What are chords?

Chords are groups of notes that sound good together when you play them at the same time.

Imagine you're playing with building blocks, each block is like a note. If you stack two or three blocks together, that’s like making a chord. Just as some combinations of blocks make cool shapes, some combinations of notes make cool sounds.

When you press down on the keys of a piano with both hands, you’re playing a chord. It's like giving your song a happy hug, it makes the music feel full and lively. If you only use one note at a time, it’s like singing by yourself; but when you play a chord, it’s like singing with friends.

You hear chords in songs you know, like when you sing “Happy Birthday” and all the people around you join in. That big, joyful sound is a chord working its magic (but not magic, just good teamwork). You can even find chords in the way your favorite cartoon characters make funny sounds, they use more than one note at once!