Chord exercises

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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

I have posted a sample chord exercise in the MIDI Club area.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6008

This is just a sample for comment. It doesn't have finger hints. If I get comments saying that people find this type of exercise useful, then I will add finger hints (assuming I can figure out how to export them from the iPad) and make a complete set of exercises covering all 12 keys.

This exercise is based on ideas from a variety of sources. Each exercise is in a major key and covers three major chords. The root I, subdominant IV, and dominant V chords in the key of the exercise--C, F, and G in the C major scale exercise. These are the three major chords in a major key and the chords you will find dominating the harmony of much popular music. Each triad, three note chord, is presented in all three inversions (note positions). First you play the chord as a block chord, all notes together, and then as an ascending arpeggio, notes one at a time from low to high. Then there are descending arpeggios. This is followed by block chords that transition from one chord to the next. Both hands play together except that the left hand does not play the third (middle note) in the block chords. (Try playing the third to understand why you don't.) This exercise is intended to give you practice with your chords, chord progressions, rhythms, and playing along to a rhythm backing track of bass and drums.

The idea is that you would practice one scale a day and then the next day you would move to the next scale a fifth higher. If you played the C major exercise on day 1, you'd play the G major exercise on day 2. You'd drop the subdominant chord (F) from day 1 and add a new dominant chord (D) on day 2. C and G would be repeated but now as the subdominant and the root. So each day you would be adding one new chord and dropping one old chord from your practice routine. You'd practice each chord for 3 days and then give it 9 days off.

If you are a beginner you'd probably have to play this very slowly and probably just one hand at a time. You might want to start by playing the C major exercise for 3 days before moving to the G major exercise (doesn't exist yet) and adding another chord.

The idea is to make this exercise interesting enough that you can keep it as part of your practice routine for a long time. You aren't expected to stay one one scale until you have it perfected at high speed. The idea is to play it for a few minutes, to whatever level you are at, whether that is very slow with one hand at a time, or at a good tempo with both hands together, but to do it every time you practice. I'd suggest saying the block chord names as you play them and saying, or better yet singing, the note names as you play the arpeggios. This will help fix the chords with their names and the notes of the chords in your mind. If you do this with the sheet music display, you can also improve your reading ability. There is a lot that you can practice with this one exercise.

The goal is to become fluent with all the major triads over time. If you practice for 30 minutes 3 times a week--a realistic goal for the casual learner--you might spend about 5 minutes on this exercise. It would take you a month to go through all 12 exercises. You might easily be working on this for many months.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Héhé i guess i 'll have great joy with this new toys :D thx Jim.
Brb...
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