Learn to play the piano

A chord is a group of notes that can be played together and work as the harmony in music. There are many different chords, and they can be organized into groups and categories.

One way chords differ is by how many notes they include. There are triads, four-note chords —sometimes called tetrachords— and five-note chords. There are also six- and seven-note chords; see the detailed summary of chord types.

A good way to learn piano chords is to become familiar with how they are built. Cmaj7 adds one note to C, the seventh in the C major scale. Cm7 adds one note to Cm, the seventh in the C minor scale.

Looking at extended chords —C7, C9, C11— shows notes being added by intervals from the root. See the step-by-step chord construction list.

Once you learn which notes belong to a chord, you can play it in several ways: press all keys at the same time, or play them one by one. As you progress, you will find more ways to change the result. It is also important to use the right fingers, called fingering.

Which hand should play piano chords? It depends. For musical accompaniment —in a band or with a singer— you can choose one hand or both hands, depending on how advanced the arrangement is. See two-hand chords.

Numbers represent the five fingers, from thumb (1) to pinky (5), for both hands. The suggested fingerings follow the standard shape, though they can vary depending on the musical need. To strengthen the fingers, especially the ring finger, practise independence exercises. See illustrated fingerings.

After learning a few chords, the next step is to combine them into progressions.

The image below shows an example of how a piano chord is presented on this site, including a diagram:

A highlighted key is part of the chord, and a dot marks the root. To play the real chord on a piano, press all the highlighted keys. Because the pattern repeats across the keyboard, you can place the hand in many areas of the piano. Lower notes live on the left and higher notes on the right, so aim for a comfortable middle position.

To understand the images used in the piano-chord guide, it helps to know all the notes on the keyboard. Also see triads in standard notation.

When we read piano-chord symbols, we often see # —sharp— or b —flat—, for example C# or Db. A chord written with a single letter, such as C, is major. Cm means C minor.

Sus, Dim and Aug abbreviate suspended, diminished and augmented. Inversions use a slash: C/E, where E appears as an alternative bass. A V in parentheses in a chord name, such as C(+5), indicates an alteration or extension. Less common is no, as in Cno3, meaning the triad is played without the third.