Instruments Articles

Article / Updated 08-19-2022

More than any other type of guitar articulation, the string bend is what makes your guitar talk (or sing or cry), giving the instrument almost voice-like expressive capabilities. Bending is nothing more than using a left-hand finger to push or pull a string out of its normal alignment, stretching it across the fingerboard toward the 6th or 1st string. As you bend a string, you raise its pitch by stretching that string. Bending is typically reserved for electric guitars because acoustic strings are just too thick. In electric guitar playing, where string bending is an integral technique, the strings are thinner. Most use strings sets that start a .009 or .010 millimeter gauge (“nines” and “tens,” to use the vernacular). A light-gauge set of acoustic strings starts with the diameter for the 1st string at .012 millimeters, which is generally considered unbendable by all but the most dedicated masochists. Here's how you play the bend on the 3rd string with the third finger, which is probably the most common type of bend. Place your third finger at the seventh fret but support the third finger by placing the second finger at the sixth fret and the first finger at the fifth fret, all at the same time. The first and second fingers don’t produce any sound, but they add strength to your bend. Supporting your bends with any other available fingers is always a good idea. Pick the 3rd string with your right hand. After picking, use all three fingers together to push the string toward the 6th string, raising the pitch a whole step (to the pitch you normally get at the ninth fret. Pushing your hand into the neck as you execute the bend gives you added leverage. Also, using light-gauge strings on your guitar also makes bending easier. You can check to see that you’re bending in tune by fretting the target note normally and comparing that to the bent note. For example, if the bend indicates a whole step (1) on the seventh fret of the 3rd string, first play the ninth fret normally and then try bending the seventh-fret note to match the ninth-fret pitch you just heard.

Article / Updated 08-19-2022

More than any other type of guitar articulation, the string bend is what makes your guitar talk (or sing or cry), giving the instrument almost voice-like expressive capabilities. Bending is nothing more than using a left-hand finger to push or pull a string out of its normal alignment, stretching it across the fingerboard toward the 6th or 1st string. As you bend a string, you raise its pitch by stretching that string. In guitar tablature, a bend is indicated by a curved arrow and either a number or a fraction (or both) at the peak of the arrow, which tells you how many whole steps to bend the note. For example, the fraction 1/2 means that you bend the string until the pitch is a half-step higher than normal, and the numeral 1 above a bend arrow means that you bend the string until the pitch is a whole step (or two frets) higher than normal. The following figure shows what bends look like in standard notation and tab. Notice that there are three different standard forms of bend. An immediate bend (a). Pick the note and then immediately bend it up. A bend and release (b). Pick the note; then bend it (without repicking), and unbend it (release it without repicking) to its normal position. This bend is different from an immediate bend in that you see it notated in a specific rhythm. This type of bend is also called a bend in rhythm or a measured bend. A prebend and release (c). You prebend the note — bend it before you strike it with the pick. After you pick the note, unbend (release without repicking) the string to its normal position. Usually, when you perform a bend, you push the string toward the 6th string (or toward the ceiling). But if you bend notes on the bottom two strings (the 5th and 6th strings), you pull the string toward the 1st string (or toward the floor); otherwise, the string slides right off the fretboard. Not all publishers use these standard bend indicators. Instead, they show the pitch of both the unbent and bent notes, with one of them in parentheses or printed very small. To avoid confusion, make sure that you verify what system your music uses before you start playing that music.

