Simpedia

Anna J., Canada

My students have been enjoying a game we call “Speed Chord”, though I’m pretty sure the basic idea came from Simpedia originally. I’ve created Popsicle sticks with each of the 12 notes of the scale (C, Db, D, Eb, etc). Round Robin style, the students draw a stick and have to play that chord the goal being to try and get through all 12 as fast as possible. We record their time and try to improve it from week to week. One week we might work on the major chords, another minor, sus, etc. You can use the same process with any chord type – we just state that at the beginning.

I’ve considered creating another set of sticks with these different chord types for a more advanced version. Students would then draw one stick from the note pile and one from the chord type file and need to play that chord (I.e. they might get a ‘G’ and an ‘aug’ or ‘Bb’ and ‘dim’, etc). It only takes a few minutes of class but has gotten them more motivated to learn some of the more obscure chords.

Leanne V., Australia

What has revolutionized my students’ confidence with all 12 chords of a particular chord type is playing around the circle of fifths. The circle of fifths has so many applications – traditionally I used it for theory and never played around it- the most basic of which is that if you play around it anti clockwise with any ratio it sounds fantastic and the student gets familiar with all 12 chords. I introduce it before I look at the I, IV, V chords with the 12 majors. I give them a simple sheet – there is a SM one and do not explain anything other than this is a fun way of playing all 12 chords.

I teach them LH bass notes with the thumb starting on middle C and then finger 5 on F, move thumb to Bb ( down a whole step) then finger 5 on Eb and that pattern continues the whole way through – thumb down whole step to Ab then finger 5 on DB etc. once they have got that we add the RH chord and play following the LH pattern. Ie start C chord on Treble C, hand down to F, hand up to Bb, down to Eb etc. Within a few weeks they can play around all 12 chords and they have the pattern under their fingers.

To help learn the order we say –  Circle’s Full BEAD (the word) G on black, BEAD G on white, (thanks to one of our Perth teachers for the rhyme:):)   So.  C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, DB, Gb, B, E, A, D, G We then go through the I, IV, V process ( which is made easier because they already know their 12 majors confidently). When we get to minors – the first week I get them to play around the cycle making every chord a minor. You can have them play Major 2, 3 – Minor 2, 3 on each chord or just go straight to the minor – Cm, Fm, Bbm etc. the next week we would start Scarborough Fair.

I do the same with every new chord. – Sus chords around the circle Csus 2,3; C, 2,3 – Fsus 2,3; F 2,3 then look at the song. it speeds up the learning of each song as they are confident with all chords before they start.

When we get to the advanced chords at the end of the accompaniment 1 book – I use a series of chords around the circle to get them familiar with runs of chords that can be used. Ie.  C -> Cmaj7-> C7-> C13 (only one finger moves for each new chord) Ie.  C -> Caug-> C6 -> C7.  (finger 5 moves up a half step for each chord).

Sorry for the long reply but as I said this has revolutionized my students familiarity with chords and hence makes learning each new song that much easier. Neil introduced the circle of 5ths at a conference in Perth a few years ago, and even though it is not in the SM curriculum in the early stages he gave me permission to use it. My students love playing around it, and it becomes one of their playlist pieces that gets done every day.

Patti P., Hawaii

I use Jennifer Lee’s lovely Buggzart cards to play a similar game as Anna suggests. I’ve also asked my students to make a set of musical alphabet cards (and now they can buy the Buggzart cards through SM if they wish) so they can do a quick run-through at home.

The element of chance makes this more fun, as do the gorgeous colors on the cards.

Gordon H., Australia

I like Anna’s idea and look forward to other suggestions for activities.  The other obvious suggestion is, as Rebecca mentioned, to do lots of other real songs with these chords in them.  What I like to do is to have a songbook and randomly choose a song each day to play in real time.  There may be the occasional chord that the student won’t know, but don’t worry about that – just have them play what they know and barrel on.

The only other comment I’d make is that the object with these chords is not to know each one thoroughly in every key the way we do the majors.  What’s most important in my opinion is that the student is good at the process itself.   At least in the early stages they are practicing how to quickly figure out a chord on the fly.  As they improve their processing speed, they will get to know each chord and eventually know them all without learning them by rote.  So for example, in a new song they encounter a GMaj7.  If they know GMaj and how to turn it into a Maj7, they will use that skill rather than having already learned the chord.  This “inheriting” tool has the benefit of being, in my experience, quicker than rote learning, and enhancing our understanding of how chords are made.

A small example of the benefit of this is when the student encounters a sus7 chord.  If they know how to make a sus and a 7th, they do both, and voila!   This is not to negate rote learning or any of the suggestions so far, but just to warn you that it’s not a requirement to “know” every chord at early stages, or to fully process one type of chord (like minor) before going on to the next (like sus).

Jennifer L., California

I’m so glad to hear that you’re using the Buggzart Key Cards this way, Patti!  This is one of the ways that I use the cards too.

Whenever I teach a new chord “formula” – that which we apply to the major triad to make it into the new chord – before I introduce the song in which we’ll use it, I use the Key Cards to have my students apply the formula to all 12 major triads, in random order (whatever order the shuffled cards come up in).  This ensures that my students really learn the formula, not just the one or two specific chords of that type that show up in the song.

And this is to be included in the students’ practice sessions that week also.  I instruct their coaches to shuffle their Key Cards and have them play all 12 minor chords (or sus chords, or whatever new chord we’re learning at that point) in a different order every day.  They really learn their chords!  And the great part is that they enjoy the process.

