learn keyboard chords quickly

[leighbeynon]

my piano teacher plays pop, rock what ever but only from sheet music, he doesnt compose or play jazz, he doesnt believe in chord charts and all that either, he works from chord cymbols,

so really he is only helping me read music and play it as its written
and get timming correct, finger placement,

so as im interested in creating my own music and cord progressons,
sould i just get a book and memorise all maj,min, dim, aug, sus,7th,9th,13th chords ?
people mention the circle of 5ths and say i must learn this ?
shouldnt i also understand what scales work for each chord ?
so i know what key im in and i stay in key ?


to be honest this guys chord lessons dont sound that bad ...

http://www.chordpiano.com/A-GWO/062308/3.html

maybe i can find some more
i also have the relex method of how to learn chords
----
L P B

[MaliceX]

If you know your chord types, and scale patterns (start, skip, step, skip, skip, skip, step = major scale.) then this will help you learn your chords in all keys very quickly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fourths

If you can develop an exercise that involves playing the same chord TYPE across all keys in clockwise/anticlockwise order of that chart, then you'll have it quite easy.

Also it's good to know your 8 chord degrees from root key.

ie: in C-major; replace letters where necessary.

1st - C Major 7th
2nd - D Minor 7th
3rd - E Minor 7th
4th - F Major 7th
5th - G Dominant 7th
6th - A Minor 7th
7th - B Half diminished
8th - see 1st.

To me it's all about learning what's what, then putting it all down into an exercise that will help you remember chords, keys, scales and whatnot.

When in doubt...you can always refer to a diagram that shows you how to play what kind of chords, if not show you what each scale 'looks' like.

http://www.apassionforjazz.com

[petterford]

i really like to learn piano.. i'm interested

[leighbeynon]

wow thats alot of info to digest,

think i need to get a good book and study this as much as possible really,
as well as playing chords for practise,

is the traditional way to simply memorise all chords ?

seems alot to remember !!

leigh

[Bobbotov]

wow thats alot of info to digest,

think i need to get a good book and study this as much as possible really,
as well as playing chords for practise,

is the traditional way to simply memorise all chords ?

seems alot to remember !!

leigh

I took jazz piano lessons many years ago from a really great Bebop player. He was very emphatic about knowing all of the chords and all of their inversions and voicing. He felt that understanding chord structure, chord substitution, chord progressions and modulation was an essential part of the requisite foundation of a good jazz musician. I am glad he stressed it. Yes, I memorized every chord and every substitution so that I could play with them facility without thinking about it. It is as important as having a good innate sense of rhythm I think. But memorizing chords by itself can be boring. That is why it is a good idea while learning to listen to some of the old recordings of players like Hampton Hawes, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, etc. to see how chords can be applied by some of the masters. Or find a really good jazz teacher. To me chords are the heart and soul of sophisticated composition.

[nuffink]

It's not as daunting as it seems. Aebersoldgives 5 basic categories of chord - diminished 7, half diminished 7, minor 7, (dominant) 7, major7. All other chords are assumed to be extensions (9ths, 13ths etc) or alterations (sus, 7#5 etc) of these basic chords.
Strip the 7th off each and you're left with diminished, minor and major triads.

So that's 5 basic chords in 12 keys - 60 chords. Not too tough.

Now, that ignores a lot of possible chords. It doesn't even touch upon voicing. But it should show you that the problem is manageable.

[leighbeynon]

now this is interesting and alot less scarey, im guessing as this link
shows you each chord with C as the root its easy to shift the root
using the intervals provided, the scale for each of these is also very helpful for melodies

great stuff this is something i can learn definatly, well attempt to learn
and get to grips with,

thanks i shall print this off, so is the circle of 5ths also very useful for me ??

ta leigh

[nuffink]

The circle of fifths is a clever device. It's principally a way of ordering keys harmonically. The key of C major is physically close to the key of C# major but it's not harmonically close (they share few notes). The key of C major is harmonically close to the key of G major (they share many notes). That's why C and G are close on the circle of fifths but C and C# are distant. If you wish to change key (modulate) it's smoother going to harmonically close keys. If you want a jump you can go further round the circle.

It can show many other relationships too. It's pretty versatile.