Article / Updated 08-16-2022

A guitar arpeggio is a chord whose notes are played one at a time instead of simultaneously. It’s sort of the exploded view of a chord. Seventh chords sound richer and more complex than basic major and minor chords, and they’re prevalent in many types of music, including jazz, pop, classical, rock, and blues. Minor seventh chords can be derived in different ways, but one way is to start with a major scale and play 1, b3, 5, b7. So in the key of C, a Cm7 (C minor seven) chord is spelled C, Eb, G, Bb. Minor seventh chord arpeggio patterns #3, #4, and #5 span a bit less than two octaves. So you have fewer notes with which to illustrate a minor seventh idea. You can fill the space by repeating notes (by double striking them), switching directions more often, or repeating groups of notes. Minor seventh arpeggio pattern #3 What follows is the neck diagram and corresponding music and tab for minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #3, in 5th position in the key of D minor. This is one of the easier ones because it contains no out-of-position notes (which means no stretching!) and it doesn't have any alternate fingerings. It just lies perfectly under your fingers. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Here’s an exercise in the key of F# minor in 9th position. Even though you don’t have to turn your 1st finger into a barre to play this exercise, try it anyway and see how you can create a sustained, harp-like sound by letting the strings ring as long as possible. Minor seventh arpeggio pattern #4 Minor seventh arpeggio pattern #4, shown here in F minor, includes an out-of-position note on the 1st string. Because this note occurs one fret below (lower on the neck) where the finger naturally falls, you must stretch down with your 1st finger to reach it. The downward stretch is less common in out-of-position playing than the upward stretch, so try isolating just the stretch by playing the top three notes of the pattern starting from the 2nd string. Practice this three-note segment up and down before playing through the entire pattern. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. The following exercise, in the key of E minor in 4th position, is a good stretching workout between your 2nd and 1st fingers. Leave your 2nd finger on the 2nd string (and let the string ring out) as you play the 1st string notes. This technique really tugs apart those 1st and 2nd fingers and is good for getting limber in a hurry! Minor seventh arpeggio pattern #5 The following neck diagram, music, and tab for minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #5 is in the key of G minor. This pattern emphasizes the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers, which are traditionally a weaker set than the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers. Practice pattern #5 after you’ve been playing a lot of barre chords (which give the 1st finger a workout), and isolate the move between the 4th and 2nd fingers on the top two strings if this motion feels less familiar or comfortable than other combinations of fingers. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Check out the following exercise in the key of Bb minor in 8th position. Notice that an eighth rest ends the measure. This rest may leave you feeling that the exercise ended a bit short. If you fill in that eighth rest with a played note, you can create a repeatable loop that allows you to easily practice the pattern over and over. Simply re-play the note before the last one — the 11th fret on the 4th string — and loop the pattern.

Article / Updated 08-16-2022

A guitar arpeggio is a chord whose notes are played one at a time instead of simultaneously. It’s sort of the exploded view of a chord. Seventh chords sound richer and more complex than basic major and minor chords, and they’re prevalent in many types of music, including jazz, pop, classical, rock, and blues. You can derive a major seventh chord in many different ways. One way is to start with a major scale and play 1, 3, 5, 7. So in the key of C, a Cmaj7 (C major seven) chord is spelled C, E, G, B. Major seventh chord arpeggio patterns #3, #4, and #5 span a bit less than two octaves. With a short pattern like #3, you may find yourself having to repeat notes to fill out an idea for a given arpeggio. Repeating notes is okay, but it means you have to think more creatively than when simply running a long pattern. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #3 The following figure shows the neck diagram and corresponding music and tab for major seventh arpeggio pattern #3 in the key of D. This pattern can be tricky to master because it has two out-of-position stretches and a mini-barre option. But because the pattern is relatively short, you don’t need to isolate the passages. Instead, just run the pattern in its entirety until you can effectively execute the challenging aspects as smoothly as the straightforward ones. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Try the following exercise in the key of B. This pattern is placed in 2nd position — the second lowest possible on the neck — and it includes two stretches on widely separated strings, making it an ideal stretching exercise. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #4 What follows is a neck diagram and corresponding music and tab for major seventh arpeggio pattern #4 in the key of F. This pattern invites only one alternate approach — a mini-barre with your 1st finger between the 3rd and 2nd strings. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Try your hand at the following exercise in the key of G. In 7th position, where this exercise is placed, everything becomes easier, including mini-barre substitutions. So try playing this exercise at a brisk clip. What you may discover is that while the left hand poses no problems, playing four notes in a row each on a different string can be a challenge for the right hand — especially at fast tempos. Here are two solutions: The first is to simply slow down and work up speed gradually. And the second is, if you started out playing with a pick, go to fingerstyle, which makes consecutive-string playing a little easier than alternate picking. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #5 On to major seventh arpeggio pattern #5, shown here in the key of G. In addition to an out-of-position note, you have the opportunity to employ several alternate fingering solutions. Here’s one to try: Instead of using the 3rd finger on the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings, bring up your 1st finger and plant it across the first three strings at the 7th fret immediately after you leave the first note of the exercise. Keep it there until the very last moment when you have to move it back to the starting note on the 4th string, 5th fret. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Now check out this exercise, which is in the key of F# in 4th position. This exercise is only one fret lower than the previous pattern. So what changes? You probably practiced the previous pattern with the notes in groups of two or four to the beat. Here, however, you have to think of grouping the notes in threes, because this exercise is in triplets. Remember to apply those accents on the first note of each group of three.

