You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - What the Hell Do I Do With My Left Hand?

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

Every pianist knows a solid left hand is the foundation for exceptional playing. The question is: what the hell do you do with it?Calling all pianists - the Piano Access Pass is now available from Open Studio! Save money with this bundle featuring every piano course ever from Open Studio, including teachers such as Peter Martin, Geoffrey Keezer, and Helio Alves. For more info, go to https://www.openstudiojazz.com/piano-access-passThis episode of You'll Hear It is sponsored by Anytune. If you want to improve your jazz playing and transcription skills, Anytune is the #1 tool you need. Just load any track you want into the app, and Anytune allows you to change the speed, loop sections, change the pitch to a different key, and so much more. For more information, go to https://anytune.us/youllhearit/Want every Open Studio course for free? That's right - over 300 hours and 1200 lessons can be yours with free lifetime access! All you have to do is enter Open Studio's 2019 Holiday Giveaway. Go to https://learn.openstudiojazz.com/giveaway/, or watch this video of Peter for more info: https://youtu.be/KsdhVXE5ovILet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment for this episode.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey. That's my left hand. Why are you looking at it weird? Something wrong with it? No, what the hell is it? I don't know. What the hell do I do with it?

That's a good question. I'm Adamannis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll hear podcast. You forgot what this was? I almost said codcast. Cod. We talk about cod.

Cod in Portuguese is Bacalao. Bacala. It's our fishing show. Sorry, at the end of a very long day. You know how it happens? Like the end of the podcast recording. It's like 225. actually.

Oh, my back hurts. Yeah, so we are excited to be here at the You'll Hear a podcast. We're kind of creeping up on the end of the year. We've got a little momentum. We're not going to lie.

We've got a little wind in our sales. If you notice a little confidence, a little pep in our step. And I think one of the main reasons I realize what it is is our current sponsor, and hopefully we'll be our continuing sponsor, is a little company called,

it's not even a company. It's an app. It's a magical app with an dopeio hat on it called Ineat. tune. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. No, it really is a wonderful tool for any musician to use. You can slow track down without losing pitch. You can loop. You can set markers. You can do so much more. There's really so much to any tune. Check out the

free version. But, you know, honestly, if you like it at all, get the pro version. There's so many features that are just killing. I've been using it for months in my practice. I love it. I absolutely recommend it for anybody who is at all transcribing. Even if you are just like, I need to learn the melodies of this new tune, or I want to learn a new tune a week or whatever, get any tune, and it'll help you to get, like, the intricacies of the beat.

Yes. And I just saw my nephew over the Thanksgiving holiday, and he's a freshman at Berkeley, studying at the Berkeley College of Music, and I was telling him about any tune. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, they gave that to us. Like, during their orientation week, all Berkeley incoming students get a free copy

of the pro version. I mean, that tells you all you need to know right there. Berkeley approved. Berkeley approved. Just like this podcast. We are Berkeley approved. Did you know that? We are not, actually.

No, we are not. We are not. We have some fans up there. We do. I did if you hear about that. Big shout out to Berkeley College of Music in California. Keep on going with the Bay Area. No, that's another place.

Berkeley School of Music. Go to anytune. com.us. You'll hear it to check it out. Yes. And, yeah. So today, what the hell do I do with my left hand? Well, there's a lot you could do with it.

That's right. But some of those things we can't talk about on the podcast, But we are, I'm going to tell you one thing. What the hell do you do with your left hand? If you're a trumpet player, nothing. You just hold the trumpet. That's right. You can even put in your pocket if you want.

See, we're too piano-centric. We're like, what do you do with the left hand? How do we know, how the hell do you know that we're asking for piano players? Who cares about us? Well, but even if you're a drummer or a bass player or a horn player, you can learn a little bit about what a pianist is thinking as they're accompanying themselves. Oh, so we are piano-centric. Okay, got it.

Definitely are pianists for sure. Okay. For shizzle? Yeah. but you know I'm thinking about this more of like if I'm soloing in my right hand what do I do rhythmically with my left hand it's a question we get asked a lot here at open studio so I just wanted to like talk about it a little bit you've got a great left hand and you're you're it's always at the pedicurist it's always grooving when you're

soloing I think a lot of especially beginner and intermediate players either get locked up in fear about it or paralyzed or they just like overplay with like very poor dynamics and they're not swinging at all. That's kind of worst case scenario. It's a really bad thing. You're talking about only 10% swing or a 0% swing? Like, you know, Sebelius, 0% swing. Sebelius, not our sponsor.

