5 Piano Groove Exercises for Hand Independence (Including Salsa)

To build groove and hand independence on the piano, divide each beat into sixteenth notes, play only a few of them as a fixed right-hand pattern, then work through five stages: split the hits between hands, play them with both hands, add a left-hand pulse, add a left-hand eighth-note pulse, and finally add a left-hand salsa rhythm, always keeping the pulse in your body.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 32 min

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This lesson from Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music is for pianists and keyboard players who want a steady, natural sense of time. Keyboard players often follow the singer or drummer. The aim here is to feel time in your body, the way a dancer does, rather than just know it or rely on a metronome. Because the piano uses two hands, the same exercises also build hand independence.

The chords

All the exercises use one four-chord progression with a slightly Latin, not-too-happy mood: B major (B D# F#), E minor (E G B), D major (D F# A) and G major (G B D). Jason plays them in inversions so the hands move smoothly. If the changes feel awkward, first give each chord four slow counts until you can move freely between them.

Divide more, play less

Music that makes people move almost always divides the beat. Dividing by two gives eighth notes (1 & 2 &). This lesson divides by four, giving sixteenth notes, counted 1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a. That gives you 16 possible hits in a bar of four beats.

Playing all 16 rarely grooves. The principle is to divide more and then play less: keep the sixteenth-note grid in your head but strike only some of those spots. For example, hitting 1, the a of 1 and the & of 2 (three hits out of eight sixteenths) already sounds like a familiar dance groove.

The right-hand groove

The main pattern places hits on 1 and the & of 1, then on offbeat sixteenths in beat 2, and then flips the idea around across beats 3 and 4 using the e of 3 and other offbeat spots. Before touching the piano, clap it, tap it on your leg or any surface while counting the sixteenths aloud. Avoid the keyboard until your body can tap it. Then play it with the chords in the right hand.

The five exercises

1. Share the accents between hands. Think like a drummer: kick and snare complement each other rather than sounding together. Play the “kick” hits as the chord root in the left hand and the “snare” hits as the chord in the right hand, using the same rhythm. Jason's sticking is left, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, but you can invent your own combinations.
2. Both hands play the pattern together. Identical hits in both hands. It sounds basic, but it is a skill students often skip, especially with tricky sixteenth-note patterns.
3. Left hand plays the pulse. The right hand keeps the pattern while the left hand plays the beat (1 2 3 4). Snap or tap the pulse first. Once it is steady, try toggling between the root and its octave, or play root, fifth and third with the third an octave higher (a spread voicing) to avoid muddiness.
4. Left hand plays a double pulse. The left hand now plays eighth notes while the right hand stays the same. If it feels too thick, alternate the root (little finger) and octave (thumb), or use the spread triad.
5. Left hand plays a salsa rhythm. The left hand hits 1, the a of 1 and the & of 2, then repeats that across beats 3 and 4, against the same right-hand pattern. Try it with spread triads, then octaves.

How to practise

• Never lose the pulse. Tap it with your foot (Jason uses a foot tambourine), count aloud or count inside.
• If you struggle, take your hands off the keys and go back to snapping, tapping your chest or hitting the side of the piano.
• Play at a speed you can control for a whole four-minute song without mistakes.
• Try to feel each hand separately rather than calculating one against the other; as the right hand becomes automatic, your focus moves to the left.
• Breathe normally, stay relaxed and enjoy the music.
• Imagine a drummer beside you, whether a kit player, tabla, darbuka or djembe player, to give your playing context.
• Practise away from the instrument, tapping in the shower, a car or an airport.
• Start without the metronome so your body becomes the metronome; using a real one later will feel easy.

Questions about this lesson

How do you count sixteenth notes for piano grooves?

Each beat is split into four and counted 1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a. That gives 16 possible hit points in a bar of four beats.

Why shouldn't I play all sixteen sixteenth notes?

Playing every sixteenth rarely makes a groove cut through. The idea is to divide the beat finely but play less, choosing a few hits so the rhythm has shape.

What is the salsa rhythm in the left hand?

The left hand plays on 1, the a of 1 and the & of 2, then repeats the same figure across beats 3 and 4, while the right hand keeps its own groove pattern.

Should I practise groove with a metronome?

The lesson suggests starting without one so your body and mind become the metronome, keeping the pulse with your foot or counting. A metronome is still useful later, for example in studio recording.

Practise it

• Rhythm TeacherBuild accent patterns, divide beats and explore odd metres and polyrhythms.
• Rhythm ArithmeticBuild a phrase from sounds and silences, see it become staff notation, and loop it for practice.
• Piano classes at Nathaniel School of MusicLive online or in Bangalore, with a teacher.
• All free music apps40 practice tools for harmony, rhythm, ear training and more.

Related lessons

• Beginner Left-Hand Piano Workout for Melodic Independence (Part 1)To build hand independence on the piano, keep a melody in your right hand while your left hand plays steady root-and-octave rhythm patterns: a simple pulse, a toggling pulse, a disco pulse, the We Will Rock You rhythm and the Afro-Cuban tresillo.
• Piano Hand Independence With Sixteenth Notes: Glam Rock Bass Riff (Part 3)To build piano hand independence, keep the right hand on steady quarter-note chords (D minor, F major, G major) while the left hand plays chord roots at offbeat hit points such as the and of two and the and of four, then adds a B–C pickup, with the C optionally pushed to the e of four as a sixteenth note.
• Piano Hand Independence With Sixteenth Notes: Syncopation Workout (Part 5)To build sixteenth-note syncopation between your hands, split all sixteen subdivisions of a 4/4 bar unevenly between the hands, with the left hand playing a root-octave-fifth bass pattern and the right hand playing off-beat chord stabs, like a percussionist on bongos or tabla.
• Hand Independence Exercises for Piano Using Sixteenth Notes (Part 2)To build hand independence over sixteenth notes, play a funky Gm7–C7 chord rhythm in the right hand while the left hand keeps a steady root-and-fifth bass pulse on every beat, then add an Eb9 or D7b9 turnaround in the fourth bar.