Nathaniel School of Music

Rock Piano Grooves Any Beginner Can Use

A simple rock piano groove alternates the left hand (kick drum and bass) with the right hand (snare and chords), mixing loud accents with soft ghost notes over a progression such as Cm–Eb–Bb–F so the piano locks in with the drummer.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Beginner · 12 min

Can't see the video? Watch it on YouTube.

Key points

What this lesson teaches

In this lesson Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music shows a simple, powerful piano groove for rock songs in the style of bands like Green Day, Nirvana, Radiohead and Imagine Dragons. Much of this music is guitar driven and has no keyboard part, so the key idea is to learn from other instrumentalists, especially drummers and bass players, and copy their feel on the piano. It suits beginners who can already play basic major and minor triads.

Think like a drummer: ghost notes

A drummer hits the snare at full force on some beats and plays other hits much softer. Those soft hits are called ghost notes; bass players call them muted notes. You cannot truly mute a piano, but by playing some hits louder and others softer you create the same effect, making the piano part sound like a snare drum and bass guitar working together.

The hand pattern

Before touching the keys, tap the rhythm on a table. The pattern loops continuously:

Tap it along with a steady pulse, then speed it up a little. Your left hand acts like the kick drum and bass, so it will sound bass heavy. Your right hand acts like the snare drum, or like the higher octave a bass player might add.

The chord progression

The chords are C minor, Eb major, Bb major and F major, close to the progression heard in songs such as Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Radioactive. These chords come from the Bb major scale, which gives the progression its moody, Dorian colour around C minor:

Once you know the key of a song you want to play, you can transpose the same idea to that key.

Putting the groove on the piano

  1. Start simply: play the root note of each chord in the left hand and the chord in the right hand, using the table-tap pattern.
  2. Fit two chords into each bar: Cm and Eb in one bar, then Bb and F in the next.
  3. Practise slowly, then bring it up to song speed. The groove works in both a swung and a straight feel.
  4. Accent the hits where you imagine the drummer striking the snare, and keep the other hits softer.
  5. Vary the length of your chords. Longer chords match the real snare hits; shorter chords act as the drummer's ghost notes.

A left-hand tip: hold the pinky

To stop the bass becoming too heavy, play the bass note as an octave on beat one. For the following hits in the bar, keep your little finger holding the low note and repeat only the thumb on the upper root, grooving with the thumb and your whole right hand. Holding the low note gives a bigger, more epic sound, which works well with orchestral keyboard patches. In a band with a bass player, though, you may prefer to lift the hand fully so you do not crowd their register.

How to practise

Tap the pattern on a table first, then add the chords with root notes only, then add octaves and the held pinky. Once it feels comfortable, change the rhythm: try shorter phrases or invent your own variations. The best source of new ideas is to jam with drummers and bass players, because building grooves that make people move is what they do all the time.

Questions about this lesson

What are ghost notes on the piano?

Ghost notes are soft hits played between louder accents, borrowed from the way drummers play the snare. On piano you create them by playing some chords much softer and shorter than the accented ones.

What chords are used for this rock piano groove?

The progression is C minor, Eb major, Bb major and F major, which are the ii, IV, I and V chords of Bb major. Play two chords per bar and transpose to suit any song you are learning.

What should each hand do in a rock piano groove?

The left hand plays the bass notes like a kick drum and bass guitar, while the right hand plays the chords like a snare drum. Start with just the root in the left hand before adding octaves.

How do I keep the piano bass from clashing with the bass player?

Play an octave on beat one, then hold the low note with your little finger and repeat only the thumb. If it still feels too heavy in the band, lift the left hand off completely.

Practise it

Related lessons