How to play chord

[starghost]

Hi everybody, I'm just an amateur having an interest in piano playing. Recently I've had a problem with chords that I couldn't figure out how to make it comfortably. I'm not sure how this should be called, so I guess I just explain what it is about. Let's say I have a chord CDG, and I want to play it with the emphasis on the G, so that the sound of G dominates the other two.

I've heard this kinda stuff in several performances, and tried practicing it, but it sounds different each time. It's always that either all go soft or loud, but I never managed to get only one loud and the other soft. Or if there is ever such a thing...

Please advice.

Thanks a lot.

[keyboardclass]

Realize the key of the louder note will have to depress faster - it'll get to the string sooner.

[starghost]

Thanks, I'll try that. But just a quick thought: would it then break the chord, as the loud note will appear first?

[diabolic]

Not necessarily.  I mean, couldnt you just pres GCD while making G louder?

It needs practice, yes, and soft hands. Kinda like how you need coordination with both your hands, right loud and left soft or vice versa. here is probably the thumb which should press louder than the C and D fingers( 3 and 4 are comfortable for me when playing this chord)

[quantum]

Think of putting more weight on the note you wish to bring out. 

It may even help you to practice playing that G a little before the other notes.  Gradually work at bringing the break closer together to where it sounds like a solid chord.  Remember that you don't have to play all notes simultaneously for it to be perceived as a sold chord. 

[uthacalthing]

Sandor in his book On Piano Playing says to change the alignment between fingers and forearm to give more emphasis to a note. Imagine a straight line running from your elbow through your forearm all the way to the tip of your playing finger. When you play a chord you can bring out a note by aligning your forearm with that particular finger.

If you are playing chords with a forearm action (ie fingers are more or less fixated, forearm goes up and down), you could also“stiffen” a finger relative to the others or hold it in a slightly lower position....

[Bob]

Think of putting more weight on the note you wish to bring out. 

Ditto that.  Or use less weight on the other fingers.

[jimbo320]

Whenever I need an emphasis on a root note of a chord I play it as broken by separating the root as a 16th note before the other two notes. Try that....

Musically, Jimbo

[starghost]

Thanks guys, I guess what you've mentioned are pretty intuitive. Perhaps I haven't tried hard enough. I'll dedicate more time to practice on this trick, and see how it goes. Also, I have a weird idea of using the mental play (in Fundamentals of Piano Practice) to focus my mind on the emphasized note, hopefully it'll somehow bring an effect to the muscle.

Cheers.

[keyboardclass]

You still don't get it - the emphasized note happens sooner.  In a way that's part of its emphasis.