Article / Updated 08-16-2022

A guitar arpeggio is a chord whose notes are played one at a time instead of simultaneously. It’s sort of the exploded view of a chord. Seventh chords sound richer and more complex than basic major and minor chords, and they’re prevalent in many types of music, including jazz, pop, classical, rock, and blues. You can derive a major seventh chord in many different ways. One way is to start with a major scale and play 1, 3, 5, 7. So in the key of C, a Cmaj7 (C major seven) chord is spelled C, E, G, B. Play each arpeggio in this section from low to high slowly, loudly, and deliberately at first. After practicing a few rounds, play each one faster and lighter. No matter what, be sure to maintain your starting tempo and dynamic level throughout the arpeggio. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #1 The following figure shows an A major seventh arpeggio in 5th position in both a neck diagram and in music and tab. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #1 includes three out-of-position notes — on the 6th, 2nd, and 1st strings. You have to stretch up (toward the bridge) with your 4th finger to reach these notes because they occur one fret above where the finger naturally falls. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. The following is an exercise in rhythm in 8th-position C major. In a major seventh chord arpeggio, the seventh is a half step away from the root, and so it’s powerfully drawn back to the root. Here’s a good habit to get into: Whenever you play major seventh arpeggios, always end on the root, not on the seventh. Major seventh arpeggio pattern #2 Here's the neck diagram and corresponding music and tab for major seventh arpeggio pattern #2 in the key of C. The middle part of this pattern can be tricky, so create a mini exercise-within-an-exercise by playing just the notes on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings ascending in a five-note loop that goes, by fingers, 1-4-1-1-4. Then go back down again. You can flatten your 1st finger to play the consecutive notes on the 3rd and 2nd strings, which both occur at the same fret (the 5th in this example). Use this technique when you want to create a more legato sound between the notes. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Try the following exercise, in the key of D in 7th position, for some practice. You may notice that this pattern doesn’t use the 2nd finger at all, so try watching that finger throughout the pattern to make sure it stays relaxed and hovering above the 8th fret — even during those stretches when the 4th finger reaches the 11th-fret note on the 4th string.

Article / Updated 08-16-2022

A guitar arpeggio is a chord whose notes are played one at a time instead of simultaneously. It’s sort of the exploded view of a chord. Seventh chords sound richer and more complex than basic major and minor chords, and they’re prevalent in many types of music, including jazz, pop, classical, rock, and blues. You can derive a dominant seventh chord in different ways, but here’s how you should do it for now: Start with a major scale and play 1, 3, 5, b7. For example, in the key of C, if you play C, E, G, and Bb, you produce a C dominant seventh chord, or C7 for short. As you work through the arpeggio exercises, play each one from low to high, slowly, loudly, and deliberately at first. After you’ve practiced an exercise a few times, play it faster and lighter. No matter how you’re playing, however, be sure to maintain your starting tempo and dynamic level (loudness) throughout the arpeggio. Dominant seventh arpeggio pattern #1 The following figure shows an A dominant seventh chord arpeggio in 5th position in both a neck diagram and in music and tab format. The out-of-position notes (notes outside the four-fret span of the position) for this pattern occur on the 6th and 1st strings. As a warm-up, jump from playing 1-4-1-4 on the 6th string to 1-4-1-4 on the 1st string, and back again. Note that your fingers naturally curl up at the 1st string and extend out at the 6th, so this is a good flexing exercise as well as a stretching one for your fingers. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. Here's an exercise in rhythm. It’s in the key of B in 7th position. Try accenting the first and fifth notes of each measure, as they fall on the strong beats in 4/4 (beats 1 and 3). Dominant seventh arpeggio pattern #2 Following is the neck diagram and corresponding music and tab for dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #2 in the key of C. The first three notes of the pattern are all on different strings, requiring a bit of right-hand practice if you’re playing with a pick. Consider switching to fingerstyle for this exercise, at least for a while. To make this pattern a bit easier, flatten your 1st finger in a mini-barre (a partial barre that covers just two or three strings) to play the consecutive notes on the 3rd and 2nd strings, which both occur at the same fret (the 5th). This technique is especially helpful if you want to create a more legato (smooth and connected) sound between the notes. Click here to download and print this arpeggio pattern. When you’re ready, try the following exercise in the key of A in 2nd position. Playing dominant seventh chord arpeggios in triplets is a great way to fill out the chords in a swing of shuffle blues, so work on really digging into the notes here with feeling.

