This is because the number of half-steps between each of the notes will always be the same. All major chords sound similar no matter what note they have for their root. The fifth will be the fifth tone of the C major scale, or the note G.

The third is going to be the third tone of the C major scale, or the note E. The C major chord, for example, will have a C as its root and lowest note. Major and minor chords are made up of three tones, called the root, the third, and the fifth. Ninety-nine percent of all popular music, and a great deal of classical music, is built on these two kinds of chords and their variations. When you make a chord, the distance, measured in half-steps, between the tones of a chord determines what kind of chord it is.Ĭhords in modern-day Western music are mostly either major chords or minor chords. As you go up the keyboard, twelve half-steps will bring you right back to where you started in the sequence of tones. Each white or black key is included in the scale, and is a half-step away from the keys next to it. The piano keyboard has only twelve different tones, which make up the chromatic scale, and they repeat as you go up the keyboard. So which notes make which chord? With eighty-eight keys on the piano, that makes an impossible number of combinations for creating chords, right? Actually it’s simpler than that. Most simply put, if you play more than one note at a time you’ve got a chord. Sign up for a free account now and learn with over 300 video lessons (and counting!) accessible on any smart device. In this article, I’ll show you how to make basic and advanced piano chords, how to read chord symbols, and how to use chords to make your piano playing more amazing than ever. But for folk, jazz, pop, and rock musicians, chords are the foundation of how they think about, play, and perform music. Although guitar players use chord symbols all the time, for many beginning piano students chords are a mysterious art. Have you ever seen those letters up above the staff in your sheet music and wondered what they are? Those letters are chord symbols. This is a great place for beginners to start!

Learn how to play piano chords with the help of our piano chord charts.

E flat piano chord