The course › Unit 11: Accompanying a song
Lesson 64 of 72 · Ballad, eighths, 3-3-2, oom-pah and waltz: the same chords, five styles
Take four chords, C – G – Am – F. Change only the rhythm of the right hand… and you change the style. Rhythm is an accompaniment’s signature:
Why this way: As Émile Jaques-Dalcroze recommended, every rhythm goes through the body first: you tap it, you say it, you sway to it… and only then do you play it with the chords. Once the rhythm is in your body, your hands just follow.
Listen to the count-in, then tap. For the eighths, say “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.” For the 3-3-2, count eight eighths, “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,” and tap only on 1, 4 and 7.
The same chart, two energies: the steady pulse of the eighths, then the sway of the 3-3-2. Four measures in even eighths, then the same chords in 3-3-2. Play the eighths from the wrist, with little bounces. The computer plays the bass.
In the oom-pah, your two hands answer each other: the left hand plays the bass on 1 and 3 (the root, then the fifth), and the right hand places the chord on 2 and 4. In the waltz, in 3/4, the bass falls on 1 and the chord answers twice.
The oom-pah: bass on 1 and 3, chord on 2 and 4.
The waltz: bass on 1, chord on 2 and 3.
Tip: A solid bass, light and short chords: the contrast between the “boom” and the “chuck” is what gives it bounce.
Did you know?: In Harlem stride piano in the 1920s (James P. Johnson, Fats Waller), the left hand plays the oom-pah all by itself: a low bass on 1 and 3, a chord in the middle of the keyboard on 2 and 4, leaping back and forth nonstop.
Say “boom” on beats 1 and 3 without tapping (tap your foot if you like), and tap the “chuck” on 2 and 4. Then every beat, and a little variation at the end.
At your own pace: left hand on 1 and 3 (the root with 5, the fifth with 1), right hand on 2 and 4. The hands never play together: they pass the ball back and forth.
Boom-chuck-chuck: a waltz, with both hands. Let the first beat ring out a little louder. Count “1, 2, 3”: the bass on 1 (left hand), the chord on 2 and 3 (right hand). To finish, both hands hold the whole measure.
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