Piano/Keyboards

[Dave77]

Hello,

I have some interest in learning to play piano/keyboard only. I would like to know how easy it is to play simple chords on Keyboard. I am aware how chords are played on guitar etc, what notes are used. Is this usefull in keyboard play?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Masterdog]

Well I went from keyboard to guitar and found having the knowledge of chords helped, but only after the initial work of getting to know where all the notes are. So it certainly won't hinder you, but you might only see the benefit after a while.

 

[RetiredGreyFox]

I would like to know how easy it is to play simple chords on Keyboard.

Way easier than a guitar but obviously mastering it is on another planet.
Heres an example of how easy it can be to start -

Place your right thumb on any white key, place your index finger on a white key next door but one to the first and then place another finger on a white key next door but one to that one.
thumb - space - index - space - finger

Now you can leave your fingers like that and virtually go all up and down the keyboard and be playing chords
(OK, I know he'll come unstuck when he uses B as a root note).

Now if you found out where middle C is and play the chord I just told you, you will be playing the chord of C.
Now move down the whole chord 2 notes to the left and that is Am.
Now go another 2 to the left and that is F.
Go 1 up to the right and thats G.

You are now playing C Am F G which is used in a million songs.
Add an Em (same shape, 1 note to the left of F) and you added another million songs.

Now shifting that middle finger 1 note to the right or left will turn the chord into a major or minor depending on which chord you're already playing.

I've known keyboard players go on stage and hold those chords all night.

 

[melchy]

C minor, E flat Minor and F minor are the chords you need

Im finding going from keyboard to guitar quite difficult.

 

[timbob]

Basic chords on the keyboard are easy - but it's crazily beneficial to have a basic understanding of some really simple music theory to start with. To be able to work out a chord, rather than just being able to play ones you already know is incredibly useful.

Here's a crash course - assuming you can find the white notes already, i.e. you know where to find C, B, G, F, and you know that a sharp is the black note above the white note with the same name.

You need to understand tones and semitones first. A semitone is where you move from one note to the note right next door. For example, from C up to C# (the black note just to the right of C, before you get to D). Note, that if you start on E, and move a semitone up, there is no black note, so the note a semitone above E is actually the white note F.

A tone is simply two semitones added together. For example - G, through G# and onto A. The total distance, G to A is a tone. If we go back to the "no black key situation" of before, starting on E - 1 semitone moved us to F, a second semitone moves us to F# (the black note just above F). So E to F# is a tone, even though one note is white, and the other black. It's all to do with the "missing" black note in between E and F, and also in between B and C.

We'll now go for simple triad (three note) chords in root position (basic shape).

If you want a simple major chord, you need three notes:

-The root note (starting note - in a C chord, this is C, in a G chord, this is G etc etc.)

-The next note (called a THIRD) is two tones above the first note. So if we started on C, we move to D (one tone) and then to E (a second tone).

- The third note (called a FIFTH) is a tone and a half above the first. So, we were on E, a tone moves us to F# (see example above) and a semitone takes us to G.

So we have our 3 notes for a C Major chord - C, E and G.

Try following the steps and work some others out... For example, a D chord. Start on D for the first note, move two full tones for the next note (D, to E, then up to F# - missing black note!), then a tone and a half to the next note (F# up to G#, then the semitone up to A).

Any questions, do ask, it's quite hard to explain through text, and dead easy to explain with someone sat at a piano with me!