If you’re looking for a way to add some extra beauty and sensitivity to your piano playing, I think that you’re going to love this left hand pattern. I use this pattern in so many of my tutorials and song covers on YouTube- it’s simple yet amazingly effective.
In this article, I’ll explore the key points you need to be aware of to learn this left hand pattern, and how you can apply the technique to your own practice. I firmly believe that you’ll be able to learn this particular pattern within a couple of weeks or even just a week, if you set aside time each day to go back over it. As with any piano technique or trick, it’s important to keep at it consistently in order to see results. No one can learn a pattern instantly, but with solid practice and dedication, this could become a staple of your own performance pieces.
If you’re more of a visual learner, don’t worry. I’ve put together a video detailing all the content in this article with some examples, you can find that with the rest of my YouTube videos. There’s plenty of other useful tutorials on there, too.
What is the pattern?
If you’ve been studying piano theory at all, you should recognize this pattern as an arpeggiated 9th chord. The notes are scale degree;
1 3 5 8 9 5 8 5
The important thing to remember here is that the 8 is the root up, and the 9 is scale degree 2 up an octave. It may sound a little complex if you’ve never used this style of pattern before, but it’s much simpler in practice. For example, if you were playing this in C major, the notes would be;
C E G C D G C G
If you were playing this in A minor it would be;
A C E A B E A E
You should be able to play this pattern in any chord you like, simply by following the numbers we set out above.
As we said earlier, this is a beautiful pattern to use in a number of different songs and styles. If you take a look at the video demonstration of this, you’ll be able to see how I’ve played it in a variety of different songs- including Lollipop by Lil Wayne and Mary Had A Little Lamb! It’s incredibly versatile, and a quick way to add more emotion into your piece. If you aren’t sure how to accompany a right hand pattern you’ve learnt recently, then I would definitely recommend trying it out with this pattern.
How you can learn this pattern
As with learning any new musical pattern or technique, this will take you some time and practice. Don’t worry too much though, there are a number of helpful techniques that you can implement to make the learning process even smoother. I’ve collected my favorite ones here to help you out with your journey;
Added Note Strategy
This is an all-round great way to learn a new pattern or song on the piano. Put simply, this way of learning will have you play the pattern in a sequence, note by note. The way to do this is;
- Start off by repeating the first note over and over, for roughly 8 to 12 times.
- Then, you would add in the second note and play both of them 8 to 12 times.
- Then you would add the third, and so on.
This is a great method of learning to play a pattern, as it trains your hands to be comfortable with the motions needed to play it well. Additionally, it is a great way to help yourself memorize the pattern and be able to play it from memory. In general, this is a very good technique to have at your disposal when you’re trying to learn new songs and patterns.
Thumb isolation
One of the main pieces of this pattern that people struggle with is the re-playing of the thumb between notes. It can feel like an awkward gesture to make, and is where a lot of people can stumble when learning this pattern for the first time.
The easiest way to get over this awkward step is simply to practice going between the two notes which both require your thumb. Simply repeating the motion can help train your hand to flow between the notes easier. Don’t forget to utilize your wrist for easier movement here, too.
Rhythms
The rhythm strategy is arguably one of the best strategies to learn new patterns with. This strategy requires you to play the pattern in a number of rhythms;
- The first one rhythm is ‘ long – short – long’. This simply means alternating between playing one note slower and one note faster as you go down the pattern.
- The next rhythm simply requires you to reverse this pattern e.g. ‘ short – long -short’.
- After that, you’ll need to follow it up by playing the pattern in the rhythm ‘ short – short – short – long’.
- And finally, this will be followed up the reverse ‘long- long- long – short’.
Doing this will help you get a real feel for playing the pattern, and it will help your muscle memory improve too. It should also help your natural flow and rhythm improve as you play the pattern with other music as well.
Overall
To sum up, this is a fantastic pattern and I’d recommend checking it out if you’re a pianist at all. It’s really versatile, as you’ll be able to tell from my YouTube video about it and it is not too tricky to pick up either! As long as you set out a specific practice routine that covers all of the techniques that we looked at above, I’m sure that you will be able to pick this up in no time.
If you want more piano tips and techniques, make sure to take a look over on my YouTube Channel for all of my tutorials and covers. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to leave a comment or even email me at zach@bestpianotips.com – I’m always happy to help you guys out.