C7 chording question...

[owens hound]

I'm a guitar/bass player from the other forums who just started playing keyboards. I'm in the process of working through a few beginner books, Piano for Dummies and Beginning Rock Keyboard. I've looked through these books and couldn't find my answer.

So...here is the question, when playing the C7 chord with either hand, what fingers do you use? I have been using my thumb, 1st and 3rd fingers to play 3 note chords (with both left and right) but now that I've gotten to C7, what fingers do I use to get all 4 notes with one hand? I'm guessing that it is my pinky. If this is the case, I'll really need to strengthen them although the left is not too bad from playing guitar and bass, the right is very weak.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Jason

[K K]

In fact, it can be just about anything, since you don't need to start on the root ©.

 

To simplify, if thumb = 1 and pinky = 5, you could use 5321 (LH) and 1234 or 1245 (RH) if you start with the root as lowest note. Depends on the hand size and finger length.

 

But just like on a guitar, there are more than one way to play the same chord. You could start with the lowest note on E, G or Bb instead, etc.

[Rod S]

If you're playing C-E-G-B, yes, you would use the 5th finger.

 

When learning you do get in a habit of use primarily those three finger you mentioned, but you really need to get using all of them. There's specific exercises to do that, and I think they help. You'll notice you'll need the 'pinky' a lot, specially in the left hand. What fingers you use to play a chord depends a lot on what you are trying to do. Say you need to alternate between two chords:

 

G-B-D and G-C-E - What fingering do you in this case? Try it out...

 

Keep in mind that very often you won't be playing a 7th chord with 4 notes on the right hand, and much less in the left hand. Try this to get a feel

 

LH: C RH: E-G-B or B-E-G

LH: C-B RH: E-G

 

Sorry if what I'm saying is too basic Anyways, I'm let some of the more experienced folks elaborate...

[owens hound]

Thanks. Just what I wanted to know. Now to get my fingers stronger...

[K K]

You're welcome.

 

Finger strength comes with practice. Depends if you're using a non-weighted (synth), semi-weighted of full-weighted keyboard. I recommend using semi-weight/full-weight if possible.

 

To make a very long story short, to gain endurance at some point you need to learn to play using the weight in your forearms and arms, and not just play from your fingers. Using only fingers to strike the keys can do OK on synths and simple stuff, but will definitely not work on more elaborated pieces, for example most jazz and/or classical. Then you have to learn how to use your fingers as "pivots", on which the whole forearms/arms are resting. This way, you have much more energy at your disposal (the weight of your forearms/arms). Then you need to learn how to control all this. :grin:

 

Of course, nothing replaces a teacher for at least a few courses on the piano technique basics.

[Jazzwee]

Hi Jason, on my RH, I play a C7 with 1-2-3-5. With every seventh chord starting from the root, I think I always have the pinky on the seventh.

[owens hound]

Thanks again for the chord fingering and tips. My right hand pinky is very weak right now. I am a lefty and play guitar and bass right handed so my finger strength is much stronger in my left hand.

I'm playing a Yamaha CS2x synth at present and may move into something that has weighted keys in the future. At this point, I'm trying to learn a few basics, (chords, scales, using both hands to do different things) and will expand from there.

I must say that I am really enjoying learning and playing the keys. The first song I've tackled is Changes by Black Sabbath, a personal long time favorite. I'm also learning a lot more about theory then I did on guitar or bass. It seems to make more sense on the keys for me.

The books I'm using are pretty good at my beginner level I think. I tend to have a few questions from time to time that they don't address.

Your help is much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Jason

 

 

 

[Gismo Recording]

Hi Jason, on my RH, I play a C7 with 1-2-3-5. With every seventh chord starting from the root, I think I always have the pinky on the seventh.

I'll usually use that if the seventh is a white key but I'll often use 1-2-3-4 to play a seventh when the seventh note is a black key.