| Piano chord charts are used to help you keep track of | | | | of F Major. We usually start with the F Major chord |
| chord changes. And the cool thing about them is that | | | | itself so you now know that your first bar or 2 will be |
| you can use them for improvisation and composition. | | | | the F Major chord. But now a problem arises - how do |
| Here's how. | | | | you fill up the rest of the space? By using an 8-bar |
| Let's say you have an 8-bar phrase to play. There are | | | | phrase to begin with, you don't have to worry about |
| no chord symbols yet so you don't know what chords | | | | filling up a lot of space and taking forever to complete |
| you'll be playing. You just have 8-bars in front of you. | | | | a section of music. |
| The first thing you need to know is the time signature. | | | | For instance, let's suppose we want to chart out an |
| For our purposes here, we'll keep it simple and use 3/4 | | | | 8-bar phrase for improvisation purposes. We know |
| or 4/4 time. | | | | what chords we will be working with. Now it's just a |
| Now let's select 4/4 time for our 8-bar phrase. Now | | | | matter of fooling around on the piano and playing with |
| we know the meter but what about the chords? | | | | the chord choices. You may want to place a chord |
| Here's where we can jot down chord progressions for | | | | change at every 2-measures. You can even use 2 |
| either improvisation or composition. For example, you | | | | chords for the entire 8-bar phrase such as F Major |
| may want to begin something in the Key of F Major. | | | | and B flat Major. |
| Having made that decision, you know that you have 6 | | | | The whole point of the piano chord charts is to have a |
| chords to use right away. These are F Major, G minor, | | | | tool that will help you navigate what chords to play and |
| A minor. B flat Major, C 7, and D minor. | | | | when to change chords. |
| All that's left to do now is begin your piece in the Key | | | | |