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Home » cm7 piano chord » How do I read piano chords in this format: Em7, Dm7, F#m7?

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

I'm sort of new to the piano, pianists can you help?
Q. I take music theory at school and I started the piano when I was in second grade I believe. After a year I stopped because the guy stopped giving lessons so now I'm 15 and in that time in between I played a little but not enough to say I've been playing for 7 years.

Well anyways I'm really really slow at reading chords in songs like every time it's like....C......uhhhhh.....E....uhhh....G.......i think...... (well thats just an example i know the c major but with other more complex chords i mean)
Can you help me with tips on how to read music and apply it to the piano faster? You would think with practice I would get better but it's the same thing every time. Do I just need to see a lot more music?? It just doesn't feel like I'll get better because each time I struggle with playing songs because there a lot of chords and it's bad because I won't be able to sight read music if I go as slow as I do.
Also with playing with both hands synchronized will it get easier with a lot more practice? It just takes me SO long to piece together both hands, I mean eventually I can because I can read music and count beats but it shouldn't take me that long to be able to and once again I don't feel like practicing is helping me. I mean it helps me play that particular piece better but it's the same thing all over again when I'm learning a new song.

Basically I just don't feel like I'm making any progress, any tips from an experienced or just any piano player in general is welcome:D Well thank you if you can help me

A. As a piano teacher who specializes in the chord method, I'd like to suggest a few things that you can do. First, you should know that you can play any song ever written if you know your 12 major and 12 minor chords. There's a logical way to learning these chords...see link 1 below. These are all 3-note chords which will fall underneath your hand very quickly and easily. I suggest that you learn them in root position first.

Even if you're learning a song with 7th chords and suspended chords etc., you can simplify a 4-note Gm7 by playing the 3-note Gm: (G - Bb - D)...or an Fmaj7 by just playing the F major triad: (F - A - C), and so on.

Once you get comfortable with the 12 major and 12 minor chords, then start learning the dominant 7th chords, such as C7, D7, G7, etc. Once you know all the dominant 7th chords, the next logical chord group is the minor 7th chords.

I suggest this particular order because all you're doing is adding 1 extra note to make a major chord a dominant 7th, and the same is true for minor. A C7 is C - E - G - Bb....a Cm7 is C - Eb - G - Bb. There's only one note difference between a C7 and a Cm7 chord. This is true for the remaining 11 dominant 7th and 11 minor 7th chords. (see link 2 below)

In fact, once you know the 12 major and 12 minor chords, all you do is make minor adjustments or additions to these two chord groups to create more complicated chords.

For example: A C major chord is C - E - G...to make it C augmented, all you do is raise the 5th (G), a half step to G#. You would do the same thing to make the remaining 11 major chords augmented.

To make a C major chord a suspended chord, you would raise the 3rd (E), a half step to F....Csus is C - F - G. You would do the same thing to make the remaining 11 major chords suspended. I could go on and on, but this should get you going in the right direction. Hope this helps!

Original Question

Chord notation in a fake book on piano?
Q. So, I'm learning to play piano....

I have a fake book, which has single line melodies of popular songs, so it's easy to play. It also has chord notation. I'm wondering if someone could explain that to me. What does it mean? For instance, Cm7 or G7 or G. There's usually one per measure. Whatever chord it corresponds to, do I hold it the entire measure? Or do I improvise based on that chord?

A. find out how many beats are in the measure, then how many chords. if there's 4 beats and 2 chords, then play 2 of each. i'm not sure that i entirely get your question but that's the best i can come up with.

Original Question




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Title : How do I read piano chords in this format: Em7, Dm7, F#m7?
Description : 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, ke...

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