Piano Chords: How Many Are There?

An interesting experiment is to ask people how many chords there are in music. You'll be surprised to find out that most musicians don't do any better at answering that question than non-musicians.

Why do you suppose is that?

It is probably because it sounds like one of those questions such as "How many grains of sand on the seashore are there?", or "How many stars are there in the sky?"

And in a sense it is, but in another sense, we can get a fairly accurate sense of chord population just by calculating all the chord types and then multiplying them by the number of inversions that are possible and the number of octaves that are possible on any given instrument.
So let's start with a listing of chord types:

Major
Minor
Diminished
Augmented
Diminished 7th
Major 6th
Minor 6th
Major 7th
Minor 7th
Half-diminished 7th
9th
Flat 9th
Sharp 9th
11th
Sharp 11th
Suspension
13th
Sus 7th
Aug 7th
9th/Major 7th
6th/9th
Add 2nd
Add 4th
Flat 5th
7th with flat 5th

That's 25 of the most-used types. There are several other variations, but these chord types will do nicely for our purposes of estimating the total number of chords.

Each chord can be inverted -- turned upside down -- by the number of notes in the chord. For example, a 3 note chord has 3 positions -- root position, first inversion, and second inversion. A 4 note chord has 4 positions, a five note chord has 5 positions, and so on.

We will say for arguments sake that 4 positions is the average, knowing that some chords have more and some have less. So if we multiply 25 chord types by 4 positions, that gives us 100 possible chords per octave.

But of course we can build chords not just on one note, but on 12: C, Db or C#, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, and B -- 12 different roots. So 12 times the possible 100 or so chords per octave give us a rough total of 1200 possible chords.

Some instruments only have the range to play 2 or 3 octaves, whereas a piano with its 88 keys can play 7 octaves -- 100 chords in the lowest octave, 100 chords in the next octave, 100 chords in the next octave, and so on up to the top octave of the keyboard.

So on the piano we could theoretically play those 1200 chords in all 7 octaves, giving us some 8400 possible chords. Of course, some would sound so low or so high that they wouldn't really be useable in a song. But still, they are possible.

So what's the answer to the original question? It depends upon the instrument and how many variations of each chord the individual musician uses -- but in any case, it's a bunch! For more, please go to:

http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/29-howmanychords.htm

Did you know that music is based on natural "laws"?

Did you know that music is based on natural "laws" -- like gravity -- and by learning to understand how those natural laws work we can actually understand what we are doing when we play -- we don't have to be at the mercy of what someone else has written on a piece of music.

How many of these facts do you know about music & piano playing? Test yourself and then check the answers at the bottom of the page:

Did you know that by learning just 3 chords you can play hundreds of songs?

Did you know that there are only 12 major keys you can play in, but you only really have to master one key to play most popular songs?

Did you know that it is possible to easily match any melody note (tune) to a chord, so you can harmonize any note?

Did you know that Beethoven's Fur Elise and the blues song "Summertime" uses the exact same chords for the theme of the song?

Did you know that it is quite possible to predict what chord comes next in a song with accuracy approaching 85%?

Did you know you can use the same chords to play boogie, blues, new age, gospel, pop, rock, jazz, country - anything except classical music? (And even some classics!)

Did you know that by coming in through the backdoor of piano playing -- chords -- you can start making wonderful and satisfying sounds on the piano in just a few days instead of a few years -- even if you don't know Middle C from Tweedle Dee?

For the answers to the questions above, please go to: http://www.playpiano.com/piano-lessons-for-adults.htm

The Blues Scale & It's Use

The Blues Scale

The blues started not as a piano style, but as a vocal style, and of course the human voice can sing "in the cracks" between the notes on the keyboard. So when we play blues on the keyboard, we try to imitate the human voice by playing BOTH the 3rd and the flat 3rd -- BOTH the 5th and the flat 5th -- BOTH the 7th and the flat 7th. We would play in the cracks if we could, but we can't, so we do the best we can by combining the intervals to imitate the quarter steps that a human voice can sing. (Certain instruments can do that too -- for example, the trombone. Since it has a slide, it can hit an infinite number of tones between any two keyboard notes.)

So in the key of C, for example, the blues scale would include:

C, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, A, Bb, B, and the octave C.
In the key of F the blues scale would include:
F, G, Ab, A, Bb, Cb, C, D, Eb, E, and the octave F.
In the key of G the blues scale would include:
G, A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, E, F, F#, and the octave G.

So in improvising you can craft a melody out of any or all of these notes. Start by creating a motif out of just 3 or 4 notes, then repeat that motif as you change chords.

For example, if you were in the Key of C, you might create a motif such as C, C, G, Bb C and repeat it in various rhythms as you play the C7 chord in your left hand, then again as you move to the F7 chord, and so on.

With practice and experimentation you can play your own variety of the blues as you master the blues scale.



For more info on the subject, please go to http://playpiano.com/101-tips/31-12-bar-blues.htm

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. A free lesson on music notes and music theory is available: "Music Notes & Flat Key Signatures" Duane holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University. You can sign up for his free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" which now has over 70,000 current subscribers worldwide.

Music Notes: How Pitch & Duration Are Determined

Music Notes: How Pitch & Duration Are Determined

Notes are the musical notation representing a fixed pitch. While the word strictly refers to the physical notation of a pitch, it's more commonly used to refer to both the pitch and the notation.

