Piano Lesson: How to Learn Piano Chords Using a Fake Book

As a piano teacher, I love to teach piano chords by using Fake Books. Every piano player, whether they are a beginning note reader, or a professional piano player, can benefit from using a Fake Book. In this article I will teach you the basics of how to have fun learning your chords by playing out of a Fake Book.

Fake Books are collections of well-known songs. Each song has the melody line in the treble clef, the lyrics, and chord symbols. Unlike most song sheets, there is no bass clef. It is your job to figure out which chords to play in the left hand using the chord symbols. That is why these books are called "Fake Books." You are making the audience believe you have a real piece of sheet music in front of you when in fact you are improvising your own accompaniment.

I recommend starting out with the Fake Book titled, "Your First Fake Book C Edition" arranged by Alexander Citron and published by Hal Leonard. All of the songs in this book are in the key of C which makes it a lot easier for beginners. It also uses simplified melodies, fewer and easier chords, and less complicated rhythms compared to other Fake Books.

I have my students start off with the song, "This Land Is Your Land" since most students are familiar with the melody. Begin by playing through the melody with your right hand. You want to make sure you are comfortable with the melody notes before adding your left hand chords.

Next, look at the chord symbols above the melody. In "This Land Is Your Land" there are the following chords: F, C, G7, C7, F and N.C.. If you are familiar with chords, go ahead and play through the chords with your left hand.

If you are not familiar with chords, here are the chords you will need for this song:

F Chord: F-A-C

C Chord: C-E-G

G7 Chord: G-B-D-F

C7 Chord: C-E-G-B flat

N.C. stands for no chord.

Here is a guide for playing chords:

Major Chords (Formula: Root, up four half steps, up three half steps)

The capital letter you see in each chord symbol is the root (lowest note) of the chord. Put your left hand fifth finger on this key. If you are playing an F Chord, the pinky of your left hand will be on an F key. Your middle finger will go four half steps up from the root of the chord. Half steps are the keys closest to each other and include both the white and black keys. In the case of an F Chord, the middle finger would be on an A. Your thumb will go three half steps up from the middle finger, which would be a C. Play all three fingers together on the F-A-C keys and that is an F Chord.

Minor Chords (Formula: Root, up three half steps, up four half steps)

If you see a capital letter followed by a lowercase "m" that means the chord is minor. For C Minor the chord symbol would look like Cm. Minor chords typically sound darker and more mysterious. To play a minor chord, place your left hand fifth finger on the root (in this case C). The middle finger will be three half steps up from the root - which would be E flat. Your thumb will play the key four half steps up from the middle finger - which is G. Play all three fingers together on the C-E flat-G keys and you have a C minor chord.

Sixth Chords

Once you are familiar with the major and minor chords you can start adding in additional notes. If you see the number 6 after a major or minor chord symbol, you add the key a whole step up from the top note of the chord. So if you see the symbol "C6" you would play the four notes C-E-G-A together. If the chord was minor, the chord symbol would be Cm6. Then you would play C-E flat-G-A.

Seventh Chords

Dominant Seventh Chords are formed by starting with your major chord and adding a note three half steps up from the top note. This ends up being seven notes up from the root of the chord. If the Chord symbol says C7, then you would play the four notes C-E-G-B flat together.

Diminished

If you see "dim" in a chord symbol, such as Ddim, it stands for diminished. To get a diminished chord start with a minor chord and lower the top note of the chord a half step. For instance, a Ddim chord would be D-F-A flat.

Augmented

When you see a plus mark after a chord it means the chord is augmented. An example of this symbol is C+. For augmented chords start with a major chord and raise the top note a half step. A C+ chord would consist of C-E-G sharp.

Inversions

Inversions are when you play a chord, but the order of the notes are changed. For instance, if the chord symbol is C/E, you would play a C chord, but you would play the E on the bottom of the chord. So the chord would be played as E-G-C instead of C-E-G. Inversions allow for smoother transitions between chords.

Confused? If so, just stick with the basic Major and Minor chords. It's good to get a good handle on these basic chords before adding in the four-note chords and inversions.

Once you can play the chords with your left hand, try playing both hands together. Every time you see a chord symbol above a melody note, play the block chord on the same beat. Hold the chord down until the next chord symbol.

As you get more advanced you can start adding accompaniment patterns in your left hand such as Waltz patterns, Alberti bass patterns, march patterns, rolled chords and arpeggios.

It is also fun to add harmony notes to your right hand. Just use notes from the chord symbol to fill in additional harmony notes to the melody. It will typically sound best to have the melody as the top note, but experiment a little to see what sounds good.

The best advice I can give you is to practice, practice, practice! It may take a while to get your songs to flow enough to "fake out" your audience, but once you do you'll love your Fake Book!