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- Week Eight -

All The Major 6th Piano Chords

The first of the extended chords group

 

      Hello again, and welcome to the next edition of the newsletter. I hope you are enjoying learning about all the chords in the world -- and we're going to cover them ALL before we're done -- you'll know more about chords than 99% of the people in the world -- believe it or not, it's true.

    If you recall the first week we learned about the three chords you absolutely, positively CAN'T do without. Then the next  week we took an airplane ride over Chordland just to get the lay of the land -- the overview of the world of chords.

     Then in the next  weeks lesson we showed you how easy it is to learn ALL the major chords (there are 12 of them) and be able to play them in seconds -- not hours or days or weeks or months or years. Some people go through their entire lives not being sure about what such and such a major chord is -- and it's all so unnecessary, because you can memorize them in just a few minutes, and learn to play them in 12 seconds or less - one second per chord. I have had many private students over the years who could play them all in as little as 5 seconds -- one little gal (she was about 12 at the time) had particularly fast hands, and could play them in - believe it or not - 3 seconds!  I have slow hands with fat fingers, and yet I can play them in something like 5 or 6 seconds.

     Next  you learned how to easily turn major chords into minor chords just by moving one key one-half step -- by lowering the 3rd of the major chord.

     Then we learned diminished triads -- just by lowering the 3rd and the 5th of a major chord 1/2 step.

     Then we learned inversions -- how to stand chords on their head.

     And finally, we took up augmented triads -- formed by simply raising the 5th of a major triad.

     Today we are going to learn major 6th chords. They are 4-note chords -- the root, 3rd, 5th -- just like a major chord, but you also add the 6th degree of the scale to the major triad. The 6th is ALWAYS one whole step above the 5th -- never a half step --  so they are real easy to find.

     So here is the formula:

 

A Major 6th Chord =  Root                   3rd                 5th                    6th

(Remember that accidentals carry over in each measure!)

Now it's up to you. Play each augmented triad in root position, then 1st inversion, then 2nd inversion. Play each chord up and down the keyboard for at least 2 octaves -- maybe 3 octaves. Play them with your left hand, then play them with your right hand. Then play them hands together.

     Go through all 12 major chords, inverting every one. Then go through all the 12 minor chords, inverting each one up and down the keyboard -- hands alone, then hands together. Then go through all 12 diminished chords, inverting each one up and down the keyboard -- each hand alone, then together. Then play the 12 augmented chords, up and down the keyboard. Then skip around from major to minor to diminished to augmented, etc.

     Now add 6th chords to your repetoire of chords. They are shown in root position above, but you know that you can turn them upside down 'till the cows come home -- invert them -- so go to it!

      When you can do that you ought to feel really, really, really, really optimistic about learning chords, because you're on your way! After all, you have gone from:

12 major piano chords to 12 minor piano chords to 12 diminished piano chords to 12 augmented piano chords and 12 major 6th piano chords and  inversions of each piano chord which means you can now play 192 piano chords! Good for you!

    Next week we will add 12 more chords to our growing list of chords we can play by adding minor 6th chords to our stash. (Actually 48 more chords, since each 4-note chord such as a minor 6th can be inverted 4 ways -- root position, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion, and 3rd inversion.

     If you are more advanced and are anxious to learn how chord progressions work, click on the photo below: