My Color Music

The nice thing about chords is that they use the same 12 notes we all know and love. Sure … we have to play those notes together in a chord … instead of only one at a time. But there’s nothing too special about that. In fact, you might even say that chords are easier to play than any of the scales we’ve seen so far. And that’s because, while most scales include five, six, or seven notes, most chords have only three notes.

Chords might take a little more coordination as our fingers work together at the same time. But no worries … we have Color Music on our side. By using colors and shapes, we can quickly pick out the right notes and intervals. Which makes it easy to find and play any chord.

Just like before, the colors, squares, and circles, show us which notes to play and why. And that means we’ll spend less time thinking … and a lot more time playing.

As always, those nice, little squares and circles make life good. Like a pattern of lights guiding our way, they show us exactly what we should play.

Right now, it might still be difficult to get your hands playing together. But honestly, that’s okay. If you’ve already mastered the art of playing chords with a melody, then you’re a fast learner. And if you need some more practice (don’t we all?), then try playing this next song. It’s a classic and one you’ve definitely heard before.

Again, this new song is pretty simple. All we have to do is play a C major chord at the start of each measure with our left hand. And with our right hand, we’ll play the notes of the melody … which is based on the C major scale (like all the songs we’ve played so far).

Just like before, it may help if you practice the melody alone with your right hand first. Then, once you know which notes to play and when to play them, go through the song hitting just the chords in each measure with your left hand. Once each hand knows its part, go back to the beginning of the song and play each measure … mixing both parts together.

It also helps to focus on playing one measure at a time. For example, as you go through this song, remember to play both hands together at the start of each measure. And keep your left hand in place until your right hand has played all the melody notes in that measure. Then repeat this same process in the following measures until the end of the song.

After you’ve learned one or two more songs, things will get easier … I promise. Teaching your hands to work like this is a lot like learning to swim or ride a bike. Before long, you barely have to think about what your hands are doing. But until then, the best thing to do is practice.

Of course, our hands have got it pretty easy … now that we can actually see which notes to play. And that’s why Color Music is so awesome. It lets us focus more on the fun of music … and less on the mechanics of playing.

Now that we know how to play music’s most popular chord—the major triad—let’s see it in action, shall we? In our next song, we’ll focus on hitting each major chord with the left hand … while playing the melody line with the right hand. In music notation, we show this by splitting the bass staff and treble staff, like so:

Because chords are used to support the melody, they’re usually written on the bass staff. Like pillars or columns, chords lay a solid foundation for the melody—which is usually written on the treble staff. By playing the chords and the melody together, we simply blend all the notes into a full and complete song.

To keep things simple, our first song includes just one major chord, C major … while the melody is based on the C major scale.

You’ve definitely heard this tune before. Some of you might know it as “Are You Sleeping?” … and others might know it as “Frere Jacques.” But either way, it’s pretty basic. Because we’ll play just one C major chord at the start of each measure.

At first, it might be a little hard to get both of your hands working together. But that’s only natural, so don’t worry. It can be a little strange to play one part with your left hand … and another part with your right hand. Which is why a lot of musicians learn new songs using a special trick. They simply practice each part separately before putting the melody and chords together.

To see what I mean, let’s try doing this with our new song. With the right hand, start out by going through the melody alone a couple of times. It’s in the key of C (with a 4/4 time signature), so it should be pretty easy to learn. Then with your left hand, go through the song again, hitting only the chords at the start of each measure. And once each hand is ready, go back to the beginning and play both the melody and the chords together.

The chords on the bass staff are written exactly under the notes of the melody. So as you play, make sure all the notes are lined up and played together at the same time. That way, the song will sound right and everyone will be happy.

Seriously … who knew that adding a few chords could make our music sound so much better?