How to play chords with songs ?

[janamdo]

I can play chords with different fingerings on the PSR SX600.
How do people play chords on their keyboard , if i listening to all those songs here on the forum ?

There is a chord looper on some keyboards, but not on mine keyboard.

[Fred Smith]

I can play chords with different fingerings on the PSR SX600.
How do people play chords on their keyboard , if i listening to all those songs here on the forum ?

There is a chord looper on some keyboards, but not on mine keyboard.

The way I do it is to play all chords with the same fingering. It's the one I learned as a teenager and still use. Why do you want "different fingerings"?

Cheers,
Fred

[janamdo]

Thanks Fred

The question is what chord fingering is used by the average  experienced Yamaha players?

Cheers
Jan

[Toril S]

You mean fingering mode?

[Ronbo]

Hello,

I use fingering mood almost all the time .

Occasionally, I use fingering on bass in practice.

The fingering mood in my opinion is the most popular as most players learned this method quite early in their music study.

Ive tried the others.. They do not work for me. Others I'm sure taught themselves the AI method and that's OK---whatever works

regards

Ron

[Fred Smith]

The question is what chord fingering is used by the average  experienced Yamaha players?

I use Multifingered mode. It allows me to play inverted chords, which is my usual mode, but I can also play single-fingered when the going gets tough.

Cheers,
Fred

[DrakeM]

I play Pop and Country tunes and I use the "Single Finger" method with my keyboard. You can then use your Left hand to operate the BEND a NOTE (wheel/toggle).

You simply don't really need any chords other than C, C7, Cm, Cm7 to play that sort of music. You can play in your right hand other chords there if needed (which you don't). 

[mikf]

The reason they supply several fingering modes is so you can select what suits your style of playing, and skill level. It is one of the great features of this keyboard, and something you have to experiment with and decide for yourself. Obviously single finger modes are easiest but also the most limiting, while full fingered modes are more flexible allowing many advanced chords, but also more difficult. However, as Drake says, you can play a very wide range of music with all of them.
Mike

[janamdo]

Thanks all   
Got a idea about the possibilities what  chord fingering mode to use
Depends on what sort of music you want to play.
Pop or Jazz makes quite a difference for instance.

Multifingering for single finger and for chord inversions that looks to choose
There is a smart chord feature on the PSR SX600 what let you play chords with a single finger
If you know now the key of the song it gives the chords belonging to that scale and more ( the chords are not following strict) 
E.g  playing in C major : C -dm - em - F- G- am- bdim -.... 
So in a key with one cross #.. G you get similar as in C major, the same harmony structure : G-am-bm- C-D-fm-gdim-..   
Don't see it yet the use of the smartchord feature ?
I think in popular music say pop for C major as example , it are always used those chords in the smart chords feature sequenze? 

[mikf]

I don't think the type of music matters. It's mainly about playing skill. If the tune is simple with simple chords you can get away with the single fingered method. It's aimed at beginners. But there is no musical advantage to using single finger chords over fingered chords, quite the contrary.
Mike

[janamdo]

Thanks mikf

For simple tunes using a single fingered method could be.
If it is that simple a tune then is perhaps easier to play the full chord sequenze with inversions
Example : C-F-G is very easy with one finger , but although not very difficult as full chord is more involving
Well , i must experience this more with playing

[DerekA]

I use Fingered on Bass because I am comfortable with chord inversions (thanks to my old Organ teacher all those years ago!) and I really enjoy the flavour of "slashed" chords. Especially when the bass note is not part of the chord notes (e.g. A/D).

[acparker]

I am using the AI Fingered, as I (slowly) work towards learning the muscle memory to switch to full Fingered on Bass.

The AI feature allows me to use the fingered chords, with short cuts allowing most slash chords, like C/G.

For many of the hymns I play for Church, AI Fingering covers it well enough.  But there are some where the slash chord is more complicated, and there I run into problems.

Adam

[Graham UK]

In Single Finger Mode you still have to play 3 notes to obtain certain chords so just get used to playing MultiFingered Chords...You know it makes sence.

