Here is how to play chord rhythms on a keyboard instrument like a piano or organ. As you learn to play each rhythm, count the beat or pulse. In four/four time for example, the pulse is 1, 2, 3, 4. That is four beats or pulses to every single bar. In 4/4 time, each pulse is a quarter note long. A whole note takes up the whole bar or measure. That is four pulses to the measure. Let each pulse be one second long. Say the beat as you count it. To help count slowly and steadily, say 'and' after each beat: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Repeat that for the next measure and so on.
Practise playing four quarter notes to each measure.
Think of the four even pulses as the basis of every rhythm in 4/4/ time. Each measure has four quarter notes in it. To build a rhythm, replace one or two pulses or quarter notes with shorter or longer notes.
Practise leaving a silence instead of playing the third note. Count the third pulse but do not play anything, or raise the pointer finger or play a light note with the pointer to help keep time.
Practise playing two 1/8th notes instead of the third pulse. The two 1/8th chords last for a count of 1.
Play two 1/8th chords again but this time count the first 1/8th note as beat three and the second 1/8th as 'and'. So count '3 and' to fill the third beat.
Practise playing one note with the middle finger instead of playing a triad for beat three.
For the next rhythm, join the first two quarter notes to make a half note and add two quarter notes. Count the first note of this rhythm as '1 and 2 and' as you practise this rhythm. Keep counting the pulse to stay in time.
Try changing a different pulse other than the third. Leave out the fourth beat or play a single note there instead of a chord. Play two 1/8th chords for the second beat. Play one triad of a half-note duration for pulses three and four.
Practise playing a chord with the left hand while playing the root note of that chord with the right hand. The root note is the note the chord is named after, for example note C is the root of chord C major.
