Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize some tasty country piano waltz comping patterns… 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.
Practice Reminders
- Always practice with a rhythm track, record yourself, listen to the playback immediately, and ask yourself: Is that what you intended to play?
- If your timing feels off or anything feels tense or awkward, experiment with your choreography until your musical intentions and technique become one.
- Don’t give up. It may take over a hundred attempts before you get it, but you will get it if you use these practice habits and never give up, guaranteed!
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Country Piano Waltz Pattern #1
A staple of playing country music is this country piano waltz comping pattern… applied to a 32 bar song form in two 16 bar sections… in the key of A…
Notice the patterns: (1) Left Hand = the root of each chord on beat 1 of the odd numbered bars, “the 5″of each chord on beat 1 of the even numbered bars, (2) Right Hand = triads “strummed” on beats 2 and 3, in the middle register, connected using voice leading.
Performance & Technique Tips: (1) Imagine that your left hand is the bass player and your right hand is the rhythm guitar player, (2) Play each bass note with a separate impulse, but don’t attack the keys, (3) Try playing the right hand chords as if you’re brushing the keys as you pull your arm and hand away, (4) Feel and keep the time in mostly in your flowing arms, not your fingers,(5) The proper feel is an unrushed lilting groove that makes people want to dance!
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 160 beats per minute (It’s perfectly fine if you’d rather play the chords more staccato)…
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Country Piano Waltz Pattern #2
This country piano waltz pattern incorporates scale-wise walk ups and walk downs that connect each chord to the next and create a strong sense of forward drive and anticipation…
Left Hand Pattern: Bread and butter 1-5-1, but with a scalewise walk-up 1-2-3-4, scalewise walk-down 4-3-2-1, scalewise walk-down 1-7-6-5, and scalewise walk-up 5-6-7-1. This is where knowing your scales really pays dividends.
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 160 beats per minute (It’s perfectly fine if you’d rather play the chords more staccato)…
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Country Piano Waltz Pattern #3
This country piano waltz pattern incorporates broken chords played in gently swinging 1/8th notes which give everything a wonderfully relaxing lilt…
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 110 beats per minute (feel free to experiment with various amounts of swing to suit your personal taste and the feel of the tune you’re playing at the time)…
Practice & Performance Notes
Swing feel: A slightly “lilting” or “unrushed” rhythm achieved by playing with gently swinging eighth notes.
- Right Hand Pattern: Triads “strummed” as broken chords in gently swung 1/8th notes in the middle register and connected using voice leading.
- Rhythm. The swing 1/8th notes are impossible to notate accurately. It’s all about an unrushed lilting groove somewhere between straight 1/8ths and a shuffle that makes people want to dance!
- Consider “ghosting” the single notes on all the upbeats.
- Technique Reminder: There is never any need to attack the keys. Feel and keep the time in mostly in your free flowing arms, not your fingers.
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Country Piano Waltz Pattern #4
This country piano waltz pattern uses a 3-1 broken chord pattern played in gently swinging 1/8th notes (which give everything a wonderfully relaxing lilt), walk ups and walk downs that connect each chord change, and fun b3-b5 turnaround thing to lead back to the top…
Don’t try to name the chords in the walk ups and walk downs. Just internalize the pattern: the bass walk moves diatonically from the root of the starting chord to the root of the finishing chord root while the right hand walk moves diatonically from the 3 of the starting chord to the 3 of the finishing chord with a drone note on top.
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute (feel free to experiment with various amounts of swing and articulations to suit your personal taste and the mood of the tune you’re playing at the time)…
Technique Reminder: There is never any need to attack the keys. Feel and keep the time in mostly in your free flowing arms, not your fingers.
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Your Homework
Using your knowledge of scales and chords (and your ears, of course) play this country piano swing pattern with a rhythm track in all keys you expect to play in. Suggested keys are those preferred by guitar players: C, G, D, A, and E.
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Practice Tracks: Country Waltz Drums
Country Waltz Rhythm is all about three-ness–with the kick drum playing all “the 1s” complemented with yummy stick taps on beats 2 and 3…
Listen to a sample at 160 bpm…
Country Waltz Drums (MP3s)
Downloadable drum tracks for jamming along and tightening up your Country Waltz Rhythm… each long enough to wear you out, tempos ranging from 100 to 200 bpm in 10 bpm increments…
The benefits of playing along with a click track at various tempos cannot be overstated: very slowly at first to have enough time to “think about everything”, then fast enough to be forced to “play without thinking”.
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 100 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 110 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 120 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 130 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 140 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 150 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 160 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 170 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 180 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 190 bpm…
Play Along Waltz Drums @ 200 bpm…
For a donation to the website (Donations Page) Frank would be happy to send you his entire library of Country Piano Comping Patterns and Drum Tracks produced to date… accessible by a direct link to three sets of downloadable zip files that include high res PDF music scores and full length MP3 drum tracks for the country piano two step, country piano swing, and county piano waltz.
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learn more… Country Piano Lessons
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