Once you’ve learned the basics of piano, it’s time to move on to playing actual songs! But how do you find the sheet music or piano chords for songs you love? Here are some helpful ideas from Austin, TX teacher Tosin A…
Are you looking for tips and tricks to help you find or figure out piano chords for songs? Look no further.
Probably the most important thing I do as a professional piano player is learning new songs. This has me spending a lot of time searching for chords. Over the last few years I’ve perfected my chord-finding skills, so I’ll take you through my process of finding piano chords for songs of all genres and types.
Where Can I Find Piano Chords for Songs?
If you’re trying to find easy piano chords for your song, check the following resources first:
- Ultimate Guitar Tabs
- YouTube
- Songbooks
- Sheet music
- Chordify
You can also find plenty of piano chords for writing songs – along with other helpful resources – at TakeLessons. In addition to offering some of the best piano lessons around, we also have tutorials, blog posts, and other guides to help you learn how to play piano quickly.
Here are some easy piano songs chords for beginners to help you master the basics:
How to Get Piano Chords for Any Song: 6 Resources
Want to know how to find piano chords for any song? Check out these six top resources.
1. Ultimate Guitar Tabs
Hands down, without a doubt, the Ultimate Guitar Tabs app is the most comprehensive chord library I’ve every used. I could write an entire post about how useful it is. The app is 5 bucks and worth every penny. Here’s why:
• Updated Constantly
• Reviewed by Actual Musicians
• Chords are Transposable
• Comprehensive Song lists
My usual process is to go to this site or the app on the phone and type in the song. I’ll usually get a few different versions. I always pick the one with the most stars reviewed by the most people. Then I listen to the songs while looking at the chords to make sure I have the timing down and then get to practicing.
This has honestly worked for me 80% of the time. I’ve actually been able to use this on the fly at a few gigs. If I find myself in a “Hey, can you play this song for me?” situation where I don’t exactly know how the bridge goes, with this site I can look it right up.
What if the song has a very recognizable piano line such as “If I Ain’t Got You” with Alicia Keys? or “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton? Well…
2. YouTube
Yep. YouTube. If I come across a song that I need to get exactly right and the chords aren’t helping, and I don’t have time to learn it by ear, I just watch someone else play it.
If the song has a definitive piano line or a VERY complicated chord progression, you can be certain that someone has made a video tutorial on how to play it. This can take some digging. I’m usually very successful with “[Name of song] Piano Tutorial” search form.
I find this especially useful for learning contemporary gospel songs, since the progressions are usually very complicated and not found on ultimate guitar. YouTube is also super helpful if you are trying to find chords for piano – popular songs and pop songs, too.
3. Songbooks
If you want to learn the entire soundtrack to “Frozen” it’s probably best to take a trip to a music store and buy the songbook. This may take some more advanced reading skills, since it is in piano score format, but they usually have the piano chords for song alongside the piano notation. I also really like songbooks because you don’t have to guess where the chord is supposed to be played.
So what if all of these options fail?
4. Google
All Hail King Google, the Finder of Lost Chords! (Sorry I’ve been watching Game of Thrones.) If I’m looking for an obscure song or a very cultural song, I often can find it buried in some obscure music forum through the power of Google. Just type: “[Name of Song][Name of Artist] Chords”.
Skip E-chords, as there’s nothing there that Ultimate Guitar doesn’t already have. Then, skip all the ads to buy the sheet music. When you start seeing chord forums and piano forums, start opening up some tabs and reading threads. Use Control/Command F and search for some chords (Abmin, G7, Bbdim6/9, etc.). This should get you to the right point in the forum.
Because Google is so versatile, it is one of the best methods to try if you are trying to figure out how to find chords for a song in piano. You’ll have endless places to search, so you’re sure to find what you’re looking for.
5. Sheet Music
If you have access to sheet music, you may be able to tap into them to get the chords you need for your songs.
Sheet music isn’t always a requirement to learn chords, but it can be used as a way to find them. If you take the time to learn how chords are written and embedded into sheet music, you’ll be able to sight read more easily.
Here’s a video that can break the process down for you:
It does take a fair amount of time to learn how to read chords in sheet music. The chords are usually notated within the sheet music and some songbooks (as I mentioned earlier) also list the hordes above the staff to make things a bit easier.
Look up a songbook for your favorite artist and you should be able to find most of the chords you need, either through reading the sheet music or just looking at the annotations. If you’re trying to learn piano chords for writing songs, do yourself a favor and learn how to read and annotate sheet music – this is a skill you’ll use in your songwriting later on.
6. Chordify
Chordify is another website you can use to find online piano chords for songs. It works out the chords to a song simply by analyzing the sound wave.
This highly advanced website uses cutting-edge technology that can give you the chords you need, no matter the difficulty. It has a large database of piano chords for beginners songs as well as those for more experienced players.
If you can’t find the song you are looking for, you can upload your own song or even a YouTube video link to “chordify” it. It’s not always 100% accurate but it is, at least, a good place to start.
The only downside? It’s not totally free. You can access three songs a day free of charge, but after that, you’ll have to pay for access.
What are the Most Important Piano Chords for Songs?
Not all songs use chords. All songs share a set of rules and have a key and time signature but chords don’t have to be used – some songs just have a simple bassline and melody.
That said, some of the most popular piano music chords for songs include the following:
- A major (A). A – C# – E
- A minor (Am). A – C – E
- C major (C). C – E – G
- C minor (Cm). C – Eb – G
- D major (D). D – F# – A
- D minor (Dm). D – F – A
- E major (E). E – G# – B
- E minor (Em). E – G – B
- F major (F). F – A – C
- F minor (Fm). F – Ab – C
- G major (G). G – B – D
- G minor (Gm). G – Bb – D
As you’re learning how to master piano chords for songs, it’s a good idea to find a printable piano chords for songs chart like this – print it out and use it to practice your piano chords as often as possible.
What is the Easiest Song to Play on Piano?
There’s no single easiest song to play on the piano – this will depend on your skills, preferences, and style. That said, if you’re looking for some piano songs to play with easy chords to master, you might want to learn how to play:
- “Hello” – Adele
- “Trouble” – Coldplay
- “Halo” – Beyonce
- “My Future” – Billie Eilish
- “Skinny Love” – Birdy
- “When I Was Your Man” – Bruno Mars
- “Your Song” – Elton John
- “Believer” – Imagine Dragons
Remember that with all of these options, make sure you listen to the song while reading through the chords or you could waste your time learning the wrong song – and always be training your ear, because someday you’ll only have your ears to rely on.
And if you’re still not sure where to look to find piano chords for songs, don’t be afraid of asking your piano teacher! I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
I hope that you can use these steps to help you learn more songs and find chords easier!
Tosin A. teaches piano, music theory, music composition, public speaking, and various academic subjects in Austin, TX, as well as through online lessons. He has been playing piano for 14 years, and currently plays for his church and 3 bands (La Vida Buena, Savannah Red and The Blueberries, Jackie Venson), and for Improv Comedy Shows around town. Learn more about Tosin here!
Photo by dno1967b
Suzy S.