Article / Updated 08-15-2022

If there’s one particular music style that embraces all that the piano can do, it’s jazz. Celebrated by many as America’s greatest art form, jazz is king when it comes to interesting chord harmonies, changing rhythms, and improvisation. Legendary jazz pianists like Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and many others have taken these elements and added them to classic songs to make them a little more jazzy. The true spirit of jazz has always been improvisation, which makes identifying the actual construction of jazz most difficult. The goal in jazz is to create a new interpretation of an established piece (called a standard), or to build on an established piece of music by changing the melody, harmonies, or even the time signature. It’s almost like the point of jazz is to break away from form. The closest way to define how jazz is constructed is to take the basic idea behind blues vocalizations — the call-and-response vocals — and replace the voices with the various instruments that make up the jazz sound: brass, bass, percussion (including piano), and wind instruments, along with the more recent inclusion, the electric guitar. In Dixieland jazz, for example, musicians take turns playing the lead melody on their instruments while the others improvise countermelodies, or contrasting secondary melodies, that follow along in the background. The one predictable element of music in the jazz genre — excluding free jazz, where no real discernible rules exist but jazz instrumentation is used — is the rhythm. All jazz music, with the exception of free jazz, uses clear, regular meter and strongly pulsed rhythms that can be heard throughout the music. Jazzing it up All the legendary jazz pianists use tried-and-true musical tricks from time to time to freshen things up. Borrow these tricks yourself: Chord substitutions Swing rhythm Syncopation Knowledge of scales Knowledge of chords Nickname like Duke, Bird, or Cool Cat It’s up to you It’s time to be creative. Improvisation is perhaps the most important element of jazz music. It can be literal improvisation, where you (the performer) make up your own rhythms and riffs, or implied improvisation, where the music is originally written in a way that just sounds improvised. The easiest way to improvise is by changing the rhythm of a melody. For example, take the simple quarter-note melody of “Yankee Doodle” and transform it into a swingin’ jazz tune by adding swing eighth notes, syncopation, and a well-placed rest now and then to keep things cool. Listen to "Yankee Doodle" swings in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 94. Substituting chords Few jazz compositions use the standard major and minor chords throughout. In fact, few jazz pianists play the original chords written in a song. Instead, they break the rules and substitute new chords to liven up otherwise simple melodies. Check out this the well-known children’s song “Merrily We Roll Along.” As you play it, notice the simple chord progression of C-G7-C. Even “Merrily We Roll Along” can sound not-so-childish with the use of chord substitution. The idea is to find a more interesting chord progression from I to V7 to I. Try the following options: Use major scale tones for chord roots. Move up the scale from C to G7, building triads on each successive scale note. Use black and white keys for new chord roots. Move up in half-steps, building chords on each new root note. Move up in fourths. Start a chord pattern in measure 2 by playing an Em7, then move up a fourth and build a seventh chord on each new root note.

