Country Piano Gospel Waltz

Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize the Country Piano Gospel Waltz style… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…

Table of Contents

---

Prerequisites

Basic music reading skills… basic scale, chord, and chord progression theory… basic technique… the LOVE of music and the discipline to study and practice.

back to… Table of Contents

---

Country Piano Gospel Waltz Style

A staple of playing country music is this country piano gospel waltz… a delicious mix of two home-spun and uniquely American musical genres.

Here’s a typical in 16 bar song form in two 8 bar sections based on the big three chords in the key of C Major…

Notice the extensive use of octaves, triplet pickups, walk-ups, walk-downs, and Floyd Cramer licks… all definitive features of the country gospel style…

---

Practice & Performance Notes

Pattern Recognition. Don’t merely “memorize” this. Use your knowledge of scales and chords to discover the very simple patterns being used. Notice, for example, that all the repeated notes are either “the 1” or “the 5” of the chord, the walks are scale-wise, and that all the triplets are the “2-3-1” of the prevailing chord.

Interpretation. Don’t overplay the triplets. Think unhurried and understated. The triplet figures are embellishments, not infrastructure.

Technique. 1) It’s ok to release the repeated notes and chords before playing the next one, 2) No flams between your left and right hand. Play each chord as if you have one giant 10-finger hand, 3) Feel and keep time with your arms, not your fingers, 4) Have some momentum going into each note and chord, using full arm and hand gestures to control the timing and dynamics.

Practice Tracks. Playing with a rhythm track works wonders for developing your time and technique. Anyone interested in downloadable play along MP3s?

---

learn more… Country Piano Lessons