How to Play the Piano (or Keyboard) in Ten Easy Lessons: Lesson 4 -- Arranging and Fillers -- Letting Your creativity Show

You now know enough to play a tune fairly well. But at this point it is what is usually referred to as a "bare bones arrangement," or at least close to it. Not much creativity has gone into it. And let me remind you that the title of this book is, "playing the piano like a pro." If you watch a professional piano player you see his (or her) hands moving all over the place. One moment he is playing chords near the center of the piano, then he's in the upper register playing notes that seem to be unrelated  to the song -- but they sound good. Then he's adding a fancy, and so on. this, I'm sure is what you would like to do, and, indeed , this is where your creativity shows.

As I mentioned at the end of the last lesson, what you want is to make sure that every song you play doesn't sound the same, and isn't boring. And you do this by making up an arrangement. Your first arrangements don't have to be too elaborate, but they'll get you out of the rut of always sounding the same.

I outlined several things you can do that help in the last lesson, and I don't think it will take too long for you to realize the the number of possibilities is extremely large. You can vary the left hand by varying the pattern-- in particular, by varying the positions and numbers of single notes and chords. Similarly you can vary the right hand by using four-note, and three note chords along with thirds and so on, along with single notes.

"Voicing" The Chords

In this section I will have to write out the chords so you know what I'm talking about, but don't worry. This will be the only place you'll be reading more than a single line of notes. And I'm hoping it won't scare you. I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

"Voicing" means how you arrange the chord -- in particular, which notes of the entire chord you use. For convenience we'll think of the entire chord as the octave chord; in the case of C major (with the lowest note being C) it is C-E- G-C', so it's a four-note chord. It can, however, be a five-note chord such as C7, which is C-E-G-Bb-C'. Don't worry if you have trouble playing five-note chords (in most cases you won't have to).

Let's begin with the possibilities for C-E-G-C'; the major ones are shown below (where the key note is C')

You can use any of these for the melody notes. But aren't there any rules? you  might ask. There are suggestions, but there are no rigid rules. Some of the suggestions are as follows.

1. Don't use full chords for all melody notes. They will be difficult to play, particularly if the piece is fast, and they'll make the piece sound "too full."
2. The three combinations that you should use the most are: full chord, octave, single note.
3. The lead-in notes (before the first full bar) should be single notes, or octaves.
4. The first note of the first bar should be a full chord. Also, most first notes of bars should be relatively full chords if they aren't short notes (e.g. eighths and sixteenths)
5. Try for variety throughout the piece. In other words, use a variety of different chord types.

As an example I'll consider the song "On Top of Old Smoky." The melody line with chord symbols is as follows.

The best way to start a new piece is to "feel" your way through it with your right and left hands separately. When you have decided what you want you can bring them together. In the right hand, begin by experimenting with various chords. Keep the suggestions that I gave you earlier in mind. It's important to let your ear be the guide. If it sounds good and you like it, it may be what you want for your final arrangement. Also, when you find something you like it's a good idea to write it on the music in pencil so you remember it. You don't have to write out the music. Just use something like " full chord, or octave here" to remind you. If you decide later that you don't like it you can always erase it.

You will be playing the piece up one octave from where it is written. But when you play single notes, they don't necessarily have to be played up an octave. For example, in the above piece you can play the first middle C in its usually position, and the first note in the second bar as a full octave chord. The melody note is really up an octave here, which is okay. We'll continue by playing the E and G of the first bar as octaves, then we'll switch to an F chord using three notes of the chord. Also, use a three note chord for the next A, then switch to an octave for the last note in the bar. The following F in the next bar should be a full chord; then try something different -- use the partial chord shown, and follow it with the chord shown. Then back to  a full chord on G.

Once you have an arrangement that you like, play it over until you can play it smoothly. You'll notice that the next eight bars have the same melody. You can play them the same way you did the first eight bars, but eventually you should try for some changes in them. I'll talk about that later. The arrangement below will give you some ideas.

Now for the left hand. For the most part you should keep it relatively simple at this stage. Remember the position of the three notes in the pattern I discussed earlier. It was a single note and two chords. Start with it, then add a few variations. When you've practised hands separately and have both down smoothly bring them together.

