[special k]

hey people. i've been playing concert piano (classically trained) for about 6 or 7 years now. Then, about 2 years ago i picked up the guitar and started doing worship/the whole singing playing thing, and pretty soon i got into it w/ piano too. I had always messed around with it before, but never really did it much till now...


the thing is, i'm so used to playing "classically" that i'm not sure exactly what to do when i play and sing. i uually just do the bass/arpeggios in the left hand and something weird/attempt at a countermelody in the right. but it always sounds the same...and i can't get that "lots of chords" feel for big songs. any tips suggestions? thanks a bunch



oh, and btw, this is just for me. for my own worshipping/self entertainment.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by special k

the thing is, i'm so used to playing "classically" that i'm not sure exactly what to do when i play and sing.

I usually just focus on the singing as much as possible and make my piano playing take a strictly accompanimental role. What this means in practice is that I usually play simple block chord forms in the right hand, simple arpeggios or walking bass lines in the left hand, and stick the vocal melody (slightly embellished) on the top in the right hand.

i uually just do the bass/arpeggios in the left hand and something weird/attempt at a countermelody in the right.

I'd drop the countermelody if you're trying to accompany yourself. It will just throw you off. If you're playing to accompany somebody else, you can try adding it back in. Stick with the original melody of the song if you want to play melodic material. Where you have long pauses between vocal phrases, you can embellish and add some little filler runs or turns or what not.

but it always sounds the same...and i can't get that "lots of chords" feel for big songs. any tips suggestions? thanks a bunch

If you want the "lots of chords feel," you need to start thinking more as a guitarist and less as a classically-trained pianist. Classical music is almost always linear/horizontal, driven by the melody as it moves forward in time. Popular music is almost always chordal/vertical, driven by the chord progression and chord voicings that you use. Focus not so much on playing the melody of the song, but focus on "playing the changes," so to speak. Think about how you want to voice each chord (I usually use closed-position voicings and whatever chord inversion is needed to accomodate the specified bass note and the vocal melody line at that point in the music), and then play that chord in the same kind of rhythmic style that you would use if you were strumming a guitar.

I like to think of right hand chords and left hand bass notes as being the downstrokes on a guitar, and left hand chords (yeah, sometimes I switch between the bass note and a simple chord voicing in the left hand) as being the upstrokes on a guitar. That probably doesn't make sense right now, but just stew on it awhile. Think about what you'd do on guitar after you got your chord voicing/shape down. You'd strum. How would you strum? Well, you'd most likely just strum what felt comfortable, with some sort of alternation/combination of downstrokes and upstrokes. Most of your downstrokes would come on downbeats and your upstrokes would often be preparations to the next downstroke. Think of your piano playing similarly. Play right hand chords and left hand bass notes on crucial downbeats (or just whereever you would normally play a downstroke on guitar), and, to add rhythmic variety/interest, interject some left hand chords in between your right hand chords in order to emulate the sound of an upstroke preparing a downstroke. Usually, I'll only play the left hand bass note at the beginning of a measure (or whenever the chord is first played) and then play some type of chordal voicing throughout the rest of the duration of that chord, alternating the left hand chords with the right hand chords in the manner I've just described.

I hope some of that made sense. Hope it helps. Feel free to ask more questions.

In His love,
Nate

[s0233425]

My advice would be to listen to praise and worship pianists. Listen and plagiarise .

There are a few different styles which I adopt when playing p&w but I'm not good at explaining them. My advice to you, if you're wanting to hear good accompanying pianists from which you can emulate is to listen to:

Keith Green, Don Francisco (His early stuff has a good pianist), 2nd chapter of acts, Michael Card, Dino Kartsonakis, Terry Macalmon et cetera. Also, from the secular world; Keane. In fact if you only get 2 cds, first get Keith Green, then Keane. Then just try to emulate their style!

Also, I've started a thread, which over time I hope it'll grow into a useful resource for pianists who, like you, want to learn good accompanying techniques. Piano Techniques thread

[special k]

thanks a ton guys. the less busy stuff/the guitar analogy helped a lot, and i definitely get you on the up-down stroke thing. i'll be sure to check out that music out too...the extent of my non-classical piano in my library is ben folds. who is really good, but pretty hard to emulate right now. '

thanks again