How to Play Piano Chords

This page on how to play piano chords deals directly with playing them on the piano keyboard. Everyone plays chords a little differently. You develop your own style as you play. Here are some areas to start with.

If you need to know about chord names first, go to reading piano chords.

Here's a little video on how to play chords. Watch it first or second. There are also videos that cover the same things but broken up and explained a little more on the piano chord lessons page.

The first thing to note is that you don't have to play chords all in one spot. You just need to play the notes of the chord.

For example, to play the C chord, you can play CEG or EGC or GCE or any other combo. You can even start adding other notes later on to improvise and fill things in.

I usually play the chord in the right hand. If you do this, it is easy to combine the chord notes with the melody.

In the left hand, play the root note. Some chords will specify a different bass note. For example, C/G. In this chord the G should be played in the left hand - as the lowest note.

Another thing you can do in the left hand is play a broken chord. You don't have to play all chords as a block. The important thing is play those notes of the chord.

This technique works especially for play slower songs.

At first it just takes practice. The more you practice, the more you can experiment. Learning how to play piano chords is just the beginning. The rest comes with your creativity.

To continue learning, there are 2 online courses I'd recommend. One is Rocket Piano. They teach beginner lessons but they also move onto to teaching about chords, and the gosple and jazz styles.

The other is Power Piano Chords. It starts by teaching beginner chords and then moves on to advanced chords and chord progressions.

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