Learning piano can often feel overwhelming, especially when diving into the complexities of scales and theory. But what if I told you there’s a simple technique that allows you to explore the piano using just three chord shapes? Welcome to the concept of Shape Shifting Chords—a trick that simplifies your approach to song writing while enhancing your musical fluency.
Part 2 of 4 Mastering Modes Series.
In my previous post, we covered using modes with specific scales to create feelings or themes in music. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend starting there, as today’s lesson builds on those principles. (Click here to view)
Today, I’d like to focus on shapes—not breakdancing shapes, but finger shapes. We’re about to uncover another mind-blowingly simple trick: combining what we’ve learned about modes with finger shapes to help you quickly and intuitively write songs on the piano.
I hope you have your digital piano or keyboard set up and ready to go. Let’s dive in!
What Are Shape Shifting Chords?
A chord, in its simplest form, is called a triad because it consists of three notes. My technique relies on three simple triads that I refer to as shapes—let’s call them Shape One, Shape Two, and Shape Three.
Incredible naming convention, I know.
On your piano, we’re going to start by establishing the mode we’re working in. With your left hand, play a low bass C note. This puts us in the C Ionian mode – The happy mode 😀
Next, with your right hand, play the notes C – E – G all at once. This is Shape One. Notice how uniform the shape feels—the fingers are evenly spaced. Use your thumb, middle, and pinkie fingers for the most natural position. Simply lay your hand on the piano, and the shape will naturally form. Remember this shape.
Shape One: C-E-G
Now, let’s move to a new shape: E – G – C. This is Shape Two. Shift your hand slightly so your thumb plays the first note, your index finger plays the second, and your pinkie plays the third. This arrangement gives the most comfortable feel.
Shape Two: E-G-C
Finally, try the third shape: G – C – E. For this shape, use your thumb, middle finger, and pinkie finger. This positioning ensures a natural and easy flow.
Shape Three: G-C-E
These are your three basic shapes we will need to remember. You might have noticed they all use the same notes, just in a different order? In technical terms these are called inversions, but I would like you to think of them as shapes for the mean time.
Identifying Shapes
Notice the slight finger differences and the way shape sounds, or feels.
Shape One is equally spaced and what I like to refer to as grounding or the default shape. This is a solid feeling shape and one you might automatically play as a starting point when writing music.
Shape Two is slightly wonky, it has the lonely pinkie finger playing the C note out all by itself. However, this shape sounds more exciting and brighter. To me it sounds slightly brittle after the first shape, almost leading you somewhere. This is what I call the ‘lift’.
Shape three has a lonely G note falling behind the others. To me, this shape as a darker tone. I refer to this as the ‘drop’.
So we have three shapes, but more importantly I would like to to think of them as tones or feelings, which means we have a ground, a lift and a drop. These are all the same notes just played in inverted patterns, but they have a distinct tone that you can use to add flavour to your writing.
Shapes in Action
Ok, so we can see and hear the differences between the three shapes, lets put that into action.
Let try playing a simple arpeggio in the C major Ionian mode. An arpeggio means you are playing the bass C note on your left hand, then each of the three notes in the default Shape One on your right – C – E – G one after another, repeating.
Count 1,2,3,4. Each count is a new note.
- Count 1: Bass C
- Count 2: Middle C using your thumb on your right hand.
- Count 3: E using your middle finger.
- Count 4: G using your pinkie.
Play that a dozen or so times until it becomes smoother.
Lets make the arpeggio darker sounding. Keep the same 4-count rhythm, start with the C bass note on your left hand again, but move your right hand to Shape Three G – C – E.
Finally, try the arpeggio using Shape Three, E – G – C
Do you hear the slight differences between the shapes. Its not just the pitch, but the tone is either darker or brighter. We can use these inversions to add character to our songs.
Apply Shapes to Modes
These three shapes are foundational building blocks of countless songs. The beauty of this technique is that you can take these shapes and apply them to any mode by simply defining the mode’s root note with your left hand.
