The course › Unit 12: Accompanying like a pro
Lesson 70 of 72 · Rock’n’roll, reggae, pop and gospel: one style per step
A chord chart doesn’t tell you how to play the chords. The groove is the rhythmic pattern the accompanist repeats from start to finish: the same chart becomes rock, reggae, pop or gospel depending on the groove you pick.
You already know the ballad, eighth notes, the 3-3-2, the oom-pah and the waltz (lesson 64). Today, four new styles, one per step. First, two opposites:
Why this way: You learn a groove like a new word: on a single chord first, until your hand plays it on its own, then over the whole chart. If a piece fights back, isolate one measure and repeat it slowly: that’s working in small blocks (chunking).
Did you know?: In the ’50s, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis pounded out their chords in eighth notes, standing at the piano: that sound turned the piano into a rock instrument.
’50s rock’n’roll on C, F and G, the three chords of La Bamba or Twist and Shout. Start slowly, then raise the tempo once the changes become automatic. Right hand: the chord in eighth notes, from the wrist, with small bounces. Left hand: an octave (5-1) on every beat. Both hands strike together on the beats, and the right hand adds the “and.”
Bob Marley’s reggae: bass on 1 and 3, skank on 2 and 4. Let go of the keys right away: the chord should be crisp, like a quick flick of a brush. The silence between the notes makes the groove. Left hand: the bass on 1 and 3. Right hand: the chord on 2 and 4, very short, released right away. The hands never play together: they answer each other.
In pop and rock, the new chord often arrives an eighth note early, on the “and” of beat 4, and is held across the bar line: that’s the push (also called anticipation). The music seems to lean forward, impatient.
Count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”: the new chord lands on that last “and.” The bass waits for 1.
The G chord arrives on the “and” of 4, and the tie holds it through beat 1.
Tip: Remember the tie (lesson 35): a tied note isn’t played again, it’s held. Here the whole chord is tied: press it on the “and,” and hold it through 1.
At your own pace. Right hand: three quarter notes, an eighth note, then the new chord on the “and” of 4, held until beat 2 (don’t play it again on 1). Left hand: the bass on 1, under the chord that’s already sounding.
The last style, and the warmest: the gospel ballad, born in African American churches, which gave us Let It Be and so many other piano ballads. The left hand lays down deep octaves, and the right hand plays the chords in steady quarter notes. Three ingredients make the sound:
Did you know?: The IV – I cadence is called the “amen cadence” because hymns so often sing it on their final “A-men.”
The finale: an original gospel ballad. Take your time, let the octaves ring, and make the F minor in the next-to-last measure sing. Octaves in the left hand (5-1), chords in quarter notes in the right. Listen for the “amen” (C – F/C – C), the seventh that pushes on to F, then the F minor just before the end. If you use the pedal, change it with each new chord.
← Lesson 69: 6/8, triplets and the shuffle Lesson 71: Finding chords by ear →