Using ol' lefty

Your left hand is your bass hand. The bass notes anchor the chord and make the playing come alive. You really need to start working with them.

It's quite easy to use the left hand: you can simply use one finger (the index finger works well) to tap out the bass notes while your right hand plays chords. That's Level I playing. I'd suggest skipping straight to Level II.

Level II bass playing is forming an octave with your left hand, little finger and thumb. An octave is simply the same note, C for instance, played eight notes apart ... er, make that eight whole notes apart. If you use the counting method I use here, it's actually twelve notes apart. At any rate, two C's played with the thumb and little finger are an octave.

If you've got a small hand, it's a little tough at first to play one, but you can do it. People with large hands can sometimes get two to three notes above an octave.

Now for the theory underneath the bass. It's really, really simple if you've been following along this counting business. At the simplest, you can simply play the tonic note in the chord you're playing and you've got the bass. For instance, if you're playing the C-major chord, form an octave on C down below your right hand. Hit it for each accented beat in the measure. Hold it down. Play the chord with the right hand. You're playing bass.

When you move from the tonic chord to the sub-dominant, you can simply change your bass position to the first note in the sub-dominant. In C, this means moving from C to F. Just hit the F bass as you first hit the F-major.

That's simple bass. To add variety, you can "climb" up to the sub-dominant. The way to do this is to hit the C bass, then D, then E, landing on F just as the chord changes to F. You have to practice to make it work out with the right timing but again, trust your ear, it will guide you.

If the F goes back to C (sub-dominant to tonic), just reverse the process: F, E, D, and C.

Beautiful. We just did a bass run. And we can do the same when moving from tonic to dominant, or C to G in our case ... except now instead of "climbing" you descend. Hit C, B, A, then land on G just as the G chord is called for.

That's how bass is played. You basically just head for the main note of the chord being played at any given time. Any way you get there is okay but once there, be sure to hold the sound so it anchors the chord.

Experiment. You'll quickly develop your own style of playing "bass."

Next lesson we'll look at playing the melody instead of just "strumming" the piano. Before that, practice what you've learned. Let your voice be the melody.