In the summer I discussed Slash Chords, (aka Triad Inversions or Inverted Chords) and Minor Slash Chords. Today I want to move beyond the triad to explain 6th chords, 7th chords, suspended chords, and by request, a bit about 9th and 11th chords.
PLEASE NOTE!
The first thing you need to know in order to figure out these chords is your major scales. If you have been using my Upper Hands Piano series, you studied major scales in BOOK 2. If you don't know your scales, please purchase BOOK 2 or find a source for major scales online and start practicing them, 2 scales per week. BOOK 2 also includes a thorough study of SLASH CHORDS (aka INVERSIONS).
In Upper Hands Piano BOOK 3 you get lots of practice learning and playing 6th and 7th chords as well as suspended chords. Of course, I recommend you go through my series so that you actually learn all of the chords I'm showing you today. But in this blog post I'm giving you a short cut to figuring them out so that you can play from Easy Fake Books simultaneously, while learning the chords more comprehensively in my Upper Hands Piano BOOKS 1- 4.
Fake Books such as Your First Fake Book assume that you know the following chords: major, minor, augmented and diminished triads (all covered in Upper Hands Piano BOOK 1), plus Slash Chords, and Dominant 7th chords. I will also show you how to play Major 7ths, Minor 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and Suspended Chords but they are more advanced chords in more advanced Fake Books and Sheet Music Collections.
I think I can best explain chords in my video, but let me also make the most important distinction here in writing: there is an important difference between Major 7ths (written MAJ7 or △7) and Dominant 7ths (written C7, G7 etc.) Here's what you need to remember:
A Major 7th chord includes a major triad, plus the 7th note of the major scale.
So you would play a CMAJ7 chord (bottom to top):
C E G B
You would play an EMAJ7 chord:
E G# B D#
However, Dominant 7th chords are different! You still play a major triad for a dominant 7th, but the top note you play is a FLATTED or LOWERED 7th!
So you would play a C7 chord:
C E G B-flat
You would play an E7 chord:
E G# B D
The only difference between a Major 7th chord (e.g. "F#MAJ7") and a Dominant 7th chord (e.g."F#7") is that the highest key, the 7th, is "flatted," or more accurately, lowered 1/2 step (to the left), for the 7th chord. Please watch my NEW CHORDS: Part 1 video for a demonstration:
I like the Easy Fake Book series to start with. You will see links for many of them on my website under "Resources" or you can visit UpperHandsPIano.com/resources. and scroll down a bit until you see: "Click on Titles to View." There are so many Easy Fake Books to choose from including Your First Fake Book, The Easy Country Fake Book, The Easy Love Songs Fake Book, The Easy Christmas Songs Fake Book, and many more. I included a list of songs in each book, so find one that has at least several titles you might like to play.
My next video discusses the chords you see in these Easy Fake Books (triads, 7ths, and slash chords) plus the chords you see in the more advanced Sheet Music Books for Show Tunes (I show you Phantom of the Opera samples), Recording Artists and Bands (I demonstrated Norah Jones and the band ColdPlay), and Sheet Music Collections, etc. which might also include Major 7ths, minor 7ths, 6ths, 9ths, 11ths and additional Slash Chords. These chords are more advanced, but hopefully, if you watch both of these videos, plus my Slash Chords, and my Minor Slash Chords videos, you will be able to play them all. When you approach a chord you don't know, you might write the letters of the chord next to the chord symbol, bottom to top in pencil, until you are able to remember it. Please watch my NEW CHORDS: Part 2 video for further clarification:
Whew! That's a lot of information! As I said, it's best to learn these chords within my Upper Hands Piano series, but if you want to start playing from Fake Books and Sheet Music while you continue to learn, I have now provided you with the means to figuring out most every chord you will encounter in sheet music.
Please feel free to ask a question below. What confuses you might also be confusing another student, so it's always good to ask your questions! I hope you have enjoyed my videos and are not feeling too overwhelmed with these chords. As I said, start with major scales, triads, slash chords and 7ths, and you can play from Easy Fake Books first! Best of luck to you, with love and music, Gaili
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