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Article / Updated 10-26-2023

It’s important not to neglect the left hand while learning the piano. They may not be the most exciting things to play, but by working on left-hand scales you unwittingly master the following music essentials: Reading the bass clef Playing with the correct fingering Using nifty patterns and harmonies Realizing how much you miss playing with the right hand Start with some major and minor scales by reading and playing the following scales left-handed. As with right-handed playing, remember to use the correct fingerings as indicated by the numbers above each note. How and when you cross your fingers is very important for obtaining a smooth sound and comfortable left-hand technique. C, G, and F major Here are three major scales for the left hand. You can use the same fingering, both up and down the scale, for all of these. Applying the major scale pattern, you play a scale with no sharps or flats (C major scale), one sharp (G major scale), and one flat (F major scale). A, E, and D natural minor You use the same fingering pattern in the three natural minor scales as you do in the three major scales. A harmonic and melodic minor These scales offer a good opportunity to practice your crossovers and pass-unders in the left hand. The scale patterns change at the same point you shift your hand position. Listen for smooth transitions and an even touch throughout each scale. If you’re unsure of how to play these, you can watch a bunch of left-hand scales being played in Chapter 11, Video Clip 2.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

Want to get that blues sound in your own piano playing? The blues is a style of music all its own. Heck, it even has its own scale. Here, you don’t apply the blues style to an existing song, but rather create your own blues from scratch. That’s right: You get to be a composer. Whether your dog left you or your boss has done you wrong, playing the blues is as easy as counting to 12. Clues for the blues Two important elements in the blues are form and rhythm. When you have these down, add a few more essential elements, like grace notes or tremolos. Then you can make any of your songs sing the blues. To play the blues, you use the following elements: 12-bar form Swing or shuffle rhythm Seventh chords Tremolos Sad story to tell (everybody’s got one) 12-bar ditties Most blues uses a widely recognized structure called the 12-bar form, aptly named because each musical phrase of the song is 12 measures long. The 12-bar blues has a chord sequence that repeats over and over, usually with different lyrics and perhaps some melodic variation, until you genuinely feel sorry for the storyteller. Melody notes, rhythms, and lyrics may differ from one 12-bar phrase to the next, but the chords usually stay the same. The chords most often used in the 12-bar form are all seventh chords; they are as follows: The I7 chord: Chord with the first scale note as its root note The IV7 chord: Chord with the fourth scale note as its root note The V7 chord: Chord with the fifth scale note as its root note These three chords appear in the same order and for the same number of measures every time the 12-bar phrase is repeated. To play your own 12-bar blues, just follow these easy instructions, playing with either hand or both hands. When you have the chord progression memorized, try playing the chords with the left hand while your right hand plays a simple melody, riff, or blues scale. Play a I7 chord for four measures. Play a IV7 chord for two measures. Play a I7 chord for two measures. Play a V7 chord for one measure. Play a IV7 chord for one measure. Play a I7 chord for two measures. Repeat Steps 1 through 6 until you have your audience singing with you. Here’s an example of 12-bar blues that uses chords only. They may be just chords, but you should still play them with conviction. Changing it up All blues players realize that the same chords over and over can become repetitive (to both audience and musician), so they substitute other chords within the 12-bar form. For example, try a IV7 chord in measure 2 and play a V7 chord in measure 12 as a turnaround. Check here in Chapter 17, Video Clip 1 to watch a blues piece with chord substitutions.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

