How to Improvise an Accompaniment from the Chord
To improvise an accompaniment from the chord requires understanding how to create chords. Understanding how to construct chords provides you with the “ingredients” to improvise in a piece of music. The last article introduced how to invert the notes of a chord in a “crab-crawl” way that allows you to keep track of the keys you are moving up or down without losing any. With practice, when you can easily move the notes of a chord around as you like, you have note-ingredients to arrange in different ways – any way that pleases you and makes sense. You create a “cake” – then an “upside-down cake” – then “cupcakes” – all using the same ingredients in different ways.
You play the notes of the chord in different ways, blocked or broken, or in varying combinations. However you decide to play the “cake” – you are using the notes of the same chord, and it will sound good and make sense when you improvise an accompaniment from the chord!
A Sample Accompaniment “Recipe”
This first page of Over the River is from the Revolutionary Piano Method – Fun Book Level 4.
There are just five simple chord symbols which are used very frequently in most any kind of music, so this is a good place to start. Here is an explanation of just the left hand bass accompaniment:
LINE 1 Measures 1 & 2: Beat 1 is C root; Beat 2/3 is the C chord’s 3rd and 5th
Measure 3: Beat 1 is C root; Beat 2 is the chord 5th; Beat 3 is the chord 3rd
Measure 4: Chord root – then chord 2nd – then chord 3rd as a traveling bass line because they are in sequence moving upward (though “D” is not part of the C chord). This makes a logical progression to the next measure’s F chord.
LINE 2 Measure 1: Beat 1 is F root; Beat 2 the 3rd & 5th
Measure 2: Beat 1 is the 5th; Beat 2 the root & 3rd; Beat 3 repeats the 3rd
Measure 3 the C root; Beat 2 the 3rd; Beat 3 the 5th which moves into…
Measure 4 traveling bass moving downward in sequence neighboring steps, though “A” is not actually in the C chord; it acts as a connecting bridge note.
The idea when creating an accompaniment is anything you play will sound good if it comes from the notes in the chord. Other things will sound better or best. You choose what and how to play.
What Can I Do With This Example?
Analyzing one way to improvise an accompaniment from the chord symbols can be used as a template (or partial) in making your own accompaniment in a different song.
GENERAL IDEAS:
1. The root usually comes on beat 1 – but not necessarily – as you see in the above song’s lines 3 and 4 beat 1 – first the 5th was used, then the 3rd. The root does usually begin the measure in a lower range than the following 3rd, 5th, and perhaps 7th – or any combination of these. Why?
2. The root or octave on the root sounds very good in the low/lowest range of the keyboard. A combination of other notes of the chord do NOT – they sound growly and muddy when played in the lower range.
3. As you play through various songs, try different ways of using the chord as an accompaniment for the left hand. Use 3 notes blocked or just 2 notes; use them broken as single notes. Put the root first or sometimes on beat 2. Mix it up!
4. Add a traveling bass when it seems right, moving either up or down the keyboard. Add neighboring note/s that are not in the chord but act to “move” into a different chord.
5. In this example song, the notes are no shorter than a quarter note. When you feel like trying something different, substitute two eighth notes for a quarter; then try a triplet of three eighth notes for a quarter.
6. Listen to music. Listen for the bass notes and hear if they move up or down. Then listen for how far apart those notes are – great leaps apart or neighboring steps. Tune-up your listening ear for patterns you like and then duplicate them – or change them into something new!
I invite you to give this a try! Look over some sample pages to get better acquainted. Click the link or go to the piano4me.org Home page, BOOKS dropdown, Chords Series. OK, it’s not a series yet, but Book 2 is in the works!
Knowing the foundation of chords within a song frees your thinking to concentrate on how with feeling you want to play – not having to devote as much brain space for note-reading.
To improvise an accompaniment from the chord requires understanding how to create chords. Understanding how to construct chords provides you with the “ingredients” to improvise in a piece of music.
What Would the First Lesson for a Young Student Look Like?
What Would the First Lesson for a 6 to Teen Look Like (video)?
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ages 6 to teen:
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4 to 5 years old:
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teens and adults:
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Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning student
Leslie believes that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.
She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”
