Learning piano lead sheet technique for arranger keyboard players

[bpsafran]

There are many online and YouTube courses for piano players, beginner and advanced.  But many of  the players who read this Forum are fairly advanced arranger keyboard players who know right hand note reading and playing, left and right hand chords, right hand arpeggios etc.  Is there a piano course oriented towards such players that focuses on converting left-hand lead-sheet chords (used to trigger styles on an arranger) into a left-hand piano arrangement - from a lead sheet and not complicated bass clef music?  For such players, there is no need to start at the begining with right hand note reading, chord and scale construction and playing in either hand. Something more focused on the arranger player would be very helpful.  A useful accomplishment could be replicating the bass and piano (e.g., chord1 or chord2) of a style by left hand playing, based on the chordal harmony.

Thanks,

Sam

[mikf]

I doubt if what you are asking us really available. The techniques, knowledge and musical experience needed to convert a lead sheet into a decent piano arrangement is considerable. In fact the original use of lead sheets was for exactly those kind of very experienced players, trained musicians, jazz players etc, ...who have spent years honing their piano skills and don't need note for note transcripts to play. They 'invent' their own complex accompaniment on the fly from the basic info on a lead sheet.
The lead sheet has become a great tool for arranger players because the machine does all that for you. so they can play straight from it without developing those skills.
But what you are asking for is a massive transition for an arranger player without those keyboard skills and experience. Good pianists get there by spending years copying, playing from full transcripts, learning, and doing it. 
Of course you can just play chords or play arpeggios, or learn to mix this up with broken and inverted arpeggios. But it would sound pretty basic and the higher levels are a lot to learn for most people. and come mostly from listening to others, a great ear, and copying what they hear until they develop their own style.
Mike
 

[DerekA]

Your main challenge here is that there is no single way to translate a chord into a LH accompaniment. There are so many different ways of doing it. At the most basic level, play the chord root note (or the on-bass note) doubled with the left hand. Or form an arpeggio with the bass notes. All they way up to creating some complex bespoke countermelody.

[YammyFan]

I have my Yamaha PSR  970 and my Yamaha SX 900 set to Ai  Fingering . It takes care of everything for me. I am not a proficient keyboard player, and without using AI fingering as a crutch I would not be happy with the songs I play.

[mikf]

AI fingering is no help when playing pure piano. You have to play everything yourself, and from a lead sheet with no notes to follow. The OP knows this, but maybe doesn't appreciate how advanced that is.
Without a lot of musical experience it is unlikely someone, particularly from the older age group, could transition successfully from arranger playing to what the OP wants to do. And its not just the lh. Unless you use the rh properly on a piano, adding richness and harmony notes as well, it will always sound very weak.
The OP also makes a comment about many people on the forum being 'advanced arranger players'.  Yes, there are many who are very advanced on the keyboard system operation, but the really good players on the forum are pretty much all people who played traditional keyboards - piano or organ for example - before turning to arrangers for whatever reason. They were already competent keyboard players, or at least quite musically advanced on another instrument.
That is only to be expected, because the whole point of the arranger for most people buying them, is that it is easier to play.
Mike

[bpsafran]

I am the OP. Thanks for all your comments .
My musical backgound as a teenager was on an
accordion with 3 years of lessons during which
I advanced to the end of the Palmer Hughes
series of books. So my right hand is well
developed for pop, jazz and light classical.
Accordion gives very good basis for understanding
chord and bass relations. It was relatively easy to
learn full fingered chords on my first arranger in
the 80's and I have continued on up to my
current Tyros5 .  However, while I am
advanced in arranger playing
(and not just button pushing) and building
registrations, I want to work on my left hand,
to play piano style based on the chord
progressions in lead sheets.I think the arranger
itself can help if I learn from piano styles already
programmed and try to play them myself. I was
wondering if anyone had tried this self
teaching and was successful.

[richkeys]

I want to work on my left hand,
to play piano style based on the chord
progressions in lead sheets.I think the arranger
itself can help if I learn from piano styles already
programmed and try to play them myself. I was
wondering if anyone had tried this self
teaching and was successful.

I can relate to what you are wanting to do. I am using a piano Style (style with piano arpeggio accompaniment-could be swing, jazz, rock, classical or basic arps) and playing a fakebook piece using that style along with a right hand piano voice. I then record a MIDI file of it (SX900) and open it up in Musescore on the computer. What I get is quick sheet music that I can play fully with both hands and perhaps eventually embellish on it further. I didn't even know this was possible. It looks like SX900 also has a music notation score utility that does the same thing but have not checked that out yet.

[mikf]

Much better in my opinion to listen and learn from good players than arranger styles.
On this forum, David Read (dalekwars) is a very accomplished pianist who often uses an arpeggio style of accompaniment, but it's nothing like a repetitive arranger arpeggio style. He splits, breaks, inverts the notes of chord constantly to sound really good, and fits them expertly to the melody. If you like arpeggio style, nobody does it better than David.
Many piano players use a bass/chord type accompaniment rather than arpeggio, where the sustain is heavily used, and the lh chord is often very open, and some of the chord especially chord extension notes or passing notes, appear in the rh.
Also listen to a light jazz player like Beegie Adair who has hundreds of recordings of popular songs out there. Beegie is one of the best at using chord changes, extensions and fills to really dress up the sound without ever losing the essence of the original melody. Beegie uses a bass and drums to accompany. And it's easy to copy this on the arranger by using jazz styles with everything but bass and drums off, then playing two handed piano just like Beegie.
Listen, learn, copy, practice. It's mostly trial and error as you develop techniques and tricks.
Mike

[Amwilburn]

I mean, you could try Yamaha smart pianist; it will generate an accompaniment score for your installed mp3s, and you can chose from different arpeggiates for the accompaniment. You need to have a CSP or PS500 series  though, for it to display. (Both are 88 key arrangers from Yamaha, the latter being the portable version of the 1st)

Mark

[rikkisbears]

Hi,
I signed up to Pianote for a free week.

https://www.pianote.com/

I've always wanted to play in full piano mode, but it just eludes me. Not sure if any course can help me with that. Probably just have to stick to 3 finger chord, split mode.

