The Two Stages to “Faking It”

Now we’re going to begin the fun process of “faking it,” making up our own piano arrangement in response to a chart of a song. Whether we’re working from a chord chart, or a chart which also shows the melody, the method of creating a comping arrangement is essentially the same: you’re using the chord symbols to generate the comping part. Let’s start with our first progression, which is presented as a simple chord chart:

This is a typical example of a chord chart. We have a chord symbol over beat 1 in each measure, and four slashes in each measure (one for each beat). If one of your band mates throws this on top of your keyboard during a rehearsal, it’s basically telling you to comp according to your understanding of the style, over these chord changes.

Assuming we are in the key of C here, do you know how the chords are functioning in this key (in other words, what scale degree of the key they are built from)? Well, we saw in Chapter 10 that the F major and G major triads are the IV and V chords in the key of C major, so this progression may be labeled as I–IV–V–I. This type of progression is used for a lot of basic pop, rock, and country songs!

It’s very common for chord changes to fall on beat 1 of the measure, as in this example. If there is more than one chord in the measure, the second chord will most likely fall on beat 3. If you don’t see a chord symbol over a measure, this means that the previous chord symbol is still in effect.

In order to “fake” our comping arrangement, the two stages we need to go through are:

1. Create a voicing for each chord, and then invert it as needed to voice lead smoothly between chords.
2. Фpply a rhythmic pattern to these voicings, suitable for the style.

“But wait! What’s a voicing?” Good question… well, a voicing is actually an interpretation of a chord symbol. At this beginning stage, we can think of a voicing as a distribution of notes between the hands. In other words, once we figure out which notes are in the chord, we then decide which notes of the chord we play in the left hand, and which notes we play in the right hand.

Listen to track 34 to hear Stage 1 applied to this chord progression. Here we’re using triad voicings suitable for a wide range of contemporary pop styles.

Let’s make sure we understood how Stage 1 was applied to this progression:

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• We made a voicing decision which works for triad progressions in many simpler styles: we’ll play the root of the triad in the left hand, and all three notes (i.e., root, 3rd, and 5th) of the triad in the right hand. You can spell each of the triads in your head if necessary, i.e., the C major triad is C–E–G, and the F major triad is F–A–C, and so on. (Review Chapter 10 for the triad spelling, if needed.)
• We then inverted the triads to promote good voice leading. The inversion used for the first chord is an arbitrary decision, but you’ll normally want to start in the midrange (i.e., not too high and not too low). In this case, we started with the C major triad in root position, so rather than jump up to the F major triad in root position (which would be poor voice leading), we went to the F major triad in second inversion, which was much closer. Similarly, the G major triad in first inversion, followed by the C major triad in root position results in good voice leading each time. In general, the goal is to keep the top-note movement down to a whole step or less, if possible, and we’ve done that.

Going through these steps will be helpful, especially if you have not yet worked very much with chord progressions. However, what will make this substantially faster is to get all of these triads and inversions into your muscle memory, so that you don’t have to “spell” the triads out each time in order to find or construct them. With chords memorized, the voice leading between inversions will become more automatic. So make sure you have the triads and inversions in Chapters 10 and 12 “under your fingers.”

OK, let’s take a deep breath and move on to Stage 2 (…drums roll…) This is where we make it sound like music, rather than just a bunch of chords with no rhythm! First of all, we’ll apply a rhythmic style suitable for a simple pop ballad.

Listen to track 35 to hear Stage 2 applied to this chord progression, using a pop ballad rhythmic pattern.

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It’s important to understand that your hands are in exactly the same position, and playing exactly the same notes, as in Stage 1. All we’re doing is applying a “rhythmic template” to these voicings, as described below.

Instead of playing just whole-note triads, the right hand is alternating between playing the top two notes of each triad on the downbeats (i.e., 1, 2, 3, and 4), and the bottom note of each triad on the upbeats (i.e., all of the “&’s” in between the downbeats). This is a classic pop ballad pattern used on many famous songs. Meanwhile, the left hand is still playing the root of each chord, this time using half notes instead of whole notes. This style will also sound more authentic if you use the sustain pedal for the duration of each chord (again, don’t forget to release the pedal when the chords change!).

Next, we’ll apply a rhythmic style suitable for a more driving pop/rock groove.

Listen to track 36 to hear Stage 2 applied to this chord progression, this time using a pop/rock rhythmic pattern.

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To give this more drive in a rock style, the right hand is now playing the triads in a two-measure rhythmic pattern that includes playing some chords on the off beats. This type of “kick” to the rhythm is common across a range of pop styles. Again, we’re playing exactly the same notes as in track 34, but with a rhythmic pattern applied. Meanwhile, the left hand is providing a steady eighth-note pulse, repeating the root of each chord.