How Do You Play A Minor Chord On The Piano
To play a minor chord on the piano, do this:
- Use the minor chord spelling 1, b3, 5.
- Choose the root note you want your chord to start from .
- Use the major scale of this root note. E.g. C major scale for C minor chord.
- Count up 3 notes from the root note, then flatten it.
- Count up 5 notes from the root note.
- Play the root, flat 3rd & 5th all together.
- Use this fingering: 1, 3, 5 thumb, middle, pinky.
How Do You Play A Major Chord On The Piano
To play a major chord on the piano, do this:
- Use the major chord spelling 1, 3, 5.
- Choose the root note you want your chord to start from .
- Use the major scale of this root note. E.g. E major scale for E major chord.
- Count up 3 notes from the root note.
- Count up 5 notes from the root note.
- Play the root, 3rd & 5th all together.
- Use this fingering: 1, 3, 5 thumb, middle, pinky.
The Chords In A Piano Chords Chart
We’ll get to the printable chords chart below, but first, let me show you how chords work it’s easy- really!
Tip!
When you start to learn piano chords, I recommend getting a book with melodies and simple chords to practice with, like this Easy Fake Book that I also often use in my studio.
It has easy, well-known songs to practice playing simple piano chords to and making your own accompaniments.
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Pumped Up Kicks Foster The People
This is another one I used to play in a wedding band.
I think its great for beginners, because it gives your left hand a workout, but remains the same throughout. Never changing.
The video will show you how to play the bass line.
The chords for the whole song are just Dm, F, C and G.
The hard part is getting the left hand to do the bass line while your right hand plays the melody/chords.
Once you get it, its a blast!
What Are 6th Piano Chords
6th piano chords are a common triad, with a 6th note added on top. You can have minor 6 or major 6 chords, and they are built by adding a 6 on top of the minor or major chord spelling.
Common 6th piano chords quick list:
- C major 6 C, E, G, A
- C minor 6 C, Eb, G, A
- D major 6 D, F#, A, B
- D minor 6 D, F, A, B
- E major 6 E, G#, B, C#
- E minor 6 E, G, B, C#
- F major 6 F, A, C, D
- F minor 6 F, Ab, C, D
- G major G, B, D, E
- G minor 6 G, Bb, D, E
- A major 6 A, C#, E, F#
- A minor 6 A, C, E, F#
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Bubbly By Colbie Caillat
Uplifting, Laidback
This warm and cozy song, transcribed from the guitar, is a wonderfully easy pop song to play on piano. The chords and rhythm flow very naturally along with the voice. Let these easy piano chords carry you to an uplifting place, and crinkle your nose and toes along with the beat!
Heres how to play Bubbly on the piano:
Thank you Piano Mann for the use of this video.
The 10 Best Piano Songs To Play With Easy Chords
Want to play the best piano songs with chords? Youve come to the right place!
There are many famous songs that we want to play on the piano. There are many versions with arpeggios and chords and we never know which ones to choose.
Piano songs with chords have two advantages. First, they are easier to play than the versions with arpeggios, because they usually contain fewer notes and the chords are repeated often. Second, the chords are easy to sing over and are a perfect accompaniment to the voice.
In short, if you want to sing over your piano accompaniment, chords are the way to go.
To help you do this, we have listed in this article the top 10 piano tunes to play with chords. You will learn the history of the songs, but also all the notes to play for each chord in each track. For each chord you will find a textual explanation, a diagram showing the notes to play, and a tutorial video allowing you to play all the chords of the song.
Ready to play? Lets go!
Tips: you can find all these songs in the catalog of our application dedicated to simplified piano learning. You can learn them at your own pace by connecting your piano to your device. You can also find more tutorials like this in our articles about the easiest songs to play with letters and the best piano songs to learn with numbers.
Joris, the author of this article, recommends the following resource: Piano tutorials: learn the 10 easiest songs
Learn to play the best piano songs with chords
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How Piano Chords Are Notated
Once you understand the different parts of chords, we need to learn how to recognize them in sheet music, and written down. When we are asked to play chords, you could have a lot of different ways of playing them. Here are the two most common ways to play these chords, for right hand and left hand. You can also look at the end of this article for a complete chart of all major and minor chords on piano.
Right hand
2. Choose the Root of the chord 2. Choose the Chord qualities 3. Click Display
* You can do the same with scales. ** You can invert chords and scales
Stevie Wonder Isnt She Lovely
It would be impossible not to include Stevie Wonder when talking about jazz piano classics. There are many arrangements of this tune that range from easy to hard difficulties.
