Learning chords is one of the basic piano lessons. There are some prerequisites however that you should be proficient with before proceeding to chords. Before you learn about the chords you must know what a keyboard is comprised of. There are keys in black and white. On an 88 keys keyboard the left most key is an A. This is the lowest note on a keyboard. If we notice, the black keys are arranged in groups of two and three alternatively.
There is group of two black keys and then there is group of three black keys. Each left black key of the two black keys group is called C. In the middle of the piano there are two black keys and that left black one is called middle C. Music notes run in group of 7. Starting from middle C there is C, D, E, F, G and then again A and B. When we move from C to right side like CDEFGAB the notes are called up notes and when we move backward like CBAGFED the notes are called down notes. CDEFGAB is called the major scale. The 7 white keys (CDEFGAB) together with the 5 black ones make a set of 12. Each black key has two names; sharp and flat. The black key on left of a white key makes sound one half of that white key and is called flat for that note.
Similarly each black key on right of a white key makes sound higher by one half of that white key. Suppose there is black key between C and D. Now if we move from C to right and press black key it will be C Sharp. One the other hand if we move from D to left and press same black key it will be D flat. One you learn about the notes on a scale you are ready to move to the next step i.e. learning about the chords.
A chord is basically a combination of notes played together. Once you get proficient with how to play the notes and have practiced about the note and their position you can play chords easily. There are simple chords with 3 notes and then there are 4 to 5 and even more complicated chords. While learning about the chords you must know that there are three basic chords associated with each key namely major, minor and seventh chord. For instance there will a C major, C minor and seventh C chord and so on.
These chords make use of both white and black ones of the keyboard. For example C major is C, E, G. C minor chord is C, E flat, G and a C seventh chord is C, E, G, B flat. Learning the three basic chords for each key (CDEFGAB) is likely to build a solid foundation of your knowledge of Piano and you can then move to more complicated chords.
Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chord charts.