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Knowing how to play piano chords is important when it comes to playing chord piano. You can know all your chords and how they are formed but if you don’t know how to play them in a song then you aren’t any better off then when you started.

Take the time to read this article if you are a beginner or intermediate piano player, there may be a tip or two here that you didn’t know.

What is a chord

A chord is a set of notes that are played harmonically or at the same time. A basic chord is made up of 3 notes. The two main types of chords are the Major Chord and the Minor Chord

Playing chords gives you the structure of the song. The melody fits within the chords and makes it much easier to play an instrument without having to learn to read sheet music.

How To Play Piano Chords

When you start to learn chords its important to get the fingering right. The fingering for a major and minor chord is easy.

With your right hand you play the first note with your thumb, the third note with middle finger, and the fifth note with your pinky. This is the correct way to play a chord with your right hand.

Some people find it easier to play with the thumb, index, and ring finger. It doesn’t really matter how you play it just as long as you play the right notes.

With the left hand you use the pinky on the first note, middle finger on the third, and thumb on the fifth.

Again use whatever feels right for you. When you learn how to play piano chords its best to play what feels right.

Use The Piano Chord Encyclopedia for more help on piano chord fingering.

Quarter Notes

Playing chords in quarter notes is the best beginner method. When you count music that is in 4/4 there are four beats per measure. This is the one, two, three, four count that everyone knows.

To play on the quarter notes you play the chord on each one of those counts. So if you are playing a C chord you play that chord on each count. Every time you count a number you play that chords It would look something like this.

C     C    C     C
1     2     3     4

Easy Bass

The easiest way to use the left hand with chords is to just play the root note of the chord.

If you were playing a C chord in the right hand you would play a single C note in the left hand. This is the easiest bass line to start with.

Once you’ve got that down you can move on to a root and fifth bass. This is just playing the root, which would be C, and the fifth which is G.

Playing this in the left hand along with the full chord in the right hand gives a fuller sound then just the single bass note.

Octave Bass

Once you get the easy bass chords down and you need something a little more challenging, try playing an octave in the bass.

An octave is just two of the same note. Instead of playing the single C in the left hand stretch your fingers and play a low C with your pinky and another C above that with your thumb.

This will open up the sound in the bass. It gives you a more full and rich sound.

Right Hand Octave

This is a more difficult type of chord to play. It is simply a major chord with an added octave on the top.

It is similar to the left hand octave but you are adding the notes in the chord with your other fingers.

Lets look at the C chord again. It is made up of a C, E, and G. Normally you would play these notes with your thumb, middle, and pinky.

For this you will play the C with your thumb, E with your index finger, E with your middle finger, and another C with your pinky.

This chord is hard to play for beginners but is great to help you stretch your fingers.

Once you know how to play piano chords like this you will get a very full open sound from the piano.

Conclusion

Knowing how to play piano chords is just as important as knowing the chords themselves. There are tons of ways to play these chords and this page is just a sample of some of the simple ways to play chords.

Once you start getting more advanced you will come up with your own ways to play chords.

Soon you will have a full arsenal of tricks that you can pull out with any chord to make a great sounding arrangement.

Need more help learning chords? Learn almost every chord you’ll ever need with our Piano Chord Encyclopedia.

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So you want to know how to learn piano?

Learning piano is not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. Looking at the keyboard and seeing all those keys can overwhelm just about anyone. But in reality, playing the piano is not all that hard. It takes a lot of practice, but everyone can learn how to play piano.

I’m not going to teach you how to play piano on this single page, but I will point you in the right direction, and give you some great tips that you can follow to get you playing the piano in no time.

What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

How To Learn Piano

Here we go!

I have included some of the most important tips that you need to discover how to learn piano. For most of us the biggest obstacle is ourselves. Don’t get in your own way. The first step is to Just Do It!

Get Started! Don’t Wait!

Do something Today to help better yourself as a piano player. If you know absolutely nothing about the piano, you can start by reading the rest of this article and following our Free Piano Lessons.

The hardest part of any task is getting started. Start today by doing something small.

Have an “I Can Attitude!”

I know that this is a very cliché type of phrase, but it answers the question of how to learn piano. It’s time that you started looking at the piano from a different perspective. Don’t look at it as something you’ll never be able to conquer. Have confidence in yourself that you will learn to play the piano.

The mind is a very powerful thing. If you can overcome the negative self-talk that comes along with learning a new skill, you will be steps ahead.

Have an attitude of success to motivate yourself.

