The best part of learning to play the piano is when you can finally find piano chords for popular songs and work them out yourself. There’s great joy in playing a fun song with a simple piano arrangement, or looking through simple chord charts and making something up.
Finding songs to play on the piano can be difficult as a beginner. You may not be amazing at reading music yet, and some chords might be tricky to play. However, songs with easy chords definitely make life easier.
Below, we’ve made a handy list of five easy pop songs to play, with easy chords to learn. You can impress your friends by playing full songs even if you are a relative beginner on the piano
Basic piano chords to know
There are many simple “chords” in the world of music, which are simple combinations of notes that go together. The first chord that almost every budding pianist learns on the piano is called the C major chord. All of the basic notes from A to G have simple major and minor variations, and they’re all pretty simple. By learning these 14 chords, you open up a world of easy piano songs with chords that aren’t too challenging.
From songs by Bruno Mars to Billie Eilish, and from Beethoven to Michael Jackson, piano chords and piano keys are the building blocks of music.
General tips on learning easy piano chords
No matter which songs you’re learning how to play, it is pretty standard to be playing chords in the left hand and notes in the right hand. There will be some other songs that may involve playing bass notes on the left hand and chords on the right, but many beginners choose to focus on learning chords on your left hand.
A basic knowledge of the simple “triad” chords will make easy piano chords songs even simpler. Make sure you know how to find piano notes before you go any further, on both your right hand and left hand.
Chords can be worked out by understanding the “root” and the “quality”.
The root is the note that the chord begins on in its standard form. It’s also the start of the name of the chord, so this always helps with learning. When playing a C major or minor, the root is “C”. The “quality” is simply whether the chord is minor, or major (at least in the most simple chords). More on the root and quality of chords can be found below.
Sometimes the root of the chord might be a flat or sharpened pitch, and sometimes the major chord might have augmented additional keys, but it is these two core principles that allow all musicians to communicate with each other using sheet music, chord charts, and music theory.
As you gain skills you may find that you play more variations of chords, such as “seventh” chords which are commonly used alongside scales such as the blues scale.
The root
For example, let’s look at a C major chord. The name actually includes all of the information that you need to play the piano version of this chord. The root is the letter attached with the title of the chord. If it is C, the root of the chord is C. This tells us which note alphabetically we need to measure the rest of the notes in the chord form.
The quality
The quality of a chord is what we give to the other details included with the name of a chord. So, for a C major chord, the quality of it is “major”. Major chords tend to have more of an upbeat sound to them.
The quality can also help you to work out the “formula” of how to play a chord. For instance, a major chord is made up of the root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th within a scale. Its formula is 1-3-5. For minor chords, it is 1-b3 (flat 3)-5
By memorizing how to play the quality of a chord, you can learn how to play a C major chord just as easily as an F minor chord.
Once you know how to spell all basic types of chords, such as major, minor, augmented and diminished, then the amount of songs with easy piano chords you can play is huge.
Best songs with easy piano chords
Many songs with easy piano chords will be simple pop songs, and they will usually include chord progressions, which use different combinations of major and minor chords.
By learning a few simple songs, we can actually cover the most common musical patterns used in easy pop songs.
The Beatles – Let It Be
The Beatles’ Let It Be starts with a simple melody and a very easy C major chord in the left hand. The chords of this song are very simple but there are quite a few changes. With our tutorial, you can recognize that actually the chord progression in this song is extremely popular, and you may even recognize the sound of some of the chords.
Tips on playing the song
Try and pay attention to the pattern of the bass line, and recognize that during the second half of the verse the bass line actually changes. Even though there are very simple chords, the bass line will change. Learning these quick changes may also help you read piano sheet music faster.
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Elton John – Rocket Man
Elton John’s Rocket Man was a seminal step in his career and this tutorial will teach you how to play it. Elton John has been on the cover of many music magazines, but of course he is most famous for his piano playing and singing, as well as fashion. Rocket Man is a song that as soon as you start playing, everyone will recognize (and even join in singing)
Tips on playing the song
Out of our list of easy songs with piano chords, the right hand melody of this one is actually one of the more tricky. Remember that the right hand is emulating his voice, not an instrument. Keep track of playing the notes carefully. Also be mindful of the fact you will be using the black keys plenty, as this song uses a lot of different chord shapes, making it a great option for playing with one hand.
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John Legend – All of Me
Now this song seems like it would be pretty straightforward, but be sure to master that big chorus as it is very different to the rest of the song and can be a lot to keep track of. All of Me is an iconic modern classic.
Tips on playing the song
This lesson will sound best if played as accompaniment with singing. Like the other songs in this article, it’s written in the minor key, and the melody moves quite quickly, so you may wish to slow it down when first learning. Also, learn it one section at a time due to the fact it changes quite a lot throughout the different parts of the song.
Learn how to play ‘All of Me’ by John Legend. Start a 7 day trial today – no card details required!
The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
This song was certainly the biggest hit of The Righteous Brothers, if you’re looking for piano chords for popular songs this certainly fits the bill. The song became even more famous when used in the movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze.
Tips on playing the song
We’ve made this as simple as possible in our piano learning app. While some of the versions of this use arpeggiated chords, we’ve gone with straight chords to start with. This is one of the most straightforward chord sequences, but it is also one of the most famous. Learning it will allow you to play many more songs, too.
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The Beatles – Hey Jude
You may ask yourself why is it exactly that an article would feature two different Beatles songs in the same list? Well, apart from the reason that The Beatles were so unbelievably famous in their era and influenced more pop music than any other musicians at the time, the real reason they feature so often in teaching articles is because the music of a song like Hey Jude works as an excellent learning vehicle. The chords will appear in similar arrangements, or progressions in other pop songs.
Tips on playing the song
The song has almost a lullaby quality to it, and some easy piano songs chords that anyone can master. The melody in the right hand is a little more difficult, but our lesson has broken it down so you can learn the left and right hands separately.
Learn how to play ‘Hey Jude’ by Beatles. Start a 7 day trial today – no card details required!
Conclusion
The chords are the tools we use to write and learn songs, and there are so many different chord progressions that use the same, relatively small pool of chords. Whether the song has easy chords or complex chords, you can be sure that the lessons learned in this article, plus the other tips on Skoove’s app will lead you to a rounded knowledge of the piano.
For beginners, mastering a few of the songs with easy chords will allow you to impress your friends and ensure you have some rewarding, practical knowledge rather than just endlessly learning scales. Time to play some of your favorite popular songs.
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