![]() Put your thumb (1 st finger) on a C, then let the fingers of your right hand each occupy the next four white keys, leaving your 2 nd finger on D, your 3 rd on E, 4 th on F and 5 th on G. To play this chord in your right hand, I strongly recommend using your first finger to play C, your third to play E, and your fifth to play G. Pianists number their fingers from one through five, with your thumb being one and your pinky being five. We need the root, the third, and the fifth to play the C major chord. We first pick out the root of the chord we want to play C in this case. Remember how the notes of a scale will always follow the order of the musical alphabet? The white keys of a piano follow this order as well, repeating that seven note A-G musical alphabet over and over again. C major is commonly the very first key students begin learning in, because the C major scale uses only the white keys. Now that we’ve found the root, let’s pick out the rest of the chord. For this illustration, I will be using the C right in the middle of the keyboard, hereby known as “middle C.” If you’re sitting at the piano, it will be the set of two black keys right in the middle or fourth from the left.įor most, this is the most comfortable and natural place to start. To play a lower sounding C major chord, start with a C in a lower octave towards the left of the keyboard and to play a high sounding one, start with a C in a higher octave towards the right of the keyboard. And to make matters easier, all C’s (with the exception of the very highest one) will look just like that-to the left of a set of two black keys. Then find the white key to the left of that set of two. To find a C, first find a set of two black keys. ![]() ![]() No matter how times this pattern repeats, this is still a very handy road map of sorts to help us locate our notes. If you’ve got a digital instrument with a smaller keyboard, the pattern is still there, it just won’t repeat the full seven times or it may start with a set of three instead of a set of two. This “two-three” pattern will repeat itself seven times on a full keyboard. I’ve circled the sets of two in blue and the sets of three in red. If you have a piano or a full keyboard, you’ll notice that the pattern (aside from the very first black key on the left) is two black keys, followed by three black keys, then two black keys, then three black keys. Pay close attention to how the black keys are arranged on the piano from left to right, and you’ll notice a pattern. Since the root of a chord is always the first tone of the scale and we want to play a C major chord, let’s first find a “C” on the piano. Major chords can be played using any variation of the notes that make up the triad but, for this article, we will always be starting on the root. We now know that C, E, and G are the notes that make up a C major triad. You Might Also Want to Read: C7 Piano Chord Navigating the Keyboard Now that the theory is out of the way, let’s figure out how to translate our newly acquired knowledge to the piano keyboard. We’ll call this a “triad.” And because we are playing a major triad, the chord will sound “happy” to our ears. Take a look at the scale above and you will note that the 1st note is C, the 3rd is E, and the 5th is G. ![]() The musical alphabet is a lot like the regular alphabet, except it only has seven letters (A B C D E F G) that repeat indefinitely.įor now, we are working with the C major scale. Notes for a scale will always start on the root and then go up or down an octave, one note at a time and following the musical alphabet. This root note will repeat eight notes, or an “octave” later to end the scale. This starting note will hereby be known as the “root” note for the remainder of this article. Like all scales, the C major scale is eight notes in total, starting and ending on the letter it’s named after. To play a C major chord, we will be using the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the C Major scale, which is as follows: Technically speaking, a major chord contains any variations of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of any given major scale. ![]()
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