Playing Songs on Piano: From Chords to a Song

Intermediate · 2 lessons · Six weeks

From a list of chords to something that actually sounds like a song: pop progressions, choosing an inversion, and moving a song into a key that is comfortable to sing in.

Pop progressions

1. Pop Chord Progressions: The Four That Carry Half the Radio

   One, five, six, four — and why thinking in degrees hands you the same progression in twelve keys instead of in one.

   What you'll learn

   • Play the I-V-vi-IV progression in C and in G, and hear that the feeling is identical in both.
   • Explain why this combination works, in terms of what each scale degree does inside the key.
   • Think in degrees rather than in chord names, and move a progression into any key you like.
   • Recognize three further progressions and know which family of songs each one covers.
   • Identify a progression by ear in three steps: home, the second chord, and an educated guess.

Playing from a chord chart

1. Opening a Song on the Site and Playing It on Piano

   Most chord charts were written by guitarists. What on them is yours, what isn't, and how to build a whole song in five stages.

   What you'll learn

   • Tell which parts of a chord chart are relevant at the piano and which belong to the guitar alone.
   • Build a song in five stages, from the left hand on its own through to singing over it.
   • Read a slash chord and play both sides of it.
   • Simplify a chord you never learned down to the basic triad inside its name, instead of stalling on it.
   • Move a song into a comfortable key with no capo and no new shapes to learn.

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