Fillers

In the above song it's easy to see that there are several bars that contain long notes. In some cases they extend over the entire bar, and may even go on for two bars. This is true of all music, and if you merely hold the notes through these bars, you are missing a good opportunity to show your skill and creativity. And the way to do this is add "fillers." There are obviously a large number of possibilities and we will only look at a few of them in this lesson. I will show you several things that you can easily add (in later lessons we will look at the topic in more detail). You can add fillers in both the right hand and left hand; for now we'll consider only the right hand. I'll start with what are called non-run fillers; as you will see later, they are generally a little simpler than run fillers.

Right-Hand Non-Run Fillers

Some of the simplest fillers of this type are sequences of dyads (two notes) They can be played in upward or downward sequences, or a combination of the two. One of the easiest is thirds; you could, for example, use the sequence shown in the figure on the left; it could also be play downward, as shown on the right. An interesting variation on this is an "echo effect" in which you play the three dyads in one octave, then play it in a higher octave. Make sure  you keep the timing correct as you do it, however.

You can, in fact, play them anywhere there are long notes in the song. It's a good idea to stick to the notes of the key at first, though. Later you can add in a few "accidentals" (notes not in the scale) for variety.

Fillers like this don't have to be restricted to thirds. You can, in fact, use any of the following;

1. 4ths (C and F in the C scale are a fourth apart)
2. 5ths
3. Octaves

And again you can play sequences up or down.

Two other interesting fillers are simple scale patterns and single note patterns. In a scale pattern you play part of the scale either up or down (or both), usually in an upper octave. For variety you can vary the timing. One of the most creative patterns is the single note patterns; part of it can be a scale, but what you want to do is vary it in an interesting way. The best guide is your ear; try several patterns. When you find one you like, add it in.

Broken Chords

Broken chords are used extensively as fillers, and usually sound good. What is a broken chord? Previously we played all of the notes of a chord together; but you can play them in two groups. Consider the C chord; I'll assume we're playing the full octave tetrad, as shown on the left below.

You can also play the octave notes first, then the interior notes, as shown. This is a broke chord. In the same way, you could play C then the other three notes. There are obviously several possibilities. Referring to the fingers by numbers, we have: 1-235, 5-123, 123-5, and so on. A particularly useful broken chord is the broken triad shown below.

We'll see later that you can add several types of variations to these combination.

When you're making up an arrangement, it's a good idea to experiment with several types of fillers. Using the same type all the time can become boring.

Mix Them Up

There are, of course, a large number of combinations you could use. Some of them are:

1. Several single notes up, thirds down
2. Single note up, fourths down
3. Use an echo effect with thirds (play in lower octave, then up an octave)
4. Broken chords plus sequence of thirds
5. Sequence of octaves down plus a few single notes

These are only a few of the many possibilities. In most cases they should be played in the octave above where the melody is being played, but you can play some of them in the same octave.

Runs

One of the flashiest types of fillers is the run. It is an octave chord that is broken up into individual notes played one after the other. For example, C major would be played as C-E-G-C', with each note played quickly after the preceding one. You have to be careful with runs, though; if you play too many the effect is lost. You can make octave runs sound even better by adding in the sixth or seventh; runs on diminished and augmented chords also sound great.

Runs can be played up or down, and they are frequently played in the upper register. I've only mentioned one octave runs here, but as we'll see later there are a large number of different types of runs, and they can extend across two or more octaves.

Fillers for the Left Hand

Fillers can also be used in the left hand. In the right hand they are usually referred to as melodic fillers; in the left hand they are called harmonic fillers. All of the things that I mentioned for the right hand can also be used in the left hand; this includes thirds, fourths, fifths and octaves along with partial scales and various single note patterns. They are not used as much in the left hand, but they can be helpful for variety. Runs can also be used in the left hand. Again, mix them up.

