Ok this is a beginner piano lesson so we will only use basic chords, like we take the basic C major chord. Ok, we can play the song that C, E, G plays and split those three notes on the left hand. But that would really get boring, so let’s take a couple of different things you can do to make that left hand chord more interesting.
First I am going to explain how to have an alternate bass in the left hand. Now if you’re going to do this with a C chord, you would basically play the C note with your left hand, then go up an octave and play the entire C chord. And you have to know your timing with this so that if you’re using ¾ time, you’d hit the C note and then play the entire chord twice. If you were in a 4/4 time signature, you would just switch from C, not to chord, then you would go back to the C note and then you would play the chord. This isn’t the most interesting and pretty sound you can make with your left hand, but it’s great to get your left hand used to playing with your right hand in rhythm.
This method is great for beginners, but once you get the hang of it, you shouldn’t dwell on it during a song, although it’s good to implement it every now and then. But to get started, play the entire song using this pattern until you are very comfortable with it.
Now the second way you can break a chord in your left hand is to play arpeggios. Arpeggios are simply broken chords, instead of playing the notes of a chord simultaneously, they are played one at a time. For example, the C chord is made up of three notes C, E and G. If you play them as a chord, it is much more complete than playing just one note, but we can get a rich and full sound using arpeggios when we use them in the way. correct.
With your foot on the sustain pedal, in the first beat play the root note with your little finger, then play the fifth not with your index finger, then in the last beat play the third note with your thumb an octave higher. So if it were a C chord it would be C, G, then E. And if you are using 4/4 it would play C, G and then E, but instead of starting over with C it would play C, G, E, G, then back to C.