How to Play Keyboard Chords

How to Play Keyboard Chords How to Play Keyboard Chords Chords are like words in music and refer to the harmonized parts of a melody. Chords are formed when three or more notes on a musical instrument are played simultaneously, either all at once or one after the other. There are many varieties to chords like major chords, minor chords, diminished chords, seventh chords and augmented chords. A chord with three notes is more popularly known as a triad. Like for example C-E-G is a C Major triad and F-A-C is an F Major triad. An electronic keyboard and a piano have the same keys and you can easily learn how to play keyboard chords on either of them.

If you do not have a piano at home, get a simple electronic keyboard from your local music store. You would require a keyboard with at least 49 keys and preferably full sized.
To create a chord, you need to know the distance between chord notes. Distance between notes is measured through half steps, half tones or semi tones. A half step on a piano is the distance between one note and the note just beside it. The color of the note is not important here, what matters is the very next note. It is essential to remember that while counting half steps, you don’t count the note you start from. Move away from the starting note to measure distance to the next half step. Essentially, one half step up the keyboard is going up one key.
To play a major chord, start on a note that names the chord you want to play. Then count four half steps to find the second note of the chord, and three more half steps to find the third note of the chord. For example, for playing the C major chord, start on the note C. Count up four half steps and you come to E. Now count another three half steps to find the third note of your chord and you get G. In this way, the notes for a C major chord would be C-E-G.
Similarly for a minor chord, start on a note that names the chord. To find the second note, count three half steps. Now count four more half steps to get the third note of the minor chord. A C minor chord would be C-Eb-G. For a diminished chord, you need to count three half steps and then three more. An augmented chord has four half steps and then four more. This a simple method of counting with 3’s and 4’s to find any major, minor, diminished or augmented chord.
For playing the three notes of any chord, you will only use fingers 1, 3 and 5 i.e. the thumb, the middle and the little finger. The index and ring fingers can rest on, but they won’t press down any keys. Every time you change chords, you will see your fingers advancing one half step up the keyboard.
Practice playing the major chords in different inversions. A C major chord is C-E-G and its first inversion would be E-G-C. The second inversion is G-C-E. Inversions of a chord use the same notes, but place a different note in the bass.
So now, you can start playing chords on the keyboard. Listen to the chords as you play them. They should sound similar, as they all have the same relationship between the notes. You cannot become an expert overnight. Keep practicing and you will surely get the hang of it in time.