Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Playing the piano

Putting it into practice Different patterns in practice

Alberti bass

A common technique in classical

music, it keeps the piece moving

Walking bass

You can tell which pattern this is

because it’s ‘walking’ up the stave

Traditional ending

Even with a fancy pattern, you don’t

have to alter an ending progression

Chord picking

You don’t have to use each note of a triad.

Here we have two examples: one that does

use the triad and another that doesn’t

W

hen you’re playing piano, your

right hand will likely be playing the

melodies. However, this doesn’t mean

you should neglect your left hand. It

doesn’t matter if your right hand can play incredibly

intricate passages over and over again; if your left

hand can’t back it up with solid accompanying

patterns then you may struggle to master the piano.

It doesn’t just have to accompany, as a left hand

melody can provide vital variety and possibly a

response to the right hand.

Not only are the patterns that we look at in this

tutorial valuable for improving left-hand dexterity,

they can also be used when you only have the

chords of the piece to go by – you may have found

the chords to your favourite pop song and want to

play along with it, for example. Don’t feel restricted

to just these patterns, either. Part of the fun of

music is how easy it is to experiment with different

patterns – rather than just playing root chords, try

using inversions; instead of using an ascending

walking bass, try descending instead. While you’re

practising these patterns, start off with just the

left hand, and then try adding a basic right-hand

melody over the top. As your confidence grows, so

will your co-ordination. Ideally, you will want your

left hand to be able to play whatever your right

hand can.

“It doesn’t matter if your right hand can play

intricate passages; if your left hand can’t back it

up then you may struggle to master the piano”

Left-hand patterns

Discover some of the techniques for using

your left hand to support the melody

Audio file

Listen to the audio files

and follow along on your

own keyboard

Give it a try