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Hello,

I have these 4 hands piano pieces that i try to play with my son. A lot of fun. This last is still quit easy, but the fingering of my right hand, I find hard(er) to read and play. Is anyone willing to indicate what fingering I should use?
More general: Should I be able to recognize those 3 finger "chords" on the spot and play them? Of course if I play this for long enough, I will know it from memory, but is that the correct way, play it until you memorize it. And maybe a next song with the same 3 notes, I start asking myself again where are the notes on the piano and which fingers should I use?

Thx, Johan
I can send you the PDF for editing if you want.

Okay .... You have a quarter rest preceding each chord so you can lift your hand and relax between the chords. Then when finger changes are make, they'll be easy. After playing this and getting comfortable with the chord "patterns" next time you'll recognize them immediately.

First five measures are all .... 135
Bar 6 ... 14
Bar 7 ... 25
Bars 8 to 12 are all ... 135
Bar 13 to 15 are all ... 125
Bar 17 is ... 135
Bar 18 is ...125
Bars 19 to 21 are all ... 135
Bar 22 is ... 125
Bar 23 is ... 135
Bar 24 is ... 125
Bar 25 is ... 134
Bar 26 and 27 is ... 125
Bar 28 is 135
Bar 29 is 134
Bar. 30 is ... 125
Last two bars are ... 135

Now look at the chords carefully. the ones which are 134 are positioned so that the next chords is in position by sliding the thumb down to the next note. You'll get the hang of it when you see recurring patterns. Try alternate fingers and see the "comfort" level. That is often a clue too.

Cheers ....

Many, many thanks, I will give it a try this evening.

I would definitely analyse the chords as well: C-Am-C ....etc.
= C:I-vi-I etc.

Can you be more detailed. I don't know excatly what you mean with 'C:I-vi-I'

Johan,
It's a shorthand form of notation used in jazz. Also similarly used in Country music in Nashville (playing by the numbers).
E.g. lets play a tune it's in E (major key is assumed). The chords are: I-vi-ii-V-I
The singer says: Nah..that's too high for me, let's do it in D.
And of course the chord progression stays the same...so no need to repeat it. Everybody knows.

C: I-vi-I...
Means: The key of C, And the chords are: The I (C major) chord in this key, followed by the vi (Am) chord in this key, followed by the I (C major) chord in this key...
And so on.

Modulations to different keys can be covered easily by this system too.

I'm not sure whether this video is pitched at the right level, but he explains everything so clearly (especially the numbers, at around the 13-minute mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR2Oo_IrGgk

To add on to Radded's point, the chords you would have in the key of C are:
I - C major
ii - D minor
iii - E minor
IV - F major
V - G major
vi - A minor
vii - B diminished

thank you

Johan, I just changed the video I linked to. I hope you saw the updated one - the first wasn't that useful.

Yes,and it's extremely useful to being able to think these chords in any key. John Mehegan who was a Jazz instructor at Juliard expanded this system to handle the highly chromatic nature of jazz.
The starting point is: Chords of less than a 7th are insufficient for jazz. Also since we know the quality of each chord on every step of the scale, the system can be abbreviated to: I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII. Where we know the chord qualities on each step of the scale to be:Major 7th, Dominant 7th, minor 7th, or half-diminished 7th.
Also added to this list is the Diminished 7th, which does not occur naturally in any key.
And we use symbols for each quality:M=Major chord, x=Dominant chord, m=minor chord, ø=Half-diminished, o=Diminished chord.
This system becomes very useful when we want to build any quality at any point in a scale.
E.g.: I-IV-VII-IIIx-VI-bVIx-Vm-bV in the C major key will be: Cmaj7-Fmaj7-Bø-E7-Am7-Ab7-Gm7-Gb7.
The point is to make an easy to read and memorized line and let the brain do the rest since we just build on previous knowledge.

That's very interesting Ragged. I do like the way Jazz notation works in that it is so simple, no doubt because there is so much complexity in the music itself, creating more complexity with the notation system would be over the top! I will at some point get into playing some jazz, and your post has given me a little more background knowledge.

That's your goal. Don't worry: it can take a long time to achieve.

Johan, the Right hand of your example begins with a Second inversion chord, then a Root position chord.

You should have a standard "default" fingering for basic chord shapes, i.e. Root position, First inversion, and Second inversion.

Then, when you see them, you don't have to figure out both the notes and the fingering...the fingering is already learned and is an automatic response.

There will be examples when another fingering pattern might be better than the default fingering. When that occurs, use it.

But don't let that dissuade you from having a standard fingering response to standard chords.

Are there specific exercises to train you chords and inversions?

It's surprisingly difficult to find an exercise online that explains inversions, presents a sheet representation, and gives a basic exercise.

He shows both doing different inversions of the same chord and he mentions the concept of voice-leading, in which you change between different chords (say, C to F) by changing a minimum of notes.

Here.

I'm pretty tied to reading from sheets, but reading from sheets becomes easier when you can begin to chunk the chord you're seeing on the page into a hand shape. Experimenting with inversions is a way to do that for quite a bit of music.

It's actually by just doing it, Johan.
Start with the C major chord. Play it in root position, then 1st inversion, then in 2nd inversion going up the scale in the left hand...then come down the scale.
Do the same with the right hand...then both together.
Then go through all of the rest of the chords. Some like following the Circle of 4ths.
Then do the minor chords,Augmented chords, diminished....etc
Later all the 7th chords.
All without any sheet music...and use the fingering that is most natural.
Sheet music has no value here really

It does have value for reading.

If your aim is to be able to quickly chunk what's on the page into a set of movements at the keyboard, then seeing what a C major inversion on the page looks like while doing inversion practice is a good thing.

Inversion practice without a sheet is undeniably good as well.

Sheet music has some value here, all you have to do is take a pencil and write your fingering numbers on it.