Learn Notes on the Piano Keyboard

The first skill you will need when learning how to learn piano is the notes on the piano keyboard. Learn the musical alphabet and where the notes are on the piano

You will also need to learn the layout of piano keys. The keys on the piano have a set pattern, once you learn this easy pattern you will be on your way playing the piano.

Study the notes on the piano, learn the names of the notes. This is the very first thing that any beginner should focus on how to learn piano.

YouTube!

One of the greatest recourses for any beginner to advanced musician is Youtube. YouTube has just about everything you will need to learn to play piano online. There are some very talented people who offer free and helpful advice for the piano.

It can sometimes be hard to find the thing that you are looking for however. You may be searching for a specific skill that may not be covered as in-depth as you need. Or it may not even be covered at all.

It can sometimes be hit or miss. You may use a lot your practice time searching the mounds of videos for the best one.

Use Youtube as often as you can. Try and find the real professionals and stick with them. There are a lot of amateurs that mean well, but are not great teachers, or not great at making instructional videos. Find a person that you like, and learn as much as you can from them.

Practice Everyday

This might seem to be a no-brainer, but when you start learning how to learn piano you might not realize how important it is to set a strict practice schedule. In the beginning of you piano journey you will be learning a lot of new things. If you are not able to put those new skills into practice every day you are more likely to forget them.

Set a time to practice piano everyday, even if it is only for 15-20 minutes. It is very easy to forget things if they are not practiced and repeated. Try and practice at least 30 minutes each day. If you have time, an hour is even better.

Take Private Lessons

Taking private piano lessons from a highly qualified instructor is one of the most beneficial ways to improve your abilities as a piano player. Most people wanting to learn how to learn piano online don’t have the time to fit traditional lessons into their busy schedule.

Teaching yourself to play the piano is very possible, but having a private piano teacher will help speed up the learning process.

Teaching yourself will save money, but you will find yourself frustrated at times.

Private lessons are not for everyone, but from my experience, having an individual instructor is the quickest way to learn piano.

Make sure you take time and find the right teacher that fits your style of playing. There are some people who want to learn to play piano chords and not have to read sheet music. Make sure you find someone who will teach you what you want to learn.

Learning to play the piano is a fun and challenging experience. It will take time and practice but the outcome is very well worth it.

If you really want to know how to learn piano, you simply need to start practicing!

Do as much research as you can. Learn something new every day.

Once you get to a point where you can no longer teach yourself, find a piano teacher to help guide you the rest of the way.

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Here Comes Goodbye was made popular by Rascal Flatts. This is a great piano song for intermediate players.

Intro

The intro is made up of a B minor chord. You play the 1, 2, and 3 of chord three times.

Then walk down to the C#, B, G then F#. If you like you can play a grace note on the A and B to add a little flavor to the song.

Then play an A and end on the F#.

Repeat this same thing again and you have to right hand intro

Left Hand

The left hand on the intro is easy. You have to play the 1 and 5 of each chord as you walk down from Bm, A, G, D.

You can play a full chord if you like, but it is easier and sounds just as good to play to a and 5 beacuse the right hand is doing so much.

The Rest of the Song

the rest of the song is just playing chords. You can get as technical as you want. The chords to the song are below. Just follow them and the video and you should have no problem playing the song.

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Video Tutorial

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Chords

Intro: Bm A G D – Bm A G

Verse

Bm A G D

Bm A G

Bm A G D/F# Em

D/F# G

Chorus

Bm G Bm A G

Bm G

Bm A G D/F# Em D/F# G

Bridge

G A Bm

G A

C Em G

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Lyrics

I can hear the truck tires coming up the gravel road
And it’s not like her to drive that slow, nothing’s on the radio
Footsteps on the front porch, I hear my doorbell
She usually comes right in, now I can tell

Here comes goodbye
Here comes the last time
Here comes the start of every sleepless night
The first of every tear I’m gonna cry

Here comes the pain
Here comes me wishing things had never changed
And she was right here in my arms tonight
But here comes goodbye

I can hear her say “I love you” like it was yesterday
And I can see it written on her face that she had never felt this way
One day I thought I’d see her with her daddy by her side
And violins would play Here Comes The Bride

Chorus

Why’s it have to go from good to gone?
Before the lights turn on
Yeah, and you’re left alone

Chorus

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The half rest is another musical symbol that is used to represent silence in a piece of music. It usually sits between music notes, and tells the musician at what point in the music they should stop playing.

This rest can be very easily confused with a whole rest. It is almost identical to it in the way it looks, but is used very differently.

