The One Chord

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
In this lesson, we're going to learn how to play a very important,
very special chord, called the I chord.
It's hands down the single most important chord in all of music.
So, it's no wonder we call it the I chord. Let's come to the piano to check it out.

Now remember, a chord is a group of two or more notes.
Like, I can take C and G. When I play it together, that's a chord.
A I chord is built using three specific notes: DO, MI, and SO,
which you may recognize as the three notes of a major arpeggio.
Sometimes in music we call a three-note chord like this a triad.
So, we could call this a C major triad, and we can play all three
at the same time with one hand. Doesn't that have a great sound?
I love that sound. So, if we're in the key of C major, a I chord uses C, E, and G.
But, what if we're in the key of D major? Well let's find DO, MI, and SO in D major.
DO would now be on D. We skip E up to F-sharp for MI, and SO is on A,
and that makes DO MI SO, and we can play them all together.
That's a D major I chord. By the way, the symbol for a I chord
is simply a Roman numeral I, which looks like a capital letter" i" to us.
You might have seen roman numerals on fancy clocks,
or as part of movie titles. I don't know why, but it's just tradition in music
to use Roman numerals for chord symbols.
So remember, in music a capital i means the I chord.

Now, to practice the technique of playing the I chord,
I'd like you to find a flat surface to practice on. So, I've closed my piano lid.
If your piano doesn't have a lid, you can do it on a table or any flat surface,
but I want it to be a solid flat surface. And, take your fingers 1 and 5,
thumb and pinky, and just touch them like we did
when we were learning how to play a two note chord. Finger 1 and 5, just touch,
and then release. Touch, and then release.
Remember that our finger 1 plays near the tip just pointing sideways like this,
and your finger 5 should also play near the tip, not flat.
Don't let this part of your finger 5 touch. It's just near the tip.
Touch, and then release. Touch, and then release.
Now, let's try touching with fingers 1 and 5, and now add finger 3.
So, you're letting your fingers 2 and 4 just float gently in the air,
and you're touching with fingers 1, 3, and 5. Touch, release, touch, release.

Now, a brief warning: if you have small hands, if you're five or six years old,
this may be an exercise that's a little bit advanced for you.
Kind of like Legos, when I used to see them for ages seven plus.
This exercise I would say is for ages seven plus.
Now, if a five-year-old plays with age seven and up Legos,
it's not like the Legos are going to blow up.
You can definitely try this, and maybe you'll love it, maybe it will work great,
but if it feels frustrating, feel free to skip this and try this exercise later.

Let's try one more time; with fingers 1 and 5, touch on the flat surface you're on,
and then add finger 3, so now all three fingers, 1, 3, and 5 are touching,
and then touch and release. Touch, then you always want to relax at the end
by floating up, release. Touch, release, good. Okay, now let's try with our left hand.
We're going to use fingers 1 and 5 for starters. Just let them touch.
Remember to keep the thumb near the side tip, and finger 5 also near the tip.
Touch, release, touch, release. Okay, now let's try fingers 1 and 5,
and then we'll add in finger 3. So now we have three fingers touching. 1, 3, and 5.
Practice touch, and then release by floating up. Touch, release. Touch, release,
and your fingers 2 and 4 are just floating up just barely enough
so they're not touching. You're only feeling the surface with fingers 1, 3, and 5.
Release. Good, that's something you can practice any time during the week.
When you're at the dinner table, or riding in the car on your lap,
just practice this exercise of touching those three fingers 1, 3, and 5
with the left hand, and with the right hand, or both.

Okay, let's say you're six and under, and you're really dying to try this.
Well, I'll tell you a secret. When my boys were five and six,
I would sometimes buy them toys that said seven plus. It's okay.
If you want to try this, you can try a modification at first, like,
maybe you want to try just fingers 1 and 3 at first.
That's a modification for smaller hands: fingers 1 and 3 by themselves.
So, just try modifying it first, fingers 1 and 3 by themselves.
Try that, or fingers 3 and 5 by themselves. And then when you're ready,
you'll know it, you'll feel it, and you can try the three note triad.

So, let's try playing the I chord in C major on our piano now.
So, you'll take your fingers 1, 3, and 5, and just touch them on ...