There are also many tutorials on Youtube for easier versions of this instant-classic jazz piano song.
Everyone knows the incredibly catchy melody in this song, but the chord progression is also impressive and beautiful.
Theres a lot of feeling throughout the entirety of Isnt She Lovely.
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Easy Songs To Learn On The Piano For Beginners
The following is a list that contains 5 easy songs that beginners can learn to play on the piano, including 3 bonus songs you hear on the radio. You should recognize them as I chose these songs in particular not only because they are easy to learn, but they are also popular as well. It is easier to learn how to play a song that you have heard before.
Just dont be too hasty and dont get discouraged. Contrary to what others may say, nobody, can sit down and play the piano great without first learning and practicing, often easiest with piano lessons. Therefore, dont expect too much when you are just starting out. It takes time even to play decent, but with a little effort, you can do it anyone can, you just have to apply yourself.
Using Guitar Chord Websites
This can sound like a really backward way to find piano chords, but it is amazing how effective it can be, especially if you want to learn rock and pop songs rather than classical compositions. Often, clever people on online resources like Ultimate Guitar have listed the chords to songs whether they are traditionally played on guitar, or on piano.
We can continue with our example of Chasing Cars here.
Well do it all, everything, on our own.A E/G# D AWe dont need anything, or anyone.
If I lay here, if I just lay hereDmaj7 AWould you lie with me, and just forget the world.
I dont quite know how to say how I feelA E/G# D AThose three words, I said too much, but not enough.
Youll notice how the chords are listed on a row above the lyrics. Often, the chord change is lined up with the lyrics in a way that gives you a prompt for when you should change chords, but you can usually work this out by listening, too. If you arent going to learn how to read sheet music then when you find piano chords like this, you are going to have to get good at using your ears to work out how they relate to a song. It takes a little bit of practice, but most people get there.
Ultimate Guitar even has chord diagrams. You can see exactly how the chords you need to play look on guitar, ukulele and piano. So, you can see that the site is now so much more than just a guitar platform.
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Duke Ellington C Jam Blues
C Jam Blues is a classic that is great for beginners new to jazz piano. It features a classic walking bassline in your left hand that gets you used to using your left hand.
Overall, this is not a hard song to learn, and it is a perfect piece for beginners to start with.
While this isnt the most groundbreaking jazz song, it is essential as it attacks the basics in its chord progression and walking bassline.
Prelude In C Major By Bach
Bachs Prelude in C Major is one of the best easy piano songs to learn when you want to start playing some classical music on the piano. Its a step up in difficulty from the other easy piano songs for beginners mentioned here because it moves around the keyboard more and needs two hands to sound right. This is because the tune is divided between the hands, but no two notes are played at the same time. In other words, you only ever play one note at a time, even though you are using two hands.
When you hear the piece, you dont particularly notice that no two notes are played at once, and thats because the notes in the left hand are held down while you play the notes in the right hand.
The other great thing about this song is that every pattern of notes happens twice. So once youve got the pattern in each measure and play through it, the next thing youre going to do is repeat the same pattern.
If youre reading the music for this easy piano song for beginners, you might be put off because it looks far more complex than it really is. Just take one note at a time and youll get there. Take advantage of the repeated patterns to look ahead to the next measure to figure out what comes next.
This video is the first part of a set of short videos that takes you through each hand and does the repetition with you. This is a very good way to learn it.
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How To Find Your Way Around On The Piano
First of all, the piano is laid out with sets of black notes in groups of two and three. The white notes are called A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The note after G is Aand the pattern repeats. If you step up to a black note from a white note, that is a sharp. If you step down to a black note, that is a flat.
Practicing Chord Progressions In C Major
After you learn how to play each of these chords individually, you can begin to practice moving from one chord to another so you can start playing basic piano chord progressions.
For C majors key, you can begin alternating between the positions for C major and then F major to begin. Play C major, then play F major and then go back to C major. Soon your hand will learn how to get your fingers in place quickly with each chord.
You then can move on to practicing three-chord and four-chord progressions that are typical in songs. Mastering these will help you grasp and apply beginner piano chords.
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How Do You Play A Minor 6 Chord
To play an minor 6th chord on the piano, do this:
- Use the minor chord spelling 1, b3, 5, 6.
- Choose the root note you want your chord to start from .
- Use the major scale of this root note. E.g. C major scale for C diminished chord.
