:a7or 'harp ;leven, :a7or 'eventh 'harp

;leventh

ma75)), ma7A5)) ) % 4 A 6 5))

:a7or Thirteenth ma7)8 ) % 4 A 6 77 )8

:inor Thirteenth m)8 ) b8 4 bA 6 77 )8!ominant Thirteenth )8 ) % 4 bA 6 77 )8

* Bolded numbers are optional

=ere some of the more common ones played in the Major and Minor triadsC

Root 8e$ Major Chord Triads Minor Chord Triads

& &, ;, - &, ;b, -

&5 E !b &5, 0, -5 &5, ;, -5

! !, 05, !, 0,

!5 E ;b ;b, -, 5 ;b, 05, 5

; ;, -5, B ;, -, B

0 E ;5 0, , & 0, -5, &

05 E -b 05, 5, &5 05, , &5

- -, B, ! -, 5, !

-5 E b -5, &, ;b -5, B, ;b

, &5, ; , &, ;

5 E Bb 5, !, 0 5, &5, 0

B E &b B, ;b, 05 B, !, 05

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There are 'o+r Main Piano Chord T$9es each are further distinguished by what’s often

referred to as their quality (:a7or, :inor, ugmented, !iminished, 'uspended):

• Triad

• 'eventh

• ;xtended

• Other 

6etPs explore the construction of the triad chordsM

The TRIAD PIANO CHORD:

<emember triads are the simplest chord pattern consisting of only three notes.

0urther, these three$note triad/ chords can be one of the followingC

Major:Symbol: M or maj, imlied if no symbol is resent 

This the probably the most basic and familiar chord form.

It consist of the 7st2 %rd and ;th note in a ma7or piano scale.

;xampleC &ma7 or &: @ & ; -

Minor:Symbol: m

This the probably the second most basic chord form.

It consist of the 7st2 lo"ered %rd and ;th notes in the scale.

;xampleC

&m @ & ;b -

Diminished:Symbol: dim or o

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Fust like the name suggest, a diminished triad chord is a minor triad chord with the last note

diminished  or lowered  one$half step.

It consist of the 7st2 lo"ered %rd and lo"ered ;th notes in the scale.

;xampleC &dim or &o @ & ;b -b

A+(mented:Symbol: aug or !

Fust like the name suggest, an augmented triad chord will last note in the chord augmented  or

raised  one$half step.

It consist of the 7st2 %rd and raised ;th notes in the scale.

;xampleC &aug or & @ & ; -5

S+s9ended or S+s9ended 'o+rth:Symbol: sus or sus"

Fust like the name suggest, a suspended chord is a chord that when played doesnPt sound

KresolvedL The listener is sort left KhangingL or susended , waiting for another note or chord

to finish the se+uence. ItPs like the following incomplete sentenceC KOnce you play a

chordML

It ends without giving you what you need to complete the thought.

In a suspended chord the 8rd note is typically replaced by the 9th note.

It consist of the 7st2 !th and ;th notes sometimes the 8rd note is also played/

;xampleC &sus or &sus9 @ & 0 -

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<nderstandin( The Circle of 'ifthsThe circle of fifths, introduced by Fohann !avid =einichen in )A1, is a visual arrangement

of related keys. lthough its name gives the impression that itPs a difficult concept to grasp,

itPs really 7ust an easy way to remember the number of sharps and flats in a key signature and

the ma7or and minor key relationships.

Shar9s and 'lats

If you can imagine a clock for a moment, where each hour represents a particular key, you

can identify that keyPs sharps and flats. 6etPs say thatC

• )CQQ or K0:00L represents the & :a7or key or the :inor key/M

• )CQQ represents the - :a7or key or the ; :inor key/M

• CQQ represents the ! :a7or key or the B :inor key/M

• 8CQQ represents the :a7or key or the 05 :inor key/M

• 9CQQ represents the ; :a7or key or the &5 :inor key/M

• 4CQQ represents the B :a7or key or the -5 :inor key/M

• CQQ represents the 05 :a7or key or the ;b :inor key/M

• ACQQ represents the !b :a7or key or the !b :inor key/M

• 1CQQ represents the b :a7or key or the 0 :inor key/M

• NCQQ represents the ;b :a7or key or the & :inor key/M

• )QCQQ represents the Bb :a7or key or the - :inor key/, and

• ))CQQ represents the 0 :a7or key or the ! :inor key/.

