I’m excited to announce a new online music course in progress here at PWK, called “Piano Chords 108.”
Since our site is blog-like, this course will be published in installments. (That’s also how we did things this summer with “The Blues Piano Crash Course” and “A Study in Blues Piano.”)
This post below is the Course Introduction (just text for now).
Welcome to Piano Chords 108!
Kent Smith here, your instructor.
This course provides a simple system for memorizing the “108 Essential Piano Chords.”
See the chord symbol, or hear the chord name, and you will know all the notes with certainty!
Altered and Extended Chords
You’ll also acquire enough knowledge in this class to alter or extend any of those 108 chords. (Jazz students will need this additional skill, for sure.)
In the end, you’ll be able to determine the unique set of notes that define any one of HUNDREDS of chords, on the spot. This impressive accomplishment requires zero rote memorization of any chord. (What?)
Because of the above, my focus on “108” as being the number of chords you will acquire is an understatement. One can see (in the second, more optional part of this course) that the rest of the “standard chord universe” opens right up — as soon as you know how to alter and extend any member of the “Big 108” group.
“So what’s all this mean, Mr. ‘Piano With Kent’ Guy?” Larry asked, eyebrows raised, obviously displaying more than just passing interest in total chord recall. Kent slowly and deliberately lifted his feet off the desk, ate an entire McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, then replied:
“When it comes to these 108 chords — by far the most common and useful chords in both popular and classical music — you will never again need a chord catalog, chord poster, or web search; and you will certainly never be chased away by the cops because you were out there questioning random people in public, asking them all about how to memorize chords, standing around in the rain outside your car, in a CVS parking lot, near Las Vegas.”
Selling point:
As you can see just there, many of the madcap diversions here at Piano With Kent include hypothetical and/or useless information that you just can’t get on other learning sites, such as Piano With Jeff Sessions. (As matter of fact, that particular site doesn’t even exist, man.)
Even though this course has the goal of weaning students off chord catalogs, so to speak, I will definitely include a downloadable picture-based catalog for these 108 chords. Such a reference will no doubt prove useful for checking your understanding of this system. But ultimately, I don’t want you to need any such piano chord reference…
…Because that’s the whole theme and purpose of Piano Chords 108: Lose the catalog (so to speak)!