Practise

1. Play a chord, then play several of the "voicings" of the chord -- in other words, play the chord with some missing notes. Try using some of these voicings in songs.
2. Play thirds, fourths and fifths all over the piano in different keys. Get used to them. Practise adding them in several songs.
3. Make up interesting single-note patterns. Listen to them carefully and memorize the ones that sound best. Do this for several different keys. Parts of the patterns can be scales.
4. Practise broken chords of various types. Try 15 - 23, 1 - 235, 5 - 123, 1 - 35 (triad) and so on. Play them in different keys and in various places on the piano.
5. Practise single octave runs up and down. Keep the even.
6. Try mixing some of the above together.
7. Experiment with using some of the above in the left hand.

How to Play the Piano (or Keyboard) Like a Pro: Lesson 3 - Simple Melodies With Hands Together

We're now ready to play a song, and it is best to start with an easy arrangement. The only chords will be in the left hand; we'll play single notes in the right hand (don't worry, we'll get to something that sounds better shortly). The first thing you need is the a copy of the melody and chords, and this is given in the lead sheet. As I mentioned earlier, this is the upper line of single notes in the sheet music of most songs. I'll select the song "I Love You Truly;" the first part of it is shown below.

I've selected it because it is relatively easy. It is in 3/4 time which tells us there are 3 quarter notes per bar. We therefore count 1-2-3 for each bar as we play it. Also we see that it is in the key of C. Let's start with the base; it will consist of single notes and chords. Before I talk about them, though, I have to tell you a few things about the base staff itself. It is shown below; the first thing you see is that it has a different clef, called appropriately, the base clef. The lines and spaces are, as you might expect, different from the stave for the right hand. Their designation is also shown. When you're playing music you won't have to worry about them, but to get you started I'll have to show you what to play in the base, and for that you'll have to know how to read the notes.

The easiest base chord pattern for the above song is as follows: the single note C one octave below middle C followed by the two chords E-C-G (The first inversion of the root chord of C). Written out this is

In the right hand you play the single notes of the melody: G for the first bar, and A and C for the second. Note the timing, and make sure you play the right and left hands at the same time when they are on the same beat. In the third bar we switch to F so the lower single note will be F (play the one below the C you just played). Any inversion above it can be used as the chord, but it's best to use the second inversion (C-F-A). Again, play it twice. The next two bars are G7 chords, so in the base you will begin with G (the one above the G you just played), then play two chords of G or G7. Again, it doesn't matter which inversion  you use, but try D-G-B above it. And I think you can easily finish the song off yourself. Practise it several times counting 1-2-3 for each bar. I should also mention that you should depress the right pedal at the beginning of each bar and release it at the end.

Single notes in the right hand are great, and they are easy, but even when you're able to play the piece perfectly it still sounds a little on the simple side -- as if it need something more. And it's pretty easy to fix that. All we need to do is put some chords in the right hand. To do this we have to move the melody line up one octave. You don't need to worry about reading notes up above the top of the treble staff -- just think of the written notes as up one octave. The chords have to be added down from the lead notes, so the first G chord will be C-E-G. with G as the upper note.

The first note of bar two may seem to present a problem: A is not in the C major chord. But it's not really a problem; just play the A along with several notes from the C chord. Do this for any note that is not in the chord. Continue adding chords to all the notes of the right hand in the same way, and add in the left hand pattern we talked about earlier. Practise it until you can play it smoothly.

As you work on it, you'll no doubt begin to notice that the ump-pa-pa of the left hand is a little boring. And. indeed, there is a way of getting around this; there are several variations you can use. One is to play two single notes and a chord, as shown below.

Or you can try a single note, a chord, and a single note. And finally, you could use three chords as shown below. Mix things up for a little variety.

Now, try a song on your own. A good one is the old standard "Home on the Range." You can easily find the lead sheet for it in any old songbook of standards. As I mentioned, it's a good idea to have a few songbooks, or a good fakebook, so you'll have several songs to work with. The first part of "Home on the Range" goes as as follows.

Four-Four Time (4/4)

Four-four time (4/4) has four quarter notes to the bar; it is the most common time for country, pop, rock, and in terms of dance music it is referred to as the fox trot. Common time, or C, also has four quarter notes to the bar. The basic patterns for 4/4 time are quite different from those of the waltz. One of the most common is called the swing base." It has two single notes and two chords in the base. For example, for C, we might have the following.

