[Rocket]

i am learning by video-which teaches chords, but what does the left hand do- if you are right handed. does it just play the same chords (notes). i need a reference point say if i was playing an Am chord with my right hand-what notes would my left hand be playing?

any help would be appreciated....thks

[tropicana]

I would tend to just play the bass note of the chord, ie. if you're playing Am, then play an A, or a D/F#, then play an F#. However, if there's a left hand pattern that sounds better than playing the root of the chord, then play that.

[Mr. Squirrel]

Originally Posted by Rocket

i am learning by video-which teaches chords, but what does the left hand do- if you are right handed. does it just play the same chords (notes). i need a reference point say if i was playing an Am chord with my right hand-what notes would my left hand be playing?

any help would be appreciated....thks

If I were you, starting out on chord style, I would stick to playing the root note (A) with my left hand.

[pianoboy8299]

uhh....Yea
What He Said

[s0233425]

I tend to play octave triads in my left hand, then arpeggio it up to the right. So if the chord was G I would play the root, G + D + G, then maybe arpeggio that, it depends on the piece! The Left hand should be used to emphasise the style of the piece too, and drive it, and initiate chord changes. For example moving from a G chord to Em, I would either play an an F# on the way down, or play a D# to go up. Doing this as an octave with the left hand.

[Rocket]

thanks everyone for the great advise and teaching material-anyone else is welcome to help.....thks

[pianoboy8299]

I dont think i was much of a help but ur welcome anyways!
i play diffrent then you people
i play a chord with the right hand and then just note with the left and sometimes i play hittin to notes like if i played a g chord i would play a G chord with the G not on my left hand i would double with both notes
Have A Great Day!
~matt~

[Lanceshield]

Sorry to bring up an older topic, but I can't leave it at this. Left-hand conditioning can be some of the hardest stuff for a pianist to do. A lot of the time you just use it for base notes and fifths and the right hand gets much better. I started playing some ragtime songs like Maple Leaf Rag by Joplin and it can really help you to be abel to pull off base lines(not just the base note) as well as some chording with the left hand. Plus, Maple Leaf Rag is public domain so you can just find a PDF on the internet and print it out.

[Rocket]

Lanceshield-thank you for bringing that to my attention-is Joplin-Joplin as in Betoven (spelling?) or is their a first name. sorry for not knowing! Thanks!

[Nate]

Scott Joplin. (Beethoven had a first name, too, by the way. )

[Lanceshield]

^that's him! Thank you very much. Scott Joplin, I believe he wrote the Entertainer also which you might have heard played beofore. I've been working on Maple Leaf for a long while now and I still can't play the whole thing without my left hand being in severe pain . It's a great piece to play, and it's a great crowd pleaser because people just aren't use to seeing a piano players left hand and right hand playing very fast at the same time, like they do in this piece.

[sparklystuff]

You can try taking the same chord and playing it a broken chord instead of a blocked chord. You can also try using different chord inversions, that always sounds nice. (ie- Am chord A,C,E, you could do C,E,A, or E,A,C.) Also, I sometimes do octaves, (that's kind of basic.) I try to keep a rhymth with my left hand too, even if it various from the main melody. It's kind of tricky, but it makes for interesing listening.

[Rocket]

AWEsome-thanks for posting-i'll get to it....