I finally understand how to play a chord progression with 2 fingers, and I cried

[jcgam]

I've only had this instrument for a week or so, and I'm a beginner.  I played a chord progression from a fake book along with the melody, and I felt such joy!  It's so easy to play the chords with 2 fingers in AI mode, and the sounds are so beautiful!  This is probably old news to most of you, but for someone new to the Genos and arranger keyboards, it's an amazing feeling!

[cyber swine]

Congrats.... and fyi it never gets old.  Starting out is tough, everyone goes through it, but as a still progressing player myself I would suggest you move forward to full chords as soon as possible.  Accomplishment is what you are feeling now and will continue to feel if you keep achieving more and more.   Forgive my lecture and enjoy the board 

[mikf]

Arrangers have an appeal on different levels to players of varying skill levels. But there is no doubt that their major appeal is what you are now experiencing - providing a way for learner players to fairly quickly become able to enjoy making their own music, something that can seem very challenging on traditional musical instruments. It's encouraging and enabling. Keep at it..... it gets better.
Mike

[DrakeM]

Try adding the 3rd finger to make a 7th chord and hear the difference. Use it sparingly to vary the feel of the progression.

I have played my arranger for 20 years now and still crush it with just using the Maj Am and 7th chords (3 finger simple chords). Using the simple chords will allow you to bend the notes easier and play better sounding guitar solos.   

[robinez]

congratulations!

Starting with the one finger note system on keyboards is a great way to get quick results on a keyboard, in general most of the keyboards are working the same with the one and three note finger system. So once you know how to do it on a yamaha keyboard you can use the same technique on other keyboards too.

There are some extra tricks on the one note finger system, like adding a second finger to play minor chords or 7th chords for instance. I've explained this in my tutorial for chord recognition on keyboards ranging from one finger notes to full AI scan mode. I've explained it on the korg pa5x, but the shown fingering systems for the one and three notes works exactly the same on a yamaha. Only the full AI scan mode has some small differences (mostly noticed on neo soul chord voicings). So maybe there are some tips in there that can help you even further with your playing skills.

Skip to 2:23 to start with the one note fingering examples (the intro isn't important for you, because I demo it on a Korg pa5x, but the methods are the same):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E445kn4h7nM

[jcgam]

Try adding the 3rd finger to make a 7th chord and hear the difference. Use it sparingly to vary the feel of the progression.

I have played my arranger for 20 years now and still crush it with just using the Maj Am and 7th chords (3 finger simple chords). Using the simple chords will allow you to bend the notes easier and play better sounding guitar solos.   

The 3rd finger plays the 7th note of the scale, either above or below the root?

[pedro_pedroc]

Hello.

Congrats for you.
I understand be able to play is a great achievement and I can imagine how happy you are.
However, I suggest you to try to add the third finger always, to never make a chord with less then 3 fingers. This will help you to be a more complete player in the future. Just a tip... playing with 2 or 3 fingers are not that difference.

Best wishes.
Pedro

[DrakeM]

One finger on C makes a C major chord
One finger on C and second finger on any Black note to the Left of C makes a Minor chord
Then add any white key to the LEFT of C to both the above.

the C major will become a C7
the Cm will become a Cm7

So you can play something like C, Am, C, Am, F, G7 back to C

[mikf]

The simple one or two finger chord systems available to get you started on these keyboards are fine for very basic chords, but to get get more chords requires more notes. In my opinion, learning to do this round a very specific keyboard basic system is a mistake. It's much better to move forward to real chord fingering and put the time into that. That is a commitment but worth it in the long run.
Get a book or find a course on the net.
Mike

[Amwilburn]

The simple one or two finger chord systems available to get you started on these keyboards are fine for very basic chords, but to get get more chords requires more notes. In my opinion, learning to do this round a very specific keyboard basic system is a mistake. It's much better to move forward to real chord fingering and put the time into that. That is a commitment but worth it in the long run.
Get a book or find a course on the net.
Mike

100%. I've seen so many folks who learned on the outdated Single Finger chord system, and then when they try to learn actual chords they are thrown for a loop, and many simply can't re-learn. Which makes right hand harmony/chord/melody playing even harder to re-learn.

However, chord progressions from *AI mode* (even 2 note chords) are *fine*; those don't teach you the incorrect fingering. If you play C/G, then it assumes C 1+5, no major or minor (the single finger chord method mentioned by some others above would play G dominant 7! it's particularly egregious when playing with a walking / descending bass line).


As long as you're in AI mode, you're fine, learn at your own pace But yes, add the 3rd note when you can.

Mark