Read And Play Complicated Chords On The Piano

Learn 500 Songs in 5 Days:

Chord charts are awesome -- they help you learn and play songs super fast -- and they’re a great tool to help you start improvising because they are just a guide for the notes to play.

But …

Some chords can look really funky and complicated on a chord chart. How are you supposed to know what they mean?

That’s what this video is about. It will help you demystify complicated chords -- and will allow you to figure out pretty much any chord you can expect to find on a chord chart.

I mention that it’s useful to have some prior knowledge. To learn all about 7th chords, you can check out our lesson here:

To learn how to build major and minor chords on ANY note, watch this lesson:

So here we go! I’m using the song “Desperado” by The Eagles because it has lots of cool, funky chord changes. To download the FREE chord chart and follow along, just click here:

Here are the timecodes:

- Song start - 0:51
- Major 7th chord (CMaj7) - 1:31
- The dominant 7th chord (C7) - 1:47
- The minor chord (Cm) - 2:15
- The slash chord (C/E) - 2:32
- The minor 7th chord (Cm7) - 3:27
- The diminished 7 (Cdim7) - 4:04
- The m7b5 chord (Cm7b5) - 4:26

Those should help you understand MOST of the chords you can expect to find on a chord chart.

To start playing real songs from chord charts, practice with Desperado, or check out 500 Songs in 5 Days and get 500 downloadable chord charts that you’ll be able to play after just 5 days:

If the concept of chording is new to you, and you’d like some more FREE lessons, check out Chord Hacks

And for a complete intro to the piano, we have 4 free lessons for beginners:

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[PianoteOfficial]

There's a lot in this lesson! Links to other lessons are in the description.
To get the Desperado chord chart click here:
Here are the timecodes:
- Song start - 0:51

- Major 7th chord (CMaj7) - 1:31
- The dominant 7th chord (C7) - 1:47
- The minor chord (Cm) - 2:15
- The slash chord (C/E) - 2:32
- The minor 7th chord (Cm7) - 3:27
- The diminished 7 (Cdim7) - 4:04
- The m7b5 chord (Cm7b5) - 4:26

[jeanjules]

You are one of the best piano teachers I have come across. Be blessed.

[emmaseglah]

I love you mum🥺🥺. You're a great teacher. God bless you

[meshakkabangu]

I like how you teach.
You're a teacher with 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[shollyvonstein]

There is so much packed into this lesson! Perfect! Loved having this info repeated in one lesson.

[davidbalan]

Wow that's great all the times for learning black and White key 🎹 .

[reynerikapes]

Thanks your teaching technique is just so amazing.

[makeithappen]

Amazing. It was so much full of fun learning with you

[geeano]

You have broken down something that all of YouTube couldn’t tell me in 6 mins- thank you!

[jamesroberts]

I have never seen that explained anywhere before. Thank you so much for showing us how to play these chords. In the past when I ran into these type of chords, I would just substitute the root chord instead of trying to figure out what all the symbols meant and how to play them. Now I can learn to play them the right way!

[jerrymessier]

Thanks Lisa you always break it down where it’s easy to understand and you have a great voice.

[ugur.nurcan]

thanks, it really helped me to understand all weird abbreviations, now I know what they are...

[lawrencetaylor]

Wow, so much packed into one short video. By the most pleasant and non-stressful teacher on the web. Merci beaucoup.

[gototcm]

Took piano lessons for 5 years (classical teacher) and learned more about music notation wrt chords than I learned in 5 years of grinding out scales and other boring instruction. You are a blessing.

[payamkhorramshahi]

You are amazing ! You teach extactly the things I want to learn on piano. Thanks for that 🙏

[bromanultra]

Love this song. Thank for your the lesson 😊

[michaelhiggins]

Truly amazing lesson. I just stumbled upon you and this is about the fourth video I've watched. If only youtube existed 15 years ago when I was taking lessons for 1 1/2 years. Sadly, I lost my job at the airline and had to immediately quit my lessons. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me and I just stopped playing all together within a week. Sadly too, I was unable to sell my 1907 Chickering Baby Grand and had to just give it away. Now . . . I'm thinking seriously about buying another Baby Grand and jumping back into piano for good. I'm 60 and nearing retirement, what better way to fulfill my time. Your videos are very much a inspiration to me, thank you doesn't even begin to cover it!

[LollyWildharber]

I’m going to have to rewatch this numerous times, I know…..but you explained the chords so well. Thank you.

[masabotim]

I was planning on watching a bunch of videos to learn what you have just taught, its amazing how you captured all that in ONE VIDEO. You are a great teacher Lisa!!!

[reedgearson]

duude your lessons are my favorite thing on earth and this one by far is my favorite thanks a million:)