I want a template of piano keys for chord voicings

[MrVegas]

I don't really know how to explain this. I can't read sheet music. I want to learn some chord voicings similar to what this guy plays (see link below). They are pretty basic / simple but I just want to learn them.

 

So I'm looking for some kind of editable "document/file" like in Excel or Word that is basically four or five octaves of a piano keyboard that I can repeat over and over (copy) with successive chord voicings. So if playing a basic C chord I could insert a black dot on middle C, E and G.

 

A simple song might have six or seven pictures of, say five octaves of the keyboard, one after the other with the notes marked down in six or seven successive rows on a piece of paper.

 

Don't know if I'm making sense here, but please chime in if you have any ideas.

 

[MathOfInsects]

A couple of questions: are you a guitar player by any chance? One of the things I encounter with students who started on guitar is the desire to fine a "pattern" that works on piano. But guitar chords is built on intervals; piano chords are built on notes. There is really no shortcut that changes this fact; it has to do with the layout of the piano. The two options are 1) Pick a single key to play everything in, and then transpose using the magic button from there, or 2) Learn how to build basic chords in at least the most common keys, which only comes with practice and repeated exposure.

 

Having said that, just search images.google.com for "chords on piano" and you'll find lots of examples of the graphic you are looking for. (With red dots, not black, since don't forget some of the notes you'll be playing are black).

[MrVegas]

No, not a guitarist.

 

Actually I'm not trying to find pictures of specific chords and voicings, I just want an editable picture of the piano keyboard that I can print out (like six or seven rows) and then mark the keys of the chords as they progress from stanza to stanza.

[BbAltered]

You know, over the last 500 years or so, many different attempts have been made to communicate how notes should be played for a piece of music. The current "circles on a staff" form of music notation is the pinnacle of this long evolution. Other notation schemes have been proposed and tried and always found deficient to the circles on a staff method. So while it may seem complex or difficult to learn, it remains the best way to communicate musical ideas on paper.

 

So I'm going to suggest you dive in and work on reading music. The dividends this work will pay you are really difficult to overstate: you knowledge of music and the playing of keyboard instruments will explode. I guarantee you: your future self will thank you.

 

And there are lots of free resources on the web designed to get you there. I suggest this is a far better use of your practice time than looking for charts or diagrams to show you chords.

 

Feel free to report back here. This community will celebrate your successes and commiserate with your frustrations.

[ElmerJFudd]

I don't really know how to explain this. I can't read sheet music. I want to learn some chord voicings similar to what this guy plays (see link below). They are pretty basic / simple but I just want to learn them.

 

So I'm looking for some kind of editable "document/file" like in Excel or Word that is basically four or five octaves of a piano keyboard that I can repeat over and over (copy) with successive chord voicings. So if playing a basic C chord I could insert a black dot on middle C, E and G.

 

A simple song might have six or seven pictures of, say five octaves of the keyboard, one after the other with the notes marked down in six or seven successive rows on a piece of paper.

 

Don't know if I'm making sense here, but please chime in if you have any ideas.

 

 

The creator of this video seems to assume or expect the viewer to be familiar with the chord names and their shapes on the piano keyboard. This is as good a place as any for an adult student to begin. However, keep in mind that making chord shapes with your hands requires some strength and control of the hands and fingers. Start with a chord book where they offer photos of the band positions to make the chords and then play them a lot. You"re never too old to benefit from a few lessons with a good teacher to get you started.

[Docbop]

I played guitar and bass most my life and once I hit jurassic age I started learning piano. I find in the long run the best way is just learn to spell chords. It doesn't take that long I used to practice chord spelling when at the gym on treadmill, driving around, in waiting rooms for appointments and free time instead of letting go to waste I'd drill myself on music fundamentals like chord spellings. If you understand the spellings it easy to create whatever chord you want with whatever alterations.

 

Now on piano I found the easiest way to build my chord vocabulary is to learn the formulas for chord voicings I like. Like some Maj7 voicing I know as 1 3 7 9 5. Knowing that formula and my chord spellings it quick to play that chord in any key I need. Now to write these down to I can refer to the voicing later I will write them out like this.

 

5

9

--

7

3

1

 

Writing it that way I can see the LH and RH the -- is the divider between hands. In a limited amount of space I can write out a lot of voicings and being written as a formula easier to transpose. Work for basic chords, inversions, shells, rootless, block voicing, spread voicings, drop 2 you name it's easy to write out. So that's what works for me and I've talked to others that write out voicings like that too.

[Al Quinn]

I sometimes write out voicings in my practice notebook as Docbop described. Other times I use a staff rubber stamp to print a staff in my notebook and fill in the notes. It doesn"t matter much to me how I do it because the goal is for the voicings to become second nature which makes the notation created by either method of limited use.

[EVC]

I am not sure I fully understood what the OP wants (I wonder if he knows himself ), but it seems to me he is looking for crutches, which is never a good idea (with the exception some leg related impairment).

 

So, assuming I understand he wants or needs, IMO the best way to handle the matter is learning. Some mentioned learning to read music, but I don't think it addresses the OP's needs.

 

There are tons of resources on the Internet, but my suggestion would be taking a look at Karen Ramirez's videos for starters. They are short and to de point and must provide a starting point in the learn process. As modern gospel music is not exactly sophisticated (with exceptions) , the concepts presented by Karen may cover 99% of needs of the OP as far as harmony is concerned.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

[nursers]

Those Karen Ramirez vids are great, would love to have had her as a teacher 35 years ago!

[MathOfInsects]

Wow, Karen is awesome!

[Docbop]

You mean it's not... draw snowmen on the staff paper. That's how we were taught chords in elementary school.