Q. I know how to do basic comping with 7 chords.
Like with a C7 I would play LH root C and RH the 3 and the 7 (or 7 and 3).
But how do you comp a chord like Fm? Without the 7 I'm not sure what to play. Just the 3?
I hope this makes sense.
Thank you!
A. I'm not a pianist, but I suggest leaving the root out (odds are the bassist is playing it) and leaving the natural 5th out (it does very little to define the quality of the chord).
Do play 3rd/7th in your left hand and other chord tones or melody notes in your right hand. You'll discover that the LH voice leading falls together pretty naturally this way, and you are free to add tension tones or improvise in the RH.
Less is more, and the larger the ensemble, the truer this becomes.
Now... that said, comping is a delicate art that requires years of study to do well, so take your time, have fun, and perhaps get yourself a jazz piano teacher who can help you along. Also listen to and steal from your favorite pianists a LOT. If you arent' sure who to listen to, start with Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea just to get their sound into your ear - all are very sophisticated and really playing the way they do will be out of your reach for a while, so cherry-pick the occasional cool voicing that you can and just enjoy the rest. McCoy is known for huge voicings that require a lot of strength, and Chick often plays polytonally (in multiple keys at once) so don't discourage yourself by trying to become like them overnight. Bill is the epitome of mainstream "cocktail jazz" piano, and you will learn and grow conceptually just by enjoying his amazing, delicate, beautiful compositions, solos, and voicings.
How is playing a church pipe organ different from playing a piano?
Q. I play the piano by ear, and the village I live has a pipe organ, it is only two-tiered (as in, it has one lower keyboard and one upper keyboard) it also has pedals. I was wondering, why does a pipe organ have two sets of keyboards and what do the pedals do? In addition to this, would it be possible for me to play a piano piece on a pipe organ, such as the one mentioned earlier in this question?
Thank you.
A. In a pipe organ, there are thousands of pipes to produce very high quality sound. It is different than a piano and a lot harder because you have to worry about the pedals for your feet. After a while it will just be natural, but some organ pieces require you to use both of your hands and both of your feet at the same time and very fast. It can take a lifetime to master the piano, but to master the organ you must really be dedicated and practice very hard and be good at sight reading music. On the organ, since you can sustain a note forever, you have to worry more about how loud the note is being played, unlike a piano, and more about how loud and soft the pedals are compared to your hands. It takes a very skilled organ player who can play at three or four different volumes for your hands and fingers. The organ also allows you to adjust to the sound of any instrument by the sound waves mechanically going through the pipes. It's pretty neat. Sometimes in certain songs, you'll need to adjust the instrument and other things such as volume, dynamics, and the dampening of the soft pedal, for example, which can be really confusing if you don't know how to play the song correctly. The main difference betwen the organ and the piano is the bass pedals on the organ for your feet. The chords on an organ sound very pretty, and it takes a really skilled organist to played complicated pieces such as Tocatta and Fugue. It's about 10 times more complicated than the version for piano which has 3 clefs that you have to worry about (the organ has 4 clefs). You have to be a really good organ player to site read really complicated songs. Although the organ sounds really pretty if played correctly, it's a much harder instrument than the piano and also can get much louder. It definitely would be possible to play a piano piece on a pipe organ because the organ uses much more notes on average in songs than the piano. You probably couldn't play an organ piece on the piano very well, but a piano piece on the organ should be no problem. The music is the same for both instruments. Hope I helped!
Maxwell
Is it to late to start and learn piano at age 19?
Q. Is 19 at the age of old dogs can't learn new tricks stage?
I heard some say that our brain stop developing at a certain age(12?) So it would be alot harder now if i didn't start learning at a really young age.
I always wanted to play piano really. . . but I guess I was a bit to lazy and wasn't really motivated enough. Now I sort of regret it back then.
A. While it's harder to learn piano at a later age, it's not impossible. I'm 19 and I started taking piano in college for credit. The only previous experience I had for reading notes came from a computer program called "Music Ace" that I had to complete in two years at my high school. I learned to read notes exceptionally well in high school and because of that, piano came a little easier at first. Now I'm learning things about diminished and augmented chord qualities and it's a little harder now.
If you can keep at it and practice at least 20 minutes every day, you can learn piano. You might not be as proficient at someone that's been playing since childhood, but you'll still become a very decent player at the end of your lessons.
Best of luck!
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Title : How is it that you comp piano chords?
Description : Q. I know how to do basic comping with 7 chords. Like with a C7 I would play LH root C and RH the 3 and the 7 (or 7 and 3). But how do you ...