Piano Chord Chart PDF to Help You Start Playing Chord-Style Piano

Last Updated on July 10, 2022 by Rebecca

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Table Of Contents

Diatonic Piano Chord Chart PDF for the Key of C Major
Get your FREE C Major Diatonic Piano Chord Chart!
What piano chords should I learn first?
Chord Inversions
Voice Leading When Playing Piano Chords
How do you practice piano chords?
How to Play Chord-Style Piano Songs
- Accompaniment Style Piano Chording
  - Popular Song Chord Charts for Beginners
- Solo Style Piano Chording
  - Fake Books and Lead Sheets for Piano
What are the different types of piano chords?
Related Posts:

Diatonic Piano Chord Chart PDF for the Key of C Major

If you're eager to get over to your piano as quickly as possible with some chords to practice, you can download my printable piano chord chart pdf for the key of C major.

This chord chart includes diagrams for all the triads (in all inversions!) that are diatonic to the key of C major. Which means it doesn't overwhelm you with every piano chord under the sun, it only includes the ones you'll need if you're playing (or composing!) a song in the key of C major.

It's a great place to start for piano beginners who want to learn chords!

What piano chords should I learn first?

The 4 most common chords are the chords in the I-V-vi-IV chord progression (1-5-6-4). This chord progression uses functional chord symbols to represent the relationships between the chords, which enables musicians to transpose the progression into any major key.

In the key of C major, the chords of the I-V-vi-IV chord progression are C major, G major, A minor, and F major.

With this chord progression, you can learn to play hundreds of pop songs. So if you start by learning these 4 chords, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

And all 4 of these chords use only white keys, so they're a very simple place to get started when learning chords.

Chord Inversions

When playing chords, it’s important to be aware that every chord can be inverted.

We typically teach beginners that inverting a chord means taking the bottom note and moving it to the top of the chord. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what order the top notes of a chord are arranged in. The inversion of a chord is defined only by what note is in the bass (at the bottom of the chord).

Triads have 3 chord tones (3 notes), so they have 3 possible inversions:

root position (when the root note of the chord is at the bottom of the chord)
1st inversion (when the chord has been inverted once)
2nd inversion (when the chord has been inverted twice)

As a beginner, it’s good to start by learning chords in root position. This way you develop a strong sense of which notes are included in each chord.

However, when playing musically, it’s better to use inversions that create smoother voice leading.

But what does “smoother voice leading” even mean?

Voice Leading When Playing Piano Chords

Imagine triads as 3 singers singing together in harmony. Singer 1 sings the bottom note of each triad, singer 2 sings the middle note of each triad, and singer 3 sings the top note of each triad.

There are all kinds of guidelines that help musicians to create the most ideal voice leadings, but as a beginner, just imagine trying to make each singer's job as easy as possible by avoiding big jumps. You want the next note they have to sing to be as near as possible to the note they're currently singing.

So smooth voice leading ends up making your chords flow more seamlessly together, creating a more pleasing experience for the listener.

Additionally, smooth voice leading makes it much easier for you to actually play the chords on your piano.

If you were to play all your chords in root position, your hands would be jumping all over the place on the keyboard. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a lot of unnecessary movement.

With smooth voice leading, each of your fingers will move to a note that is nearby, eliminating the need to drastically reposition your entire hand. (Which means you'll feel a lot less nervous when changing chords!)

So if you’re planning to practice the I-V-vi-IV chord progression with the chords C-G-Am-F, what chord inversions should you use?

Rather than playing all four chords in root position, you can try these inversions to create smoother voice leading:

Start with the C major chord in root position (C-E-G). This is your home chord, so playing it in root position makes it feel extra solid.
Then transition to the G major chord in first inversion (B-D-G).
Then play the A minor chord in first inversion (C-E-A).
Finally, play the F major chord in second inversion (C-F-A).

Notice how when you move from one chord to the next, each voice (bottom/red, middle/green, top/blue) moves to a nearby note, rather than jumping to a distant note.

How do you practice piano chords?

There are a lot of tools and strategies you can use to practice piano chords. And believe it or not, not all of them involve actually sitting at your piano!

How to Practice Chords Away from Your Piano

Worksheets
Flash Cards
Visualization (much more powerful than you might think!)

How to Practice Chords at Your Piano

One chord at a time
Chord changes between 2 chords
Chord progressions with more than 2 chords
Timed 60-second chord challenges

If you're looking for a more in-depth explanation of the above strategies, check out my post How to Practice Piano Chords, where you'll also find some free downloadable printables you can use to practice chords.

Paid Resources for Learning Piano Chords

Piano Chord Apps

How to Play Chord-Style Piano Songs

There are 2 ways of playing chord-based piano: accompaniment style, and solo style.

Accompaniment Style Piano Chording

In accompaniment style, you don’t play the melody of the song, just the harmony.

This style is used when you want to play the piano as an accompaniment (background) while you or another musician sings the melody. Or another musician might play the melody on a different instrument.

Accompaniment style can be simple or very complex, depending on the piano player’s ability.

As a beginner, it’s best to keep it simple. Start by playing the chords with your right hand, while playing solid octaves on the root note of the chord with your left hand.

You can keep it super simple and play the chords on each beat 1, holding them for 4 beats before playing the next chord. This gives you lots of time to think ahead and prepare for your next chord.

Popular Song Chord Charts for Beginners

Ultimate-Guitar.com is an excellent website to find the chords of popular songs.

Some good song choices for beginners that can be played with just the C-G-F-Am chords are:

Cruise by Florida Georgia Line
(use the transpose feature to -7, and just play an Am instead of the Am7)
Demons by Imagine Dragons
(use the transpose feature to -2)
Let It Be by The Beatles
(use the transpose feature to -7)
Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver
(use the transpose feature to -7)
Hello by Adele *also includes Em chord
(use the transpose feature to -7)

Solo Style Piano Chording

In solo style, you’re playing the whole song, melody and harmony, as a solo artist on the piano.