Still I might give the site another go.  I did a few months when I bought my es920 piano a few years ago.
I was a total reader, and wanted to see if I could be taught not to have to read everything.  Helped a bit. It teaches how to create your own arrangement from a  lead sheet , just tips on how to add embellishments  for left and right hand.
One of the add on courses basically 500 songs in 5 days. You don't actually learn the 500 songs per say, but gives ideas on how to play them.

Great if I want to play solo piano or accompaniment for someone, but, just have a mental block on how I can  use it in full piano mode with the arranger. Maybe one day it will sink in. Haha😄

[richkeys]

Much better in my opinion to listen and learn from good players than arranger styles.

Mike,
I would like to check out those musicians you mentioned. For me, I can read music OK, but I do have a hard time learning much listening by ear. I guess for me converting a piano arp style to music notation is a good starting point, but I agree that bass/chord variations, fills etc. would be nice too. Thanks for the suggestion on the jazz styles with everything but bass and drum turned off. I would like to try that.

Rich

[mikf]

Rich
I would say that anyone would have a really hard time inventing accompaniment if they cannot play by ear. In fact playing full piano from a basic lead sheet is almost the very definition of playing by ear. Playing arranger from a lead sheet is not playing by ear, you are reading the musical instructions - melody and chord - and playing them exactly. But playing full two handed piano from lead sheet is definitely playing by ear, because only the a basic framework is written, the rest is invented by you the player. Its how jazz pianists play all the time.
Anyway, if you try the full piano with bass and drums mode, use AI full keyboard fingering. That way the keyboard catches all the nuances of chord changes over both hands.
Mike

[SciNote]

I pretty much agree with what has been said here, but I can add some additional information.

I started learning how to play keyboard on organ.  On an organ, you can play a chord with your left hand, and it will sound as long as you hold down the notes.  Additionally, as most organs have at least two keyboards, you can play that left-hand chord in a register where it sounds nice and clear (instead of low and muddy).  And then, you add bass using the bass pedals.

Obviously, you have to modify this technique when playing on a piano.  You cannot just hold down a chord on a piano, because the volume of the notes will fade out.  And you usually would be playing those chords in a lower register on a piano, where the sound would be too muddy for a regular chord.  So, instead of a regular chord, I might play an octave (such as a C, and the C above it), or octave-fifth-octave (C, G, C).  And then, to give the piece rhythm, I might play those bass notes in quarter-note rhythm -- or maybe eight-note -- or maybe something else, depending on the type of song.  Or, as suggested above, I might arpeggiate the notes -- continuing the C-chord example, playing something like C-G-C (1 octave up)-G-C, or C, E, G, C (1 octave up), or maybe C-C (1 octave up)-G-C (1 octave up), or perhaps some other pattern.

But then, you still need to fill in the harmonies of whatever chord is called for in the song, so for that, I play right-hand chords for the melody notes that fill in these extra notes.  Normally, the highest note of the right-hand chord would be the melody, so in a simple example where the song calls for a C major chord and the melody has an E note, I would play a C chord with an E as the top note -- such as G, C, E (lowest to highest notes).  Of course, not all melody notes will be part of the chord, so for that, you just have to come up with what you feel sounds good.  Maybe only play the right hand chords for the melody notes that are part of the chord.  Or maybe just "bend" the chord to fit the melody, so that, for example, if the melody note is an F, and the background chord is C major, you could play G, C, F (lowest to highest notes) for that note.  That is actually a C sus4 chord, by the way.

But another useful thing to do, especially when looking at what to do with your left hand, is to listen to the original recording of the song, and maybe check the sheet music for it, if you can find it.  Even if you don't play exactly what is played in the song, it can definitely give you an idea of what kind of rhythm and notes to play with your left hand throughout the song.  For example, in the Vangelis song "Chariots of Fire", I play a repeating Db sixteenth-note with my left hand at the beginning and throughout what would be considered the "verse" of the song -- often holding down a low Db for maybe a quarter-note with my left-hand pinky finger while playing the sixteenth-notes on a higher Db with my thumb.  But when I get to the "chorus" of the song, I change that to match the overall feel of that part of the song, often just playing the left hand notes once as the chords change, since the chord changes are fairly quick at that part of the song.

And finally, I definitely use the sustain pedal to help blend all this together -- but you have to be careful not to over-use it, otherwise, you get everything kind of mushed together.  At the very least, you usually want to release and re-apply the pedal at chord changes.

[Ed B]

Hi
You might like to look into some of these references

https://www.psrtutorial.com/music/fakebooks/howtofb.html

on our main site which covers a lot of this.
Regards
Ed B