How do I Accompany a Piano?

[HosMan]

My mother plays med. level stuff on the piano(church,etc.)and wants me to play a few Christmas type songs with her for the holidays.I`ll pretty much just be playing root notes here but I`m not sure how to find out which root notes?

Should I have mom walk me through the song and write down the root of each chord as a reference and then go from there?

I`m assuming the chords on the piano are also named with their root notes?

Any suggestions for me?This would be a good experience as well as some quality time with mother.

[dougjwray]

I think you've got the right idea. The only thing I'd look out for is this: it could get muddy down there if there are places where you're playing the root and she's simultaneously playing an inversion where her low note is close to yours. (Examples: it's a C major chord... you're playing a low C and she's playing an E two whole steps above; or, it's a C7 chord... you're playing a low C and she's playing a Bb one whole step below.)

Maybe she could give you a simplified "road map" so that you could double what she's doing.

Anyway, it sounds like a very fun thing to be doing.

[HosMan]

Thanks a lot,Doug. Yeah,I think this may be something we kind of muddle through.

[jam.majors]

If these are in a hymnal, just write the names of the notes above each change (inversions included). Then take what you've written and use it to help you learn to read music. I have a hard time with bass clef, but it's always advantageous to get better at it.

Also, see if you can have her left hand go up an octave. This would help separate what each of you are playing and give the whole performance some breadth.

[MalcolmAmos]

I have a similar situation and have not tried it out. My buddy and I have been playing together at a nursing home. He is on acoustic guitar and singing and I'm on bass. Going fine, however, he wants to start using the organ -- long story -- he used to play and sing using the organ before it died. Well it's fixed now and I'm faced with your same situation.

I find if I'm having problems hearing the chord changes I rely upon the tonic pentatonic and use that.

Major = R-2-3-5-6 Natural minor = 1-b3-4, 5, b7

I think that may be the solution. As mentioned his left hand and my bass need to be in sync. But another thing to consider; playing pentatonics my riff and his melody should not compete with each other.

Interesting to see what the other guy/gals have to say.

http://www.last.fm/music/Norah+Jones/_/Cold+Cold+Heart

[td1368]

I always like playing with a piano. When I first started playing bass in church I found the piano taking some of my low end space. Which was good because it covered my mistakes.

Generally, for Christmas or church tunes or hymns you'll play either whole notes or half notes depending on the tempo of the song. Walking the bass line is nice too.

If the pianist is aware that your covering the lowend they can lighten up the left hand and work on the upper register and melody.