.

In each of the lessons, you can click on this top logo to go to the index of lessons

Lesson 5: Chord Songs

.

In this lesson, we're going to take the chord triads we just learned and start using them in simple "chord songs."

.

Remember the exercise we did in the last lesson where we played each triad "broken" with the left hand, then the right hand; then we played each chord "blocked" with the left hand, then the right hand; and finally the left hand "crossed over" to play one last note? That's what "chord songs" are!

.

.

.

Play this first clip to get started learning about chords and chord songs.

.

.

.

The chord "topography" we learned in the last lesson will be very helpful in this lesson, so I hope you learned that part of Lesson 4!

.

.

.

.

Here's a reminder of the topography of each group of major triads:

.

.

.

.

Let's start out in our teaching key, "C", and play the chord song for the key of C major.

.

.

.

.

Next, let's play the chord song for the key of F major - still in group 1, all white notes.

.

.

.

.

And the last chord song for the group 1 chords - the G major chord.

.

.

.

.

Let's talk for a moment about why it is so important to learn about the major triads and the chord songs. If you need to look at a copy of the Major Scale Chart, click on the "Worksheet" link below. Here is the "C" line from the Major Scale Chart:

.

Click the "Worksheets" link to view the completed Major Scale Chart. We will be using this chart a lot, so if you need to print a copy, you can do it from this .pdf file.

.

Up above, we went through the C, F, and G triads - the group 1 chords that are played all on white keys - and played the "chord songs" for each one. There is a separate page in the "Practice" area that takes you through playing each of the chord songs in the other keys.

.

Something to be aware of - when there is a "key signature" (like there is at the start of each of these songs), that means that every time one of those notes is played, it is automatically played as a sharp or a flat. To make your practice easier, I have marked every one of the flats and sharps when it is played - but in real printed music, you will need to get used to playing with key signatures.

.

.

.

So now that we've played through our chord songs in each key, let's take a look at a real song and see how we could add chords to the song, using just our I, IV and V major chords. Here is the music for "Mary Had a Little Lamb," with the melody written out and the chords written in over the staves.

.

.

.

.

Now that we've played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in our teaching key of "C", let's try switching to another key - the key of "F". Note that when we transposed the chords up to the key of F, we also moved the melody up to the key of F.

.

.

.

.

Here's another tune that should be familiar - "Amazing Grace". We'll start out playing it in the key of C:

.

.

.

.

This time we'll play the left-hand chords. For "Mary Had a Little Lamb," I wrote out the notes for the left-hand chords, but for "Amazing Grace", all you have to go on are the chord symbols.

.

.

.

.

Now, let's try "Amazing Grace" in the key of G major. Again, since we're changing the key of the song, the melody notes move, as well!

.

.

.

.

For this final audio clip, just listen as I play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" using some more "colorful" chords...

.

.

I have prepared music for two other songs you will probably be familiar with. Click the "Worksheets" button below to view and print out those songs, and then practice the type of chord playing we did in this lesson.

.

I have written out both of these songs in our teaching key of "C" - start out by just trying to play the songs in C. If you think you understand the method for transposing a song to another key - remember, both the chords and the melody will change! - try that out with one or both of these practice songs.

.

Click this link to view and print the sheet music for the song "Fools Rush In" ("I Can't Help Falling In Love With You").

.

Click this link to view and print the sheet music for the song "Home On the Range."

.

When you return to the course index page (click the logo at the top of this page, you will see that there is a link to a set of Practice exercises for Lesson 5 (and some other lessons). I encourage you to follow that link and go through these additional practice exercises to help you learn to play the major scales on the keyboard.

.

Hooray, You Made It Through Lesson 5 !!!

Congratulations on completing another lesson! Each lesson builds on the material we learned in the previous lessons, which is why it is important to work through all the practice exercises in each lesson - and why it is so important that you understand each lesson before moving on to the next lesson.

.

So if you have any questions about the content we covered in this lesson, click on the "Ask Rhonda" button to send me an email. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can!

.

.