Would you go to a doctor who couldn’t tell your liver from your heart?

I don’t think so.

So why do millions of people take piano lessons from teachers who are great at sight-reading, technique, and all the other areas of piano playing that we all need to learn, but don’t have a clue about chords and progressions?

Oh, many of them “know chords” in an intellectual way, but do they know why chords are used when, and why they progress the way they do, and what to do with them and how to improvise and create piano styles out of them?

There are a few, but not many.

Just make sure when you select a piano teacher that he or she is strong on music theory, musical form, and chord progressions. Then all the traditional stuff that piano teachers teach makes sense.

(This is NOT an argument against sight-reading or technique or memorizing — all those are important elements of piano playing. Just make sure that the other elements mentioned above are included too.)

Weekly piano lessons by DVD in your home.