The Keyboardist's Picture Chord Encyclopedia (Piano Book) [Paperback]

Leonard Vogler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1992

Every chord youÂ’ll ever need to play shown clearly in diagrams and notation. Special section on inversions, substitutions, and progressions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Amsco Publications (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825611326
• ISBN-13: 978-0825611322
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Music
  • #41 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Art

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of Vogler's book, September 10, 2001

By 

Richard Huggins (Tyler, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Keyboardist's Picture Chord Encyclopedia (Piano Book) (Paperback)

This book is a timely resource for anyone who has to deal with chord symbols--such as is found on rhythm charts and lead sheets-- and wants to know how to play them on the piano or keyboard. It even could help an arranger who has landed on a chord he likes but doesn't know what to call it.

This book has a Chord Construction section at the beginning, consisting of a review of the role that scales play, intervals, chords, inversions, altered triads and chord names. That's just 4 pages, so it doesn't bog down there. Next follows the major section of the book, which consists of *78* major and minor chords for each of the 12 notes of the scale. Each chord is depicted with what the chord looks like on a staff, what it would look like on a keyboard (the affected keys are shaded), and what its chord symbol typically would be. In the key of C, for example, you'd see everything from a plain old "C" chord to something like "C13 b5 #9" (whew!).

The final section of the book deals with what the left hand could do against the chords (whatever they are and against whatever rhythms your RH might be playing them). It provides info about such styles as boogie-woogie, funk, jazz & blues, swing, latin, rock and shuffle. There are multiple possible LH rhythms given for each of those, giving you variety in your possible choices. There also are multiple depictions of combination RH/LH patterns for rhythm & blues, gospel, country and rock.

This is one of those resource books that you like to have handy in your music library, for when you need it you'll probably REALLY need it right then!

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very complete chord encyclopedia, November 22, 2003

By 

cyclista (the Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Keyboardist's Picture Chord Encyclopedia (Piano Book) (Paperback)

I purchased this book because it was the most complete book of keyboard chords that I could find. The chords for each note are ordered in an intuitive way. This book has every chord that I have ever tried to find. There is a chart in the front section that shows alternate names or symbols. That is, the chart shows that 13 may also be shown as 7(add13) or 7(add6).

One thing I particularly like about the book is the simple, uncluttered, and easy to read presentation. The pictures of each chord are large enough to see easily. While they do present 78 chords for every note, there are only 8 chords per page. This book measures about 12" by 9". It's very handy to open the book to the page I need. While I'm playing, I can quickly glance over to see the chord one more time.

I have found this book to be highly useful and recommend it to anyone looking for a keyboard chord book.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No chords for the left hand, February 7, 2009

By 

CenVillager "cenvillager" (Pembroke Pines, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Keyboardist's Picture Chord Encyclopedia (Piano Book) (Paperback)

This book is a major disappointment. It failed to show chords for the left hand.

It does show treble and bass clefs, but only displays the chords for the right hand. I can't imagine why the author failed to show the left hand chords on the bass clefs in the images.

I need the left hand's chords for my keyboard. That's why I ordered the book.

Fortunately I bought it from Amazon and Amazon provided me with a postage-paid return label for full credit.