All patterns are notated for a bar of 4/4 but can easily be adapted to suit other common times and students should be encouraged to explore them in other meters.

Encourage students to transpose to other key areas (this is easy to do if they apply these patterns to lead sheets and chord progressions).

They can easily be adapted to suit a minor key by lowering the 3rd. There are a few things you should note about this guide: To make exploring these patterns in your studio that much easier, I’ve created a download of the most common patterns that students should know. Download the Ultimate Guide to Piano Patterns That’s exactly why left hand patterns are so important and why I created a download especially to help teachers explore this with students. It’s amazing how often subtle differences in left hand accompaniment completely changes the feel and style of a piece of music. tango, boogie, etc.) and/or what feeling the style gives (fast/flowing, old/classical, dance-like, etc.) Take a simple chord progression like Pachelbel’s Cannon (you could also transpose this into C if it’s easier for your student: C – G – Am – Em – F – C – F – G – C) and explore some of the left hand patterns you’ll find on the ultimate guide below:ĭepending on the level of your student, s/he could play the chords while you play the patterns or vice versa.Īfter each style, ask the student if they know what the style is (eg.

If you haven’t explored left hand piano styles and patterns before, your students may not understand what you mean and how important they are, so one of the best ways of helping students understand the importance of left hand patterns is with a practical exercise. Patterns are one of the most fundamental ingredients of music and so students with a solid pattern vocabulary will be much better as both readers and players. pop, lead sheets, etc.), they’ll soon realise that a pianist’s left hand is crucial in providing a number of things: As students start exploring more non-traditional repertoire in your lessons (eg.

Pattern piano and keyboard