I'm a beginner. I'm just practicing my C ang G7 by doing 4 quarter notes of a chord with both hands then randomly move a hand to a random octave. Like, I practice my C with both hands, then every 4 quarters I move a hand to a higher or lower octave(s) C chord, but I'm not sure if this is even gonna help me.

Yes, this is going to help. Are you always playing broken chords (i.e. one note at a time)? If so, then also play them sounding all notes together. You may also like to practice them in inversions, so C chord can be played with E on the bottom, or G on the bottom.

Play the chord, notice what you are doing. Listen to each note, and try to sing it out.

Another good trick is to play the chord, hold it, then lift each finger in turn and re-press the key.

Course, it does depend a little on why you are practising chords, and what you are trying to achieve.

I do this when practicing chords and go up the piano, eg. C E G, then E G C then G C E then C E G all the way up the piano, and then back down.

I also like playing C E G broken then an octave higher and again, and do it quickly, so it sounds "wave" like. I've incorporated this in a few songs I'm, practicing at the moment, It's a nice effect

Nice! You could try adding an A or a B, for extra juice.

In this istance, it's actually Cm, so would I add Bb?

Ive uploaded a snippit to YT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aefa5pXZXY8

I've play the notes together. It didn't occur to me play it in some sort of "wave" but it sounded great when I tried it! Is this also what you can call a trill?

The lifting each finger in turn while playing a chord sounds nice and should help me with some finger independence.

As for the reason why... I guess so I memorize chords, and so that I hit them properly when I have to move my hand far. Not to mention, just moving my hand/arm faster in general. I play some simple pieces but I don't really know what to call the chords so I wanted to be familiar with all of them.

http://www.free-online-piano-lessons.com/piano-chords.html

this helped me!

No. Those are called arpeggios (broken chords). A trill is when you rapidly alternate between two notes.

Justin

For a Cm you could add A or Bb, as you say.

thnx

oh, it's not that easy lol, fitting in an extra note, anyone voluntering to show me how its done?

the chords are Eb, Eb7/Db, Cm7, Abm6/Cb

clayts?

For my money the best way to practice chords is in the context of song/tune, or at least a short chord progression of some kind (eg C, Am, F, G), rather than chords in isolation from context.

look up all the common chord progressions. for example I vi IV V in C

that would be C Am F G

now play this progression in all 12 keys. and mess around with inversions. Repeat for another progression

You are both right, but when someone's a beginner, it's easy to get overwhelmed with chords and progressions and inversions (in all keys) to the point you don't actually learn anything at all. The OP said he or she was a beginner and was playing C and G7. Next step, F.

Thats what I've started doing, just made a little song up at the same time lol, I used chords in the c scale, C, Em, Am, F/G playing arpeggios on the left hand, and a melody on my right, makes it more interseting practice!

IMHO the best way to practice chords is to first understand the major diatonic scale where they come from. There are several short inexpensive books on scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences that can be had for about 8 bucks or less on amazon or wherever. They can be one of the most important learning tools you will ever own.

When I started playing piano, I had already "mastered" guitar. I bought a piano chord book and just started learning chords and practiced them in varying ways, as accompaniments, etc. The mistake I made is that I never disciplined myself to learn everything I needed to know, mostly involving sight-reading, intervals, etc. Now, after all of these years and after having faked my way through five piano courses in college, (playing mostly by ear) I realized that I will never progress to where I want to be unless I master sight reading.

So, after all this time, I picked up my Alfred's Book one and started from page one. At first, it was torturous, playing those insipid songs, but just in two weeks I have improved my sight reading skills immensely. Last night, I found some old lead sheets, like Blue Skies, Skylark and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, and, except for Skylark, I could just pick them up and play them decently.

The point is that, if you can't afford lessons, it is essential that you teach yourself by using some kind of method. There are many but the consensus here seems to be that Alfred's is best. You can probably find Book One for a few dollars online. Better yet, the all in one is available used for less than $20.