Piano Chords in Your Right Hand?

Good morning. This is Duane and today I’d like to talk about right hand piano chords. When I teach chords, I usually teach them in the left hand, and I think some people have the impression that you just play chords in the left hand and the melody in the right, and while that may be true for when you’re starting out, it’s certainly not true as you get more advanced. So, I just want to talk about right hand chords today. I had a fellow ask, “Don’t you ever play chords in the right hand,” and of course, the answer to that is, of course. Yes, I do, but I think I gave the wrong impression.

In any case, let’s take a look at a number of songs. Let’s say I’m playing this song. (music) Well, that’s fine. You got a single note standing out with the left hand chords, but you can make it so much fuller if you add chords to the right hand. This is a C chord, so I’m going to add the C chord, but I’m going to put in it probably a ninth and maybe a seventh, major seventh. (music) You see that. It fills it out so much more, doesn’t it, and it’s just a matter of taking the left hand chords and applying them to the right hand.

Now, you have an advantage when you play two hand chords because, you know normally a chord, you have to get all the notes of the chord in your left hand, but that’s not true. You can add- If you wanted to play the root in fifth in your left hand and play the third in your right hand into the melody … See, that makes a full chord, so by combining the right with the left, you get a fuller sound, and then by putting color tones like ninths or sevenths or flatted ninths or dominant seventh or sixths in the right hand too, you get a much fuller sound.

Now, it’s good to vary that once in awhile with a single note. Notice I played chords there … chords … chords … and then on these quick notes … and it sounds kind of pure when you go back to the single note, doesn’t it? So, I would vary it between the two. Let’s say you’re playing … (music). All right. Okay, that’s a single note, so let’s put chords in the right hand … (music) and that fills it out a whole bunch, doesn’t it? Now, if you want to fill it out further, then you play an octave in the right hand. I have a very small hand, but I can barely play octaves, and I can play them and I can sometimes fill them in too, so if your hand is big enough, then you can get that sound. (music)

Say, you’re playing in the key of D flat, you might … (music.) You can do the two-step too. If the melody goes like this … (music) you can do a two-step and play two notes. (music) You see, that fills it out more. I just wanted to clarify that, that yes, you can play chords in the right hand, but you should vary it so you’re not always playing chords. Use a single note once in awhile, just particularly on faster notes, okay? So, that’s it for today, and if you like that sort of thing, come on over to PlayPiano.com, and sign up for our free newsletter because we have videos galore on all kinds of chord ideas and all general kind of piano playing stuff, so see you there. Bye bye for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kW8DcKzy4k
——————————————————————————————————-