Welcome to the second part in my two part series of How to Play Chords on the Piano. Last time we covered How to Play Slow Chords, today I will discuss how to play fast chords.

With slow chords I emphasized the use of the arms. In order to get better clarity and tone out of your slow chords – whether loud or soft – the technique lies in the arms. This is not the case with faster chords.

The secret to playing fast chords is the wrist. There are moments when you simply can’t move your arms fast enough – this is where learning proper wrist technique can be very helpful. I actually produced an entire video called; It’s all in the Wrist which demonstrates more advanced techniques for this method.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Play Chords on the Piano Part 2: Fast Chords

Welcome to the second part in my two part series of How to Play Chords on the Piano. Last time we covered How to Play Slow Chords, today I will discuss how to play fast chords. With slow chords I emphasized the use of the arms. In order to get better

How to Play Chords on the Piano Part 1: Slow Chords

Believe it or not, you can get drastically different tones out of the piano simply by pressing the keys a different way. How to approach the keys is a major part of playing the piano and especially important when it comes to chords. In the video exam

Welcome back to our ongoing series of piano exercises. These are meant to be quick techniques you can practice with just a few minutes each day to help develop your strength. The first part in the series dealt with a Broken Triad Exercise and the second was Practicing Major Scales with C Major Fingering. This week we will be covering Broken Seventh Chords.

As long as you know all your seventh chords, you can play them in all keys as arpeggios. Why would you just play major and minor triads as arpeggios? Not only is this is a wonderful way to develop your technique but when you come across broken seventh chords in your music you will already know how to approach them.

The order I play them is:

– Major seventh chord
– Dominant seventh chord
– Minor seventh chord
– Half diminished seventh chord
– Diminished seventh chord

Why this particular order? If you play them this way, there is only one note that has to change between chords. Simply keep playing the chords one by one and go through all twelve of the keys. The video included with this article will show you a great example of this.

Here is the key on how to transition from chord to chord:

– Major seventh chord: Lower the 7th a half-step
– Dominant seventh chord: Lower the 3rd a half-step
– Minor seventh chord: Lower the 5th a half-step
– Half diminished seventh chord: Lower the 7th a half-step
– Diminished seventh chord: That’s it!

Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com

The Best Piano Exercises (Part 3) – Broken Seventh Chords

Welcome back to our ongoing series of piano exercises. These are meant to be quick techniques you can practice with just a few minutes each day to help develop your strength. The first part in the series dealt with a Broken Triad Exercise and the sec

Today we are going to talk about a very important subject and something that is indispensable for every musician – identifying chords by ear. In an earlier video we talked about how to identify the differences in chords through their construction. Today we are going to explore how to tell the differences between chords from their sound.

Listening is very helpful for this subject, so watching the accompanying video is highly recommended.

Let’s start out with the most popular chord of all time, the major triad – three notes arranged in thirds with a major third on the bottom and a minor third on top. To put it in simpler terms, the first, third and fifth notes of any major scale. So in the key of C major, the major triad is composed of: C, E & G.

The major triad produces a pleasing sound. It’s something you’ve heard countless times and it produces a happy sound. Compare that to a minor chord (which has a minor third on the bottom and a major third on top) and the sound difference is very noticeable. The minor chord tends to evoke more melancholy emotions. Try playing the C major chord and the C minor chord one after the other. Listen to the differences in their tone. Now try playing a major and minor chord in a different key. See if you can identify the differences in sonority. Close your eyes and listen – you will start to be able to tell the difference just by the sound.

Telling the difference between major and minor by ear is something most people can distinguish by ear rather quickly. However, this is only the beginning!

When it comes to augmented and diminished chords, many people find it difficult to tell them apart at first. The diminished chord has two minor thirds – making it a smaller chord. A diminished chord has a strange quality to it that certainly distinguishes itself from the minor and major chords because of the diminished 5th created by the outer notes of the chord. Play a major, minor and then diminished chord in the key of your choice and see if you can discern the differences in the sound.

When it comes to augmented triads, you have two major thirds on the top and bottom. This creates an augmented 5th between the bottom and top notes. When you play augmented chords, you will notice its unique sonic character. At first you may confuse it with the diminished chord. But if you play back and forth between augmented and diminished chords in the same key, you will hear a striking difference in sound. Close your eyes and listen to the differences between the two chords. Listen for the larger outer interval in the augmented chord compared to the diminished triad.

Augmented triads suggest or imply whole tones since the chord is built upon every other note of a whole tone scale.

Soon you will get accustomed to the sound of these chords and you will be able to distinguish the differences between them just from the sound. If you keep practicing this and get better at identifying these chords, you will be able to expand upon the variety of harmonies you can identify by ear.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions or comments about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly at: Info@LivingPianos.com or (949) 244-3729.

How to Identify Musical Chords by Ear

Today we are going to talk about a very important subject and something that is indispensable for every musician – identifying chords by ear. In an earlier video we talked about how to identify the differences in chords through their constructi

Welcome to the first part in a multi-part series on chords. Today we are going to talk about how to identify the chords you are playing. I’ve had questions from people playing certain sonorities and wondering what exactly they are playing. In this lesson, we are going to talk about the basics of identifying chords.

The most basic thing to know about chords is that they are (almost always) built on the interval of a third. What is a third? A third is any notes that are on lines or spaces (not both) – they are two letter names apart. Here are some examples of thirds: A-C (leaving out B) or C-E (leaving out D).

Some chords are more sophisticated and they have what is called altered tones. This means that there might be an augmented or diminished chord that will have raised or lowered notes.

So knowing all this, how are you supposed to figure out what the chords are? It’s easier than you might think. Simply arrange the notes into thirds on the staff.

When you are reading your music, make sure that the notes are arranged in thirds. To do this, simply look at the notes that are on lines or spaces. Sometimes this can be tricky because there is something referred to as inversions. An inversion is done by taking the bottom note of a chord and placing it on the top (or the top note is placed on the bottom) – in the end, it will be exactly the same chord. So how do you know which chord it is? In an inversion, the notes will not be arranged in thirds, if you rearrange the notes until they form thirds (all lines or all spaces) you will find the root of the chord which is on the bottom. Take the bottom note and place it on top, or the top note on the bottom and the notes will arrange into thirds – all lines, or all spaces.

So how do you handle chords with more than three notes? The same principle applies to these chords. You can actually build chords all the way to the 13th utilizing only the interval of a third. Why is a 13 chord the limit? Because if you play one more third you will arrive back at the note you started on. This is because there are only seven possible notes within a scale and a 13 chord contains all of them!

This might sound confusing but once you start applying the basic principles in this lesson you will see that it makes perfect sense and is an easy way to identify chords. Next time we will be covering how to approach expanded chords.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any comments or suggestions for future videos please contact us at: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Identify Chords in Music – Chords Part 1

Welcome to the first part in a multi-part series on chords. Today we are going to talk about how to identify the chords you are playing. I’ve had questions from people playing certain sonorities and wondering what exactly they are playing. In this