Left Hand Accompaniment
Very often in Blues piano playing the right hand plays the melody or chords, while the left hand provides an accompaniment of bass notes, partial chord patterns or a riff. In lessons 4 to 6, the left hand played only single bass notes. This was because of the many blue notes contained in the right hand parts.
When using blue notes you often have to avoid using complete chords in the left hand because some of the notes may clash. However, this doesn’t mean that single bass notes are the only things you can play with the left hand.
One of the most common Blues accompaniment techniques is the use of a two note partial chord or shell. In the following pattern, the bottom note of each chord is the root note (C), while the top note alternates between the 5th (G),
Now try applying this pattern to the root notes of the F and G chords. All three of these are used for a Blues in C. This exercise requires a complete shift of hand position for each change. Practice it slowly at first.
Here is the same left hand pattern applied to the 12 Bar Blues progression.
