Piano Chords
A chord is made up of three or more notes. A
three note chord is called a triad and is the
simplest of chords. I always encourage
students to obtain a good piano chord book
for quick reference in locating piano chords,
especially the more extended ones.
When reading chord symbols, a capital letter
indicates a Major Triad and a lower case
letter indicates a Minor Triad.
For example:
C indicates a C Major Triad composed of the
notes C,E,G
A chord is made up of three or more notes. A
three note chord is called a triad and is the
simplest of chords. I always encourage
students to obtain a good piano chord book
for quick reference in locating piano chords,
especially the more extended ones.
When reading chord symbols, a capital letter
indicates a Major Triad and a lower case
letter indicates a Minor Triad.
For example:
C indicates a C Major Triad composed of the
notes C,E,G
This is what a C Major chord looks like on the piano.
Am indicates a Minor Triad composed of the notes
A,C,E.
Usually the triad chord is played in the right hand
while the left hand plays a bass note. The bass note
can be different than the right hand chord and will be
indicated by a slash between the two like this: C/E
which indicates the C Major Chord (Triad) in the
right hand with a E note in the left hand.
There are twelve different types of chords
corresponding to each of the twelve different notes on
the piano. So there are C chords, C# or Db, D, D# or
Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, and B
chords. All of these chords can be just basic triad
chords, or more extended chords. Extra notes add
"color" to the chord. They are used a lot in jazz
composition, contemporary music and Black Gospel.
click here for Introduction To Black Gospel Piano
Listed below are all twelve chords and the notes used to
form them in their basic form.
CHORDS NOTES
C C-E-G
C# or Db Db-F-Ab
D D-F#-A
D# or Eb Eb-G-Bb
E E-G#-B
F F-A-C
F# or Gb F#-A#-C#
G G-B-D
G# or Ab Ab-C-Eb
A A-C#-E
A# or Bb Bb-D-F
B B-D#-F#
These are all Major Chords. Each one of these chords
also has a minor, augmented, diminished and many
more altered versions. Knowledge of scale degrees
and adding chord extensions are necessary to play
jazz or Black Gospel.
Scale Degrees
A scale if made up of 8 notes. Each note has a
number as related to its order in the scale.
Here is the C scale again:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Since each note represents a chord, the C chord is the
1 chord, the D Chord is the 2 chord and so on. Your
basic triad chord is simply the 1,3 & 5 of the scale to
form a major chord. To form a minor chord, you use
the 1, lower the 3 (or flat the third) and the five. So a
C minor chord (Cm) would be C-Eb-G. As chords
get larger, they have more extensions or numbers
added to them. Here is an extended scale degree:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
To form a C7 chord, you would play C-E-G-Bb
because B is the 7th scale degree and it is always a
flat.
To form a C9 chord, you would play C-E-G-Bb-D
because D is the 9th scale degree and you must also
include the 7th or Bb.
Becoming good at playing chord extensions will make
your playing much more interesting.
Am indicates a Minor Triad composed of the notes
A,C,E.
Usually the triad chord is played in the right hand
while the left hand plays a bass note. The bass note
can be different than the right hand chord and will be
indicated by a slash between the two like this: C/E
which indicates the C Major Chord (Triad) in the
right hand with a E note in the left hand.
There are twelve different types of chords
corresponding to each of the twelve different notes on
the piano. So there are C chords, C# or Db, D, D# or
Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, and B
chords. All of these chords can be just basic triad
chords, or more extended chords. Extra notes add
"color" to the chord. They are used a lot in jazz
composition, contemporary music and Black Gospel.
click here for Introduction To Black Gospel Piano
Listed below are all twelve chords and the notes used to
form them in their basic form.
CHORDS NOTES
C C-E-G
C# or Db Db-F-Ab
D D-F#-A
D# or Eb Eb-G-Bb
E E-G#-B
F F-A-C
F# or Gb F#-A#-C#
G G-B-D
G# or Ab Ab-C-Eb
A A-C#-E
A# or Bb Bb-D-F
B B-D#-F#
These are all Major Chords. Each one of these chords
also has a minor, augmented, diminished and many
more altered versions. Knowledge of scale degrees
and adding chord extensions are necessary to play
jazz or Black Gospel.
Scale Degrees
A scale if made up of 8 notes. Each note has a
number as related to its order in the scale.
Here is the C scale again:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Since each note represents a chord, the C chord is the
1 chord, the D Chord is the 2 chord and so on. Your
basic triad chord is simply the 1,3 & 5 of the scale to
form a major chord. To form a minor chord, you use
the 1, lower the 3 (or flat the third) and the five. So a
C minor chord (Cm) would be C-Eb-G. As chords
get larger, they have more extensions or numbers
added to them. Here is an extended scale degree:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
To form a C7 chord, you would play C-E-G-Bb
because B is the 7th scale degree and it is always a
flat.
To form a C9 chord, you would play C-E-G-Bb-D
because D is the 9th scale degree and you must also
include the 7th or Bb.
Becoming good at playing chord extensions will make
your playing much more interesting.
Piano Chords Free Lesson
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