The beat may go on and on, but piano music can be quite dull if every note you play is on the beat. By changing up the rhythm a bit and playing some notes off, around, or in between the main beats, your songs take on a whole new life. Ultimately, the best way to understand swing is to hear it. Listen to a sample of swing in Chapter 8, Audio Track 16 while you look at the four measures of music. The eighth notes are played with a swing feel; the notes are the same, but the rhythm has a slightly different, swingin’ feel. Instead of straight eighth notes played as “1-and, 2-and,” you hear a long-short, long-short rhythm. The most accurate way to notate this long-short rhythm is with a quarter-eighth triplet. But rather than write a ton of triplets, the composer gives you a big heads-up along with the tempo indication above the first measure by telling you to “swing,” either in plain English or with a little symbol. When you see the swing notation, you should play all the eighth notes in the music as swing eighths. You can still count them as “1-and, 2-and, 3-and, 4-and,” but the notes on the beats are longer and the notes off the beats are shorter. Swing, the classic rhythmic feel, is so popular that it has its own type of bands and dance moves. Listen to some of the music of the big-band era, like the Duke Ellington Orchestra or the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. They really had the whole world swingin’. You can also hear an example of swing-style eighth notes. Listen to “By the Light of the Silvery Moon.” in Chapter 8, Audio Track 22 Shuffle feel has the same long-short swing eighths as swing time, but the shuffle beat is more readily associated with rock and blues-style music. A shuffle feel is characterized by a heavier beat than swing, which is lighter on its feet. Listen in Chapter 8, Audio Track 23 to “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” a song with a shuffle feel.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

The piano is not limited to classical music. Hop in your time capsule and travel to a time when Elvis was still king, The Beatles didn’t have solo careers, and avocado green was a popular appliance color. Rock ’n’ roll burst onto the music scene in the 1950s and 1960s with a pair of swinging hips and masses of screaming groupies. The big names in rock freely acknowledge their debt to the blues artists. Rock ’n’ roll wouldn’t be possible without the 12-bar blues, which provided the structural framework for many hit songs of the ’50s, ’60s, and beyond. Rocking ingredients Pull out your bag o’ tricks and find the following musical ingredients to make any song rock: Rockin’ intervals Glissandos Chords Lots and lots of pyrotechnics for your elaborate stage show (plus lights, makeup, big hair, a smoke machine — all the necessities) Slamming and jamming Jerry Lee Lewis practically invented the classic rock piano sound. For this style, all you need is an opening glissando, fast chords, and lots of energy. Pour these elements into the 12-bar blues form and you’re ready to roll. Check out this rockin’ bass line that follows a typical blues chord progression in the key of C. Watch this rockin’ bass line being played on the piano in Chapter 17, Video Clip 2.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

Even pop musicians need pianists. Arguably, every song on the radio is a popular song because few radio stations play songs that listeners don’t like. Country, rock, rap, Latin, and many other styles of music are popular with one audience or another. But most people know the term pop to be the category for Top 40 songs and superstar ballads by such artists as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Prince, and a multitude of others. Pop music can be rhythmic, romantic, nostalgic, funky, sad, and about 1,000 other adjectives. Here, you concentrate on the one style of pop music perfectly suited to the piano: the slow and smooth-sounding pop ballad. Popular picks To play a pop ballad, you need a small arsenal of musical ornamentations, including the following: Right-hand intervals Chord arpeggios Damper pedal Dimmer switch (essential for setting the right mood) Topping the charts To add a little pop romance to any song, take a simple melody and add the ever-so-sweet sixth below each right-hand melodic note. The new melodic line should look like this. For some reason unknown to many a trusted and frustrated musicologist, the sixth adds an element of romance to a melody. This trick of adding the sixth may look difficult, but it’s not. All you do is find the sixth below the first melody note and freeze your hand in that position. Your pinkie always plays the top note and your thumb always plays the bottom interval note. As you play up and down the melody, your hand lands on the correct interval every time. Watch this demonstration of a nifty pop strategy played on the piano in Chapter 17, Video Clip 4.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

Before there was rock ’n’ roll, there was country. And yes, the piano can still be included in a country ensemble. This style often sounds relaxed, lyrical, simple, and grassroots-ish, but it ain’t afraid to rock, roll, and rumble. Artists like Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, and others put all kinds of musical influences in their country music, including elements of rock, blues, and even jazz. Influences aside, though, the folks in Nashville still call it country. Country-style cooking To enhance your musical dish with the tastes of country on the piano, add some of these stylistic flavorings: Intervals Grace notes Tremolos Bum-ba-di-da bass line A ten-gallon hat, a pair of boots, and maybe even a nice and shiny belt buckle (purchased from a local Western store) Finger-pickin’ good Take a look at this nice, relaxed-sounding slice of the country music style. The right-hand intervals are unique in that the melody notes are actually on the bottom while the top notes stay the same. Grace notes and tremolos peppered throughout also give this example the feeling of an Old West saloon. Check out this little piece of country on the piano in Chapter 17, Video Clip 3. The left-hand accompaniment pattern is challenging, so practice each hand separately until you can confidently put them together. After this inspiring tune, you may find yourself adding a saddlebag to your piano bench.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

