I've learned piano chords, where do I go from here? How do I put chords together?

Question

I taught myself major, minor, augmented, diminished and 7th chords, but the problem is I don't know what to do next. I would like to play melodies and chord progressions, can someone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

Next step is to listen to lots of music. What you'll find is that chords will just "naturally" fall into place. as stated before the most basic progression is I IV V I ("One" "Four" "Five" "One")

Answer 2

Learn your scales

then number the positions 1-8 example start in a b c# d e f# g# a

This is your a scale a-1 b-2 c# -3 d-4 e-5 f# -6 g# -7 a-8

by numbering the position you can now build songs from the
1-4-5 or the 1-3-4 meaning 1-4-5 is ade and 134 is ac#d

these notes go together to form a song learn the rest of your scale and apply the same 1-4-5 and 1-3-4

your c scale has no sharps or flats so c-1 d-2 e-3 f-4 g-5 a-6 b-7 c-8 so 145 would be cfg 134 would be cef

i hope this helps the bottom line is learn your scales backwards and forwards know each note in your scale number it and your can play anything and you can figure things out just by listening to a song

Answer 3

Here's some complex instruction on chord progressions and theories:

http://www.outsideshore.com/school/music/almanac/html/Music_Theory/Harmony/Chord_Progressions.htm

And something more basic:
http://yourpage.blazenet.net/rsmusic/song_writing_children.html

However, a basic chord progression is I, IV, V, I, with all the variations in between.

Look for piano music that has chord charts as well as notation.

Answer 4

Get hold of a fakebook or any sheet music with chords and try to do the song. You may just use chords first without melodies just to get the hang of it. You can do melodies by ear, just try to play what you hear then later, try matching the chords with the melodies.