11 Russian Chords

Dominic Cheli yes, although it was very short lived – and mostly the result of analyzing and itemizing every possibility (once I started adding in extended tertian chords with 9ths, as well as various suspensions on the 7ths... I think I ran a rough calculation and it can easily turn into over 50 once you start getting into that). I did this all in a spreadsheet which is where I keep my practice journal and create routines. One of those ideas that seemed great on paper but in reality is not only overwhelming, but also limited in its reward (unless all you want to do on piano is play arpeggios for hours a day lol). It was interesting to list it all out but for all practical purposes I think it's better to keep it simple – and practice those fancier chords in the repertoire it may appear!

When I'm short on time in fact I go simpler, my typical routine is just 7 arps focused only on triads. The triads make an appearance with a greater frequency than 7th chords, and I dunno if it's just me and my hands but I find triad arpeggios to be more difficult and thus requiring more maitenance than 7th chords - probably because there is a greater leap between each position when you don't have the 7th (which for me adds a little bit of navigation guidance to pivot on!). Anyway

Dan McCarthy Yeah, I totally understand that as someone with an interest in diverse musical styles! Maj7s are a great chord and while you're unlikely to encounter than much in classical repertoire, if you think you'll be also be playing jazz or other 20th century styles, you may want to add the maj7 and min7's into your routine - because they definitely appear a lot in jazz and also various eras of Pop (I've heard them a lot also in showtunes and 60s pop onward. I know both Elton John and the Beatles used them quite a bit).

Speaking of the Beatles, that's a good point about Harrison's use of the diminished chord. But definitely don't be shy with Dom7s – they are everywhere in modern music and The Beatles used them alllll the time too, which is likely something they drew more from the blues than classical. The blues' harmonic language is heavily built on the Dom7, in ways that classical wasn't – classical composers used them with clear functionality as a pull to whatever chord is a 5th below. For example in C major, the V7 (G7), but also that D7 you might play using C as the root in the 11 chords, that can act as a secondary dominant to the V chord (G being a 5th below D). This is a move you'll encounter all the time in classical going all the way back to Bach's time.
However in the blues (and jazz), they started turning every chord dominant, not necessarily with a functional direction but simply for color and mood! You can take any basic progression like a I V IV and add that dominant 7 to every chord, and you'll hear immediately how "bluesy" it sounds.

Then have a listen to some various Beatles songs and see if you can spot how they did this too. Especially early Beatles which had a more clear link to this blues rock sound. Later Beatles I feel they began to add other types of 7th chords, but all throughout their musical career the Dom7 appears frequently.

This is my very long-winded way of saying – definitely don't overlook practicing those Dom7s! They are very handy across all genres :)

Dan McCarthy oh that's awesome! I love Thom Yorke, Radiohead, and Jonny Greenwood (he's such an amazing composer - he wrote a beautiful piano-driven piece for the film Phantom Thread called "House of Woodcock" – I recommend checking it out if you haven't!).

Also I recommend the YouTuber channel David Bennett Piano, you may find his analyses interesting. He looks a lot of pop music through the lens of a classically trained pianist and breaks down theory in a really clear way - and he's especially a big fan of both The Beatles and Radiohead, so they get featured a lot on his channel where he dives deep into specific uses of chords they employ. I just searched his channel for "beatles" and there are dozens of videos on them alone. He's a treasure trove of pop theory I think!

Bach's Prelude in C is a beautiful piece of music – I still return to it often. I don't have it front of me right now but if I remember previously spotting some "maj7" and "min9" type jazz chords arpeggiated, but I put those in quotes because again Bach and his contemporaries would have never really thought of them as complete chords the way we describe them today, rather treating them as a passing tone or suspension which then resolves. It's pretty fun to analyze works old and new because you'll begin to see how while there are stylistic differences (and instrumentation differences) over the centuries, a lot of music is really not all that different. That is to say, Beatles and Bach have a lot more in common than may be obvious on the surface.

Here's one last tidbit I would say about modern uses of the dominant chord vs. classical (or even blues) uses – and that is these days you're more likely to encounter an altered dominant chord of some kind which gives it a somewhat more modern sound, or a dominant with a suspension. Stuff like the Dom11 chord = it's a dominant chord with the 11 (same as 4) but they will often leave out the 3rd, making it basically a dominant sus. Or, try this - play a major triad in your right hand, and then in your left hand play a bass note which is just one whole tone above the "root" of that triad on the right. (ex: Bb major in your right, over a C in the bass). It's essentially a type of dominant sus chord with the 7, 9, and 11 – and resolves beautifully down a 5th (this case to F).

You're unlikely to encounter this type of sound in classical but you'll discover it a lot in jazz/pop/rock/rnb/etc. However – you can't paint the walls until you've built the room – so what I enjoy about classical theory is it lays a fantastic foundation of all these chord types which are merely flourished and colored by modern musicians, and when you have the foundation under your fingers it makes it a lot easier to explore those modern voicings.

That's a lot but I get excited nerding out about harmony lol. Happy playing :)