You might recall in our previous article that modes we are using repeat themselves across the white notes, meaning any note is correct as long as its white. With shape shifting chords the same principles apply, as long as you use the three shapes.
No matter what mode you are playing (defined by the bass note you are playing with your left hand), as long as you play only white keys – shape one followed by shape two then shape three will always work!
This means the three shapes you have just learnt can translate perfectly into any scale giving you a whopping 21 unique chords – boom!
Exercise: Practicing Shape Shifting Chords
Here’s a structured exercise to help you practice this technique and internalize the sound of modes. This is tricky for new players, so take your time to make sure you are playing the correct shape:
Step 1: Start with C Ionian
- Use the same count rhythm, 1, 2, 3, 4. Slowly. We are going to do one shape per count.
- Count 1, play with your left hand the C bass note to establish the Ionian mode.
- Play the Defualt Position Triad Shape One (C – E – G) with your right hand for count 2. All three notes at once.
- Transition to the Inverted Second Triad Shape (E – G – C) for count 3.
- Move to the Third Triad Shape (G – C – E) for count 4.
- Alternate between these three shapes, keeping a steady rhythm going.
Step 2: Explore Dynamics
- Play the shapes staccato (short and sharp).
- Play them legato (smooth and connected, feel free to use your sustain pedal to help smooth out the transition).
- Experiment with crescendos (gradually increasing volume) and diminuendos (gradually decreasing volume).
Step 3: Shift to a New Mode
- Move your left hand to D to establish the Dorian mode.
- Keep the same three shapes in your right hand, but start the progression relative to the new root.
- Count 1, play with your left hand the D bass note to establish the Ionian mode.
- Play the Defualt Position Triad Shape One (D – F – A) with your right hand for count 2.
- Transition to the Inverted Second Triad Shape (F – A – D) for count 3.
- Move to the Third Triad Shape (A – D – F) for count 4.
- Alternate between these three shapes, keeping a steady rhythm going.
Step 4: Cycle Through All Modes
Practice cycling through each mode by shifting the left-hand root note:
- E (Phrygian)
- F (Lydian)
- G (Mixolydian)
- A (Aeolian)
- B (Locrian)
Keep your right-hand shapes consistent, and observe how each mode’s unique flavour emerges.
As I hope you can see, you don’t need to actually know what a triad chord looks like in any particular scale, because using modes they are all exactly the same.
Watch the overview and demo video
Why This Exercise is Powerful
As always, the idea is not to weigh you down with theory, but to show you some practical tricks to get you inspired to write music using your ear to identify the feeling you want to express.
I really want you to listen to the feeling the modes create and the slight difference between lifting or dropping a shape. As we talked about this in the previous article how C is the happy mode, D is the mysterious and so forth, using the three chord shapes reinforce this feeling and gives you a little bit more flexibility to add grounding, lift or drop to the sound.
And while there a hundreds of chords you can learn to play eventually, I want you to really focus on learning these three starting shapes as when combined with your modes you have 90% of most pop tunes covered. You will find in your musical life these are the three you will automatically fall back on most of the time.
And as a fantastic by-product of learning modes and chord shapes like this, you can easily fit in with other musicians to jam and improvise music on the fly. Like with the previous article, if the song isn’t in the right pitch to match your mode – just transpose the pitch on your piano!
Taking It Further
Once you’re comfortable with Shape Shifting Chords, advance on to our next article which will expand on both modal harmony and chord tension using my awesome ‘Push & Pull’ method, I think you’re going to really love that as it’s ties all of this mode stuff together for incredibly flexibility.
Shape Shifting Chords are an elegant, practical way to bridge the gap between theory and practice. With just three triad shapes and a bit of exploration, you can unlock the full spectrum of modes on the piano. So, whether you’re a beginner or a songwriter looking for fresh ideas, give this hack a try—you might be surprised at the music you create.
