What is a chord progression and how do you play it in the piano?

Q. I am studying on playing the piano and my textbook says "Chord progressions consist of two or mjore chords played consecutively."

What does it mean by that? How do you play chord progressions?

So, there's a sample piece but I don't know how to play it.. I know chord progressions are symbolized by letters above the G-staff but what the heck am I suppose to do with them...
So, there was a sample with some letters on top of the G-staff and also some notes on the staff... How do I play it?

Thanks.. My next piano lesson is not until next week so I have no idea.. Thanks..
I mean to say, how can you play two sets of notes at once... THere's the chord progression written on top of the staff, and then there's the notes on the staff as well.... It' confusing..
Please help!

A. The symbol above the staff will probably be for the guitar ; it is written like this G or C7. Not all music will have these symbols written above the staff. Pop music uses these symbols but classical music does not.

Piano chords are written as one note on top of each other ; this is what you have to learn to play. Yeah, hard to read isn't it ? LOL
The chords may be on the treble clef or the bass clef.

A chord progression is simply a sequence of chords ; it might look like this for guitar :

C / / / C7 / / / F / / /G / / / meaning C chord for one bar, then C7, then F then G

You can work out which notes to play from the symbols by using these sites :

http://music.shanemcdonald.org/chordmap/

http://www.shanemcdonald.org/music/piano-chord-shapes.html

Edit : if you play the piano then you are supposed to play the notes on the staff only. The chord symbols above the staff are for the guitar or for pianists who cannot read music very well. They use the chord symbols to work out what they should play with their left hand.
Ignore those symbols and just play what is written on the treble and bass clefs.

Original Question

On a piano, how many chord progressions can i use within a song?

Q. Lets say the root note is c major. can i use a melody such as cM7, then Csus and then C6? or should i stick with one chord progression. Im mainly writing pop-ish songs, not so much jazz or classical. Thanks

A. I'm not sure you understand what a "chord progression" is - it's just a sequence of chords. A "melody" is just a tune, you can't have "a melody such as cM7" (Cm7, if that's what you mean, is a chord, not a melody). Also, "c major" could',t be a "root note" - C major would be either a key/scale or a chord.

Original Question

Classical music harmony and chord progressions?

Q. Hi all,

I'm a pop music consumer and producer (amateur level at the moment).

While only amateur level at producing, I have a decent understanding of music theory and harmony. Ie. I can easily read guitar tab chords and construct my own progressions, beyond 4 chords per song.

While I listen to mainly contemporary music, classical music theory/harmony has always been a mystery to me.

Can someone explain what the main difference in classical music harmony and pop music harmony is? For example, in pop there are instruments play notes/chords which ultimately constructs the harmony. The vocals then provides main melody, for the most part.

In classical music I sometimes hear piano solo and sometimes they have strings, how does the two interact? Do they play mostly melodies or do they play the notes/chords to construct a harmony? When a pianist solos, what does the two hands do? counterpoint? In contemporary, it usually is open/broken chords to proved harmony with left and melody with right. From what I hear, this is mostly not the case in classical music.

Thanks!

A. Pop music has nearly the same chord progression as classical music.

"Chord progression - Wikipedia":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_progression

"Chord progressioân and voice leading in classical music":
http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/The-Lesson-Loft-Guitars/chord-progression-in-classical-music/td-p/32813988

"Harmony in Pop and Rock Music":
http://csutheory.shaffermusic.com/resources/analysis/poprock-music/38-2/

Harmony in pop/rock music does not always follow the same norms and patterns of classical-era music.

A very good source - Google search: "chord progressions classical pop music":
http://www.google.com/search?q=chord+progressions+classical+pop+music&filter=0

Cheers ebs

Original Question

Title : What is a chord progression and how do you play it in the piano?
Description : Q. I am studying on playing the piano and my textbook says "Chord progressions consist of two or mjore chords played consecutively....