How to get the left hand going?

[abrogard]

i'm a grown-up part-time newbie teaching myself. for amusement. going alright. good fun. but i'm doing it all one handed, right hand only. started doing that because the only sheet music i had was wind music, single melody line stuff, and because it's easier.

any clues on how to get the left hand going? I'm really bad at it....

and do you reckon it should be learned, piano style? or all the built in rythms and accompaniments etc. of a modern keyboard means the left hand should be busy switching them things rather than playing the traditional piano left hand?

 

[CowboyNQ]

and do you reckon it should be learned, piano style? or all the built in rythms and accompaniments etc. of a modern keyboard means the left hand should be busy switching them things rather than playing the traditional piano left hand?

Whatever works for you. You're playing for your own pleasure, so the rules are what you make them!

any clues on how to get the left hand going? I'm really bad at it....

Me too. Here's what I do - may work for you, may not. First I start by learning the right hand. Then, I learn the left hand. Then I slowly practice putting them together. As my confidence improves I increase my speed. Then, just when I think I've got it, I slow everything down to a crawl again and build the speed back up.

Depending on the complexity of the piece I might do the whole thing right hand, then the whole thing left hand, then put the two together. Alternatively I may only work out a bar or two at a time, slowly joining each section I've learned to the next.

Final tip. Rather than spend hours a day on it, I'll practice for small chunks of time, but often. I find a daily routine of 45 minutes works better than a weekly routine of 3 hours.

Good luck!

 

[abrogard]

Yep, I'll go with that. Thanks for that. It's just about what I do, works for me like that. Like in general, what you're saying about practice. I just haven't started doing it with the left hand yet.

I was thinking about things like just beating four beats to the bar with the keynote maybe - or the major triad of the key the piece is in..

Or trying rolling that triad - C,E, G and then back to the C to make the four beats...

Just to get into the habit of getting that left hand in there when it should be...

When I try learning the left hand on it s own with the paperwork I've got the left is so tricky often, sparse, a note here or there... stretched out leaping all about so's I have to stop and look... syncopated, coming off the beat... all sorts of hard work....

But I'll have a go at it...

Like you're saying... it's all for my own fun..

thanks....

 

[Rayblewit]

If it wasn't a challenge, it could be boring!
If it was all too easy, everyone would be doing it and we would all be bored!
I am like you @abrogard (self taught). I find the challenge rewarding and exciting!
I am far from accomplishing left hand bass cleff. But I have my goals and will not give up.
I have developed other strengths playing acmp chords and just enjoy it immensely.
So as @CowboyNQ says . .

You're playing for your own pleasure, so the rules are what you make them!

Ray

 

[abrogard]

Yes, it's beaut. I was just working through some showtunes and I found a bit in the lyric and the melody, just one note change and I thought it was brilliant.... wanted to tell everyone... do y ou ever get things like that?

 

[Biggles]

When I bought my first keyboard I started lessons, the teacher said...... do you want to play Piano or Keyboard?

He then added that there is a very distinct difference in the way of learning and hence how he would have to teach.

So now I play keyboard on my Korg Arranger, my left hand playing chords, accentuating a note and operating the buttons etc.

I would suggest that you decide which you want to play and then progress from there.

Practice little and often works best for me with at least one hour a day plus reading and watching tutorials.

Now I just select a Style and start the accompaniment playing and improvise, I am still rubbish but thoroughly enjoy doing what I am doing.

If you have not bought any books then Kenneth Baker, The Complete Keyboard Player (there are three books in the series or an omnibus edition) is what got me going, I started off slow and built up the speed and accuracy.

 

[abrogard]

Thanks for that. I'll try and decide... decisions such as that are hard for me.....

On the same theme what do you think of Bartok's tunes for children? I like them very much. I think they're excellent practice for beginners like me. They're about where I'm at. On the right hand.

On the left hand they leave me for dead. To think that such left hands were fare for learner children back those days...

You think I should persevere with them, maybe?

Here's an example:

bartok for children book 1

 

[Biggles]

It is whatever works for you, since we are all different and all learn in our own way.

If you are having a bit of left hand difficulty then perhaps the Bartok book is a bit to busy with both hands at the same time, perhaps some practice of more playing on left with less on right.

OK, that sounds a bit stupid but if you play say a quarter notes left handed and whole or half right handed, then switch over, switch back, then even up and over time independent action develops.

The issue I see with part of the Bartok book is that the hands are playing a lot of the exercises at the same time with the same note duration, which is not bad but it will not help independent actions of the hands.

An exercise you could try is choose a simple pop song, typical 1, 4, 5 chord sequence where the object is to play a bass line with the left and the melody with the right.

Start off with the rh just playing the 1 chord with the right for a whole note, then the 4 chord for a whole note, then the 5 for a whole note, then back to the 1 for a whole note, then repeat the sequence which is now 4 bars long.

With the left hand play the Root, 3rd, 5th and Root of each chord for a quarter note.

Keep practicing then introduce changes in timing on right hand but stick with quarter notes with the left, its the variable rh timing that will throw a curve ball into maintaining steady timing with lh.

When comfortable, it is time to vary lh, root, 5th, 3rd and then the 4th of the next chord, then root of the next chord 5th 3rd and again 4th of the next chord and continue btw this is called a rolling bass or at least its a variation of one.

Doing exercises like this will help getting the problem left working to its potential.

 

[abrogard]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try.

 

[CowboyNQ]

On the same theme what do you think of Bartok's tunes for children? I like them very much. I think they're excellent practice for beginners like me. They're about where I'm at. On the right hand.

On the left hand they leave me for dead.

I used to learn Bartok as a child. Believe it or not the tunes you've linked aren't that complicated in the LH. They look busier than they are, and often when the LH gets a little more involved, the RH becomes more static which also makes it a bit easier.

If you practice a little every day, nice and slowly, you'll work yourself up to a level of competence more quickly than you think. Keep the faith!

 

[abrogard]

Thanks for the encouragement... I'll try...