How to Read Piano Chord Symbols

The traditional piano has 88 keys and covers a range of just over seven octaves. The piano, because it allows players to play chords and melody lines simultaneously, is a popular instrument for soloists. The piano is also often used as an accompanying instrument, in which chords are the foundation. Anyone learning piano should familiarize himself with chord symbols and the various ways to read chords on piano.

Things You'll Need

• Piano
• Piano chord dictionary
• Piano sheet music

Instructions

1. Start with a simple piece of piano sheet music and look at the chord names above the music staff. You will see letters and symbols written at various points throughout the sheet. These are chord markings. These are the symbols you need to understand. Examples are: C, C7, Cmin, C#, Cb.

2. Get familiar with the most basic chord symbols first. Major and minor chords can be written in several ways. Here are the most common notations for major and minor chords: C, Cmaj, Cmajor; Cm, Cmin, Cminor. All of these are different ways of notating the same two chords. Typically, the most common is the letter name by itself for the major and the Cm for the minor. Adding a 9 or a 7 after a chord name tells you to play a major or minor chord with the seventh or ninth degree of the scale added. Examples: C7, C9, Cm9.

3. Understand the variations that change these major and minor chords and what those changes are. An "aug" after a chord tells you the chord is augmented (a sharped fifth note). It will be written as a Caug. Two other chord variations you will encounter are dim (diminished) and sus4. These are diminished chords and suspended fourth chords.

4. Study chords as often as you practice. It takes time to become proficient at recognizing all the variations. There are numerous chords and numerous ways to read them, so a good chord dictionary is in order. You can purchase a piano chord book at a music store or find one online free of charge.

5. Play as much music as you can, aimed at helping you commit to memory the new chord symbols you learn to recognize. You can purchase sheet music at a music store or find it online free of charge. The more you play and exercise your memory of chord symbols, the better you will be at playing them.

Tips & Warnings

• Most of the time when playing piano it won't be necessary to pay attention to chord symbols above the music because the chords are notated on the music staff. Anytime you see notes played simultaneously in your sheet music, that is a chord notated in music note form.

References

• Piano chord dictionary.com
• Piano by chords

Resources

• Free Piano Music