Pop School 1

A practical, chord-first piano book for beginning students that builds real pop harmony skills through catchy pieces and creative tasks.

Pop School 1 teaches students how to play and understand a broad range of piano chords and progressions through short, engaging pieces that sound “real” from the start. Each piece introduces a new chord type (or a new way to use familiar chords), then applies it immediately in a musical context.

This book can be used alongside any piano method, or as a standalone chord-based progression. The writing is flexible by design — you can keep things simple for newer players, or extend each piece with richer voicings, fuller textures, and more creative exploration as confidence grows.

Chords are introduced using the absolute naming system (for example: C, Am, F, G7). For teachers who also like to teach chord function, Roman numeral and Nashville Number System resources are available online to support relative thinking and transposition.

Note: Supersonics uses both US and UK terminology where helpful (for example: steps and half steps / tones and semitones).

Listen and play along

Recordings and supporting resources for Pop School 1 are available online. Some material can be explored freely, and a Supersonics Pro membership expands the experience with additional tools and content.

Listen to Pop School 1 recordings and explore the book online

Peek inside

Preview the first 12 pages from the book.

What’s included in Pop School 1

Pop School 1 is designed to give students a practical, usable chord vocabulary — not just “chords as theory”, but chords as music.

• 48 pages of chord-based repertoire and guided application
• Designed to support approximately 6–12 months of learning (flexible pacing)
• Covers core pop harmony foundations including major/minor chords, inversions, suspensions,
  7ths, power chords, and early blues/jazz colours

The book works well as a supplement alongside any method, or as a standalone progression for students who want to understand how pop harmony “really works” at the piano.

Supersonics Pro members

Pop School 1 can be taught effectively using the printed book alone, and it works with any teaching approach.

A Supersonics Pro membership expands the experience with extra digital tools and supporting content (including backing tracks and interactive resources), making it easier to demonstrate, reinforce, and extend each chord concept.

Digital resources, backing tracks, and interactive tools are available inside the
Supersonics Pro membership.