How to Play Rock Keyboard Using Both Major & Minor Chords
Chords play a very important role in learning how to play rock keyboard as a beginner, and you will come across them in some form in all songs that you play.
They are quite easy to learn once you have grasped the formula of how to work them out, and they are a huge part of music.
They are fun to play and you can adapt them to suit your song, i.
e.
if you are accompanying somebody, or are playing keyboard in a rock band, you will use chords quite frequently.
A simple way to think of chords is to remember that you have 3 notes in a chord and they have to be played at the same time.
The most common chords which feature in almost every rock & pop song are Major & Minor chords.
Major are the ones that sound very happy and joyful and Minor are the sad sounding chords.
Once you have learned both Major and Minor, you will start to be able to hear the difference in the sounds of them.
The easy to follow formula to work out both Major & Minor chords on keyboard is quite simple, and you can work them out on the keyboard like this.
If we start with Major, and to keep it simple we will work out C Major to start with, so C will be your root note.
Then you will climb up four steps, to the right, including the black notes, and your second note will be E.
Then the final note in your chord will be up a further 3 steps, so your last note will be G.
So here you have the notes of C E & G, and when struck together make C Major chord.
Now if you go away and work out all the Major chords, so work out D E F G A & B.
You then have a set of chords to work with on your keyboard.
To work out Minor chords on a keyboard is just as easy, and it works like this.
We will work out A Minor together, then you can work the rest out by yourself.
What you do is you start on A, which is your root note, then you climb up 3 steps to the right, and your 2nd note in your chord will be C, then you climb up a further four steps, so your last note in the chord is E, so here you have A Minor chord...
Notes A C E, and when struck together they give out a nice Minor sound! If you work out all the Minor chords so B C D E F & G, you can start mixing Major and Minor chords together and you will be surprised at how great they sound!
They are quite easy to learn once you have grasped the formula of how to work them out, and they are a huge part of music.
They are fun to play and you can adapt them to suit your song, i.
e.
if you are accompanying somebody, or are playing keyboard in a rock band, you will use chords quite frequently.
A simple way to think of chords is to remember that you have 3 notes in a chord and they have to be played at the same time.
The most common chords which feature in almost every rock & pop song are Major & Minor chords.
Major are the ones that sound very happy and joyful and Minor are the sad sounding chords.
Once you have learned both Major and Minor, you will start to be able to hear the difference in the sounds of them.
The easy to follow formula to work out both Major & Minor chords on keyboard is quite simple, and you can work them out on the keyboard like this.
If we start with Major, and to keep it simple we will work out C Major to start with, so C will be your root note.
Then you will climb up four steps, to the right, including the black notes, and your second note will be E.
Then the final note in your chord will be up a further 3 steps, so your last note will be G.
So here you have the notes of C E & G, and when struck together make C Major chord.
Now if you go away and work out all the Major chords, so work out D E F G A & B.
You then have a set of chords to work with on your keyboard.
To work out Minor chords on a keyboard is just as easy, and it works like this.
We will work out A Minor together, then you can work the rest out by yourself.
What you do is you start on A, which is your root note, then you climb up 3 steps to the right, and your 2nd note in your chord will be C, then you climb up a further four steps, so your last note in the chord is E, so here you have A Minor chord...
Notes A C E, and when struck together they give out a nice Minor sound! If you work out all the Minor chords so B C D E F & G, you can start mixing Major and Minor chords together and you will be surprised at how great they sound!