One of the most important things you can learn as a piano player is an assortment of left hand accompaniment patterns. Here are a few excellent and professional-sounding left-hand patterns that you can apply to just about any song you come across. Each of these patterns is versatile — applicable to both 3/4 and 4/4 meters — not to mention user-friendly. Fixed and broken chords A chord-based approach, whether played straight or with arpeggios, serves as an excellent introduction to left-hand accompaniment. Start with the basic chords and find inversions that work well for you without requiring your left hand to move all over the keyboard. Also experiment with various rhythmic patterns. For example, try playing quarter-note chords instead of whole-note chords. Or try a dotted quarter- and eighth-note pattern. The left hand plays a simple chord progression with several different rhythmic patterns. Run through these a few times and decide which rhythmic pattern works, sounds, and feels best to you. You can change the texture and add some variety with a constant arpeggiated pattern in the left hand. For every chord symbol you see here, use the root, fifth, and octave notes of the chord’s scale to form an up-and-down pattern throughout the song. This pattern works for fast or slow songs. Bouncy rock patterns In addition to slamming octaves, a nice rock ’n’ roll-sounding bass pattern may use other intervals drawn from scale notes. You can create a great bass pattern using the octave, fifth, and sixth of each chord. Try this high-energy accompaniment along with “Rockin’ Intervals.” You can modify the pattern to fit a two- or one-measure pattern in 4/4 meter. After a few times through, your hands will know what to do, and you can apply the pattern to any major chord. The great Chuck Berry made the locomotive-sounding pattern demonstrated in “Berry-Style Blues” very popular on the guitar. It was only a matter of time before some trailblazing pianist adapted this guitar pattern to the piano. All you have to do is alternate between playing an open fifth and an open sixth on every beat. Melodic bass lines Some left-hand patterns are so widely used that they’re better known than the melodies they accompany. “Bum-ba-di-da” is one such pattern that was made famous by Roy Rogers in his show-closing song “Happy Trails.” All you need are three notes from each chord’s scale: the root, fifth, and sixth. Play them back and forth, over and over. Check out a good sampling of these left hand accompaniment patterns in Chapter 16, Video Clip 1. Another melodic left-hand pattern played by every pianist from novice to pro is the “boogie-woogie” bass line. It doesn’t even need a melody. This bass line uses notes from a major scale but lowers the seventh note of the scale a half-step (also called a flatted seventh) to give you that bluesy sound. For each new chord in the boogie-woogie bass line, you play the following scale notes up the keys and then back down: root, third, fifth, sixth, flatted seventh.

