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'!
How to know which chord to accompany the song?
Q. I can play piano by ear but only for the melody (right hand). What are your techniques or things you have learned to figure out what chords to accompany with the song I am playing?
A. Good question. There are all kinds of videos on youtube about "chording". It's hard to explain it in an answer but basically you have to know the key of the song and what chords go with the song. i.e. in C the chords are C, C Major 7 D minor, D minor 7, E minor, E minor 7, F Major, Fajor 7, G Major, and G7. Sevenths can be tricky since there is a difference between C7 and C Major 7. But those are some pretty basic chords. You can also play a minor tenth by taking the 3rd from the chord and playing it an octave higher. i.e. C G E. With E being the "tenth". You can do this with any key but you have to know your keys. As well as the key of the song, like I said earlier. And occasionaly songs will change keys within the song. But as long as you know your keys, you're good to go! Best of luck!
Can someone explain to me what chord voicings are?
Q. Hi! I'm a little bit confused about 7th chord voicing. I understand inversions but voicing is a bit confusing for me. I want to know how many possible chord voicings are out there. I also want to know which notes I have to lower in order to correspond to the drop voicing. Thanks.
A. Chord voicings are ways in which you can arrange the notes in the chord for various effect. For a 7th (assuming you mean Dom 7) in G, you might "drop 2, drop 4" which means (for one example) on piano, you would play the root and 5th in the right hand, and play the 3rd and the 7th in the left. In this example, then, imagine the G7 chord this way: (from the bottom), LH: B, F, RH: G, D. Root position of this chord would simply be G, B, D, F. Reasons for voicing chords certain ways may be for concerted writing (voice *leading* so that each instrument has a line that is close to step-wise movement), or for supporting the melody. Capeche?
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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 ...