One melody, several accompaniments

Here is a short original melody in C major, four bars of four beats. Each bar sits on one chord: C, F, G, then C again. On the strong beats, the melody plays a note of that chord: E, G and C over C, A and C over F, B and G over G. In between, a few passing notes (A in bar 3, D in bar 4) link them by step.

Listen to it alone first, so you know it well. In the rest of this guide it will not change by a single note: only the left hand will.

The three left hands below play exactly the same chords, in the same octave, just under the melody. What changes is how the notes of each chord are laid out in time. Switch from one to the other while the melody stays in your ear.

Density: how many notes at once

Block chords and syncopated chords are the thickest: three notes at a time, struck together. The syncopated chords are let go after one beat, though, so short silences open up between them. The walking bass is the thinnest of all, a single line, which leaves the most room around the melody.

Movement: how often something happens

Block chords move twice per bar and then hold still; the melody does all the moving. Syncopated chords strike three times per bar, and the second strike lands on the “and” of 2, between two beats, where the melody never starts a note. Stressing a point between the beats like this is called syncopation: many listeners hear it as a push forward, a sound common in pop. The walking bass moves on every beat and changes direction, almost a second melody in the low register.

Register: where the hands sit

All three stay in the octave below the melody, so the two hands never collide and the tune stays on top. Try it on your own piano: play the block chords an octave lower and the sound gets heavier and rounder; play them in the melody’s octave and they start to cover it.

None is better than the others. Block chords are the easiest place to start and leave you free to think about the melody. Syncopated chords ask for a steady sense of the beat, since one strike comes between two beats, but they give the bar drive. The walking bass needs the most attention, since it is a line of its own.

You can also mix them: block chords for the first half, syncopated chords when the melody comes back. The same tune then gets a second life without a single note of it changing. For more left-hand patterns to try under this melody, such as a held bass note or octaves, see the guide on what to play with the left hand.