Please Advice on playing chords of any song

Hi,

I can locate and play all the basic chords. But i find problem in switching from one chord to another which are located apart. How should i practice to make it perfect?

Also, I identified all the chords for a particular song and can play the whole song. I learnt the song incrementally measure by measure.But, the notes move back and forth so much that i also forget the notes in the middle and my mind goes blank. How to make the song notes flow continuously without break.

Thanks guys
Venky

Practice by moving your fingers from the notes of one chord to the notes of the next.

Thanks BDB, also any suggestion on my other question?

Concentrate. Or write down what to play as a reminder.

Welcome to the forum, Venky.

Try breaking up the chords, practicing only the right hand top note and left hand bottom note. Then practice only the middle notes, etc.

By the way, piano music is usually referred to as a "piece" or by its type: sonata, prelude, waltz, etc. A "song" is music that is sung.

While it is hoped that the previous posts on this thread will be helpful to the OP, it is not clear to me what the problem may be when Venky writes : "problem in switching from one chord to another which are located apart." Are these adjacent chords or are they chords that are widely separated, one from the other?

The second problem can be best addressed by learning to read from the music while playing, and not looking at the hands; the mind should not go blank if you are constantly reading from the music. This may take some time to learn, depending upon the basic skills of the person in question.

Regards,

Thanks everyone for some good suggestions. Really appreciate it.
Looks like writing down the notes for the piece would help playing it without breaks until it goes into memory. Thanks gooddog, BDB and bruce.

@BruceD: Yeah, the chords are widely separated from one another (like 2 octaves apart and on different key note). I lift my hand and then keep searching. Mind gets preoccupied so much that i don't get enough time to quickly lookup the key to play it. Will write down the music on sheet to see if it speeds things up.

Thanks all!
Venky

What sort of music are you referring to? If the music is not already written down and if you are just playing from memory - or by ear - then perhaps all you need to do is work more on your memory skills.

Regards,

Well there are some movie songs popular in my country(composition by oscar winner A.R.Rahman).

Do you mean memory skill in general or related to piano. If latter case, any suggestions?

venky, try practicing major and minor chords in all keys with both hands through their inversions. you'll then see that in popular songs, many times chords move between inversions. for example C major root position (C E G) will move to F major 2nd inversion (C F A) without having to move your hands very much.

http://www.piano-lessons-made-simple.com/piano-chord-inversions.html

In pop songs, you can pretty much expect that you pedal between chords so there's really no reason to be leaving your hands on the chord till the very last moment. There's time to move the hands.

Also combined with what Entheo said, often you switch inversions on chords so that you have better voice leading and less movement in progressions like I-IV-V or ii-V-I.

Of course as you get into more advanced tunes, then there will be lots of fast chord movements and so speed and control/accuracy will need to be eventually developed. But even when you have to jump, a little thinking (again of inversions) and you may be able to retain hand shape while you move.

You will eventually get there. At some point, without thinking, your hands can find any chord in any key, even with your eyes closed.

Excellent guys. Finding the suitable inversions makes perfect sense. Thanks for the wonderful tips!!