Today we will delve deeper into the discussion about chords that we started a few days ago [Link 1 & Link 2] and then we will play a famous song!

First, we will see how chord construction works in detail then we will try to play the chords of a rather big title!

MORE DETAILS ABOUT CHORD CONSTRUCITON

As you may recall, in this post, I wrote about how a major chord is “typically” constructed. From that construction, we can then derive the minor chord.

However, that system doesn’t work with certain chords, and so in this installment, I will reveal to you, in a simple way, the foolproof method for constructing any major or minor chord.

Place yourselves in front of your keyboard and observe how we built the C major chord: you can notice that between C and E there are 3 white keys, but in reality we should count all the keys, including the black ones.

So if the root note is C, we will find the second note of the major chord by counting 5 keys, while the third note will be found by continuing to count up to 8.

The same rule applies to minor chords, but as mentioned before, the second note must be lowered by a semitone.

Nothing simpler, right?

For example, here’s how to find the C minor chord:

• Root note: C
• Count to 4 and find Eb
• Continue counting to 8 and find G.

So remember:

• Major chord : 1-5-8
• Minor chord : 1-4-8

This will allow us to build any chord correctly and without exceptions.

SOME CHORD CONSTRUCTION EXAMPLES

Let’s see some examples (I’ve numbered the notes starting from the root note and I colored the notes that are part of the chord):

C major chord (1-5-8)

F minor chord (1-4-8)

And now a difficult one, Eb minor chord (1-4-8)

All pretty simple, isn’t it?

You just have to remember 1-5-8 for major chords and 1-4-8 for minor chords.

HOW TO PLAY A FAMOUS SONG CHORDS: “Have you ever seen the rain”!

Exactly! We’ll try to play the chords of this beautiful song by “Creedence Clearwater Revival”.

The song is quite simple, with not too complicated chords: we have an introduction [ Am F C G C ], a verse [ C C G C ] and a chorus [ F G C Am ]

This is a song for everyone!

Do you remember how chords are built, right?

Let’s see how the chords of this song are built, which are only four:

  Am (1-4-8): A - C - E
  F  (1-5-8): F - A - C
  C  (1-5-8): C - E - G
  G  (1-5-8): G - B - D

The following is the song lyrics along with the chords to play (written above text text):

[Intro]
Am    F    C    G    C

[Verse]
C
  Someone told me long ago
C                                    G
  There's a calm before the storm, I know
                   C
  It's been coming for some time

C
  When it's over, so they say
C                           G
  It'll rain a sunny day, I know
                    C
  Shining down like water
 
[Chorus]
 
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
  Have you ever seen the rain
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
Have you ever seen the rain
F        G               C
  Coming down on a sunny day
 
[Verse]
C
  Yesterday and days before
C                                 G
  Sun is cold and rain is hard, I know
                    C
  Been that way for all my time
 
C
  'Til forever on it goes
C                                     G
  Through the circle fast and slow, I know
                   C
  It can't stop, I wonder
 
 
[Chorus]
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
  Have you ever seen the rain
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
  Have you ever seen the rain
F        G               C
  Coming down on a sunny day
 
[Chorus]
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
  Have you ever seen the rain
F         G
  I wanna know
           C             Am
  Have you ever seen the rain
F        G               C
  Coming down on a sunny day 

PLAYING THE SONG ON YOUR KEYBOARD

Of course, everyone is free to play this song as they like, respecting the rhythm and chords indicated, however, I strongly advise you to use the inversions for two main reasons:

1. They greatly simplify hand movement
2. They will be very stimulating for your mind

What follows is my way of playing “Have you ever seen the rain“. Everyone is free to execute this piece on his keyboard as they like:

it’s all about finding the positions that are most comfortable for you.

In the following images I will show the chords to be played and the fingering that I use, exploiting the inversions to move the left hand as little as possible.

To help you understand the needed movements on the next chord, I will show in gray the previous chord and its fingering.

INTRO : [ Am F C G C ]

Am

F (To move from Am to F just change the position of your thumb moving it forward 1 key)

C (Step back one key your thumb and you little finger to achieve a C chord moving from an F chord)

G (To move from a C chord to a G chord move your 5 & 3 fingers back one key)

C (Now it should be clear what this hilighted keys and grey keys mean, let’s go on with the song)

VERSE

C

C

G

C

CHORUS

F

G

C

Am

TIME TO PLAY!

Now it’s your turn!

But first, I’d like to give you a little gift: I’ve prepared a PDF document suitable for those who are approaching the world of keyboards, it is a PDF file with the song’s lyrics, the name of the chords, and next to them, the chord on the keyboard!

It should be pretty easy to follow this simplified sheet, below there is the download link, the zip archive is password protected (password is easyplay) 😀

Like almost the 99% of this site’s resources, this content is FREE.

I encourage you to make a small donation to show me that I’m not wasting my time, writing this article and creating all the related media was very time consuming.
Please help me cover the costs of running this website!

CONCLUSIONS

As you may have noticed, to play your keyboard well at a hobbyist level, you only need a little effort and practice, the desire to play, and the love for music.

The purpose of these articles is to help you learn chords and inversions quickly, without getting lost in the labyrinth of music theory.

The use of inversions is fundamental to be able to move smoothly from one chord to another, without breaks or interruptions.

Let me know if this post has been helpful, if you liked the pdf and if you want to know more!

In an upcoming article, I will explain a trick to adopt to gain some hands independance, which has helped me a lot, but I won’t promise you amazing results in a few days.

It takes a lot of practice, and if you are serious, you also need a good piano teacher to supervise the correct posture of your fingers, hands and your back too.

If, on the other hand, you want to play for fun and improve your keyboard skills to entertain your friends, then you are in the right place 🙂

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments, I read them all and I answer everyone!

Enjoy the music and see you soon!

DISCLAIMER