How to Play Basic Chords on the Piano

Learning to play basic chords on the piano elevates your playing to a new level, allowing you to move beyond elementary song playing and into more advanced piano music. You'll understand the depth this provides to your songs as you begin to play and so will your audience.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Practice arpeggio, which is simply playing the various notes that create a chord and playing them separately. This is a good finger training skill, as it helps you learn to position your fingers to when you play chords.

2. Remember that major chords are chords played normally, while you create minor chords by playing the second note as the third note of the chord. You're essentially dropping the traditional second note out of a three-note chord.

3. Learn the fingering of a chord. The thumb always plays the first note, your middle finger always plays the third note while your pinky always plays the fifth note, regardless of which hand you play with. The remaining fingers will play the second and fourth notes when you reach that level of piano playing.

4. Practice by playing a chord in C, the most common chord used in playing the piano. Play middle C with your right hand thumb. Middle C is the white key closest to the center of a piano keyboard.

5. Add in the second note of the C chord, which is E, and play it with the middle finger of your right hand, and then add the third note of a C chord, the G, played with your pinky finger of your right hand.

6. Play each note at the same time to play the middle C chord. Strike additional keys to create a full chord, and hold the keys down until you play all the notes.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't play one note and let go to play the next.