One way of emphasizing or making the right-hand melody notes sound richer is to play the notes simultaneously with both hands – i.e., use the Right and Left Hand fingers to play the melody notes at the same time.

You could do this for a dramatic introduction, or when you play the second part of the melody*, or even parts of the chorus (* Usually, the first part of the melody is to get the listener used to songs tune, so it shouldn’t be too embellished)

Also, as the video shows, instead of just playing single melody notes, you could also experiment the following way to make things even richer:

- play the right hand melody using with full chords (i.e., you’re playing the melody, at the same time holding notes of the chord you’re also playing with your Left Hand)

- at the same time, play that same melody with the Left Hand fingers using single notes.

This is just PLAIN NONSENSE.

(Once again….) Based on the 1000+ songs I’ve heard over many years, I can state for a fact that any given popular song can be played and interpreted in so many different ways in different keys by different performers… very often yielding a better sounding product than the original version.

A performer often sings or plays in a different key (from the original) because it better suits his/her pitch, or a band is more comfortable playing a particular key. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – if the resulting music is great, because a good overall interpretation of a song is what really all that matters – not the key it was originally recorded in.

And I believe that most composers would indeed be proud and flattered that his/her song has been re-created, especially if done in ways that’s appreciated by many…because that’s an extended credit to his having composed it.

Going back to the piano, you simply cannot hope to even mimic an original version of a vocalist accompanied by say, an orchestra, even if you tried to, because the pianois a solo instrument with it own unique sound… not to mention you only have 10 fingers !

And key-wise, I have no qualms about revealing that I’m more comfortable transposing songs to the easier-to-play keys of C, D, F and G.

No big deal about this. I’ve heard so many songs sung or played in these keys, it’s pointless to even argue with anyone who, for instance, might claim that learning and playing in a harder original key somehow proves better musicianship.

Well, of course, if you were a formally–traind pianist in an orchestra or a well-paid accompanist who works a lot with vocalists and have to be versatile in playing any keys in order to suite the singer’s pitch preference, that’s well and fine. But most of us aren’t – we’re modest solo pianists, playing any darn key we like. And that’s just fine!

As I tell some singers that I accompany, if it has to be Db, let’s do C (one semitone down) instead; if Ab, let’s make it G; or, if you sing in Bb, that should be quite ok as Bb is quite easy, otherwise let’s do C (2 semitones away), etc. It always works.

My advice is, don’t play in a key you’re not comfortable with – you’ll likely stuff up in a performance. Just transpose your notes (you should master this by using my easy transposition) Play a few easy keys (C, F G) VERY WELL, then try the harder black keys later.

In this blog, I”d just like to show 3 ways of ‘strumming’ or playing your left-hand chords in accompaniment to your right-hand melody, when you play a slower-type song that has the very common ‘Rock Beat ‘ tempo. This is the tempo you hear often, when a vocalist (especially one also playing the piano together ) sings a slower contemporary song.

As the above video show, the purpose here is to show a few the ways you can strum* your left –hand fingers, and when youre familiar with each of them, you can then flexibly, and as appropriately, blend them in your peft-hand playing throughout a given song.

* Sorry, I’m fond of using the term ‘strum’ - for want of a better word - as this is what I used to do when I first learned the guitar… strumming the strings, and humming the melody along. I couldn’t sing of course.

Thank you.

In addition to playing and moving around the chords, we are going to be adding ‘transiting’ or ‘filler’ bass notes with our extreme left hand fingers.

Your little left small finger (pinky) is always holding one bass while you play the chord with the other left-hand fingers, so it’s time to make it even busier by moving it around a bit more, with the purpose of ‘connecting’ the cords with acceptable sounds within the scale you are playing.

As you watch the above video, you will observe that you can hop over from one chord to another using a few extra bass notes, as long as they sound right.

If you are playing the chords in the key of C, then these notes fall within the scale of C. Of course if your are playing the chords in a different key, then these bass notes will correspondingly change (Eg., by transposing them to find out what these are, if necessary).

Done properly and keeping in timing, this makes the change of chords sound more interesting , rather than just switching from one chord to the other.

But you should try to add these basses only intermittently and ‘in good taste’ in the duration of the song (you learn this through hearing how they are applied in songs or by other musicians, or through practice and self-observation).

You shouldn’t apply these basses liberally right throughout the song, just for the sake of doing it… (oh well, maybe initially, if you’ve just discovered this technique and are quite excited about using it!)

Thank you.

Some simpler songs just repeat these patterns through the song, Eg., oldies music with a C –Am-F-G progression.

For starters, the above video illustrates this very common progression.

It is useful to be familiar with chord progressions because:

- Being able to better anticipate what the next chord/s will ‘typically’ be helps make learning and playing easier in that part of the song where the pattern occurs;

- It possibly also helps when you’re composing a song. Many popular song melodies are built around common chord progressions because they’re proven and work nicely.

- Knowing chord progression also helps when you’re in a situation of playing impromptu, and may need to think quickly to apply an appropriate set of known progression chords for say, an intro or a break before the main melody starts again .

We’ll talk about other chord progressions in due course.

Thank you.