The second single note is the fifth of C, and it is played lower. Each bar is played in the same way: key note first, chord, then lower fifth and the same chord again (or possibly the chord in a different position). Practise this pattern for C, F, and G. The fifth of F is Bb, and the fifth of G is C.

As before, you can play single notes in the right hand. But playing all single notes doesn't do much for the piece, so as soon as possible, start adding chords to the right hand. As an example, we'll use the song "Red River Valley." The lead notes are as follows.

Note that it is in the key of G and has four quarter notes to the bar. Most songs have an introductory couple of notes in the first bar; they can be played as single notes or a octaves. Apply the swing base, and start off playing single notes in the right hand. For the first bar in the base you will have G single, G chord, C single, and G chord; this continues for the next two bars. Then you switch to D single, D chord, G single, D chord. Then back to G, and so on.

When you can play it smoothly start experimenting with chords in the right hand. Again, take the melody up one octave so you don't conflict with the left hand chords. If you try to play a chord for every note you soon find it is difficult to do; furthermore, it makes the song sound too dense (as if there are too many notes). One way around this is to play octaves on the faster notes (eighth notes). In the first bar this means you would play a G chord on B, two octaves on A and F, then a G chord on F, and finally two octaves on A and F. Actually, if you prefer, the first note of two eighth notes in a pair can be a chord, and the second an octave. Also, as a rule, you should play the first note of any bar as a chord.

Taking the melody up an octave may seem a little awkward to you, and indeed, it is easier to play a chord up from a melody note than to play it down (at least it is for me). And, indeed, you can get around this. Earlier, I mentioned that it was a good idea to try playing chords with the upper key note in them. For C major this is C-E-G-C'. If you use four note octave chords in the right hand, you can play the melody as if it were in the register just above middle C (as it is usually written). You're still playing down from the melody note, but you're following the melody using your thumb, rather than your last (small) finger. This is easier for most people, and as an added bonus, you get some extra notes in your song.

You won't use these octave chords in the left hand; it should remain as you played it earlier. And as I mentioned earlier, you can use a swing base in the above piece, but as with the waltz, you'll soon find that it will eventually get a bit boring, so it's a good idea to vary it every once in a while. There are several variations you can use. You can, for example, repeat the chord, then come down to the fifth, as shown, or you could use four chords in their inversions upward.

Getting back to the right hand, I  mentioned that it is usually too much to try using chords for every note, and it's a good idea to use octaves for eighth notes. But you can do much more than this. For any melody you have the option of playing;

• A full chord (four notes)
• A three note chord (triad)
• A two note dyad
• An octave
• A single note

There are no rules for what you should play at any point, but remember that if you are not playing an octave or octave chord, you must play down from the note up one octave. The best guide is your ear; if it sounds good, use it. If it doesn't, try something different.

What you want, in effect, is to make up your own arrangement of the song. And it's not as hard as you may think. Try it with "Red River Valley." We'll talk a lot more about arranging in the following lessons.

Practise

Take several songs from your fake book and apply the technique that I showed you above. In other words, make up an arrangement of them. Start easy with single finger right hand patterns and standard swing bases, then vary them.

How to Play the Piano (or Keyboard) Like a Pro: Lesson 2 - Chords and More Chords

We now come to the heart of the method I will be showing you. It's called the "chord method" and as you'll soon see it simplifies things a lot. You won't have to read pages of complex music, but you'll be playing as if you are. The first step in this method is to learn a few simple chords, where a chord is a group of several notes played together. We'll start with the simplest chord, namely two notes played together. It forms a dyad, and the most important dyad is the third. When you play middle C and the E above it on the piano, you are playing a third, and it is very important in music, so it's a good idea to get used to playing thirds. Play C and E, then D and F, and E and G, and so on up the keyboard. Stick to white notes as first, but then try a few black note thirds, such as F-sharp and A-sharp. Practise playing them all over the piano until you get used to them.

If you add another note you get a triad.  Begin with C-E-G; play it with fingers 1-3-5. This is a triad in C, and it's referred to as the root position of the C major chord. Now, move up to G and play the triad   G-B-D. This is a G major chord, and again it is the root position. In the same way, play F-A-C; it is the root position of F major.

