Can You Play This Rhythm?

Greetings, piano playing people! Today we’re focusing on RHYTHM… and I’m wondering, can you play this one?

Rhythm brings emotion and context to your playing. It can create tension or relief. Learning this new rhythm might really challenge your skill, but the results of patience and practice are well worth it.

You can do this!

I’ve got some quick tips and a fun routine that will improve your hand independence, and maybe just ‘break your brain’ a little bit! 🤯🤯🤯

Let’s Get Started 🏁

To begin learning a new rhythm, I always like to tap it out on my legs (or a table), so I can ‘feel it out’ before adding it to the piano.

Start with your left hand. It’s just 4 claps on the beat:

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Alright, now here’s where things are going to start to get wild:

Watch the video as I add in my right hand.

…Did you get it? 😓😓😓

1000 bonus points if you did– but I’ve got a much simpler way to lay this rhythm out for you:

The Trick 👻

All you’ve got to do is think about when your hands are hitting your legs. (🤓)

It goes like this:

Together, right, left, right, together, right, left, right.

Or:

Take some time with that, and when you’re ready, it’s time to put this brain-breaking rhythm to good use.

On The Piano 🎹

Thankfully we’re only worrying about 2 notes with your right hand: G & D.

Once you get comfortable, l want you to add in a low ‘G’ with your left hand, but be careful about sticking to our rhythm:

Together, right, left, right, together, right, left, right.

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That alone should be a very helpful exercise for hand independence and coordination, but let’s take it one extra step and add a little musicality with the 1-5-4 progression.

This is going to sound great, and really get your fingers working!

With your left hand, the 1-5-4 progression will be as follows:

G – D – C

Watch the video to get the best sense of how this progression fits in.

🔥🎹 Hot Tip: If you are unfamiliar with ‘The Number System’ (or just need a quick refresher), you don’t need to be a math whiz: Check out the lesson here.

Review 📝

Spend time with this and don’t be afraid to have some fun– experiment with volume or speed changes, and always be challenging yourself to be the best player you can be.

So can you play this rhythm? Remember practice is the doorway to progress, and patience is the key! 🔑

For more on learning and playing complicated rhythms, follow up with this next lesson.

Take care!

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