Just as with accompaniment style, solo style can be super simple, or super complex, depending on the ability of the piano player.

To keep it simple as a beginner, you can play a simple melody line in the right hand, while playing solid chords in the left hand on every beat 1.

If you have a good ear, you can use the chords from Ultimate-Guitar.com to learn the harmony of a song, then you can figure out the melody by ear.

If you know how to read music and prefer not to figure out the melody by ear, knowing your chords allows you to use lead sheets.

A lead sheet gives you the melody of the song notated on the treble clef, but instead of a bass clef, it gives you the names of chords over the treble clef to tell you when to play which chords.

Fake Books and Lead Sheets for Piano

If you enjoy playing from lead sheets, a whole world of music can open up for you in fake books.

Fake books are collections of lead sheets. They’re great because they pack a lot of songs into one book, they let you practice chord-style piano, and they let you play your songs as simple or complex as you’re ready for.

Some fake books you might like:

If you want to practice playing from lead sheets before committing to buying a fake book, try my C major Improvisation Rhythm Challenge book, It's a bit different from traditional lead sheets, but it's a great introduction to the style, and a fantastic way to practice chording.

What are the different types of piano chords?

Triads

The most basic piano chords are triads. Triads are 3-note chords built using major and minor thirds.

There are 4 types of triads: major triads, minor triads, augmented triads, and diminished triads.

And for the most part, you'll really only need major and minor triads as a beginner, so it's best to start there.

Triads are built using the root note, 3rd scale degree, and 5th scale degree of major and minor scales. So the notes of a triad are referred to as the root, the 3rd, and the 5th.

But it is possible to learn how to build any triad, starting on any note, before you’ve learned your scales.

Major Triads

To make a major triad, start with the root note of the chord, then add the note a major third above it, then add the note a minor third above that note.

Major triad = major 3rd + minor 3rd

If you know your scales, a major triad is built using the root note, 3rd scale degree, and 5th scale degree of the major scale.

Minor Triads

To make a minor triad, start with the root note of the chord, add the note a minor third above it, then add the note a major third above that note.

Minor triad = minor 3rd + major third

If you know your scales, a minor triad is built using the root note, 3rd scale degree, and 5th scale degree of the natural minor scale.

Augmented Triads

To make an augmented triad, start with the root note, add the note a major third above it, then add the note a major third above that note.

Augmented triad = major 3rd + major 3rd

Diminished Triads

To make a diminished triad, start with the root note, add the note a minor third above it, then add the note a minor third above that note.

Diminished triad = minor 3rd + minor 3rd

Seventh Chords

Seventh chords are 4-note chords that are created by adding a 7th to a triad. This means you start with a triad, and you add the note that is a 7th above the root note of the chord.

There are a lot of different types of seventh chords, but there are 5 that are most commonly used:

The Dominant Seventh (this is the most common 7th chord)
The Major Seventh
The Minor Seventh
The Diminished Seventh
The Half-Diminished Seventh

Dominant Seventh Chord (or Major-Minor Seventh Chord)

A dominant seventh chord is built using a major triad and adding a minor seventh above the root note. Which is why a dominant seventh is also called a major-minor seventh chord.

Dominant Seventh = Major Triad + Minor 7th

Major Seventh Chord

A major seventh is built using a major triad and adding a major seventh above the root note.

Major Seventh = Major Triad + Major 7th

Minor Seventh Chord

A minor seventh is built using a minor triad and adding a minor seventh above the root note.

Minor Seventh = Minor Triad + Minor 7th

Diminished Seventh Chord

A diminished seventh is built using a diminished triad and adding a diminished seventh above the root note.

Dominant Seventh = Diminished Triad + Diminished 7th

Half-Diminished Seventh Chord

A half-diminished seventh is built using a diminished triad and adding a minor seventh above the root note.

Half-Diminished Seventh = Diminished Triad + Minor 7th

Sus chords

There are 2 types of sus chords you may come across when playing chord-style piano: sus2 chords and sus 4 chords.

Sus2 Chords

In a sus2 chord, you omit the 3rd scale degree from your triad and replace it with the 2nd scale degree. For example, a C major chord includes the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the C major scale: C-E-G. Take out the 3rd scale degree (E) and replace it with the 2nd note of the C major scale (D) and you get a Csus2 chord: C-D-G.

Sus4 Chords

In a sus4 chord, you omit the 3rd of your triad and replace it with a perfect 4th above the root note. For example, a C major chord includes the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the C major scale: C-E-G. Take out the 3rd scale degree (E) and replace it with the 4th note of the C major scale (F) and you get a Csus4 chord: C-F-G.

Extended chords and Add chords

Extended and Add chords add 9ths, 11th, and/or 13ths to chords.

I'll provide a brief introduction to extended and add chords below, but if you’re interested in learning more, HelloMusicTheory.com has an excellent article that goes into much deeper detail.

Extended Chords

Extended chords build on top of seventh chords by adding additional notes beyond the 7th.

For example, a C major 9 chord (Cmaj9) includes the notes C-E-G-B-D. It’s built by starting with a C major seventh chord (C-E-G-B), and adding a 9th above the root note (D).

You’ll often see extended chords in jazz music and in extended flowing left-hand patterns.

Add Chords

Add chords build on top of triads by adding additional notes beyond the 7th.

For example, a Cadd9 chord includes the notes C-E-G-D. It's built by starting with a C major triad (C-E-G), and adding a 9th above the root note (D).