FREE ONILNE LESSONS (Your First Song - Step 5)

Now it is time for you to use your left hand.  The left hand will be playing block chords.  But wait, what are chords and block chords?

Firstly, we must understand that a note is just one note.

A chord, on the other hand, is made up of more than 1 note (yes, 2 notes and above).

A block chord simply means that you play those notes all at the same time.

Here we learn how to play 2 block chords first.

            chord

           chord

Play C, E, G with your left hand's little finger, middle finger and thumb respectively.  Play all three notes together!

Play G, B, D with your left hand's little finger, middle finger and thumb respectively.  Play all three notes together!

Once you have tried that, we shall now try Lightly Row, but only with our left hand!  The score for Lightly Row is produced below.  Notice that this score has no melody (the melody is what you play with your right hand), but has only the chords (for the left hand) written at the start of every bar instead.

 Once you have mastered these 2 chords, we are ready to move on. We will attempt to play with both our right hand and left hand together!

To practice, your left hand will play every respective chord, C or G, as written on the start of every bar.  Once again, remember, that you have to press and hold every chord for 4 beats for every bar, like this...

Remember, when playing a block chord on your left hand, you will play all  three notes in the chord ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

Before you start putting your two hands together, let us practise your left hand first!  Try these 2 exercises.

Exercise 1:

Play the C and G chords back and forth to improve your speed of recognizing these 2 chords.  Notice how your transition from one chord to another becomes more fluent.  Try "switching" between the 2 chords as fast as you can, even without looking at the keyboard!

Exercise 2:

Play and hold each chord for 4 beats, like this...