If you're trying to play popular sheet music and learn to play piano, you need to know what all those chord symbols mean.
Cm, Cm7, Cm7-5, Cdim, C+, C9, C11, C13, C7#5, C7 sus4, etc, etc?
Finally, a no-nonsense book that deciphers the mysteries of the chord symbols found in popular sheet music and delivers much more to the dedicated beginner trying to learn to play piano.
And because of PIANO BY NUMBER, you can use the PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY even if you can't read a note of music!
There's a strategy to playing popular sheet music, and if you've heard of a book like PLAY PIANO IN A FLASH, you'll have heard of BASIC LEAD SHEET STYLE.
To play BASIC LEAD SHEET STYLE, you put the chords in the left hand, and play the melody in the right hand, quickly allowing you to learn to play almost any popular piano sheet music.
But there's a catch, besides the fact that you have to be able to read music: you'll have to learn to play piano chords, and most volumes have hard-to-understand regimes and complicated chord diagrams that allow you to find, at length, EVERY chord. But you don't need EVERY chord to learn to play beginner pop piano.
Now, with the PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY, you need no special knowledge of sheet music to learn even the most complex piano chord. Plus, we give you acceptable subsitutes for complex chords that will allow you to play difficult chords with ease, and not slow down your performance of the song.
All you have to do is put the numbered and lettered stickers on your keyboard, and you're ready to start playing the chords from popular sheet music. It's a great way to learn how to play popular piano favorites. Get started the right way today!
Presented in easy-to-find book format, our dictionary will lie flat on your piano music stand, so you can have it right alongside the sheet music you are trying to play. Try that with those bulky "chord charts" and other volumes.
PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY is specially designed for beginning pop pianists who want to learn piano and get started playing the chords from popular sheet music, and need to learn which simpler piano chords to properly substitute for the more complex chords that usually are too difficult for beginners to play fluently.
Plus, we give you a strategy for learning BASIC LEAD SHEET STYLE: first you learn the piano chords in what is called "root" position, so that you have a firm foundation for going further into the complex world of popular sheet music chords when you have gained solid experience with the basic knowledge of "root" position.
Put simply, "root" position is an arrangement of notes in which the name of the chord, say C, is the lowest, or furthest to the left, note in the chord.
CHORD SUBSTITUTION
In addition, we give you exhaustive references for chord substitution: suppose you see a symbol for a complex chord that is unplayable for the beginner? Perhaps not unplayable, but so complex that it will slow down your performance and enjoyment of that song to the point that you have to stop and lose the thread of the music altogether. The reason you want to learn to play piano is to enjoy the music, not spend your time deciphering chords.
In most methods, you have to follow impossible directions or omit that chord completely!
But not with the PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY!
We give you exact, acceptable substitutions for all complex chords that will allow you to play the song you want in a satisfying way without going beyond the skills you need as a beginner.
For example, suppose you see a symbols that requires C11, or C13? These are complex six and seven note chords that require difficult explanations and notations to explain properly.
But did you know that each of these chords is easily substituted for with the simple C7 chord, a perfectly acceptable substitute to use until you have learned BASIC LEAD SHEET STYLE and have a firm enough foundation to proceed further into the world of chords beyond the seventh chord (C7, for example.)
The biggest mistake made by beginning players attempting to play popular sheet music is to try to play every chord, no matter how complex the chord is and no matter how much it slows down the song.
WRONG! Learn to play piano with simple chords, then, when you have more confidence, move on to more complex chords.
Learn the basics, that is, root position of all chords up through the seventh chord (C7) for example, and when you have mastered that, THEN set out a program to learn more complex chords.
Walk before you run, and you'll have success playing the chords of popular sheet music!
See below for a sample entry from the dictionary. If you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you can click here for a more detailed sample page. If you need Adober reader, click the link and download it free: 
