There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to chord a song at the piano.
By chord a song, I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you dont need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern.
For example, did you realize that all of these songs (and hundreds more) can be sung or played with just 3 chords?
Auld Lang Syne
Amazing Grace
Kum Ba Ya
Silent Night
Joy To The World
Jingle Bells
Happy Birthday
Down In The Valley
On Top Of Old Smoky
and hundreds or maybe thousands more!
Add just one more chord to the basic 3, and you can play another thousand songs or so. So why not learn a few chords and start your chording career?
Here are my top 10 reasons for learning chord piano:
1) Its easy. Learn 3 chords and start in.
2) Even though its easy to get started, you dont have to stop there. You can learn more and more chords and more rhythm patterns and get really good.
3) Youll be able to play Happy Birthday while the gang sings it.
4) Youll be able to play half-a-dozen Christmas carols. In case you havent noticed, Christmas comes every year, so every year youll get better as you participate in family gatherings.
5) You can help your kids learn to play the piano, guitar, or most any other instrument by learning chords. Most teachers dont teach chords, so youll be giving your kids an advantage by learning chords.
6) People will admire you. Its true. Musicians are popular. Anyone who can play anything is in demand at parties and social gatherings. And if you can chord while others sing, youre bound to be popular.
7) Piano playing using chords is good for your brain. Studies have shown that people who actively participate in music do their brain lots of good. And since chords require 3 or 4 notes at a time instead of one, you are giving your brain a good workout.
8) Piano playing, particularly using chords, is good exercise for your wrists and fingers. (Take the time to learn about correct hand position, though!)
9) Piano playing is excellent therapy for the stress of life. Many professional people come home from a hard days work and relax by expressing their emotions on the keyboard. Play a few dark and angry chords, and youll be surprised how much better you feel!
10) Piano playing is a blast. Its just plain old fun. So learn 3 or 4 chords and get going. Maybe youll stop there and enjoy it the rest of your life.
But just maybe youll love it so much that you keep going and turn yourself into an excellent piano player who can read music as well as play chords!
