{"id":1421,"date":"2020-06-09T06:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2023-01-10T15:53:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T23:53:28","slug":"the-best-way-to-practice-chords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/the-best-way-to-practice-chords\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Way To Practice Chords"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chords are where it\u2019s at. They\u2019re the foundation for all popular songs, but it can be hard to know how to practice chords. So this lesson will show you the best way to practice chords (in my opinion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The common problem with practicing chords is that it can get kinda \u2026 boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This routine will show you a way to practice chords that\u2019s enjoyable, interesting, and useful! You\u2019ll be learning stuff you can use in real songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\u2019s as easy as 3 steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\"><strong>Step 1: Know Your Key Signature<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I can\u2019t emphasize how important this is. If you don\u2019t know your key signature you won\u2019t be able to figure out what chords to practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So pick a key signature you know (this routine is the best way to practice chords, not the best way to learn new key signatures) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this example, we\u2019ll use the key of D major. D has 2 sharps (F# and C#) and looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Best%20Way%20To%20Practice%20Chords\/d%20major%20scale%20keyboard.png\" alt=\"D major scale\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/weekly-email\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\"><strong>Step 2: The Claw (Solid &amp; Broken)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s where things get fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Claw exercise will teach you every chord that is in the key of D. These are called <a href=\"\/blog\/diatonic-chords\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cdiatonic chords\u201d<\/a>. And it\u2019s the best way to learn what chords go together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by putting your thumb on D, then skip a note (E) and play the next one. <b>But remember!<\/b> There is an F# in the key of D, so instead of playing the F, we play the F# with our middle finger. Then skip another note (G) and play the A with our pinky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2020\/Best%20Way%20To%20Practice%20Chords\/The-Claw-D-major-root.png\" alt=\"The Claw - D major chord\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the \u201cClaw\u201d shape, and it\u2019s the shape we are going to keep as we play chords up and down the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start slowly, but your goal is to build up to a decent speed with both hands, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><video src=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/ihkQuvCPgsm61kCweA\/giphy.mp4\" autoplay=\"autoplay\" loop=\"loop\" muted=\"\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/video><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the solid form of the Claw. The next step is to play these as broken chords up and down the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you do, try naming each chord you\u2019re playing. This will help you get used to identifying the chords quickly so when you see them on a piece of music you\u2019ll know straight away what they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\"><strong>Step 3: Create Chord Progressions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve now established what chords are in the key of D and you\u2019ve practiced playing them so they feel like second nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now we\u2019re going to have some fun. This is where the practice gets musical and applicable to playing popular songs, and it\u2019s why I really think this is the best way to practice chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know that the chords of D major should sound good together, so we can start mixing and matching chords within the key of D to discover what progressions sound good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might start with D, then play Bm, then G. The choice is yours! You can experiment starting on different chords and playing different progressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you do this, you\u2019ll probably stumble across some of the <a href=\"\/blog\/pop-piano-chord-progressions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">most popular pop chord progressions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:28px\"><strong>How to Keep Getting Better<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This routine should take you about 10-15 minutes. Don\u2019t spend any longer on it than that. Do what you can in that time and then leave it until tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But after you have done it once, there are many ways to keep progressing and developing your skills so you see results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you only used root position chords in one practice, try using <a href=\"\/blog\/piano-chord-inversions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inversions<\/a> the next time to practice. Start just by adding the 1st inversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or you could work on improving the speed with which you can play the Claw up and down the keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, choose a key signature you\u2019re not as comfortable with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are so many options that it\u2019s really hard to get bored. I mean, it should be if I\u2019m going to call it the best way to practice chords \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy practicing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/weekly-email\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn the best way to practice chords on the piano so you can actually use them. This practice is fun, interesting and practical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507,1108,1112],"tags":[1088],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chord-theory","category-musicianship","category-practice-musicianship","tag-ch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10581,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/10581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}