Whether you just started on piano, or have been playing for a while, you can learn a lot to develop your chords by learning a song like 10,000 Reasons.

One thing you should know about me, though: I’m not content to just teach you one song.  The reason is that with a little attention to a couple small steps, you can take what you learn in that one song and use it to make other songs so much easier!

The most important step

We’ve talked about this before, but you need to first be clear about the key of the song and its scale. Doing this one small step helps you understand the bigger connections in the music.  This directly impacts your ability to:

• play by ear,
• transpose, and
• alter your chords with success.

To help you determine the key, download the Chord Reference Sheet by clicking the image below.

Develop your chords using the scale

You can use the Chord Reference Sheet to find your scale notes, or you can count half-steps. But a better way to determine your chord notes is to use the scale.  Play the root of the chord, skip a scale note, play the next note, and skip another scale note and play the next now.   That’s all it takes to determine your chord notes, and it’s much faster. You will also want to note the number of the scale note the chord is built on. This makes it much easier down the road to play by ear and transpose.

Develop your chords with inversions

To avoid jumping around all over the keyboard, you want to get comfortable with inversions – playing the notes of the chord in different orders.  One way to develop your inversions for a particular chord progression, is to pick one out and place your order around it.  For example, take the first note of the scale, and try to make a few chords on that note.

In the video, I played the G with my pinky and based my chord inversions off it. It makes for a very smooth-sounding chord progression.

Develop your chords with this course

For a clear and concise method of learning to play my chords, check out Fluent Piano Chords video course. It will take you from your very first notes on piano through playing almost any song by chords on the piano.