A Unique Piano Arpeggio Pattern Using Just 2 Notes

Hold the root of a fifth chord with your left-hand pinky and play the fifth with your thumb on every offbeat quaver, with the sustain pedal down, to get a two-note accompaniment that works under almost any melody.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 36 min

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This lesson from Jason Zac at Nathaniel School of Music teaches a left-hand accompaniment engine built from just two notes. It suits classical, folk, pop, rock, fusion and even nursery rhymes, and it leaves your right hand free for the melody. It is aimed at students who can already find notes and scales and want an easy but rhythmic left hand.

The basic left-hand pattern

Start on G and go up a perfect fifth to D (G, A, B, C, D in the G major scale). The circle of fifths is a quick way to find any fifth.

1. Play G with your left-hand pinky on beat one and hold it for the whole bar, as a semibreve.
2. Play D with your thumb on every "and" of the bar: one and two and three and four and. The thumb plays the offbeat quavers, so it does not line up with the beat you nod your head to.
3. Add the sustain pedal once the rhythm is steady, to make the sound legato and let the notes ring together.

Practise the thumb rhythm on its own first, then slowly add the held pinky, and only then the pedal. Because a fifth contains no third, it is neither major nor minor, so nothing clashes and it works under melodies from the G major or G minor scale.

Training the right hand with eight rhythms

Before playing real melodies, play single notes or octaves from the G scale over the left hand using undivided rhythms in 4/4. There are eight combinations of semibreves, minims, dotted minims and crotchets in one bar:

• One semibreve
• Two minims
• Dotted minim then crotchet
• Crotchet then dotted minim
• Four crotchets
• Minim then two crotchets
• Two crotchets then minim
• Crotchet, minim, crotchet

Choose any notes you like. To train your ear, sing what you play, or sing a bar first and then play it back. Combining two rhythms across two bars is a fun next step.

Varying the pinky

For more intensity, the pinky can play minims instead of a semibreve. In 3/4, play the pinky as a dotted minim with the thumb on the offbeats. Avoid plain crotchets in the pinky, as it just becomes alternating fingers.

Moving to other chords

Build a fifth on each note of the G scale: G–D, A–E, B–F#, C–G, D–A and E–B. The seventh degree, F#, has no perfect fifth in this scale; F# to C is a tritone. Use the root plus the tritone for a diminished chord.

Slash chords

To put a chord's third in the bass, drop the fifth and place the third at the bottom. D/F# is played as F# with D above; C/E is E with C above. G/D puts D, the fifth, in the bass under G. The rule is always the same: only two notes in the left hand.

Seventh chords

For a dominant seventh, keep the root and the flat seventh, for example D and C for D7. The melody fills in the missing notes, keeping the left hand clean and rhythmic.

The ballad etude

The lesson ends with a ballad where the pinky steps down mostly by semitones while the thumb keeps its offbeat role: G, F#, F, E, Eb and then D, moving through shapes such as C/E, G/D, a secondary dominant A7 with C# in the bass, and D7. If the right-hand melody feels fast, simplify it at first.

How to practise

Work slowly: thumb rhythm, then held pinky, then pedal, then the eight right-hand rhythms, then chord changes. Keeping the thumb on the offbeat while the right hand moves is the real challenge.

Questions about this lesson

Which two notes do I play in the left hand?

Play the root and the note a perfect fifth above it, such as G and D. The pinky holds the root and the thumb plays the fifth on every offbeat.

Why does a fifth chord work under so many melodies?

It has no third, so it is neither major nor minor. Melodies from either the major or minor scale sit over it without clashing.

What do I do on the seventh degree of the scale?

In G major, F# has no perfect fifth above it, so play F# with C, a tritone. The same root-plus-tritone shape is used for diminished chords.

How do I play a slash chord like D/F# with only two notes?

Drop the fifth of the chord and put the third in the bass, so D/F# becomes F# with D above it.

Practise it

• Circle of FifthsExplore the Circle of Fifths through keys, scales, chords and intervals.
• Bass AlchemyKeep the upper notes in place while changing the bass.
• 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.

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