Chord piano is a type of piano where you play a chord in your left hand and read the melody notes on a staff and play them with your right hand. You have to be able to read the notes on the treble clef staff to read the melody. Taking piano lessons is probably the best way to learn piano, but, unless you want to take the time to learn classical music and music written for both hands (notes on the treble and bass clef) I would suggest that you find a teacher who is willing to teach you the right hand notes and help you learn the chords in your left hand. Also, by playing songs that you know, you dont have to be concerned about note values (a whole note gets 4 beats, a quarter note gets 1 beat, etc.). If you know the song, it doesnt matter what crazy notes are on the staff, you'll know how long to hold each one once you know where those notes are located on the piano.
If you are used to learning things on your own and/or dont want to take lessons, then start with my note reading workbook. It will teach you the fundamentals for reading melody notes in the right hand. With the purchase of any of my workbooks, you will qualify for 3 months of email support free. So I will be happy to help you learn to read the treble clef.
At the same time youre learning to read music, or working on picking out your favorite songs by ear, you can be learning chords. All of my workbooks include the chords in graphic form (a little piano keyboard with the chord tones indicated) and also a chord chart that includes just the letters of the chords. So you can feasibly learn chords without reading the chord tones on the music staff.