Syncopation in the Left Hand

Playing off the beat in the left hand opens whole new worlds, especially for the solo keyboardist.

It would be possible to turn all the patterns in the Rhythmic Pentatonic Scales  course 'upside down' - that is, play the on-the-beat quavers in the right hand and the syncopated patterns in the left. Bookmark that thought!

But here's one exercise that erupted spontaneously on 25-04-20 while waiting for Udemy to green-light the RPS course - hence the 'diary' status.

Download the music for this exercise here.

Rhythmic Pentatonic Scales Diary 25-04-20

Watch the video and scan the music a few times to get started.

Getting the TLR right

Looking carefully at the first two bars, you can see three different TLR (together-left-right) patterns.

In the first half of the first bar:

R L T T

In the second half of the first bar:

R L T L R

And the whole of the second bar:

R L T L R L R L R L R

Play through the entire drill using each pattern throughout.

Pattern One

R L T T

Pattern Two

R L T L R

Pattern Three

This is a whole-bar pattern.

R L T L R L R L R L R

The whole exercise

Then play half a bar of Pattern One + half a bar of Pattern Two + a full bar of Pattern Three - and repeat.

Remember! You can only play as well as you can listen, so listen closely!

Check the mini-series nav in the RH column for other occasional challenges.

Or go back to the suggestion at the start of this module...

"Turn all the patterns in this course 'upside down' - that is, play the on-the-beat quavers in the right hand and the syncopated patterns in the left."