1. The Most Common Chords a Keyboard player
Will Use and Some Common Chord Patterns
for You to Try at Home
As a beginner it is really important to learn popular chords that you will often come across when
playing music on keyboard or piano.
Chords are very important when it comes to learning keyboard, as they are present in every song
you will play.
With piano you have two different clefs - one being the treble clef which is normally played with
your right hand and are usually the higher notes above middle C.
Then you have the bass clef, which is normally played with your left hand and are notes below
middle C.
Chords won't always be played as a single unit i.e. 3 notes struck together, but what you will very
often find is they will be split up between the clefs, so you might have for example C Major Chord,
but the E out of the chord is being played in the treble clef as the melody, and the C and G are being
played lower in the bass clef.
This is why it is so important to learn all chords and become confident playing them as it will help
your musical development if you understand where the music is developed from.
Chords consist of three individual notes but when struck together sound great. Chords are used in
many ways. They are also present in most music you will play and perform and so learning piano
chords will give you the opportunity to play many styles.
Learning chords is a way of opening up performing opportunities for you. It will allow you the
freedom to accompany singers, or you may be a singer yourself, so it will give you the chance to
accompany yourself.
You may also at some point wish to play together with other musicians in a band so chords will also
come in handy for this.
The most popular types of chords you will come across are Major and Minor Chords. Major are often
described as the happy sounding chords and Minor are described as the sad sounding chords. These
common chords are found in most styles of music, but most commonly found in pop rock and
classical music.
Below are two formulas to help you work out both Major and Minor Chords. It is a simple formula to
follow, but will give you the information you need to work out any major or minor chords:

2. To work out a major chord, you need to select a note in which you want the chord for. This is called
your root note. Then moving up the piano/keyboard you will climb four notes including white and
black notes, and this will work out your middle note. From here you will climb a further three steps
to reach your third note. You will then have formed a chord.
If we use C major as an example, your root note will be C, your Middle note will be E and your last
note will be a G. So you have three notes C E & G which are then turned into C major chord.
Try working out some other chords yourself. Do them in patterns that fit, so try working out C Major,
F Major and G Major. Then play these one after another and see how great they sound.
To work out minor chords, you select a root note. Then you climb three steps and you will reach
your middle note, and a further four steps to reach your last note for the chord. For example A
minor Chord would have A as your root note, C as your middle note and E as your last note. So your
three notes for A Minor chord are A C E.
Try working out some other minor chords yourself. Common minor pattern are D Minor a minor and
E minor.
Use the information above to learn all your chords thoroughly, and write down the two easy
formulas so you have them to hand should you need to work out another chord.
The correct fingering to play chords on piano in your right hand is 1 3 5. One is your thumb, and 5
will be your little finger.
The correct fingering to follow for your left hand with piano chords is 5 3 1. Five is your little finger
and one is your thumb.
It can take many years of practice to reach the standard to be able play your own one hour song
repertoire on piano or keyboard.
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