Last year, we wrote a blog post about 4 Ways to Teach Chords to Piano Students, so today, I thought I’d cover ways to easily build chords with music students.
You see, I don’t introduce chords on the staff.
I never have.
Instead, I like to teach my students how to learn chords by rote (which you can see more of in our blog post, 4 Ways to Teach Chords to Piano Student).
Today, I’m focusing on teaching chords away from the music staff–primarily, with letter names.
5 Ideas to Easily Build Chords with Music Students
For these ideas, we’re going to be using letter cards only–which you can get with our Crow Chords printable music theory game.
Bear with me, the theory nerd in me comes out a little, but I hope I’ve explained these in a way that you can translate to your students.
1. Build chords with Music Students – and play them!
When your student learns that chords are built by “skipping” letter names, they can start building chords easily!
Start with the all-white major chords (C major, F major, G major).
Give your student the root (F), ask them to build up 5 letters (F G A B C), remove the skips (G B) and play what’s remaining (F A C).
This idea can double as an ear-training game when you reach major chords that require black notes.
Encourage your student to build a chord starting on A (A C E), play it, and realize it doesn’t have the same tonality as the other major chords.
That’s because it’s a minor chord!
To make it major, the middle note needs to be raised (C-sharp).
Another way you can check major chords is by my favorite pattern: skip 3, skip 2.
Students play the root, skip 3 piano keys, play the third, skip 2 piano keys, then play the fifth.
This helps them master their black-note chords easily (B – skip 3, land on D# – skip 2, land on F#).
You can use the formula with the letter names to help the student visualize how chords function.
2. Build chords – and change them!
If your student has a pretty good handle on major chords, then start having fun with introducing many other chords to them!
Start with C major (C E G). Tell your student that you must keep the root (C) the same, but you can play around with changing the third and fifth to create different types of C chords.
Lower the third (E-flat) and it creates a minor chord.
Lower the third (E-flat) and fifth (G-flat) and it creates a diminished chord.
Raise the fifth (G-sharp) and it creates an augmented chord.
Add a lowered 7th (B-flat) and it creates a dominant seventh chord.
You can even write out a chart for what to manipulate for each chord, then build all kinds of chords starting on any pitch.
Bonus: this will help your students learn how their flats, naturals, and sharps work in raising and lowering pitches!
3. Build Chords with Music Students – and Improvise!
Students of any level can improvise once they’ve built a few chords.
Here are some go-to ideas for improvising with chords:
- Play the notes low
- Play the notes high
- Play the notes arpeggiated
- Play the notes with a rhythm
- Play the chord fast 4x in a row
I’m sure you and your students can come up with a list of fun improvisation ideas!
But if you want some quick grab-and-go ideas, check out our improv cards here.
4. Build Chords with a Major Scale
This is a super important theory concept I wish I had learned sooner.
Chords closely connect to the major scale!
The short idea is every pitch in the scale is the root of a chord.
C = C E G (major)
D = D F A (minor)
E = E G B (minor)
F = F A C (major)
G = G B D (major)
A = A C E (minor)
B = B D F (diminished)
If you lay out a major scale (C D E F G A B C) plus the next 3 notes continuing on the C major scale (D E F – enough notes for them to build B diminished at the top), you can help your student see ALL the chords build into a major scale.
All you have to do is pick a root (let’s go with E), skip a letter (F), find the third of that chord (G), skip a letter (A), and find the fifth of that chord (B).
The chord I just found was E minor.
Now, count from C. That is the third chord on the major scale.
Once your student has found their 7 scale chords, they can do a lot of fun improvisation with both major and minor chords!
To make this step really easy, we have our favorite printable, Create & Compose: Frog Pond you can get here.
5. Build Chords that Aren’t Triads
Remember how you can have the student lay out 5 cards in a row, remove the 2nd and 4th card to create the root-third-fifth?
Well, some of my favorite chords are the “add 2” or “2nd” or “2-sus” chord.
Have your 5 cards (C D E F G) and this time, you’ll want the root and fifth (C G) and then the 2nd (D) instead of the 3rd (C D G) OR with the third (C D E G).
This is a chord that automatically makes a beautiful sound!
There are also the “4-sus” or “sus” chords.
From your 5 cards (C D E F G), you’ll use the root (C), fourth (F), and fifth (G).
Note that this usually leaves the listener “hanging” and is ideally resolved by the fourth going back down to the third.
Bonus: Use a Game to Build Chords with Music Students!
We’ve made it super, duper easy for you to build chords with music students in our game Crow Chords.
You can play this with very beginning students or even up to advanced students (I’d use this on college students).
Level 1 cards equip students to build C major, F major, and G major chords.
But Level 2 has all the cards you need to build pretty much any chord you want (if you want extremely advanced chords with more than one double flat or double sharp, simply print two pages of the flat/sharp cards).
I love how adaptable Level 2 is!
Because it’s all about building chords, you can create your own challenge suitable for the students you’re playing with.
For example, you can play where students must create minor chords in order to move forward.
Or they must create diminished chords.
Or major chords with 2 accidentals.
What’s even better, is that you can play Crow Chords with a mixed level group of students: beginner students can use Level 1 cards and upper level students can use Level 2 cards and have fun together!
Here’s how to play Crow Chords (plus a look inside!):
(don’t see the video above? Watch How to Play Crow Chords here)
Here’s what you’ll get with the Crow Chords printable download:
- Crow Chords game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
- Crow Chords game board
- 50 Level 1 cards
- 58 Level 2 cards
- 8 crow game tokens
- Crow Chords success poster
- Print release
- How to Play tutorial video
You will get the digital file to print and laminate (optional) for your music studio in both letter size (US) and A4 size (international).
Music Game Club members will also get:
- Crow Chords activity sheets in 2 sizes: US Letter & A4
- A3 & Poster-sized game boards
- Bonus: Chord Chart
- Tutorial videos with bonus gameplay ideas
Membership is only open twice a year. Check out our membership page here for more details.
Get Crow Chords here to help you build chords in music today!
Bonus 2: Use Digital Flashcard Games to Build Chords with Music Students
I love using Boom™ Cards in my studio because they are fun and they are automatically corrected.
We have six Crow Chords decks perfect for dynamic review and teaching.
Decks 1-3 provide the root and the student must build the correct major chords.
Decks 4-6 have 1 letter missing from each chord (it might be the root, third, or fifth).
- Deck 1: Build the Major Chords (C, F, G)
- Deck 2: Build the White Key Major Chords (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)
- Deck 3: Build Major Chords in ALL Keys (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C#, Db, Eb, F#, Gb, G#, Ab, Bb)
- Deck 4: Fill in the Major Chords (C, F, G)
- Deck 5: Fill in the White Key Major Chords (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)
- Deck 6: Fill in the Major Chords ALL Keys (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C#, Db, Eb, F#, Gb, G#, Ab, Bb)
- Bundle all 6 and save!
To get a better look inside, watch our Crow Chords Boom™ Cards walkthrough.
Get our Free 4 Ways to Teach Chords Download
How do you like to build chords with your music students?
Comment with the ideas that keep your students having fun!
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