Article / Updated 08-15-2022

Feel like playing some rock or pop on the piano or keyboard? Most early rock and pop songs follow the structure of either the 12-bar blues or the 32-bar blues. Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” is one variation of the 12-bar blues structure used in rock, as is the Rolling Stones’s “19th Nervous Breakdown.” The Beach Boys were masters of the 32-bar structure, using it in such songs as “Good Vibrations” and “Surfer Girl.” The Beatles also used this structure in many of their songs, including “From Me to You” and “Hey Jude.” Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls of Fire,” The Righteous Brothers’s “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” all also use the AABA 32-bar form. In 32-bar pop music, the music is broken into four 8-bar sections. Songs like Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing” follow the AABA 32-bar structure, whereas Charlie Parker took the rondo approach (ABAC) to the 32-bar variation in songs like “Ornithology” and “Donna Lee.” Compound AABA form really should be called AABAB2 form (but it isn’t), because in this form, after you play the first 32 bars, you move into a second bridge section (B2) that sends you right back to the beginning of the song to repeat the original 32 bars of the song. The Beatles’s “I Want to Hold Your Hand and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’s “Refugee” all follow this pattern. The verse-chorus structure (also called ABAB form) is the most widely used form in rock and pop music today. Verse-chorus form follows the structure of the lyrics attached to it. You can, of course, write an instrumental piece that follows the same pattern as a verse-chorus rock or pop song, but the structure itself gets its name from the way the words in a song fit together. Verse-chorus songs are laid out like this: Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and is usually instrumental, although sometimes it may include a spoken recitation, like in Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Verse (V): The verse begins the story of the song. Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical point of the song — the song’s hook. Verse (V): Another verse continues the story. Chorus (C): The second chorus reinforces the hook. Bridge (B): The bridge, which may be instrumental or lyrical, usually occurs only once in the song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses. Chorus (C): The final chorus repeats the original chorus to fade, or it just stops at the I chord. The typical rock/pop song structure, as described here, is IVCVCBC. And just as in the 12-bar blues structure, the chords of choice are the I, IV, and V chords. Thousands, perhaps even millions, of popular songs follow this structure. The Beatles’s “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” Tom Jones’s “Sex Bomb,” Kenny Rogers’s “The Gambler,” Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” are all examples of this structure used in contemporary pop music. The really amazing thing is how different from one another, either by virtue of lyrics or the music itself, one song can sound from the next. Pull out your bag o’ tricks and find the following musical ingredients to make any song rock: Rockin’ intervals Glissandos Chords Lots and lots of pyrotechnics for your elaborate stage show (plus lights, makeup, big hair, a smoke machine — all the necessities) Jerry Lee Lewis practically invented the classic rock piano sound. For this style, all you need is an opening glissando, fast chords, and lots of energy. Pour these elements into the 12-bar blues form and you’re ready to roll. Here’s a rockin’ bass line in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 93 that follows a typical blues chord progression in the key of C.

Article / Updated 08-15-2022

The blues has its own scale. How do you apply the blues to the piano or keyboard? Its time to create your own blues from scratch. That’s right: You get to be a composer. You can play fast blues, slow blues, happy blues, and sad blues. Whether your dog left you or your woman (or man) has done you wrong, playing the blues is as easy as counting to 12. Two important elements in blues music are form and rhythm. When you have these down, add a few more essential musicalities, like grace notes or tremolos. Then you can make any of your songs sing the blues. To play the blues, you use the following elements: 12-bar form (there are others, as mentioned earlier) Swing or shuffle rhythm Seventh chords Tremolos Sad story to tell (everybody’s got one) 12-bar ditties Most blues music utilizes a widely recognized form called 12-bar form, aptly named because each musical phrase of the song is 12 bars (measures) long. The 12-bar blues has a chord sequence that repeats over and over, usually with different lyrics and perhaps some melodic variation, until you genuinely feel sorry for the storyteller. Melody notes, rhythms, and lyrics may differ from one 12-bar phrase to the next, but the chords usually stay the same. The chords most often used in the 12-bar form are all seventh chords; they are as follows: The I7 chord: Chord with the first scale note as its root note The IV7 chord: Chord with the fourth scale note as its root note The V7 chord: Chord with the fifth scale note as its root note These three chords appear in the same order and for the same number of measures every time the 12-bar phrase is repeated. To play your own 12-bar blues, just follow these easy instructions, playing with either hand or both hands. When you have the chord progression memorized, try playing the chords with the left hand while your right hand plays a simple melody, riff, or blues scale. Play an I7 chord for four measures. Play an IV7 chord for two measures. Play an I7 chord for two measures. Play a V7 chord for one measure. Play an IV7 chord for one measure. Play an I7 chord for two measures. Repeat Steps 1 through 6 until you have your audience singing with you. This is an example of 12-bar blues that uses chords only. They may be just chords, but you should still play them with conviction. Listen to this 12-bar blues progression in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 92. Changing it up All blues players realize that the same chords over and over can become repetitive (to both audience and musician), so they substitute other chords within the 12-bar form. For example, try a IV chord in measure 2 and play a V7 chord in measure 12 as a turnaround.

