​ Notes from The Music Hub July 13, 2026

What Are Primary Chords?

I'm back! I did not send out an email last week because I was traveling to two conferences.

In the last few weekly emails, I have been talking about the new module in The Music Hub on Scales & Chords.

Chords are derived from scales.

Each scale provides a set of notes which can be stacked to create different qualities of chords.

In Lesson 3 of this module, I teach the Primary Chords.

What are Primary Chords, and why do they have that name?

Primary chords are the I, IV and V chords of a key (triads built on the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the scale.)

They are called Primary Chords because they are the most important chords of the scale/key and "establish" the sound of the key. In a major key, the Primary Chords are all major.

In the lesson, I explain triads, root position and inversion of chords, and how these three chords are interconnected not just within the scale but with other related scales.

But I don't just teach the theory.

My goal is to help you play piano more easily and have more fun with music, and understanding chords opens up new ways of playing.

Being able to recognize the visual shape of different inversions of a chord will make reading music easier.

Knowing chord names and symbols will allow you to be able to play from a lead sheet. (Lead sheets have just the melody written out with chord symbols written above.)

When reading from a lead sheet, you can create your own accompaniment!

If you know how a melody goes and want to sing or accompany a singer, you can even play from just a chord chart. (This has just chords and words with no written melody.)

Many simple songs can be played with just the primary chords of a key!

This means that by learning the primary chords, you can play lots of songs!

However, there is something else you need to know.

Fingerings for chords are not standard.

And this is where a simple idea can become hard.

If you don't know how to play chords in different positions and inversions and easily move from one chord to another, your playing will sound choppy and your arms will tire out.

You will also have trouble "fitting" the melody over the chords because your hands will likely crash into each other. Or you might play a chord in the wrong octave of the piano to compensate and get a muddy sound.

Playing chords on a piano well requires knowing how to conserve movement and energy.

The challenge is that you can't always use the same fingerings for the same position in every situation.

Fingering on piano is always about context.

The chords and positions before and after the chord in question impact fingering choices.

In my demonstration video on how to play the primary chords, I go into this in detail.

I explain why I have you use certain fingers in certain places and what to look for when you move from one chord to the next.

This way, you will be able to apply this knowledge to any song you want to learn in the future.

I also demonstrate how to play the primary chords in every key and provide a chart with all the positions and fingerings written out so you can begin to visually recognize the patterns.

The next lesson in The Music Hub will include lead sheets of familiar folk songs so you can learn how to use the primary chords to create an accompaniment.

I don't just teach songs, I teach music!

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Thank you for being a valued member of The Music Hub Community!

Please contact me by responding to this email if you have any questions or concerns!

Happy Music Making!

Heather Niemi Savage, composer, pianist & educator

Founder of The Music Hub