- Count up 3 notes from the root note, then flatten it.
- Count up 5 notes from the root note, then flatten it.
- Count 6 notes up from the root.
- Play the root, flat 3rd , 5th, & 6th all together.
- Use this fingering: 1, 2, 3, 4 from the thumb on right hand.
Can I Do This With Classical Music
How can you find piano chords to classical pieces of music? Well, it is possible, and there are a lot of classical pieces that use chords played on the piano, but they tend to work in a slightly different manner, making it hard to establish the exact notes and chords without reading sheet music.
In piano, the word cant shouldnt enter your vocabulary. Its just something you havent learned yet. So, while there is nothing to stop you from learning classical music by ear, we recommend starting with some popular songs and training your ear this way. Simple, four-chord songs will be a great starting point. Once you reach the stage where you feel like you can quickly and easily work out a simple song, keep advancing in complexity.
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How Do You Play 7 Chord
To play a 7 chord on the piano, do this:
- Use the dominant 7 chord spelling: 1, 3, 5, b7
- Choose the root note you want your chord to start from .
- Use the major scale of this root note. E.g. C major scale for Cmaj7 chord.
- Count up 3 notes from the root note.
- Count up 5 notes from the root note.
- Count up 7 notes from the root, then flatten it.
- Play the root, flat 3rd, 5th, & flat 7th all together.
- Use this fingering: 1, 2, 3, 5 from the thumb on right hand.
The Importance Of Scales
One thing that every great piano player has in common is regularly practicing scales. We can think of scales as finger exercises that are of the utmost importance to all piano players for multiple reasons
- They help your fingers get used to repetition
- You learn how to coordinate your hands
- Your fingers will actually get a good workout and thereby can move faster
- They will help you to recognize the tone of each note
- They help to stretch your fingers to be able to go from one note to another rapidly
- Scales encourage you to use the right fingering when playing
Here is a simple scale to start you off. Place your left pinky on the C note and your right thumb on the C note that is one step higher. After hitting the C notes together, use your next fingers on both hands to hit the notes to the right, and keep going until you end up with your left thumb hitting the G note, and your right pinky hitting the higher G note, then go backward.
Once you have learned all of the above songs, picking up other songs will be a piece of cake. Dont forget to keep practicing your scales for at least an hour a day. And you dont have to stop there. Start building your own style by adding your own notes and chords to songs you learn. Dont be afraid to try different things, it cant hurt, besides you will never know how it will sound until you try it, and if it sounds good, play it!
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I Just Cant Wait To Be King
Another Disney tune worth looking into is I Just Cant Wait To Be King form the Lion King movies. While there are a lot of great arrangements of this one available, my favorite is from the Faber piano books.
This version is written in C major, but it holds true to the original tune. The rhythms are a bit simplified as this is an intermediate level book. Everything is reduced to either quarter notes for the most part.
There are some occasional E flats that do appear. In a few areas, there are also eighth notes and tied rhythms. While this version does not feature as much syncopation as the record, it still sounds great and its easy to play.
Basic Chords: Triads & Seventh’s
Chords with 3 notes are called triads. There are four types of triads:
- The Major Triad is made of a major third and, on top, a minor third this creates the specific sound of “major” a “happier,””lighter” sound. It is written for ex.: E .
- The Minor Triad is built with a minor third and, on top, a major third. This gives the sound of “minor” a more “sad,””darker” sound. It is written for ex.: Am .
- The Diminished Triad is made from only minor thirds. This gives the chord a sound like it really wants to go somewhere, to be resolved somehow. That is why it is often referred to as a Dominant 7th chord with no root. For example, it is written: D dim .
- The Augmented Triad is built from only major thirds it also has an “unresolved” sound.
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Drops Of Jupiter Train
This is a great song to learn, because the more you play it, the closer youll get to sounding just like the recording.
The thing about this song is that it sounds harder than it is, because of the rhythmic patterns. This takes time and practice. The chords themselves are not hard to learn.
The general idea of the song can be captured in just four chords. The beginning is just:
C, G, F
And the chorus has a Dm.
The thing that makes the song sounds poppy and cool, is that instead of a standard F, youre supposed to play a Fsus2 chord.
It might sound complicated but its not. An F chord is made up of three notes: F, A and C. The same goes for the Fsus2 chord, which is F, G and C.
It makes the chord sound crunchy and poppy.
For a slow, easy tutorial, check out the video posted above.
