For piano beginners: an easy-to-understand way to practice chord changes

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• Piano teacherOkada Atsuko
  Based in Yokohama, I teach piano, electronic organ, and Eurhythmics while continuing my band activities. For those who love music and want to play the piano, I offer beginner-friendly ways to enjoy learning. Adult Piano Starting with Chords: http://happy.ap.teacup.com/otona-piano/ JUN’s Piano Lessons: http://piano-daisuki.at.webry.info Music Lessons for Band Beginners: http://ameblo.jp/band-lesson/

In piano solo, the basic setup is right-hand melody and left-hand bass.

Now, when a beginner tries to play a piano solo, the right hand often plays the melody and the left hand plays chords, but let’s start by tackling the melody and the bass first.

For an adult, holding down chords with the left hand isn’t particularly difficult, but in fact each note in a chord has its own role, and playing while balancing the volume of each note requires quite a bit of technique.

For example, even when you want to bring out only the root notes that the bass is responsible for, the entire left hand can get too loud and end up drowning out the melody.

Therefore,For your first two-handed practice, I recommend using only the left hand for the bass.It is.

For popular songs, we practice while looking at a melody score with chords.

Looking at the chord symbols in a score of about 4 to 8 measures,Before you start practicing, decide which finger of your left hand will play each note (make a fingering plan).

Let’s move our right hand and left hand the same way!

People who say they want to use Beyer often prefer pieces where the first half consists of the melody and the bass line.

Beyer [Ferdinand Beyer](1803–1863) German composer. In addition to composing numerous chamber and piano works, he also produced arrangements. His “Piano Step-by-Step” is widely known in Japan through the beginner’s piano method book commonly referred to as “Beyer.” http://www.weblio.jp/content/バイエル

From number 50 onward, there are more patterns like Do-So-Mi-So and Si-So-Re-So—Alberti bass figures—so it’s safer to limit self-study practice to the first half.

For classical pieces, it might be difficult to find ones that match your level, but I think it’s good to practice arrangements that use alternating hands rather than playing both hands simultaneously.

It’s the kind where you play the melody with both hands.

This practice is helpful even in classical music, such as when playing Baroque pieces like Bach.

In terms of using the left hand, I also recommend this kind of practice on the popular music side.

Pieces composed by Gillock often use few notes yet are beautiful, so they’re recommended for beginners.

Three ways to hold the code

Besides the styles of melody and bass, and playing the melody with both hands, another thing you should practice is chords.

Let's learn the shapes: chords with the right hand and bass with the left hand.

Even if you’re a beginner at the piano, as long as you know chords, you can jump in and help right away when a friend in a band says, “Hey, can you give me a hand?”

Conversely, even people who have played piano for many years often say, “I can’t play without sheet music...” if they never learned the basics of chords.

Previously,About the codeAs I mentioned, it’s a bit inconvenient that for C you can only play do-mi-so, and for G you can only play so-si-re.

When beginners play with both hands, it’s helpful to remember how to move to nearby positions.

Even with a single chord, there are an incredible number of fingering patterns, but if you think in terms of using one hand, the patterns can be narrowed down to some extent, so let’s start by learning those shapes.

A chord that holds three notes with one hand takes three shapes, as shown in the diagram below.

How to move the code

The root position of C is C–E–G, the first inversion is E–G–C, and the second inversion is G–C–E.

In F, the root position is F–A–C, the first inversion is A–C–F, and the second inversion is C–F–A.

In any key, a triad (a three-note chord) can be played using these three shapes.

While the root position has three notes spaced by one note each, the first inversion and second inversion have gaps of two notes, as shown in the diagram.

By combining root position, first inversion, and second inversion, you can move chords in close positions.

When practicing, it's important to move while being mindful of leaving two spaces open, as shown in the previous diagram.It is.

In the key of C major, the most commonly used forms of the three primary triads (C, F, G) are: C as C–E–G (root position), F as C–F–A (second inversion), and G as B–D–G (first inversion).

When changing from C to F or from C to G, you will modify the parts circled in the following diagram.

Movement from root position to second inversion

For the right hand, when changing from C–E–G (fingers 1–3–5) to C–F–A (fingers 1–3–5), keep the thumb (1) on C in the same position and move the 3rd and 5th fingers together from E–G to F–A.

Right-hand video (also explained within the video)

For the left hand, the fingerings for Do-Mi-Sol are (5-3-1) and for Do-Fa-La are (5-2-1), so only the thumb (finger 1) needs to stretch.

Left-hand video (also explained in the video)

Movement from root position to first inversion

When changing from Do–Mi–So to Si–Re–So, the right hand goes from (1–3–5) to (1–2–5), and the left hand stays (1–3–5) to (1–3–5).

Right-hand video (also explained within the video)

Left-hand video (also explained in the video)

Practice so that you can play these kinds of patterns with either your right or left hand.

When practicing chords with your right hand, practice them together with the left-hand root. (For C: left hand C, right hand C-E-G)

In fact, even at the beginning of Bayer, the famous textbook for beginners, there are exercises in the form of left-hand root and right-hand chords!!