Most people are aware that there is more than one way to play the piano. Some people play the piano by ear, while the rest of us either play classical, jazz or modern piano music. Naturally is a lot of overlap between classical, jazz and modern, but there is also a number of elements that are fairly distinctive about each of them that requires specific skills.
Learning to play the piano with chords from the very outset is a legitimate way of learning to play the piano. If you like listening to modern music, which covers anything that has been popular since the 1950’s and you just want to play for your own personal enjoyment (and isn’t this the best reason of all), then learning to play the piano with chords makes a lot of sense.
Due to the fact that I’m a piano blogger, Facebook will often advertise various piano methods and courses on my Facebook page. It’s not just one, but many courses that I have become aware of through the Facebook platform.
I find the way that these courses are advertised are a little bit deceptive. Before I go on though I would like to state that I have not yet looked at any of these chord method approaches to playing the piano, in any depth whatsoever. To be honest, there is probably some value in all of them. The part I have some objection with, is the way that they are advertised.
One part of the advertising that I think is a bit of an exaggeration is that each one claims to be completely unique and will have you playing something in a matter of weeks. Reading between the lines, I think that each course has some small element that is unique. As far as playing real piano music in a few short weeks goes, that depends on how much practice is done and how regular that the practice happens. I don’t agree with the typical statement of being faster than learning classical music, I believe that no matter which way you choose to learn, the more consistent effort you put in the sooner you get to where you want to be.
One thing that I have observed recently is that with all of the advertisers that I have come across for their chord method of learning to play the piano, is the perception that playing chords is easy. For people who play the piano, like myself, chords are indeed easy. For people who have never played the piano before, learning to depress three notes at the same time with the one hand, does take a bit of getting used to. Even though it was a long time ago for me, as I was 7 at the time, I vividly recall the first time trying to play a chord and finding it difficult to press three notes simultaneously. I remember that it took a few weeks to master that one simple chord.
Its also important to remember that some chords are easier to place your fingers on the notes than others. If you practice, you can master each chord within a few weeks, What I don’t like about the advertising of these chord methods to learning to play the piano is that they give the impression that knowing what the chord consists of and how to physically play it is automatic. This is simply not true. Like everything else, it is something that must be learned and practiced before it becomes automatic.
Even though my natural bias is towards classical music, a chord approach is a valid method in learning to play the piano and there are plenty of online programs that you can choose from. Even though I don’t think all their claims are accurate, I do believe that they are likely to offer a reasonable teaching method for you to learn to play the piano.