[leighbeynon]

right right, im totally with you, so its more of a tool to help smooth progressions, and modulate between chords, very cool,

this sounds like something i can leave for now as i would be best suited to learn the chords and structures them selves first, then once im a little more used to playing and seeing chords, i could use the circle of 5ths to help me work out smooth progressions,

thanks very much plenty of stuff for me to practise and learn here,

the music my teacher is making me play from books seems to be taking more shape with chords etc im seeing 4 and 5 notes on the sheet music cropping up at the same time, so its getting more complicated to read and play so maybe all this will be useful and help me get to where i want to be,

i know this will still take a long time years im thinking,
i want to learn the kind of chords used within neo soul music,
think its 7ths 9ts etc, seems to be alot of minor as these chords seem to have more emotion and tension,

ta leigh

[jplanet]

I recommend learning as many songs as you can in the style that you like the most - that is the quickest way to build a "relevant" vocabulary of chords...Most popular genres don't stray too far from a dozen or so patterns of chord changes, once you have a bunch of tunes under your belt, you'll start to see that they have a lot in common...

[MaliceX]

right right, im totally with you, so its more of a tool to help smooth progressions, and modulate between chords, very cool,

this sounds like something i can leave for now as i would be best suited to learn the chords and structures them selves first, then once im a little more used to playing and seeing chords, i could use the circle of 5ths to help me work out smooth progressions,

thanks very much plenty of stuff for me to practise and learn here,

the music my teacher is making me play from books seems to be taking more shape with chords etc im seeing 4 and 5 notes on the sheet music cropping up at the same time, so its getting more complicated to read and play so maybe all this will be useful and help me get to where i want to be,

i know this will still take a long time years im thinking,
i want to learn the kind of chords used within neo soul music,
think its 7ths 9ts etc, seems to be alot of minor as these chords seem to have more emotion and tension,

ta leigh

If you can break down the mechanics of chord/scale tonality, you could use scale references and probably think in patterns rather than rely on what's there. Suspended chords and augmented voicings seem to be the craze with a lot of contemporary piano these days. Rather, while the point of reference relies on the chord in question, sometimes a player would use a key signature to 'define' chords, but use 'chords' to define what key scale or mode to use, and still resolve. (I've mainly used lead sheets as a means of playing guides, or simple melody lines. Extra harmonies or voicings I prefer to add my own.)

The book I've really read is "Jazz Keyboard" by Jerry Coker, http://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Cokers-Jazz ... 0769233236

..though to me, a scale reference is probably all I'll need, and remembering the mechanics of how scales work across the 12 semitones in Western Music Equal Temperament Tuning(tm).[/i While classical pianists have more technique and skill, I find a lot of their music very stale and boring in comparison to piano/keyboard musicians with a lesser background on that. (Still, both have their ups and downs.)

The other alternative is......perhaps succumbing to The Jordan Rudess Keyboard Wizardry advert that pops up from time to time.

Good luck with your endeavours

[leighbeynon]

ok so you think the Jerry coker book would be helpful to me ?

i dont think it would be to hard to learn maj chords then min, and extended chords after that,

plus the cicle of 5ths sounds very helpful once i can actualy play some chords myself after memorising some

ta leigh

this is a nice example of the sound i love, chords sound quite simple
but is very effective and with vocals etc its a great sound

http://www.gogo-music.net/media/gogovin ... al-Mix.mp3

what chords are used here ??


something else i need to get my head around is what key is being used,
i mean you wouldnt keep playing the same chord, so if you move from dmin7 to gmin7
are you still in the same key ? this is something i need to understand.

i understand key signatures in sheet music and the amount of flats or sharps in the key signature can tell you what key its in, as these flats or sharps
appear in the keys scale.

[tonAP]

so is the circle of 5ths also very useful for me?

The circle of fifths is a clever device

What about 'The Chord Wheel' by Jim Flese?:
http://www.chordwheel.com
I think it's a very interesting tool..

[alienmachine]

I bought this book some time ago. The chapter of chord progressions and charts is very interesting and while I was working on it, it actually makes sense. This chapter is free and is online. I'm using these techniques in my own compositions but I won't disregard the circle of fifths completely yet.

Read this chapter and you will understand what I'm talking about: http://www.howmusicreallyworks.com/Page ... ter_6.html

[nuffink]

so is the circle of 5ths also very useful for me?

The circle of fifths is a clever device

What about 'The Chord Wheel' by Jim Flese?:
http://www.chordwheel.com
I think it's a very interesting tool..

I haven't seen one up close. There are a lot of variations on the theme... http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1& ... rch+Images

They all pack in a lot of information.