Chords for Beginner piano accompaniment pattern every player should learn // Play Piano chords with both hands

This pattern is really the [Bb] basis for a lot of rhythm [F] accompaniment parts on the piano,
something you'd play under a singer.
[C] It's a great beginner piano [Bb] accompaniment part because it's one of the simpler [F] ones you can learn first,
playing with both hands, but it doesn't sound [C] amateur.
It sounds really good, [Bb] it sounds full.
You can get [F] through entire songs just playing this pattern.
It'll teach you a lot about [C] how the piano is used in this [Bb] way,
help develop some coordination [F] between your hands,
develop your sense of rhythm and timing,
[C] and give you a strong foundation to [Bb] build from
and learn other more [F] complicated things and other rhythms in the future. _
[A] _ _ _ _ If you're new here, this channel is your guide through [N] developing all the different skills and knowledge
you need to become a better piano player and musician.
So if that's something you want to do,
consider clicking the subscribe button and the notification bell
so you don't miss out on anything you need to learn.
And if you're new to piano, after this you might enjoy this other video I have
on some fun musical sounding beginner exercises
where you'll learn a bit more about how to actually play.
And I cover some other chord rhythm patterns,
some finger exercises and improv over backing tracks,
which are also on the channel to play along to.
I'm actually going to show you two slightly different ways to do this.
They're both really important to learn.
One with single notes in the left hand in this video,
and then part two with octaves in the left hand,
which let you create an even bigger sound.
They're a really useful position to learn,
so make sure to come back for that and I'll pin it in the comments when it's up.
We'll just do this pattern on one chord to start with,
and then at the end I'll quickly show you how you can apply this
to any basic chord progression you come across.
Playing some kind of chord voicing in the right hand
in this sort of middle region of the piano
is what's going to give you a nice full warm sound.
I'm going to use a C major chord in the right hand,
and I'm going [C] to play it like this in second inversion shape.
Don't worry if you don't know what that means at the moment,
I'll do a video on that very soon.
But basically, here's a regular C,
and I'm just playing that note G at the top down here instead.
Although if you prefer you can try this on that root position [G] shape
or any other chord.
I'm going to use fingers 1, 3 and 5
as my hand moulds comfortably into the shape of the chord that way.
If you struggle with playing a chord comfortably,
maybe your other fingers are pushing notes down you don't want,
then watch this short video and come back.
There's a link to that in the description.
So with this shape, remember to bring your hand
nice and forward and over the top of the keys.
If you hold it back you'll be pulling your thumb away
and have to twist to get it.
A lot of the time when playing accompaniments
your left hand is going to want to play
or at least focus on the root note of the chord.
And that just means the note that's also the name of the chord.
We're playing a C major chord so the root note is a C.
If I [C] play that here, _ when added with the chord
it's going to immediately give the chord a lot more depth
and make it sound bigger. _ _ _
So in this position the pattern sounds like this. _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ And then it loops around and [F] around
and you can move it to different chords to play a song.
So we can think very percussively for this way of playing.
We're creating a rhythmic pattern between our two hands.
Let's break down how to play that.
So it starts off hands together.
_ _ And then the left hand.
So together, left.
Then we add the right hand.
And we get together, left, right.
Then we go back and forth between left and right hand
and eventually come back to hands together.
Like this.
Together, left, right, left, right, left, right, left.
Together.
Practice that bit by bit until you can do one cycle
and then practice being able to loop it around.
Then back on the piano, keep in mind when you clapped
how you were using your arms to control the movement.
Then we just perform that whilst directing our fingers to the right notes.
And you can also do this bit by [C] bit if you need.
As your hands are playing, don't forget that you actually need to lift your hands up properly
and release the keys before they can go back down.
People often push them down and get fingers stuck in the keys.
Don't lift them up early enough to make the next beat.
This can make your playing very stiff and uneven.
So start off with just hands coming down together.
Keep your wrists nice and flexible and relaxed as you do this. _ _
And then it feels like one hand going down pushes the other hand going up.
So be together.
And then the right hand stays down whilst the left hand goes up.
Left hand comes down, pushes the right hand up like that.
Don't lift your fingers off the notes,
otherwise you're just going to have a job to find the position again.
Just keep your fingertips touching the notes.