Article / Updated 10-25-2023

Scales and melodies are fine material for the left hand, but they aren’t Lefty’s main gig. Rather, on the piano, your left hand begs to be playing accompaniment patterns while your right hand noodles around with a melody or some chords. One of the most user-friendly left-hand patterns is the arpeggio. In addition to pizza, rigatoni, and ciao, the other Italian word that should be part of your everyday vocabulary is arpeggio. The word translates to “harp-like,” which means absolutely nothing to piano players. However, after many years of bad translations, musicians have come to understand this word as meaning “a broken chord.” Well, nothing’s really broken about an arpeggio — it works great. You simply play the notes of a chord one at a time, rather than all at once. Three-note patterns Three-note patterns may be the easiest and most versatile left-hand accompaniment to play, and they conform to the hand really nicely, too. For example, place your left hand on the keys in C position with LH 5 on C, LH 2 on G above that, and LH 1 on middle C. Fits like a glove, right? The three notes you use for this pattern are the root, fifth, and top notes of the appropriate scale. Using the C major scale, for example, the notes are C, G, and C. Now comes the versatile part: The three-note pattern is the exact same in the C minor scale. So, you can apply the three-note pattern to major or minor harmonies by playing the root, fifth, and top notes of the scale. Playing the pattern in quarter notes The easiest way to start playing this three-note pattern is with a quarter-note rhythm. In 4/4 meter, you play in an “up and back” motion — root, fifth, top, fifth — so that every measure begins with the root note of each arpeggio. In 3/4 meter, you play upwards — root, fifth, top — and then start again with the root for the next measure. You can see these three-note patterns with a simple quarter-note rhythm in both meters. The first eight measures show how the pattern works in 4/4, and the next eight measures show how the pattern works in 3/4. The letter names above the staff are chord symbols, which tell you the scale that the pattern is derived from. Cranking up the pattern in eighth notes Play the three-note pattern using eighth notes for a more energetic, faster arpeggio. You play a full set of root-fifth-top-fifth for every two beats, so that beats 1 and 3 of every measure start again on the root note of the arpeggio. Gently rock your left hand back and forth over the keys until you feel this pattern is second nature to you. These eighth notes in 3/4 meter are slightly different: You can play all six eighth notes in a pattern or modify the pattern to give you time to move to other positions. Four-note patterns Adding another note to the three-note pattern gives you enough notes to make a major or minor chord. For this arpeggio, you add the third note of the scale. The four-note major arpeggio uses the root, third, fifth, and top notes of the scale. To form a four-note minor arpeggio, you simply lower the third note a half-step. For example, the notes of a C major arpeggio are C, E, G, and C. To make a C minor arpeggio, simply lower the third, E, to E-flat, just like you do in the C minor scale. Playing the pattern in quarter notes As with the three-note arpeggios, different meters allow you some rhythmic options. Using quarter notes in 4/4 meter, you play up — root, third, fifth, top — once in each measure. Each subsequent measure begins again with the root note. For 3/4 meter, you play up in one measure — root, third, fifth — and hit the top note before coming down in the next measure — top, fifth, third. Take a gander at the quarter-note patterns. Call out the name of each note as you play; hearing yourself helps you recognize the notes. Try the alternate fingerings, shown in parenthesis below the suggested fingerings. Every hand is different, and you may find one of these is more comfortable than the other. Cranking up the pattern in eighth notes With an eighth-note rhythm, you can have lots of fun exploring different patterns for the four arpeggio notes. Just keep the correct four notes of each scale in mind — root, third, fifth, and top — and play two of them for every beat in the measure. Check here in Chapter 11, Video Clip 3 to see some of these accompaniment patterns in action.