[mikf]

Playing single finger chords is simple enough for a true beginner to get started - as long as they are the very simple chords. But you quite quickly will want to get past only playing simple major chords and learning the fingering for anything else in the single fingered mode is just about as much effort as learning to play chords properly.  So makes more sense to put the same effort into learning them properly.
I would go a step further and say that everyone should practice playing chords across both hands, otherwise you are stuck forever with single note rh lines.
In learning chords it's very important to see them as a small number of repeating patterns, not what seems like an intimidating endless list of collected notes. There are really only three chords to learn - major, minor, diminished. Pretty much every other chord is just a small variant of those, and the variant is obvious from the chord name eg 6th,7th, 9th, etc.
I absolutely hate the practice of working from chord charts, as if you can memorize all of these. Learn that once you know C minor, then Aminor, or even F#minor is just the same chord starting on a different note. Eventually you have to play chords without thinking, but see the logic, don't try to memorize everything, and it becomes second nature much quicker.
Mike

[EileenL]

I like a lot of people use AI fingering as it allows playing slash chords easily and is very effective. I would always advise people starting out not to use single fingered chords as they restrict you from playing some really nice chords you find in music today that add so much to a song especially when listening to it.

[janamdo]

The smart chord feature found on SX600 makes it easy to play a good sounding song
You can then select a style  and key for a score.
The keyboard automatically assigns what type of style is used (no need to do that)   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to fully enjoy playing in various Styles but don't know how to play the appropriate chords, set the
Chord Fingering type to Smart Chord. This lets you control Styles with just a single finger, as long as you
know the key of the music you're playing—even if you don't know any chord fingering such as major, minor,
diminished and so on. Appropriate chords suited for the music genre will sound whenever you press a single
note, as if you were playing the "right" chords.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example is two styles (country 8beat9 (standard) and Easy listening style (jazz) )  when played as song: My sweet home noticed the different feel.

This smart chord feature is likely not for the mid-range arrangers, because those users can better play. 

[janamdo]

I studied from a modern keyboardmethod and  the start is with a sinle finger or two finger chords playing
That's a lot easier then the full fingering chords for now if you want learn a song and making progress in the lessonbooks.
Especially for to learn the  melodies and both hands together could the single finger chords be helpful

The next step would be the full fingering chord for a song and i can't see why both methods cannot live next to eachother?
 

[mikf]

The advice from most people here was that learning proper chording from the start was the best way in the long run. You can take that advice or not - your choice.
Mike

[janamdo]

Thanks Mike
Well, the keyboard methods let me choose between two methods of fingering.
After rethinking about your advice. 

Yesterday i tried to practice  a lot of fingered chords altogether  .. but get lost there     
Got only 5 chords to master for lessonbook 1  : C-D7- F -G- G7 , but in different combinations

Then the other way around is better: first fingered chords and later the single fingered chords as extra 

[mikf]

Jan
I dont want to be too negative, but you have to be realistic about how long it takes to become proficient to even the most basic level on a keyboard. It  is not easy and will take months, - and only good quality practice gets you there, no matter how many apps you download or internet lessons you consult. And start easy. Even 5 chords in the simplest key may be too many to begin with, find tunes with two or three. You have to train your mind to deal with more than one thing at a time, and to find notes without really looking, and even playing a limited number of chords develops that. As you improve your skill, you can expand your range of chords a bit at a time.   
Of course you can take shortcuts with things like smart chord, or loops, and kid yourself you are playing, but in the medium run that is just a diversion.
Mike

[janamdo]

Jan
And start easy. Even 5 chords in the simplest key may be too many to begin with, find tunes with two or three. You have to train your mind to deal with more than one thing at a time, and to find notes without really looking, and even playing a limited number of chords develops that. As you improve your skill, you can expand your range of chords a bit at a time.   
Mike

Mike
Its starting with C-G progressions and that continues for a quite a number of lessons with different melodies, so no worry about complicated chordprogression at the start to handle at once.
Its a prooven method, so its build up on educational experience from the autors i think.   

[pedro_pedroc]

Hello!!

I always play the entire chord with my left hand - at least 3 keys for normal, minor, suspended and more keys for 7th, 9th, etc... In my Yamaha Keyboards I always use the normal Fingered function. I tried the AI Fingered, but when played with full chords (at least 3 keys), the results look like the same as Fingered.

