How to play piano with both hands (chords only): part II

Summary

Students will learn to play the bassline with their left hand, combine them together with the and play along with a song.

_{The timing and pacing of the exercises in this lesson plan example are approximate and will differ depending on your students' skill level. If the pace of this lesson plan is too fast for you, divide it into several lessons and add additional activities (see 'Activities' section). If the pace of this lesson plan is too slow for you, explore the 'Beyond the lesson' chapter at the end of this lesson plan for additional activities.}

⏰ Time: 45 min

🎓 Grades: 1-12

🎯 Objective(s): As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Play G, Em and C bassline with their left hand;
• Combine G, Em and C chords with their right hand with their bassline;
• Play along with a song.

💡 Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:

• Basic knowledge of notes (A-G)
• Basic knowledge of keys of the piano
• Basic knowledge of finger names on the piano (1st finger - 5th finger)
• Playing G, Em and C chord with the right hand

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Pianos or Keyboards for students

Song Suggestion

Warm-up:

🕐  5 min - Reflect

• Select the song 'Just The Way You Are' by Bruno Mars from the Song library. Click on 'Piano' under 'Tools' - 'Visuals' so that the keyboard is visible.
• Revise the skills learned last time through a discussion:

Can you tell me the names of the 3 chords you learned last time? (G, Em, C)

Can you tell me the keys of the G chord? (G, B, D)

Can you tell me the keys of the Em chord? (E, G, B)

Can you tell me the keys of the C chord? (C, E, G)

Can you tell me which parts of the song we practiced last time? (Intro and Verse 1)

Practice

🕐 10 min - Exercise 1 - Three Basslines

• Tell your students to find the G key in the middle of the keyboard and play it with their left hand's thumb. If you tell them all to play in unison, it may help to quickly identify if anyone's playing the wrong note.
• Now, tell them to find the next G key on the left side. It should sound a bit lower. Again, let them play in unison with their left hands to identify any issues!
• Next, ask your students to find the E key - it will be the second key below the G key. Ask them to play it with their left thumb!
• Then, help students to find and play the C key with their left thumb - it will be the second key below the E key.
• Let them practice the keys and get familiar with them!
• Show this key combo to your students - G-G-E-E-C-C-G-G. Repeat it multiple times with your left hand.
• Tell students to repeat what you played and ask them to play all keys with their left thumb.
• Let the students practice this combo by themselves. Encourage them to slowly build up the tempo if they feel comfortable enough.

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🕐 10 min - Exercise 2 - Left AND Right?!

• Tell the students that they will have to combine the left and right hand parts in the song slowly.
• Select the song 'Just The Way You Are' by Bruno Mars from the Song library. Click on 'Piano' under 'Tools' - 'Visuals' so that the keyboard is visible.
• Press the minus button on Solfeg.io - it will slow down the audio. (Important!)
• Explain that the right hand part will be shown on the screen and will be the same as the last time. You will have to add the left hand from today's exercise.

Tip: If students are unfamiliar with chord/bassline relationships, explain to them that if you play the G chord with your right hand, you will also have to simultaneously play a G bassline with your left hand. If you play the Em chord - the E bassline. For the C chord - C bassline. This should help students to see the parallels and the connections between the right and left hand parts.

• Press play and show your students how to play the intro (Right hand: G chord-G chord-Em-chord-Em chord-C chord- C chord-G chord-G chord; Left hand: G-G-E-E-C-C-G-G OR just look at the visuals in Solfeg.io). You can press the loop button so that this section would repeat multiple times.
• Then, tell your students to try playing the intro themselves along with the song a couple of times.

Tip 1: if you see some students struggling to change the chords, tell them to skip the repetition part of each chord. This way, the sequence becomes: G-pause-Em-pause -C-pause-G-pause, and the students have more time to switch between chords and find them.

Tip 2: Press the minus button on Solfeg.io one more time - it will slow down the audio even more.

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🕐 10 min - Exercise 3 - Hurry Up

• Press the plus button on Solfeg.io - it will get your audio back to the original tempo.
• Again, press play and show your students how to play the intro in the original tempo with both right and left hands. You can press the loop button if you want.
• Tell your students to try playing the intro themselves along with the song a couple of times!
• When the students feel comfortable, offer them to play both the Intro and Verse 1 of the song! The chords will stay the same.
• Play Intro + Verse 1 2-3 times together with your students.

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🕐 5 min - Exercise 4 - Perform

• Now, tell the students that they'll have to play the whole song now with both right and left hands. The song lasts 3 minutes and 35 seconds and the chords stay the same throughout the song.
• Tip: If some students are not comfortable with the chord combo yet, you can choose a shorter section of the song to play, for example, Intro - Verse 1 - Verse 2 - Chorus 1.
• Press play and let them perform! Don't forget to applaud yourselves after the song has ended!

Reflection

🕐 5 min - Discussion

• How was your performance?
• How was it to combine both hands while playing? Was it easier to play with your right or left hand? Why?
• Would you like to learn other parts of this song (singing, percussions, ukulele, guitar)?

Beyond the lesson

• Students can learn the basics of piano playing by completing Solfeg.io 10-day program on the mobile app - it contains both left and right hand parts for very easy songs, including Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars.

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