Perfect 'ifths

If youPll notice, each hour or key/ is separated by a perfect fifth moving clockwise/.

 perfect fifth is an interval made up of three whole

steps and one half step. 0or example, perfect fifth

above & is -, and a perfect fifth above ; is B. This is where the pattern gets its name . Itfollows a uni+ue pattern on our imaginary clock whereC

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• M the perfect fifth of the & :a7or key is -.

• M the perfect fifth of the - :a7or key is !.

• M the perfect fifth of the ! :a7or key is .

• M the perfect fifth of the :a7or key is ;.

• M the perfect fifth of the ; :a7or key is B.

• M the perfect fifth of the B :a7or key is 05.

• M the perfect fifth of the 05 :a7or key is &5.

• M the perfect fifth of the &5 :a7or key is -5.

• M the perfect fifth of the -5 :a7or key is !5.

• M the perfect fifth of the !5 :a7or key is 5.

• M the perfect fifth of the 5 :a7or key is 0.

• M the perfect fifth of the 0 :a7or key is &.

This pattern helps us determine the sharps and flats of a signature because theyPre always a

 perfect fifth away moving clockwise/. Fust remember that sharps increase in the clockwisedirection while flats increase in the counter$clockwise direction noteC when you move

counter$clockwise, each hour$ or key$ is separated by a perfect fourth/.

Related 8e$s

s an example, the & :a7or and :inor keys are related because they both lack sharps and

flats. Based on the circle of fifths, we discover that a single flat relates the 0 ma7or key to the

! minor key while a single sharp relates the - ma7or key to the ; minor key as well. Two

flats relate the Bb ma7or key to the - minor key while two sharps relate the ! ma7or key to

the B minor key too. Three flats relate the ;b ma7or key to the & minor key while threesharps relate the ma7or key to 05 minor key. 'tarting to see a pattern> The concept is of

course easier to understand with a visual.

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circle of fifthschart 

The 3nharmonic Notes

The 4CQQ, CQQ, and ACQQ hours are uni+ue in that they help you identify different notes with

the same 9itch. These notes are said to be enharmonic to each otherC

• =;:>>? can either be B :a7or -5 :inor/ with five sharps from the clockwise

 perspective/ or &b :a7or b :inor/ with seven flats from the counter$clockwise

 perspective/.

• =@:>>? can either be 05 :a7or !5 :inor/ with six sharps from the clockwise

 perspective/ or -b :a7or ;b :inor/ with six flats from the counter$clockwise

 perspective/.

• 6astly, =&:>>? can either be &5 :a7or 5 :inor/ with seven sharps from the

clockwise perspective/ or !b :a7or Bb :inor/ with five flats from the counter$

clockwise perspective/.

•

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'ometimes, when looking at chords, you will see something that looks like &A, &ma7A or

&dim, etc. by the way, it does not have to be a & chord/ These chords all chords, in fact/ are

 based around the triad that we talked about earlier. to play a Ath chord, simply play the

seventh note in the scale with the triad/, but drop it by one half step. To play the ma7or Ath is

even easier. ll you have to do for a :a7A is to play the seventh along with the original triad.a diminished dim/ chord is a bit more difficult to learn at first, but will soon become second

nature. To play a diminished chord, play the triad, but instead of playing the second and third

normally, play the second as you would in a minor chord dropped one half step/ and also

 play the fifth dropped one half step. Think of it as a ?minor minor? chord. lso, a diminished

chord is often played with a sixth eg. &dim @ &, ;b, -b, /. There are many other types of

chords which will be discussed a bit later. diminished chord can be derived from the fact

that it is compressed between a frame of two intervals in which there is a third minor and

there is a diminished 4th involved. !iminished 4th, diminished chord. This is a good way to

recognie chords by ear when played separately or when you know most of your intervals by

ear. There are other types of chords that are a bit easier to construct, such as the augmented

one. It is called ugmented because the augmented interval is the 4th. 'o for example, in the

c ma7or scale, the regular pattern for this chord would be the notes c, e and g5.