Play Chords and Melody in One Hand: Passing Tones on Piano

To play chords and melody in one hand on piano, hold a triad and treat its top note as the melody, then move only that top note a step above or a step or half step below before returning home.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Beginner · 18 min

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This lesson shows you how to make your right hand do two jobs at once: hold the chord and play the melody. It suits beginner to intermediate pianists, and the melodic ideas are also useful for singers, guitarists and violinists. Everything is taught in the key of G major, which has one sharp, F#.

Why the top note becomes the melody

When you play a chord, the ear naturally follows the highest note, because it has the highest frequency. Play G major as G B D and you mainly hear the D on top. Play B D G and the G stands out. Play D G B and the B sings. Jason Zac uses this natural effect: keep the chord in place and let the top note carry the tune.

Step 1: Learn the three closed shapes of G major

• Root position: G B D (top note D)
• First inversion: B D G (top note G)
• Second inversion: D G B (top note B)

You can add an extra G in the left hand or as an octave for strength, but the right-hand shape stays a close triad.

Step 2: Add neighbour tones to the top note

Hold the lower two notes and move only the top note, then come back to it. Singing along helps, using la, sargam (swara) names or solfa.

• Step up: move to the next scale note above. Keep this one diatonic, inside G major. On root position, D goes up to E.
• Step down: move to the scale note below, such as D down to C.
• Half step down: you may also slip a half step below, for example D down to C#. C# is not in G major, but it works as a leading tone with a magnetic pull back to the target note.

A half step above gives a different colour: on root position, D up to Eb borrows the flat 6 from G minor.

Repeat on each inversion

On first inversion, the G on top can go up to A or down to F#. On second inversion, the B can go up to C or down to A, or slip a half step to A#. Keep a finger free for the neighbour note.

Step 3: Use both neighbours together

Keep one spare finger above the top note and one below. Now you can move upstairs, downstairs or zigzag around the top note, which already sounds like a little tune. Run this through root position and inversions, going up and coming back down.

What the left hand does

The left hand simply keeps the right hand company. Play the same inversion as the right hand without the neighbour tone, or, if that feels like too much, just play the root.

Step 4: Try a real song and more chords

The same idea works for real tunes such as London Bridge: place the chord, then shape the melody around its top note. Melodies usually land on a chord tone and wander around it with neighbour tones.

Next, bring in all seven chords of G major: G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor and F# diminished. Start with the major chords G, C and D, first in root position and then in inversions. Let your ear judge: some neighbour notes feel awkward on certain chords, such as A minor, while others, like a chromatic note below on B minor, sound good.

How to practise: rhythm options

1. Quavers (divide by two): count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Then delay or anticipate a note so it lands off the beat.
2. Triplets (divide by three): keep the triplet grid in your head, but do not fill every slot. Leave space so the notes can breathe.
3. Semiquavers (divide by four): count 1 e and a. This gives a drum-like groove.

Make up your own patterns spontaneously, and use the technique when improvising over a set of four chords.

Questions about this lesson

How do I play chords and melody with just my right hand?

Hold a close triad and treat its highest note as the melody. Move only that top note to a neighbouring note and back while the rest of the chord stays put.

Why does a half step below the melody note work even if it is not in the scale?

A note a half step below acts like a leading tone, which has a strong pull back to the note above it. That is why C# can lead back to D over a G major chord even though C# is not in G major.

What should my left hand play?

Keep it simple: play the same chord inversion as the right hand without the neighbour tones, or just play the root note if that is too much.

Which chords can I use this neighbour-tone technique on?

All seven chords of a major key. In G major these are G, A minor, B minor, C, D, E minor and F# diminished. Start with the major chords, and let your ear tell you which neighbours sound awkward.

Practise it

• Chord TreesStart from a note and explore related chords, inversions and voicings.
• 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

• How to Write a Melody on Piano Using ArpeggiosTo write a melody with piano arpeggios, choose chord inversions so the top note carries the tune, then break each chord into a pattern like high-middle-low-middle, adding accents, diatonic wandering notes and passing tones to make it memorable.
• Turn Arpeggios Into Beautiful Melodies (Piano)Melodic arpeggios let one hand play a melody and an arpeggio together: start the pattern on the chord's top note, then move that top note through the scale while the middle and low notes keep the arpeggio, and let the left-hand bass move too.
• The Easiest Way to Expand Your Piano Arpeggios: Octave Displaced ArpeggiosAn octave displaced arpeggio takes a simple low-middle-high-middle triad pattern and, every alternate time, plays the bottom note an octave higher (or the top note an octave lower), giving a four-note, guitar-like pattern from only three chord tones.
• Master Chord Inversions, Rhythm and Hand Independence in One Piano ExercisePlay the I–vi–ii–V progression (G, Em, Am, D in G major) with the smoothest inversions, alternating an eighth-note arpeggio with quarter-note block chords, and keep climbing until you land on G major an octave higher.