Article / Updated 08-15-2022

One of the most important tools for your piano playing bag of tricks is a good supply of left-hand accompaniment patterns. Any time you’re faced with playing straight chords or even playing melodies from a fake book (which pretty much just gives the chord names), you’re left to your own resources to supply an interesting-sounding bass line. It’s important to practice these patterns again and again to master the right notes and the way each pattern feels under your fingers. The more comfortable you are with the pattern, the more easily you can apply it to any key, any chord, and any scale. Fixed and broken chords The easiest left-hand accompaniment is chords, whether you play them as straight chords or arpeggios. Start with the basic chords and find inversions that work well for you without requiring your left hand to move all over the keyboard. Also, you should experiment with various rhythmic patterns. For example, try playing quarter-note chords instead of whole-note chords. Or try a dotted quarter and eighth-note pattern. Here, the left hand plays a simple chord progression with several different rhythmic patterns. You can listen to these left-hand chords in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 72. Play these a few times and decide which rhythmic pattern works, sounds, and feels best to you. You can change the texture and add some variety with a constant arpeggiated pattern in the left hand. For every chord symbol, use the root, fifth, and octave notes of the chord’s scale to form an up-and-down pattern throughout the song. This pattern works for fast or slow songs. To play a song using the left-hand accompaniment, play “Love Me Like You Used To.” found in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 91 Chord picking Left-hand chord picking is a style well suited to country music. But even if you aren’t a fan of that genre, you can apply this pattern to just about any song you like. Most chords are made up of a root note, a third interval, and a fifth interval. You need to know these three elements to be a successful chord-picker. To play this pattern, break a chord into two units: the root note and two top notes. Play the root note on beat 1 and the top two notes together on beat 2. To make it sound even more impressive, do something a little different on beat 3: Play the fifth of the chord by itself but one octave Lower. Now try playing this pattern in the piece found in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 74: “Picking and Grinning.” After you get the feel of this bouncy rhythmic pattern, you won’t even need to look at your hands. Your pinky will find the two alternating bass notes because they’re always the same distance from the root. Octave hammering This easy (if tiring) left-handed groove is really fun and easy if your right hand is just playing chords. But if you’re playing a melody or something more complicated than chords with your right hand, this pattern may not be a practical choice. To hammer out some octaves, you simply prepare your left hand in an open octave position, with your pinky and thumb ready on the two notes, and make sure your wrist is loose enough to bounce a bit with the appropriate rhythm. When the chord changes, keep your hand in octave position as you move directly to the next set of octaves. You can play the octaves using any rhythm that sounds good to you — try whole notes, half notes, even eighth notes, depending on the rhythmic character of the song. “Octaves in the Left,” found in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 75, lets you roll out some octaves. As you become more familiar with harmony, you can add to these left-hand octave patterns with octaves built on the notes of the chord. For example, the octaves in “Jumping Octaves” move from the root note to the third interval note to the fifth interval note for each right-hand chord. Bouncy rock patterns In addition to slamming octaves, a nice rock and roll-sounding bass pattern may use other intervals drawn from scale notes. You can create a great bass pattern using the octave, the fifth, and the sixth intervals of each chord. Try this rockin’ accompaniment along with “Rockin’ Intervals” found in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 77. You can modify the pattern to fit a two- or one-measure pattern in 4/4 meter. After a few times through, your hands will know what to do, and you can apply the pattern to any major chord. The great Chuck Berry made the locomotive-sounding pattern demonstrated in “Berry-Style Blues” very popular on the guitar. It was only a matter of time before some trail-blazing pianist adapted this guitar pattern to the piano. All you have to do is alternate between playing an open fifth and an open sixth on every beat. Listen to “Berry-Style Blues” in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 78 Melodic bass lines Some left-hand patterns are so widely used that they’re better known than the melodies they accompany. Listen in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 79 to “Bum-ba-di-da” — one such pattern that was made famous by Roy Rogers in his show-closing song, “Happy Trails.” All you need are three notes from each chord’s scale: the root, the fifth, and the sixth. Play them back and forth, over and over. To play a song with the bum-ba-di-da bass line, play “Country Riffin’.” Another melodic left-hand pattern played by every pianist from novice to pro is the “boogie-woogie” bass line. It doesn’t even need a melody. This bass line uses notes from a major scale but lowers the seventh note of the scale a half step (also called a flatted seventh) to give you that bluesy sound. For each new chord in the boogie-woogie bass line found in Book IV, Chapter 2, Audio Track 80, you play the following scale notes up the keys and then back down: root, third, fifth, sixth, flatted seventh.