Article / Updated 10-24-2023

Comfortable hand position and comfortable posture are of the utmost importance when playing the piano or keyboard. Poor hand position can cause your piano performance to suffer for two reasons: Lack of dexterity: If your hands are in tight, awkward positions, you can’t access the keys quickly and efficiently. Your performance will sound clumsy and be full of wrong notes. Potential for cramping: If your hands cramp often, you won’t practice often. If you don’t practice often, you won’t be a very good player. Arch those hands and fingers When you place your hands on the keys, you must keep your hands arched and your fingers slightly curled at all times. It feels weird at first, but you can’t improve your playing technique until you get used to holding your hands this way. Arching your hands and fingers pays off with the following benefits: Your hands don’t get tired as quickly. Your hands are less likely to cramp. You can quickly and easily access any key, black or white. To get an idea of the hand shape you’re after, find two tennis balls (or similarly sized balls) and hold one in each hand. This is how your hand should look when you play the piano … minus the ball, of course. Watch this piano video clip in Chapter 5 to make sure you have a handle on arching both your hands and fingers. Fingering Fingering refers to using the best finger to play each note of a song, and correct fingering is always a very important part of piano playing. Some pieces, even the easy ones, have fingerings marked in the sheet music to help you plan which fingers to use to execute a particular musical passage most efficiently and comfortably. Number your fingers 1 through 5, beginning with the thumb as number 1 and moving toward the little finger, or pinkie. While you get used to thinking of your fingers in terms of numbers, you may find it helpful to write these numbers on your hands before you sit down to practice. Use washable marker or pen. Otherwise, you’ll have to explain those numbered fingers to your date on Friday night, your boss on Monday morning, or your homeroom teacher. Give your hands and fingers a rest Poor posture can lead to the beginning of serious and painful problems in your piano career. The sports claim “no pain, no gain” has no validity when applied to piano playing. Muscle tension and poor posture can cause pain. If you hurt, you won’t play. If you don’t play, you won’t be very good. Feeling cramped Even if your posture is absolutely perfect, your hands will inevitably begin to cramp at some point. Cramps are your body’s way of saying, “Hey, let’s go do something else for a while.” By all means, listen to your body. Generally, you’ll experience hand cramps long before you experience any other kind of body cramp during practice. Your back and neck may become sore from poor posture, but your hands will begin to cramp simply from too much use. If your hands hurt, take a long break and do something that creates a completely opposite hand action. For example, throwing a ball to your dog is an opposite hand action; typing is not. If your whole body hurts, get a massage (including a hand massage) or take a luxurious cruise in the South Pacific. You deserve it. Avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome Much has been said about a career-oriented injury called carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Without getting into its technical definition, which would require a degree in medicine, suffice it to say that CTS develops from overstraining the muscles and ligaments in your wrist through a constant, repetitive action. And piano playing is a constant, repetitive action. As you can probably imagine, many a keyboardist and full-time blogger experience CTS during their careers. Unfortunately, many wait until it’s too late for a simple remedy. They ignore what starts out as a dull pain in the forearms, wrists, and fingers until it becomes a severe pain whenever the hands are in motion. Severe CTS requires surgery to remedy, but the results aren’t always 100 percent successful. As a piano player, you need 100 percent of your hand motion, so don’t let any pain go unaddressed. If you’re bothered by pain in your wrists, no matter how minor, consult your physician for ways to reduce or prevent it. Of course, if you’ve already been diagnosed with CTS, talk with your physician about your piano-playing goals and ask what steps you can take to prevent any further damage or pain.

Article / Updated 02-13-2023

If there’s one particular music style that embraces all that the piano can do, it’s jazz. Celebrated by many as America’s greatest art form, jazz is king when it comes to interesting chord harmonies, changing rhythms, and improvisation. Legendary jazz pianists like Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and many others have taken these elements and added them to classic songs to make them jazzier. Jazzing it up The great jazz pianists use tried-and-true musical tricks to freshen things up. Borrow these tricks yourself: Chord substitutions Swing rhythm Syncopation Knowledge of scales Knowledge of chords Nickname like Duke, Bird, or Dizzy It’s up to you It’s time to be creative. Improvisation is perhaps the most important element of jazz music. It can be literal improvisation, where you (the performer) make up your own rhythms and riffs, or implied improvisation, where the music is originally written in a way that just sounds as if it were composed spontaneously. The easiest way to improvise is by changing the rhythm of a melody. For example, take the simple quarter-note melody of “Yankee Doodle” and transform it into a swingin’ jazz tune by adding swing eighth notes, syncopation, and a well-placed rest now and then to keep things cool. See a performance of “Yankee Doodle” as a swingin’ jazz tune in Chapter 17, Video Clip 6. Substituting chords Few jazz compositions use the standard major and minor chords throughout. In fact, few jazz pianists play the original chords written in a song. Instead, they break the rules and substitute new chords to liven up otherwise simple melodies. Here is the well-known children’s song “Merrily We Roll Along.” As you play it, notice the simple chord progression of C-G7-C. Even “Merrily We Roll Along” can sound not-so-childish with the use of chord substitution. The idea is to find a more interesting chord progression from I to V7 to I. Try the following options: Use major scale tones for chord roots. Move up the scale from C to G7, building triads on each successive scale note. Use black and white keys for new chord roots. Move up in half-steps, building chords on each new root note. Move up in fourths. Start a chord pattern in measure 2 by playing an Em7, then move up a fourth and build a seventh chord on each new root note.