15 Feb Moving Smoothly From Chord to Chord on the Piano

Here is a simple but effective chord jumping practice exercise you can before you sit down to play/practice your tunes.  Below, you’ll find an easy to follow transcript of the above video.  I hope it helps!

“I know that people understand that they need to jump from one chord to the next, but their “target practice” kinda stinks! Luckily, I have a simple exercise to help with this. Doing this exercise a little bit every time you sit down at the piano with help a lot!

“I use major chords in this video. First, I suggests starting on a simple chord, like a C, and move up the scale every note at a time; you keep the same hand position, but move up one key at a time. Speed is not important, simply accuracy; you just want to nail it down and get your brain connected to the distance between the keys.

“First, simple move up and down hitting every single note.

“Next, I suggest skipping one note at a time. So if you start at a C, you’ll go up to an E, then a G, and finally a B. When you go down, you’ll want to start with your pinky on a C, then work down the scale skipping every other note (C, A, F, then D). Do these about four or five times – no need to do it for any great length of time, maybe just a few seconds.

“Now, let’s skip two notes at a time, starting at the C with your pinky, and working up the scale skipping every two white notes.

“Finally, let’s skip three notes. Again, starting at the C and moving up the scale – C to G, to D, and then back.

“There it is! It’s not very creative, but if you practice each of the these – jumping every note, every other, every two, then every three – just a little bit each time you sit down at the piano, you’ll be able to burn this target practice in your brain and start connecting your hands to your brain and memorize the distance between these keys.”

Happy playing!