You can see how I play in my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/pedromseleuterio

My advice is to learn full chords from the beggining with your left hand. You can play the same chord with a lot of variations (inverse, normal, etc...). Find your way to them and you'll be able to play anything in a near future.

Regards from Brazil,
Pedro Eleuterio

I can play chords with different fingerings on the PSR SX600.
How do people play chords on their keyboard , if i listening to all those songs here on the forum ?

There is a chord looper on some keyboards, but not on mine keyboard.

[panos]

Hi janamdo,
Just a little video of the piano chord progression for your example.
C-D7-F-G-G7 (and finally C again to end the progression).
I "humanized" the midi I have made on the pc to sound like a human playing recording and not a midi.

https://app.box.com/s/yr74qh8zaaa7uuw45k81y98ksyda2l2q

For the 1st and 2nd time the chords are played with full notes and for the 3rd and 4th time D7 and G7 are played with "shortcuts"(3 notes instead of 4).

By using the AI finger mode no matter if we play inversions of the chords, the style parts are made to play the Root chords.(Root chords usually sound more "stable" I guess)

Everyone has got his method to learn/play chords.
My playing would be using inversions with the minimum movement of the left hand as possible because I cannot handle it well.
Most of the times I am using notes from F to F#(1 octave) with rarely some exceptions.

While in every chord there are 3 or 4 notes,if you were to compose a song given that chord progression, can you guess which notes you would probably have to use for your melody to "fit" to those chords it's time?

Every composition/song from Bach until now is using a chord progression that makes musical sense.
Some of the them are extremely popular.
Especially, every genre of music has it's own "favorite" chord progressions(sequence of harmonies) which are being used a lot in many of their songs.

If you are starting now,try to learn the chords so your hands and ears get used to them as all of our good friends suggested

[janamdo]

By using the AI finger mode no matter if we play inversions of the chords, the style parts are made to play the Root chords.(Root chords usually sound more "stable" I guess)

Hi Panos
Thanks for the example and workflow explanation for the left hand

Don't get not yet the idea that i understand the AI finger mode, but it looks strange to me that inversions played they sounds like the root chord in the styles ..interesting
Is it only the inversionof the chords for more easy play with the left hand?

Cheers
Jan
 

[janamdo]

Hello Pedro!

Yes, thanks for advice and maybe you can shed your light on the AI fingering how it excactly operates?
Regards from Holland
Jan

[janamdo]

Ok, the ai fingered mode is used for slashed chords makes difference for styles
I tried a Cmajor triad with its two inversion and all 3 styles sounds slightly different..agree?

Its easy to use for slash chord :  play for example  Cmaj triad for  c  and below that the e ( first inversion) and then go to g below holding c pressed you get the second inversion..seems to that the mainstyle sounds slightly different.

The example Cmaj triad and his two inversion can all be played with two fingers in AI fingered mode 

[Richard Kent]

I prefer the multifingered mode setting for left hand chording most of the time.  One reason is that the Yamaha KB program recognizes full fingered chords, single fingered chords, and fragments of chords in this mode and will supply the correct bass note.  Occasionally, when a song has an interesting chord progression that incorporates a fingered on the bass chord like say,  C/E or Bdim/F, I use the fingered on the bass setting for the chords.  In either case, I would suggest using a single chord mode setting exclusively for the entire song.  As Mike mentioned above, the beginning player will be able to advance to more aesthetically pleasing chords faster if he/she uses full fingered chords from the outset.

Another consideration is the use of Channel 2 for choir or pad harmonic backing at strategic locations in the arrangement.  This can be easily accomplished with full fingered chording.  Happy chording adventures; it's really fun !!!

Richard 

[mikf]

Jan
Stop worrying about things like inversions and slash chords. Put the mode on multi fingered and just learn to play. You are overthinking all of this. You have months - maybe longer- to go before you have to worry about more aesthetically pleasing chords. It will be all you can handle to get roughly the right chord at roughly the right time while playing a melody.
Mike

[Toril S]

Yes, start slow and easy. But learn the chords! It is fun, and you will learn to play. But Rome was not built in one day! Happy learning!