How can I improve my piano accompaniments?

Question

When I play piano or keyboards, I've noticed that I keep slipping into playing the same chords (and variations thereof, such as very simple bass lines) with my left hand while I use my right hand to play some melodies. It doesn't sound wrong, but certainly not very professional.I know that this is partly because I'm right-handed and therefore my left hand lacks some of the strength and dexterity that my right hand has, but somehow I'm also not very imaginative when it comes to accompanying the melodies I play with my right hand. Also, I am more of a keyboarder than a pianist, so maybe that's why I just tend to bang out chords. I've also noted that I'm okay at writing piano/keyboard parts for my right hand, but most of the time I'm really just unsure how to write (and play) a good left hand part.Are there any specific techniques I could use to break out of this repetitive behavior? I'm not really sure what to do here.**Edit:** Thanks for the comments so far. I do have some sheet music that I like, so I'll see if I can make some use of the left hand parts there. I mostly play rock and metal-ish things but I occasionally dabble in classical music and film scores. This sometimes makes things difficult because the different parts are often only transcribed to piano but were originally written for strings/guitar/whatever other instruments, or at least that's how it seems to me. I've checked out some jazz sheet music but it seems pretty daunting so far, I'll see what I can do.

Answer 1

There are many ways of accompanying but as I said before rhythm is the most important thing. You can use many different rhythms for the same song or piece. Just look at all the different versions of Greensleeves that have come about since the 1500s. Jazz versions, rock versions etc. the way I think of my left hand accompaniment is number one keeping the rhythm that is generic to the song, like say salsa. And then I consider my left hand to be basically a horn section. If you listen to some horn parts backing up tunes The rhythmic figures and the voicing help to complement the song that you were playing. A good example is New York New York by Frank Sinatra. I don’t know what genre you were into, but listening to all genres will expand your harmonic work. As far as chords are concerned I personally do the chords below the melody and the right hand usually like George Shearing used to do. And I reserve the left hand for the walking bass like you seem to be doing already. All these recommendations really don’t fit your personal style but the more exploration you do the better you can find that style that is totally yours. Jerry

Answer 2

Great question!

A lot of my composition students ask me this very question, as people tend to focus more on their right hand when first approaching piano, since it carries more memorable melodic sequences. First, I will say that the left hand holds two responsibilities in most cases. It establishes the harmonic movement (chord progressions), but it also often establishes a rhythmic motif. If you are just blocking or breaking up chords at the same rhythmic intervals (all quarter notes/all eighth notes), then you are establishing that as the rhythmic pattern that underlies your song and it can often sound quite boring if it doesn't fit the style of music you are trying to play.

So, the first thing to do is think about what general rhythmic pattern you want your left hand to set up for the piece. Think about how you would clap along or tap your foot to the song if you weren't allowed to just use a steady and unchanging pulse (if you're familiar with some common patterns that bass instruments take up, like cello, electric bass, and bass drum, a piano accompaniment can often mimic these patterns).

Once you have a rhythmic motif established, then you can concentrate on how to move through your chord progression. Most players beginning composing by blocking chords or breaking them up and then moving straight to the next chord structure, so there are never any, what you would call, non-chord tones. What I always suggest is figuring out what notes are "on their way" to the next chord and then fitting them into the rhythmic motif you established. For example, let's say I want my rhythmic motif to be 3 quarter notes and then an eighth rest and eighth note (4/4 time) and I want to go from a C major chord to an A minor chords. I could play the C major chord, or at least the notes in it, for the 3 quarter notes, but then on that last eighth note of the measure, play a B. Since the next measure would start with an A minor chord, we descended C B A for an interesting "walk down" that fit our rhythmic motif.

That being said there are several ways to utilize these concepts, which makes composition a very expansive and beautiful world. All I'll say is that chord inversions are your friends. You rarely want to reuse the same chord shape consecutively.

If you have any other questions or this wasn't clear, please let me know!

Adam