Complete Beginners Chords For Piano by Jake Jackson

Beginner chords

Delighted recognition

Like hot day cold water

Pick Up & Play Complete Beginners Chords For Piano

By Jake Jackson

FLAME TREE PUBLISHING 2019, ISBN 978-1787552852

If you're a soundinista, you may scoff; if you're a noise noob like me, you'll be delighted: Beginners Chords – it's sounds that go together and sound good due to the very mathematics underpinning the fabric of the universe as we conceive it. And speaking of underpinning, this book is very nicely spiral bound – not the kind of spiral bound that threatens to stick or come undone at any moment, but the kind of spiral that is effectively functional. And bound to that spiral, judiciously budgeted cardstock bearing bold diagrams of finger positioning for individual chords, bookended by an informative introduction and context conclusion.

The design of this book is very judicious in presenting musical information in edible chunks, not just in the amount of information at a time, but a clear and attractive design (albeit it's not a rich-feeling book); and if you can't get that information down you at the first go, you can always act on it, finger to keyboard, and hear what is what. It seems a mixture of the practical and theoretical applies to learning music as much as languages, though music theory may by much more satisfying and immediately relatable; describing ratios and the physically demonstrable, rather than reconstructing categories from 2,000 years ago to explain why 'the the ends with an ee' and 'the the ends with an uh' – or whatever the case may be.

While the limitations of a keyboard on the display of a personal communication device have cramped both my fingers and my style, it was possible to give at least the basics a run through, and it's fascinating (if you're not familiar with these things) to hear familiar sounds and emotional cues from different chords. And do I hear the start of the Ring in C major?

I'm sure with the right equipment and level of interest, for someone with a similar musical level to me this would be a very useful book – where what might be boringly repetitive is somehow endlessly refreshing.

Oh, by the way, there are QR codes for audio examples, which work, but it seems a bit of a fiddly process to me and I wouldn't think to use it unless I really wasn't sure what something was supposed to sound like.

Published 13 June 2023

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