October 02, 2011

Instruction II for recognizing chords

Either playing the piano or listening to the piano, we always find out chords.


Chords play an very important role especially in composing songs.

Based on different arrangement for chords, every song can create different "mood".





Why am I saying "mood" in songs?

'Cuz chords can create melodies which can contribute to different feelings.

That's why I would say "mood".

Before we recognize different basic chords, let's talk about Tonality .

Tonality is the best way to show mood in songs.

Interestingly, Tonality is also divided into two primarily parts.


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※Comparison between 2 different Tonalities:

Major  , which shows a bright, pleasant, happier mood, agitation, and positiveness.

Minor  , on the contrary to Major, Minor tends to show sadness, melancholy.

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 Let's listen to these two different tonalities and find out how they function to mood.

I will show you by "C Major" & "C Minor" (I will tell what these two things are later),






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C Major, with "C", "E", "G"






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C Minor, with "C", "bE/#D", "G"




Do you hear the differences in between?


1. different places on the keyboard.. of course..

2. different sounds heard on "E" sound.. we know that..

3. Last but not least, different mood!!!


Don't you feel sorrowful while listening to Minor?


That is how "bE/#D" functions in C Minor.



Similarly, Major and Minor still function with other sounds.


That's why we have D Major, D Minor, E Major , E Minor, E Minor 7... etc.



But, you must wonder what "b" & "#" are, right?


"b"(降記號) (we call that "flat") lower a half sound.


"#"(升記號) (we call this "sharp") higher a half sound.


These two symbols can be used to lower or higher a half sound.

















So far, you must be wondering what is the meaning of "a half sound" here.

Now, we're going to explain "a half sound" & "a whole sound"!!


Let's recall the keyboard again!!!



A half sound means that.. you climb up a half step to the next key including the black key.

So, if you have C (Do), we will get #C with a black key if we climb up a half sound.

To show a "whole sound", we need to climb up two half sounds to complete the steps.

So, if we are now on "F(Fa)", we will get G with white key if we climb up a whole sound.

Similarly, if we don't want to climb up but fall down, the way to get it is in the same case.



In conclusion,

"A Half Sound" 
means that you have to climb up/fall down one step (either to the black key or the white key)

"A Whole Sound"
means that you should climb up/fall down two steps (either to the black or the white key)










With the concept of "A Half Sound" & "A Whole Sound",
we can go back to think about the difference between "C Major" & "C Minor".


Then, you must find out that,

The "bE/#D" is just the application to "A Half Sound", right??!


So, with this simple concept, we can now go back back back (kidding) to the earliest concept, "Chords"



If we all figure out how tonality, flats and sharps run, we will not fear the chords.


The followings are common chords that you may have heard for many times,


D Major, with D, #F, A


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G Major 7, with B, F , G (often excludes D here)


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F Major , with F, A , C


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There are still many other chords... but they are advanced.

Next time we may meet them if we master the points this time.


C ya. :D




5 comments:

  1. Wow~ Through your introduction and examples, I could know more about chords now! :D

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  2. I can't believe that you wrote so detail!I can see that you really gave so much effort to this article.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, that looks so hard for me. (LOL)
    You really wrote in details!!!
    What a fantastic job!!! :D

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  4. Same here. So amazing! What an extraordinary article! I love the part with the sound. I can distinguished the differences between Major and Minor now! Slightly...I mean...:)

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  5. Oh my God.... These ccomplicated things recall my memories of learning piano.. I've learned piano for one year. Now i just can play twinckle star... hahah

    ReplyDelete