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Home » piano chord dm7 » How can I play chords like Em7 or Dm7 on the piano?

How can I play chords like Em7 or Dm7 on the piano?

Q. I'm playing piano and well I just have no idea how to play chords like Gm7 or just G7 or Em7 or Dm7 and etc. To make it much easier please explain to me how to play them and not just what notes to press. I want to be able to know how to play any kind of chord that has "7" or minor in front of the note. Thank you so much! Please help me out!

A. Okay, so if you are in the key of G minor, take Gm7: it is a minor triad on G with the minor 7th added. So you want the root (G) and the 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees of the G natural minor scale. I assume you know what this is: G, A, B flat, C, D, E flat, F, G.

The same applies to every 7th chord, major or minor: the chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees on the root. So for a minor 7th chord, you use the minor 3rd, but for a major 7th chord you use the major 3rd. Any 7th chord uses the perfect 5th.

Another point is that whichever 7th you add to the basic major or minor triad to create the 7th chord depends on the key the music is in: try looking at some examples, but the 7th of the minor chord is the 7th degree in the key of the music, not the 'key' of the chord. Generally the 7th of a minor chord is a minor 7th above the root, but the 7th of a major chord can be either a major 7th or a minor 7th above the bass. E.g. if you are in C major, G7 has an F as the 7th degree (i.e. a minor 7th), but C7 has a B (i.e. a major 7th). As I said above, as a general rule, count up from the root of the chord to the 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees, but using the scale and accidentals that the piece is in.

Another way to look at it is in terms of the intervals you are adding to the root. Again, you take your root, which for Gm7 is G, add a minor 3rd, giving you B flat, add a major 3rd on top of that, giving you D, and add another minor 3rd to give you F. Every minor 7th chord (Gm7, Em7, Dm7....) consists of a stack of three 3rds: minor, major, minor. For every major 7th chord (G7, E7...) you again use a stack of three 3rds, but it is major, minor, minor/major this time.

Incidentally, it's nice to see that you want to work out the principles of it, rather than just be told the 'right answer'!

Original Question

Does anyone know the piano chords for Mom its your birthday?
Q. My moms birthday is coming up and i would really love to play it for her on the piano. I wanted to do something special this year for her.If you know please help.Thank you

A. Try this. Let me know if any of it sounds wrong.
--


(F/G)
Mom it's your

C
birthday
Thanks for all the care and love you

F
give
Not to

C/E
mention the

Dm7
meals
Some-

C
times I get kinda

G
nervous
And for-

F/G
get to tell you how I

C F/C C
feel
I'm a

G/D
little

C7/E
high

F
strung
It's

C/E
just because I'm

Dm7
young


Fm6/G
Mom I a-

C
dore ya
And I'll do

F/G
anything for ya
Although my

Dm7
brothers make me fran-

G
tic
With every sin-

Dm7
gle crazy an-

G
tic
And when I'm

Dm7
bouncing off the walls

G
You're the one

E7
who stays calm

Am7
(You're the one who stays calm)

Am6
Because you

Dm7
love me for who I am

Dm7/G
I'll always love

G7
you

C Fm6/C C
mom

Original Question

How do I read piano chords in this format: Em7, Dm7, F#m7?
Q. Please explain how a se of notes, such as c,d,e# would be written in this format. I do not understand music theory at all so please, keep it simple.
Thanks

A. Well you'll need to learn a little music theory to understand chords. It's not too complicated, it just takes a little bit of practice and playing around with chords and scales.

For any chord, imagine a basic major scale starting with the note that the chord is called. For example, a C scale (the easiest to play on piano) goes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C with no sharps or flats. The most basic type of chord is called a major triad. If you just see a chord like "C" or "E," it's a major triad. For this you just play the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. So a C chord would be C-E-G.

Then there's a minor scale. It starts like a major scale, but the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes of the scale are flat. So a C minor scale would be C-D-Eâ­-F-G-Aâ­-Bâ­-C, and a C minor triad (written Cm) would be C-Eâ­-G.

The rest of the chords are variations on the major and minor triads. A 7th chord means you play the triad (1st, 3rd, and 5th), plus the 7th note in the scale. A C7 chord would be C-E-G-B, and a Cm7 would be C-Eâ­-G-Bâ­.

Here are the chords in your question, see if you can figure out how to find them:
Em7: E-G-B-D
Dm7: D-F-A-C
F#m7: F#-A-C#-D

They're tricky at first, but once you play around with them enough to get the hang of how they work, they're actually pretty simple. There are also other chord types, like 6th and 9th chords (you should be able to figure out how to play those just by the name), or augmented and diminished chords, which are a bit trickier.

Original Question




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Posted by KickAnswers on - Rating: 4.5
Title : How can I play chords like Em7 or Dm7 on the piano?
Description : Q. I'm playing piano and well I just have no idea how to play chords like Gm7 or just G7 or Em7 or Dm7 and etc. To make it much easier ...

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