Chords In The Melody For a Much Fuller Sound

Good morning. This is Duane. Today I’d like to talk about putting chords in the melody in the right hand. Usually when you learn to play the piano your first use of chords is in the left hand; I know it was for me. I remember I learned “Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts,” and I learned the C 6th chord and the D minor 7th chord. I thought I was in heaven. I thought that was the end. Then gradually I learned the swing bass and that sort of thing. You get into it gradually of course but it’s usually left hand bass.

But after you do that you can add so much to your right hand to the fullness of the song if you put the chords in your right hand as well. Let me illustrate. If I’m playing, say, “Moon River,” now that sounds fine but you can fill it out like this. That run there, is just took that chord that I was playing, B diminished 7th, and ran it up the keyboard a couple octaves and back down. Once you get to learn chords in the right hand you can start adding runs in your right hand too based out of the same chord. It’s not like you have to learn a new thing.

This applies to all styles. Let’s say you’re playing a little jazz or you’re playing a little rock, and so on like that. Or maybe you’re playing “Over the Rainbow.” The principle is the same. You get the chords under the melody. Whatever your melody is, put chords under it. Say your melody is “Over The Rainbow.” You have to figure out what chords you’re using in your left hand and match them up. If you’re using a C chord there than you have to put the C chord in your right hand. Of course you can put in color tones later. Color tones are notes like 6ths and 9ths and so on, which I do a lot of of, but if you’re just starting out then just play the basic triad under the melody.

The next chord is A minor so under that C melody I fill in the notes of the A minor chord. Let me lower it a bit so you can see it. The next chord is E minor. Instead of playing just B I play the E minor chord. Next chord is F, so instead of just playing the C, play an F chord. Next chord is G 7th, so instead of playing just A I play the G 7th chord. The next chord, say it’s E minor 7th. You’d put in the notes of the E minor 7th chord under the melody.

Now, there’s various ways to do that. You don’t have to play them all at once, in other words. You see, sometimes I play it at the same time, the inner notes of the chord at the same time, but I don’t have to. I could play them separately. I could go … That would be a basic beginner way to do it but you could just break up the chords like that. Sorry, I blew that. You can either play it as a block or you can play it broken. Once again, I apologize for my voice. I’m working on it but it’s not completely cleared yet, because it rasps.

That’s my little lesson for today and I hope that helps a bit. Thanks for being with me. See you tomorrow. Bye bye for now.

***For lots more good stuff on piano playing come on over to my website at https://www.playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips – “Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”

Here’s a great little book on chords and chord progressions on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Chords-Chord-Progressions-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0076OUGDE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404158669&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+chords+duane+shinn

You’ll learn piano chords galore and how to apply them when you play piano – major chords, minor chords, augmented chords, diminished chords, 6th chords, 7th chords, 9th chords, 11th chords, 13th chords, suspensions, alterations and more. Chords are the “missing link” in most piano lessons and you can learn them all easily. Learn piano playing and music theory at the same time – it will make your progress faster and you will understand music like you never have before.

Here is the video on YouTube: Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYBu7W8GaxY&feature=youtu.be

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