In the last lesson we analyzed scales in terms of tones (T) and half tones (h). Let's do the same thing here. Looking at the C major chord C-E-G we see that there are four half tones between C and E, and three half tones between  E and G (count them in the diagram). This means that our basic major chord is made up of:

• A key note (C).
• A note 4 half tones above it (E).
• A second note 3 half tones further up (G).

What is important about this is that all triads are made up in the same way, so it means you can easily figure out the basic triad for any key. Try it for D, E and A, but be careful; they'll have some black notes in them. Incidentally, the above "formula" can be abbreviated as R-4-3, where R stands for root note.

I'd like to add something useful to this that will be helpful later on. In the case of C-E-G, add the upper C (we refer to it as C'). The chord will then have four notes, namely C-E-G-C'. People with small hands may have a problem playing this chord, but you should try, as it will be very helpful later on. Also, go to G-B-D and add G' to get G-B-D-G'; similarly for F you will get F-A-C-F'.

Inversions

Let's go back to the  C major chord C-E-G. I mentioned that this is the root position of the C major chord. Consider the upper two notes in this chord; play them with C' so that you get E-G-C'. If you listen carefully to this chord you will find it is harmonious, and sounds similar to C-E-G. Indeed, it has the same notes; the only difference is that it has C' instead of C. It is referred to as an inversion of the root position of C major. Similarly, you can go up to G-C'-E'; it is another inversion. Try playing these inversions up and down to familiarize yourself with them.

You can do the same thing for F and G. For F you will have the root position F-A-C, and the two inversions A-C-F' and C-F'-A'. I think you'll be able to figure out the inversions of G quite easily. And again, practise them up and down the keyboard several times until you are quite familiar with them.

As you'll see, we will be using these chords in both the right and left hand, so it's also a good idea to become familiar with them in the left hand. Go down to the octave below middle C and practise the inversions upward for C. Then do the same thing for F and G. Don't worry about memorizing them; they'll come naturally to you once you begin playing a few songs using them. And, indeed, you're
almost ready to do that, but first let's look at some other chords that will be useful.

Minor Chords

Songs with only major chords in them can be a bit boring. So let's look at what we can do to spice things up a little. If you've ever listened to someone playing a song on the piano I'm sure you've noticed that it sounds different in certain places; in other words, the chords sound different, and they certainly aren't all major chords. So, what can we do to make them different?  To answer this, let's look back at the root position of the C major chord, namely C-E-G. One way we can change it is to change the E into an E-flat; if we do this we get what is called C minor. We can write it as C-Eb-G, where I'm using b as a flat symbol (in practise it's a little different but b will do here). And again, the inversions are
Eb-G-C' and G-C'-Eb'.

We can make the root form of  F and G into minors in the same way. In the case of F we flat A, and for G we flat B, so we have F-Ab-C and G-Bb-D. The inversions in this case are Ab-C-F', C-F'-Ab' and Bb-D-G', D-G'-Bb'. Spend some time playing these chords on the piano so that you become familiar with them. Finally, note that in terms of half tones the minor scale has the root, 3h's and 4h's, or R-3-4.

Diminished Chords

Another important chord is referred to as the diminished chord. In this case we add a flat to the C minor chord; this gives C-Eb-Gb. Listen to the sound; it is quite different from that of the minor chord. And again, the inversions are Eb-Gb-C' and Gb-C'-Eb'. Applying these same changes to F we get F-Ab-Cb (actually, Cb is B), and its inversions are Ab-B- F' and B-F'-Ab'. And for G we have G-Bb-Db and its inversions. Practise each of these until you're completely familiar with them. You'll find that it doesn't take long. Finally, in terms of half tones, the diminished chord is R-3-3

Augmented Chords

I don't want to scare you with too many chords, but there are a few more. Don't worry, though, we're almost there, and you have already learned enough to play a large fraction of popular songs. The augmented chord is not used very often, but it has an interesting sound and is useful to know. To get it, go back to the C major chord, C-E-G. This time sharp the G so that you have C-E-G#. Try it on the piano; it sounds somewhat like a chord you would hear in a Russian folk dance, and indeed, that is one place you will find it.

