I’ve read the statement countless times that you don’t need to learn theory if you know chords. So many online courses make this claim, but the claim is simply false because knowledge of chords and how to play them is indeed part of music theory.
I get that it is a tempting claim and on the surface it certainly seems plausible – you can learn to play chords so you don’t have to bother with reading music. What they really mean is; that you can learn to play the piano without learning how to read any music ever. This is certainly true – you can learn to play the piano by using chords without reading traditional notation.
Learning what the types of chords are, what makes them that particular type of chord and what notes are in each of the chords is most definitely music theory. Being able to understand what each note of the chord is called and where to find it on a piano is also music theory.
In these advertisements for online piano courses that make the claim that chords are not music theory are implying that music theory is boring or tedious. Who says that it is any of those things anyway? Yes, some people can find parts of music theory boring or tedious some of the time. Learning theory of music can really enhances your enjoyment of playing the piano because it enhances your knowledge.
There also seems to exist this notion that theory of music is really hard and complex. Advanced theory of music is most definitely complex and challenging, which is not the starting point. The starting point is learning the names of the white notes, which is not hard at all. Like everything else, you can start with the simple stuff and as you get used to the simple concepts, you can then learn much harder stuff, which doesn’t seem too hard at all, when you have the necessary foundational knowledge.
Also as part of what is meant by the concept of ‘you don’t need theory, you can just use chords’ is that it is too hard to learn to read music. With all of my hundreds of piano students, I’ve never had a student that didn’t successfully learn to read music. Not one! The trick is not to start with the almost impossible printed music that they show in advertising online piano courses. The key to learning to read music is to start very simply with the basics. When I am teaching a person that has never played the piano before, I start with 3 notes with the right hand and then 3 notes with the left hand and that’s it. It is only when they have mastered this much, I then introduce just ONE new note at a time or ONE new concept at a time.
If you want to play popular music with chords and do not want to learn to read music, then you don’t have to bother with learning to read music. However, if it is jazz or classical music that you wish to play, then learning to read music is definitely important.
If you want to play popular piano and also want to learn to read music then please don’t be put off by the claims that it is too hard or too boring. Have a go, find an experienced piano teacher that can help you. Remember it is just a marketing ploy that is trying to convince you that reading musical notation is too hard and that their system is much simpler and easier to understand.
If you think that learning traditional music notation is too hard, remember that you can’t know this for certain until you’ve actually tried to learn it.