Please go to http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/27-musicnotes.htm to read the rest of the article...thanks.

Also see http://www.playpiano.com/catalog/pianonotes7.htm

Piano Lessons: Make Sure They Include Chords & Music Theory!

Piano Lessons: Make Sure They Include
Chords & Music Theory!

Proper piano instruction is an element extremely vital to learning the instrument well. Though it's very possible to be a self-taught piano player, piano lessons can really increase the speed and efficiency with which one learns the instrument. That's not to say that great piano instruction makes great piano players overnight; even the most naturally talented pianists still play for years before they consider themselves advanced. But proper piano lesson instructions will maximize those years to the fullest and ensure that the student is learning the correct techniques.
Though teaching styles always vary from instructor to instructor, piano instruction generally covers the same basic areas: fingering, , music reading, scales, technique, and sight reading. The early lessons will cover fingering and posture, making sure the student knows how to hold his or her hands and where to put them on the keys; series of scales practiced repeatedly will be the basis of this area. Piano instruction will then move on to notation essentials, starting with the basics of notes and key signatures and time signatures and then moving forward to more advanced concepts in rhythm, tempo and dynamics.
Many of these concepts are introduced into the piano instruction while the student is learning to read music, a practice that runs through the entire course of the piano instruction. Teachers will assign short, easy pieces to kick start the student's music reading knowledge and eventually move forward to more advanced pieces. Sight reading, the ability to play a piece of music without ever having seen it, is sometimes placed sporadically throughout the piano instruction, after a student is fairly well-versed in reading music.
One crucial element of piano playing that is often left out of traditional piano lessons is the study and practice of chords and music theory. To learn to read music without understanding the theory behind the music and the chords and chord progressions that form the music is almost like teaching a surgeon to cut without understanding the human anatomy and it's interrelated parts. The student will be able to play the piano from a piece of sheet music, but take that music away or have it blow off the piano and he or she is immediately in big trouble.
Article continued at http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/26-musictheory&chords.htm

Transposition and Modulation

How do transposition and modulation relate? Are they the same? In this newsletter we're going to take a look at both of them and see what makes them tick.

I'm sure that you have had the experience sometime in your piano-playing life when someone asks you to play a song -- but in a different key than in which it is written. It might be a singer wanting you to lower the song a step so he/she doesn't screech. It might be a song leader wanting you to play a song in a more comfortable keys for a congregation or group. It might be a trumpet player looking over your shoulder and wanting to play along with you -- but when he/she plays the same note you are playing, it sure doesn't sound the same!

So....it's your job, as pianist, to get that song moved to a different key. That's transposition -- playing or writing a song in a different key than in which it was originally written.

Modulation is similar but different -- modulation means the process of getting fro
m the old key to the new key. In other words, if I'm playing in the key of C, and then want to play in the key of Eb, I have to learn to modulate -- move smoothly from one key to another without being too abrupt and jarring.

There are basicly 3 ways to transpose:

1. by intervals
2. by scale degrees
3. by solfege -- the moveable "do" system.

But since solfege applies mostly to singers, we will ignore that possibility and just take up the first two:

1. Intervals: If the new key is an interval of a minor 3rd above the old key, then all notes in the song will also be an interval of a minor 3rd higher. In other words, if you are transposing from the key of C to the key of Eb, which is a minor 3rd higher (or major 6th lower -- whichever way you want to look at it), then all melody notes will also be a minor 3rd higher:

"G" in the key of C would become "Bb" in the key of Eb. "E" in the key of C would become ":G" in the new key of Eb. "A" would become "C", "B" would become "D", and so on. All chords would also move a minor 3rd higher. The "C chord" would become the "Eb chord", the "F chord" would become the "Ab chord", and so on.

2. Scale degrees: Each key you play in has it's own scale degrees. In the key of C the scale degrees are: C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7, C=8. In the key of Eb, however, Eb=1, F=2, G=3, Ab=4, Bb=5, C=6, D=7, Eb=8. So if I want to transpose Silent Night, for example, from the key of C to the key of Eb, I need to notice what scale degrees I am using in the key of C, and then use those same scale degrees in the key of Eb. For example, Silent Night starts on the 5th degree of the scale, goes up to the 6th, back to the 5th, then down to the 3rd. In the key of C that is: G-A-G-E. But in the key of Eb it is Bb-C-Bb-G. Why? Because the scale degrees 5-6-5-3 are constant -- we just need to apply them in each key. What about chords? Same idea. If the chord progression on Silent Night is the I chord followed by the V chord, followed by the I chord, followed by the IV chord, etc. -- then in the key of C that means C-G-C-F-etc., but in the key of Eb it means Eb-Bb-Eb-Ab-etc.

Modulation means getting between keys, so let's say you are playing in the key of C, but you want to get to the key of Eb smoothly, without jarring the nerves of the listeners. There are lots of ways to do it, but the main point is that you have to get to the V7 chord of the new key. So from the key of C to the key of Eb, that means getting to Bb7. How do we do that smoothly? We look for chords with common notes. Since the V of the V of the new key would be Fm7, we have C as a common note. So we hold the C in the C chord, and move the rest of the C chord to Fm7, then Bb7, then Eb, and presto -- we are there! I realize that may be a bit hard to follow with just printed words to follow, but if you saw it happen (like on a video) you would understand it instantly, I think.

http://www.playpiano.com/musical-courses/transpose-modulate.htm

http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/25-transpose&modulate.htm