In the same way for F you get F-A-C#, and for G, G-B-D#. By now the inversions should be obvious, so I won't bore you. For those of you who are interested, in terms of half tones this chord is R-4-4.

So you now know the major, minor, diminished and augmented chords for C, F, and G. The next step is to see how you use them in music, or what we call the "score" of a song. For this we have to look at sheet music.


Sheet Music

The best way to become familiar with sheet music is to take the score for any popular song and look it over. I'm sure you have one somewhere. The first thing you see is a simple arrangement of the song that is relatively easy to play, but this isn't what you are interested in. What you will be playing is much more complicated than this arrangement, but you won't have to read a lot of notes to do it. For the most part you can ignore the written  arrangement. What you are looking for is the single treble clef above it. Here you'll see the melody notes of the song, and what is nice about it is that it is a sequence of single notes, so they're not hard to read. And in the chord method this is all the notes you have to read.

Above these notes you will see letters such as C, G, F and so on. They will frequently be at the beginning of a bar, but they can occur anywhere within the bar. They are telling you what chord to play at that point. In the above case (after the first two notes) it is G, and G major chords should be played for the next two bars; at the end of those two bars you see the letter C. If nothing comes immediately after the C, it is assumed to be the major chord. In many cases, however, you will see other letters, and they are designating one of the other types of chords we discussed above. The usual designations are:

               Chord Type                        Symbol
                 Major                                  C (G, F, and so on)
                 Minor                                  Cmin
                 Diminished                         Cdim
                 Augmented                         Caug,   C+

In the above sample, try playing the chords for the notes. Begin by playing the first two notes as single (or octave), then play the G chord for B and so on. Play them down from the written notes. Don't worry about playing them all through from the beginning, just practise playing  them in any order.

At this point it is also useful to begin practising the chords in the left hand. Try them separately from the right hand. They don't have to be in the same position as the chords in the right hand, so play them in the root position initially, but also try the various inversions we learned. They should be played below middle C.

You may have thought I forgot to mention the stuff at the beginning of the clef. I didn't and I'll do it now. It tells you what key the song is in, and its timing. In the above case F is sharped so it's in the key of G (and all the F's throughout the song should be sharped). The 3/4 refers to the 3 quarter notes per bar, which is a waltz.

While we're talking about sheet music I'll mention what are called "fake books." Buying the sheet music for every song you want to play can get rather expensive, and in recent years there's the problem of finding it (single sheet music scores for individual pieces are no longer published for a large fraction of songs). The best way around this is fake books. They're not really fake; they give you the melody notes of a large number of songs and a listing of the chords to play along with them, and they're not very expensive. So it's a good idea to invest in one or two (they usually have hundreds of songs); they're available at most music stores.


Tetrads

I hate to make things even more complicated, but tetrads, which are chords with four notes in them are also very useful. You can do a lot with them and they make you sound a lot better. The major tetrad is the seventh; for it you add the note that is one tone (T) down from the upper key note. For the C major chord this is B flat, so C-seventh (C7) is C-E-G-Bb. Try it on the piano, and play its inversions. Similarly for F we have F7, which is F-A-C-Eb, and for G we have G7 as G-B-D-F.

Another tetrad that is quite useful is the sixth. In this case we add a note 1 1/2 tones down from the upper key note. For C major this is A, so we get C-E-G-A and it is written as C6; in the same way for F we have F-A-C-D, and for G, G-B-D-E. As it turns out, sixth chords are particularly versatile; they can be used in place of any major chord of the same key. For example, whenever, the C chord is called for, you can use C6.

Practise

This section is just to remind you of some of the things you should practise from this lesson.

1. Play and practise the inversions of all the major chords of C, F, and G.
2. Play and practise the inversions of the minor, diminished, augmented, and seventh chords of C, F, and G.
3. So far we haven't said anything about A and D chords, but they do appear in songs in the keys of C, F and G. Pick out the major, minor, diminished, augmented, and seventh of these two keys using the information I gave you earlier. It shouldn't be too difficult for you at this stage. (just in case you are having a problem I'll give you some of them: The major of A is A-C#-E and for D it is D-F#-A, and the minors are A-C-E and D-F-A.