Piano Chords

Chords are very useful in music. They're your harmony. Once you learn to play melodies on piano, the next step is to add chords. Say you're playing Mary Had A Little Lamb.

The finger numbers (thumbs on middle C) are:3 2 1 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 1

The chords would be: C C G7 C C C G7 CChords consist of at least two notes at once. Commonly we here them as three notes simultaneously. The C chord is C + E + G. You can play this with left hand fingers 1 + 3 + 5. The G7 chord is 5 + 2 + 1 for left hand (pinky reaches for B). The letter names are B + F + G.

In order to add chords to Mary Had A Little Lamb, you need to move your left hand down three keys from middle C, so that your left thumb is on G. The C chord is now 5 + 3 + 1, and G7 is 5 + 2 + 1, where your pinky reaches down one extra key (the B).

Now we play Mary Had A Little Lamb this way:

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb,C C G7 CMary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.C C G7 C

Written as numbers for your right hand, and chords for your left:

3 2 1 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 C C G7 C3 2 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 1C C G7 C

Most songs can be played this way.[more soon to come]

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