Easy Piano Lessons

How to comp chords – comping chords on the piano

I got this question from a student:

“I am struggling to comp rhythmically & unpredictably while improvising or playing from a lead sheet. I can comp chords in my left hand to a pattern (i.e., 4 to the floor or on the 1 & 3, etc) but I struggle to mix up the comping especially when improvising. I have used some of your comping patterns from the Blues Lessons as a start and then try to mix & match different patterns, but I find it very difficult to comp without being locked to a fixed pattern or combination of patterns. Any suggestions for helping to overcome this problem?” – Adam K.

This is definitely one of the more complicated aspects of playing the piano. It is relatively “easy” to play a chord in the left hand, hold it down, and improvise with the right hand. However, as soon as you try adding any type of rhythm to that left hand chord, the time seems to fall apart. So, let’s go through some ideas that will help loosen up your left hand.

First, keep control of where you are in the measure. For this example, let’s say that we are in 4/4 time…four beats per measure. It is extremely important that while comping, you do not add or remove beats from the measure. This is where a metronome or play-along track is helpful. I’ve heard students rush the time or drag because they were overly focused on comping. The lesson…the time comes first!

Second, keep your chords simple to start. Try starting with only the root and seventh of the chord, a R7 chord. Or, just the root and third, a R3 chord. So, for C7, this would be C–Bb or C–E. Simple chords allow you to focus on what is important…the time.

Now is a good point to pause and discuss “concept breakdown”. You do not have to go far to find difficult-to-understand concepts in jazz piano. Comping is a perfect example. It seems easy, but it is not. Worst yet, it is the “seems easy” concepts that make it frustrating to learn and often cause students to throw their arms up in disgust. But, there is a solution!

Concept Breakdown is just that, a breakdown of difficult concepts in to easy to handle and easier to understand parts. To break down the concept of comping, I would consider its parts:

- Chord voicing – the notes of the chord and how they are arranged

- Number of chords per measure

- Tempo of the song

- Interaction with the right hand / soloist

- Rhythmic spontaneity

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To teach yourself piano the first and most obvious requirement is that you have a piano or an electronic keyboard to learn on.  Ideally you should have (or have access to) a normal 88 key piano, with 52 white keys and 36 black keys. 

There are even electronic keyboards with 88 keys that are weighted like a normal piano, so they feel and play like a normal piano. Other electronic keyboard may have softer keys and they may not have the full 88 keys. If that is all you have or can afford then so be it, but ideally you should use a full size keyboard.

One of the benefits of using an electronic keyboard is that you can plug headphones into them, so only you can hear what you are playing as you learn. This can be useful if there are others in or near your home that you do not wish to disturb.

Now I know you want to play your favourite tune straight away, but it is much better to take one small step at a time. The “teach yourself piano” guides that were discussed in another article on this site are ideal for helping you to take those small steps in a logical order. 

For example it is a good ideal to learn that the white keys on the keyboard are named A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. I know that is only 7 names, but these names repeat themselves in sequence across the keys over and over again in what we call Octaves pronounced (Octives). It is important to also know where the Middle C key can be found. All this and more will be explained in easy to follow lesson in the “teaching yourself piano” guides.

Now the other thing you will discover is that it is difficult to get your fingers to play the required notes you want to play, as well as doing this with both hands at the same time. Structured lessons will help you practice this on each hand and then get the two hands playing at the same time.

The thing to remember is the more you practice the easy piano lesson in the “teach yourself piano” guides, the easier it will become to control your fingers on the key.

Click the following for information on easy piano lessons that you can purchase and download to start teaching yourself piano now.