In the beginning, I have them remove the sharp cards, and just use the 12 that cover the white keys and the black keys using their flat names.  But eventually, I add in the sharp cards to ensure that they can identify the chords using either name.

As we’re making our way through the Accompaniment program, every once in a while, I’ll do a little drill in class using the cards to test their knowledge and understanding of all the chord formulas we’ve learned to that point.

Paul C., Australia

I do several things that have been mentioned for learning chords but with a few variations.

Leanne mentioned using the Circle of 5ths to process chords in all keys and I do the same with my students. I find it is very straightforward (and obvious) for my students to process all the chords round in 5ths (again, I don’t use the term ‘Circle of 5ths’ either). We talk about processing them in a circle. I get them to start by playing C (it could be any chord) and then simply to look at where finger 5 on their right hand is and to move their thumb up to it and play the chord with has the new note at the bottom (G in this case). Then we start again and move the right hand up until the D which was under their little finger is now under their thumb and they form a D chord. The process repeats until eventually they come back to their starting chord (C). This way they can be sure they have practiced their chords in all 12 keys but it hasn’t been straight up the white notes. It also hasn’t been random either, but more random than they’re used to.

When we get to minor chords and suspended chords we do the same thing but I get them to start with the major triad every time, play it and then move the RH third finger down (in the case of the minor) and play the minor chord. When we get to the suspended chords part of the beauty of them is their resolution so again we play the major triad and then we form and play the suspended chord and then play the major one again. With both the minor and suspended chords we go through the ‘in a circle’ practice routine so they can play all 12 chords. I like to also get them into the habit of adding the bass not in the left hand wherever possible so it is second nature by the time we get to maj7’s, 7’s and min7’s where it’s necessary to complete the chord.

Exactly the same exercise will work for the different 7th varieties.

I also give my students a sheet which has all of the 12 chord types in 12 keys that are covered in the book. The student just chops up the column/s of chords that they are working on and then adds them to their ‘hat’ to pull out randomly. BTW, Ferrero Rocher chocolate boxes (the ones that hold 16 in two levels of 8) make excellent storage for the cut up chord squares. Of course you’ll need to empty the box first but that shouldn’t be a chore! Now you go to work pulling out however many chords a day will keep them fresh (I usually prescribe 5-10) – all now in  random order.

Chords are awesome! So many flavors – some like a good meat and 3 veg meal and others more subtle (like jazz chords) that can be both sweet and sour at the same time. Yum!

Hope this gives you another perspective.

Jennifer L., California

I’m writing in response to your last question regarding fingering for minor and suspended chords.

I teach my students to shift their fingering to RH 1-4-5 for suspended chords.  There are two reasons I require this fingering.

First, it keeps the hand in a more natural position.

Second, at the point when I’m introducing suspended chords, I’ve already taught them how to find the I, IV and V chords in any key.  An important aspect of that process, as I teach it, is to put F4 on the note that’s a half step above the note that F3 is on (or a whole step below the note that F5 is on) when playing the major triad of the key in question.  Then what they’ve got is:

F1 “pointing to” the root of the I chord

F4 “pointing to” the root of the IV chord

F5 “pointing to” the root of the V chord

I’ve found the corresponding finger number and chord number to be very helpful.  (And I know that, in the future, it will be helpful when I introduce the VI, II and III chords, and make the correlation between the roots of those chords and the degrees of the major scale.)

In any case, it’s much easier for them to retain the fingering I’ve already taught them for finding I, IV and V;  and it also reinforces the learning we did earlier around finding I, IV and V.  Hope I expressed all that clearly . . . ?

Re. the minor chords: I ask that students retain the 1-3-5 fingering for minor chords.

Jeff O.

You will see this chord named both ways in the jazz and pop “literature”, so students should get to know both. I prefer the C11 designation, because it points to chord’s function, which is usually as a modified dominant chord, related to the C7 and not to any Bb chord. But Neil has smartly chosen teach the chord first as a split chord-I think just because it’s easier for the brain/hand to get the idea that way…

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

The way we teach the 11th chord is just one of many possible ‘voicings’ for an 11th chord.  When you move the entire RH chord down a whole step, this voicing is the 1, 7, 9, and 11 of the chord (1 in the LH; 7, 9, 11 in the RH).

As far as how students should notate the chord for compositions, Bb/C is most likely what they intend if that is the voicing used.   An 11th chord could include additional/different notes in the chord (E and G – the 3 and 5).

Generally speaking, you don’t see 11th chords very often in popular music, more in jazz music.

Jennifer L., California

I just want to chime in about this 11 chord thing, in response to Laurie’s response.

In my circles (the musicians I play with in the San Francisco Bay Area), we wouldn’t ever add the major 3rd to a straight 11 chord.  We essentially view it as a dominant 7 chord with a suspended 4th and the natural 9th.  Another way we’d notate the chord Bb/C or C11 is C9sus4.  But that’s a lot of symbols to read, especially if you’re playing in a dark little club and someone’s just plopped a lead sheet in front of you that you’ve never seen before and they count off the tune at a really fast tempo.  So the notations Bb/C or C11 are much more practical.

There’s not universal agreement about the “correct” way to notate chords, so this may not be the case in all circles of musicians and in all geographical areas.  I just know how things are interpreted here among the musicians I work with.

For further clarification regarding the 11:

There is such a thing as a #11.  It’s an altered chord extension.  If you see the symbol C7(#11), you definitely would include the major 3rd in that chord.

There’s also such a thing as a minor 11 chord.  If you see the symbol C-11, you should include the minor 3rd.  It’s an integral part of the harmony.