The half is held out for 2 beats, while the whole is held out for an entire four beats. The whole rest represents silence over the entire measure and is used less frequently then the half.

Let’s jump right in, and see how this rest is applied to music notation. Where and how to use it, and how tell it apart from all the other rests there are out there.

Here It Is!

The half rest looks like a small block that is growing up out of the staff lines.

The position of the rest is always on the third (middle) line. It points in an upward direction, and goes about half-way up the third space.

It always sits in the measure with other notes or rests. And it will take up about one half of the measure. This is a good way of telling how long to hold it out.

Duration

This rest is held out for two beats, or half of the measure.

Most songs are in four four time. This means that there are four beats in each measure. If there are four beats to each measure, and this rest takes up half of the measure, that means that it is worth two beats.

When you see a rest it is telling you that at this point you are to stop playing. It doesn’t mean that you keep holding the previous note. You are to completely take your hands off the piano.

Take a look at the rest along with some other notes. You can see how the measure takes up about half of the measure and the notes take up the other half of the measure.

This is a good way to visually tell how long to hold out the rest. You can see in the measure that there are no notes there, so you know not to play.

Looking Up?

The half rest and whole rest are almost identical to each other.

The best way to tell the difference between them is to look at the direction the rest is pointing. A half rest will always point upward, and a whole rest will always point downward.

Another difference between the two is that whole rest sits on the fourth line up, or second line down. This makes both of the rests fall on the third space in the staff. In the treble clef, this would be a C note.

Take a look at the image below and see the difference between the two rests.

Not only does one point up and one point down, but they both take up different amounts of space in the measure. In the image you can see how the whole rest sits perfectly in the center of the measure. This is helpful to know that there will be silence for the whole measure.

The half rest will never sit in the center of the measure like a whole rest. This is a great way of telling the difference in the two

Recap – Difference in Half and Whole Rest

• Half points up – whole points down
• Half is on the third line – whole is on the fourth line
• Whole takes up the whole measure – half doesn’t

Half Rest and Half Notes

Just like all the other rests, there is a note that has equal value to it. The half note has the same value as the rest.

Since we know that a half rest is held for two beats, then a half note is held out for two beats.

If you look at one measure of music, there is four beats in each measure. This means that there will be two half notes and rests in that measure. Two beats for the first, and two beats for the second.

Each of them both take up half of the measure, giving each of them two beats

Look at the image and see how half notes and rests are similar to each other.

Practice

Let’s take a minute and practice counting rests. When you count these measures below, when you get to the rest say “Off” to tell yourself to stop playing.

Let’s Go!

The half rest can very easily be confused with a whole rest. Make sure that you look at the direction of the rest and where it sits in the measure to help you remember its value.

Practice counting rests and note values everyday when you are first learning them. This will make it almost second nature when you really start to learn to play.

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When playing the piano we use what’s known as the grand staff. This is the part of the piece of music that is made up of the lines that run across the page. It is a combination of the two clefs that we already learned about.

This staff is used whenever a musician is to play both clefs at the same time. The top clef is the treble clef and the bottom is the bass clef.

Purpose of the Staff

The piano has 88 different keys. Because of the vast amount of notes on the piano there needs to be a way to write these notes on paper. Having the two clefs together on one staff allows for every note to have a written form that the musician can follow.

The Staff

The picture below shows what the staff looks like. This staff is composed of both bass and treble clef connected by a black bar on the left of the clef.

If you look at the picture carefully then you can see that there is a big gap in the middle between the two clefs. This is where Middle C is located. They use ledger lines in the middle to show what line the note will fall on. Here is how middle C falls in between the two clefs.

How to use this staff

Looking at the staff you will see that there are two clefs. Each clef will represent a hand. The top clef will use the right hand and the bottom clef for the left hand.

Each line and space applies to a particular note on the piano. Look at the picture and you can see how each note on the staff goes along with a note on the piano. Use this to help you memorize which note on the grand staff coordinates with each key.

Middle C shares a line with the bass clef and treble clef. From C up the treble clef is the upper part of the piano and from Middle C down is the lower part.

If you are ever confused about which hand to use to play those notes that are in the middle of the staff just see which clef it is in. If it is a C in the treble clef, then you use the right hand. If its a C in the bass clef, then use the left hand.

The grand staff is primarily used in piano music. It can label any note that is on the piano. Using this staff and ledger line you can easily find any note on the piano.

Great Job! Now that you know how to use this staff you understand how music is written and better understand how to read it.

Click to go to Lessons #13 – Eighth Notes
Back To Lesson #11 – Music Rhythm
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