Very Basic Question

[soma34]

Hi , im 29 and am wanting to learn basic piano...  just enough so i can read music and download songs off the net and be able to understand them and try play them.

Any way. im trying to learn online... a website that teaches through a series of lessons. the website in one of the lessons teaches 2 basic chords ...the first being C chord which has me pressing  C  E G..  that seems fine.

But then it teaches me a G7 chord...  The frustrating thing.. is i learnt very hard how to play this and memorised it and practiced it... and then i look at chord charts on the internet and it says to pllay it differently.

The way the piano lessons taught me were 3 keys  -  b  F  G ... but on chord charts it seems to be 4 keys, being  GBDF  ... Which ones right... and why would the other one teach me to play with 3 keys.

Help would be greatly appreciated for this begginner! thankyou!

In addition to this... does anyone know a really good website that takes you through lessons etc.. to learn piano. i know theres no substitute for a real teacher... but i want to try through an online course as i have no time for lessons (or the money).  The website im using is learnpianoonline dot com   thankyou

[hyrst]

The online is teaching the way the V7 chord is most often played - especially in contemporary and pre-intermediate classical music.  This chord is easy to learn, as it is a simple pattern around the primary chord (e.g. c chord CEG moves to V7 by putting the top two notes in the five finger position together - FG - and lowering the C to B).  This chord is easily played in other keys by using the same finger changes. 

By theory, the V7 as GBDF is correct - but much harder to move to.  The D is not necesesary for the harmonics in C (but this is hard to explain at beginner level).  Essentially, the G is the fifth chord from C (i.e. C-I, D-II, E-III, F-IV, G-V).  The fifth chord is very important for the sound of every piece.  G chord is made of the skips GBD.  If you add another skip on that, you get the 7th - it becomes a V7 chord.  Thus, GBDF.

The online is teaching you correctly.  Both are correct.

[queenrock]

The way the piano lessons taught me were 3 keys  -  b  F  G ... but on chord charts it seems to be 4 keys, being  GBDF  ... Which ones right... and why would the other one teach me to play with 3 keys.

They are both the chord of G7, but one has an extra root note(G) in it which means it is in 'root position' which means the root note of the chord is at the bottom.

The one containing just b - f - g is G7 in its first in version, i.e the 2nd note of the chord is at the bottom.

Hope that makes sense!

Peter.

[oscarr111111]

Buy and read this book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AB-Guide-Music-Theory-Vol/dp/1854724460

Very cheap, easy to understand and not very big, you'll get through it during lunch breaks pretty quickly then you can just go back to it as reference.  Its got all the theory you need to get you started, will help a lot with reading music and will answer any simple theory questions like this one (and there will most likely be a lot).

The sequel to that book is quite interesting too, goes into more advanced harmony and instrumentation.  They're by no means comprehensive but unless you want to spend a decent sum of money and a large amount of time on a proper textbook they are more than good enough to get you going.

[soma34]

thanks so much for your help everyone. Really appreciate it!