A chord in music is any set of notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. Lead sheets use chords to effectively provide notation for accompaniment for vocalists or other solos. Some knowledge of piano notes is necessary to play from lead sheets, but with some practice you can be playing in no time!
Let's start with the notes of a piano first: The piano is organized into a pattern of notes. If you look at a piano you should notice that there are alternating groups of 2 or 3 black notes. Directly to left of the two black notes is a white key, this is called "c". the white key to the right of the "c" is "d". This pattern of white notes continues until g, after g the pattern begins again at a. The black notes are the are called sharps or flats. The are raised or lowered pitches of the white keys. Between each individual key, black or white, is the musical interval called a half-step, this along with the whole-step, or interval of two keys make up the musical language.
Each musical key has its own scale, which decides the chords that can be used in that key. For now, we will focus only on major keys. Every major key has seven scale degrees: (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) or (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti). Each of these scale degrees is also familiarized with a certain chord. There are triads, seventh, added tone, and extended chords.Triads are the most common and will be the focus of this article.
The four types of triads
Major - a major third with a minor third on top
Minor - a minor third with a major third on top
Augmented - two major thirds
Diminished - two minor thirds
Assigning a triad quality to the seven scale degrees in C major
C - Major
D - Minor
E - Minor
F - Major
G - Major
A - Minor
B - Diminished
As you can see, the C, F, and G chords are all major. This makes them more prominent in the key of C Major. The C chord will almost always be preceded by an F or G chord at the end of a chord progression.
Applying this Knowledge to Playing Lead Sheets
Lead sheets give you 4 vital bits of information:
1. The root of the chord
2. The quality of the chord
3. The duration of the chord
4. The bass line
1. The letter named in the music will be the root of the chord. This "root" is the most basic information that the lead sheet gives you.
2. The quality of the chord is denoted either by capitalization meaning a major chord, not capitalized meaning a minor chord, a degree symbol means dimished, while a plus sign means augmented.
3. The duration of the chord is notated by the time signature and the note value of the chord. In 4/4 time, a quarter note gets one beat, a half note gets two, a dotted half note gets 3, and a whole note gets 4 beats.
4. Some times a bass line will be given when the root of the chord is followed by another letter note with a slash. for example C/E
you should play a c major chord with an e in the bass.
Let's start with the notes of a piano first: The piano is organized into a pattern of notes. If you look at a piano you should notice that there are alternating groups of 2 or 3 black notes. Directly to left of the two black notes is a white key, this is called "c". the white key to the right of the "c" is "d". This pattern of white notes continues until g, after g the pattern begins again at a. The black notes are the are called sharps or flats. The are raised or lowered pitches of the white keys. Between each individual key, black or white, is the musical interval called a half-step, this along with the whole-step, or interval of two keys make up the musical language.
Each musical key has its own scale, which decides the chords that can be used in that key. For now, we will focus only on major keys. Every major key has seven scale degrees: (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) or (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti). Each of these scale degrees is also familiarized with a certain chord. There are triads, seventh, added tone, and extended chords.Triads are the most common and will be the focus of this article.
The four types of triads
Major - a major third with a minor third on top
Minor - a minor third with a major third on top
Augmented - two major thirds
Diminished - two minor thirds
Assigning a triad quality to the seven scale degrees in C major
C - Major
D - Minor
E - Minor
F - Major
G - Major
A - Minor
B - Diminished
As you can see, the C, F, and G chords are all major. This makes them more prominent in the key of C Major. The C chord will almost always be preceded by an F or G chord at the end of a chord progression.
Applying this Knowledge to Playing Lead Sheets
Lead sheets give you 4 vital bits of information:
1. The root of the chord
2. The quality of the chord
3. The duration of the chord
4. The bass line
1. The letter named in the music will be the root of the chord. This "root" is the most basic information that the lead sheet gives you.
2. The quality of the chord is denoted either by capitalization meaning a major chord, not capitalized meaning a minor chord, a degree symbol means dimished, while a plus sign means augmented.
3. The duration of the chord is notated by the time signature and the note value of the chord. In 4/4 time, a quarter note gets one beat, a half note gets two, a dotted half note gets 3, and a whole note gets 4 beats.
4. Some times a bass line will be given when the root of the chord is followed by another letter note with a slash. for example C/E
you should play a c major chord with an e in the bass.
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