In this stage of your performance build-up, you break up the left hand fifth and ‘waggle’ it, playing bottom-top-bottom-top notes. This is more difficult than it sounds, so we approach it in two stages.

In the first stage (this lesson), you rehearse putting the melody over this new left hand pattern in sections only. Then, you graduate to the continuous left hand pattern.

Watch the first performance video.

Now work through the section teaching videos

'Gappy' left hand

First line, first phrase

Tackle the phrases one at a time.

The music shows the first line/first phrase, repeated.

To help you work out which left hand notes go with which right hand notes, think of the left hand as now playing ‘bottom’ (LH5) and ‘top’ (LH1) notes. You see this marked up in the music. It’s your little finger (LH5) that comes on the strong beat.

Note that there is no left hand pattern underneath the first two ‘run-up’ notes of the slurred phrases.

Tap the pattern

Read through the lesson notes below the video.

Notice when the hands play together (T), when just the left hand plays (L), and when just the right hand plays (R) – ‘TLR analysis’.

Here’s the first phrase marked up with the TLR analysis.

Here’s the 'beat map' for that rhythm. Beat maps sho0w just the T/L/R 'events', without the music.

Copy the tapping in the teaching video, then jump to playing the real music.

First line, second phrase

Work through the second phrase just as methodically.

Whole Line One

Now put the whole Line 1 together. Repeat!

Line Three phrases

The Line 3 phrases have the same TLR pattern as Phrase 2 plus one extra 'R' on the end.

The intermediate performance

Make sure you can play the "gappy left hand" performance right through.

Filling the gaps

Now we set about filling the gaps in the left hand accompaniment.

Here's the MS (written-out music) of "what actually happens".

Line 3

Practice the Line 3 right hand run-up the same, methodical way.

Tapping boot camp

Here's a condensed tapping drill video for the whole version. Use it to make sure you don't have any T-L-R coordination glitches

The final module performance

Here's the performance with the continuous left hand.

When you're ready, go on to the next lesson.