Learn Piano Online:
"Got A Sweet Tooth For Learning
Some Basic Chords?"

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Learn piano online - nothing is sweeter to the ears than hearing a few basic chords you've learned to play for the very first time. You're about to have fun with what will serve as the building blocks for creating all chords you'll master in the future.

It's true - once you know these basics, playing chords on the piano will become easy to you. Whether you are a pianist or musician of another flavor, knowing your chords will prove to be an asset.

Furthermore, even if piano is not your main instrument, using the piano to learn chords and other music fundamentals is a great idea, since the piano keyboard's symmetrical layout serves as a visual tool you can easily relate to.

So, what is a chord anyway? In simple terms, a chord is three or more notes played at the same time.

Every chord you will ever learn can be thought of as stemming from one of the four basic chords you are about to become familiar with. Just knowing that should already make you optimistic and boost your confidence!
Again, there are four basic chords. Here they are:

1) Major

2) Minor

3) Diminished

4) Augmented

Now, the particular chords we are discussing here are triads. Triads are simply chords with only three notes, Just think: a tricycle has three wheels; a triad has three notes.

At times, I may use the words interchangeably - for example: major triad or major chord. Since our exploration here involves only three-note chords for now, they refer to the same thing. (All triads are chords, but not all chords are triads, since there are tons of chords that consist of more than three notes, which will be explored later)

You are encouraged by me to start with learning the major triad ... the reason I suggest this is because my explanation of the other three basic chords - minor, diminished, augmented - will be based on the major triad. Once you learn it, the others are a piece of cake! Actually, I encourage you to learn the basic triads in the order of the list shown above.

The approach I take with your learning these chords is a very simple one, and for a reason. You see, I have a choice when it comes to presenting this information...

I could hit you with the "long-hand" approach, throwing all the theory at you which would lead to your finally seeing how we arrive at each of the basic chords above. But I take a risk of you losing interest by doing it this way...

The purpose of this site is not to serve as a "textbook." Rather, its purpose is to present a fun and easy way to get right to business when it comes to having fun with music.

Truthfully, when I learned chords on the piano during my early days, I learned them in a practical way. All that music theory explaining the "why"s of everything became clearer as time went by. My own curiosity guided me to those answers... eventually.

But if I was exposed to the longer, theoretical method of learning, I wonder if my interest would have survived for me to stick it out long enough to the point where I could actually start playing and having fun. I mean, after all, I was playing pretty quickly!

Friend, I look at it this way... if I want to eat a candy bar, I go for it. I let myself enjoy it. Do I need to know everything about how that candy bar was produced, from the making of the chocolate to the creation of the wrapper, before I allow myself to indulge? I think you know the answer.

So it goes with learning chords or any other aspect of learning the piano. That's why I created this site. I want it to be a special place where you can chew little bit at a time, apply what you learn, and have fun every step of the way.

So go ahead... indulge. Dive into having fun with all this, like a little child experiencing his or her very first bag of M&M's...

You'll soon learn that only a tiny morsel of knowledge is all you need to start making that piano or keyboard talk to you! And, as it screams for more, you'll have enough of a grip on these basic chords to satisfy its hunger... and yours!

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