And if you lift your arm up to exactly the right height,
the keys will be released and you can kind of feel that you're still in the same position.
If you feel your arm pulling it up and leaving your fingers to dangle down,
they shouldn't be putting any pressure on.
Think about how long you're holding the notes for.
You don't really want to be doing this. _
_ _ _ And if you hold on to the note that's down whilst the other one goes up,
you're going to never have a break in the sound
and it's going to sound really connected and joined,
if that's the sound you're going for, which I think is a good one to practice.
It's good to control the sound as much as you can first with your hands
and then we can add the pedal down to polish it off.
Make sure that when you push a chord down, even though we're holding the notes,
your wrist doesn't want to tense up and go stiff.
Allow [E] some flexibility so it can still move.
So it feels kind of like it's doing this more than this.
Constant motion will help your wrists to relax.
Make sure to try and keep the timing nice and consistent and even.
Practice that as slow as you need and then gradually speed it up.
If it feels uneven or difficult, you're going too fast.
If anything feels tense and locked up, just relax a second,
maybe have another go on your knees to get the feeling of [C] the rhythm back.
Here's what it sounds like looping around.
Together, left, right, left, right, left, right, left.
Together, _ left, right, left, right, left, right, left.
Together. _
[F] I don't just want to show you a quick pattern and [N] leave.
You'll learn 10 times more about how to play the piano if you sit and think about how it works
and be able to count it or at least understand how the count works
if you can't play and count together yet.
But more importantly, feel where the strong beats and the ands are,
the main pulse and how we can go in between it as well.
First notice how between the hands, there's a completely even pulse. _ _ _
_ That's why this is a great one to learn first because it gives you a solid, even grid
to work against to develop your sense of time that you can build upon.
When you play a thick amount of notes, you're going to emphasize parts of the rhythm.
So every time we hit this right hand chord, it sounds stronger.
So here we're counting a bar as a looping cycle of four beats.
So we count one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, round and round.
And we're emphasizing each of those beats by hitting the chord.
[C] _ One, two, three, _ four.
So now I want beat one to sound even stronger, which is a common thing to do.
So hitting the chord with a low note in the left hand at the same time will create that effect. _ _ _
So beat one had more notes and it had a [Gb] lower note in particular, which makes it sound bigger.
Then the single [A] left hand notes in between the strong beats will sound weaker,
but propel the whole thing along, kind of making it feel faster,
giving it more momentum, adding movement and making more of a driving rhythm.
When you play, feel the emphasis and play a bit harder on the strong beats as well.
So even though this is a low note, you're playing it on its own and you can hit it a little bit weaker.
So it doesn't have the same accent as the strong beats.
Now, of course, you can play [Bb] around with that and play some of the left hand notes harder,
play some of the right hand notes softer.
So this rhythm is actually using something called eighth notes or quavers, as we say in the UK.
But I'll get into proper rhythm vocabulary in another video.
Here's how we count this.
We use the word and when we divide the main beat and play in [C] between it.
And one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and one.
So if I was to take that around a chord progression, all I do is change my hand position every time the chord needs to change.
So let's say I had one bar of C, one bar of B flat and then two bars of [F] F, for example.
So [Ab] in your right hand, you're just going to choose fingers that allow you to move between the chord positions comfortably.
In your left hand, you're not just going to use your thumb all the time for this one.
I'm choosing fingers that allow me to reach [F] the new root notes and then just [Bb] play the same pattern with them instead of just [F] my thumb.
And then as the chords change, I'm just going to lift up and move.
And I'm going to hold the pedal down as [D] well to smooth that out.
So [C] one and two and three and four, change.
[Bb] One and two and three and four, change.
One and two and three and four and.
[C] Sometimes you might only have two beats per bar as well.
So I could do one and two and [Bb] three and four [F] and one and two and three and four and.
So here the pattern is very [Eb] slightly different because I'm just doing another together on beat three when the chord changes.
Remember to come back for [Bb] the octave video.
[C] Using octaves in your [Ab] left hand is a really common way we [Eb] use the piano.
Let me know in the comments [G] how you got on with this pattern.
Please [Cm] leave a like if you found [Ab] it helpful as that really helps out [Eb] the channel and subscribe for more content to [Cm] help you develop your piano playing.
Thanks [Ab] for watching. _