We will reiterate that. So when you were learning how to solo or whatever, what did you learn about the left hand? Like what, from transcribing or a teacher or another pianist, like what was something that really helped you lock in, like how they should sound well you know the left hand i mean i was i was a little bit at the at the mercy of in a in a great way and in a not great way up to things that i was transcribing souls that i was learned because i kind of started doing that relatively early so i got some great ideas

because i was like listening to pretty good stuff i'm not pretty good great stuff but some of it was too hard for me yeah uh and then i didn't listen to enough variety at that early stage to get enough Like I was scared and rightfully so of the more like two-handed players, you know, the Jeff Kieser's, where Jeff Kieser was just a little boy. Like I was. He wouldn't have been on my radar. He was still a two-handed player. He was. He was probably breaking records.

But no, you know, like Oscar Peterson, I didn't even attempt to, you know, transcribe his stuff for a long time. So I definitely got, you know, some really good comping ideas. It's just the areas that I got more. I mean, it's funny. It's like always you think about what you didn't. get. So let me flip it over and talk about the really great things that I did get. Winton Kelly solo on Freddie Freelotter. Have we ever talked about that record? A couple times. Do we link below? No, we don't need to link. Everybody knows it. Freddie Freelotter,

Witten Kelly, like just the penultimate classic, you know, solo and such great examples of the greatest, relatively simple things to do, very difficult to do as effective as he does. But he lays out the whole blueprint of a foundation, I think, that you can extend to like a great left-handed jazz left-hand career on a piano. It's very simple, as you said, but it's like it has everything you need. It's grooving. It complements what he's doing with his right hand. And dynamically, it's just right in the right spot.

Yeah. The space and the music. Yeah, and I think that, you know, what I got from that was really sort of, before I really understood how difficult it was, I got that really intuitive, confident way of phrasing with the left hand, which is different because there's a lot, like, it's different than the right hand because there's there's an interplay kind of rhythmically and structurally in the solo that the left hand plays an important role but that's kind of the sophisticated complicated part of what otherwise can appear sort of simple so it's really good if you can get that sort of intuitively because

the worst thing is if you take a solo that's like learnable like that but the most complicated parts like the structure of it and how he tells the story and how the left hand and right hand like interplay with each other. If you overanalyze those parts, all of a sudden you turn something simple into something complicated and difficult. And then you can't play with the just extreme swinging and confidence that he exudes in that. He's just speaking.

Yeah, yeah. And it's coming out. But yeah, getting going can be a hard thing. I remember, I mean, I had a teacher that showed me left-hand voicings, and I definitely wasn't using them in a swinging way until I think I transcribed like a Bud Powell solo. That dude was good. And he was just doing

very simple, like, Uh-huh. You know, and it's dawned on me. It dawned on me, I don't have to do very much. Yeah. You know, like, I think I was overplaying, thick, four-note voicing. Yeah. Just were always, whatever.

The number of, is there a connection between the number of notes and voicing and how much you're swinging with your rhythm? There might be. Really? There might be. But really just about the rhythmic idea of, you know, even though he was playing with the rhythm section, he was kind of laying down somewhat of a two-feel. Yeah.

And then kind of acts, you know, like, like, playing off of that. Yeah. And you could still feel that to feel from the rhythm section. The little lilt. And it was really eye-opening as far as like how I can make my accompanying voicings feel. Yes. And then also something that actually Jeffrey Keeser talks about quite a bit. And I think it's very eye-opening that to Keyes, this is a very important part.

And you realize this the better at this you get. But dynamics play such a crucial role in comping for yourself and what your left hand is doing. So what the hell do I do with my left hand? whatever it is, make sure that you are under whatever the, if that's your sowing with your right, you need to not be competing with your own left hand for that. So you have to work on dynamics. It's hard to do. Like you couldn't do it with the key station.

No, no, no, no. We can't even fit both hands on there. No. I think it's horrible. But you can't bring out melodies in your left hand. Right. And like practicing those dynamics, like coming up when the left hand is going to be featured. Yes.

But then going back down in this space, you know. So when you get into the more advanced areas like that, like, you know, really. soloing anything kind of melodic, counterpoint, or even counter melodies between the hands, then, you know, what the hell you do with your left hand is going to depend upon what the hell can you do with your left hand. So a lot of independent hand practice, a lot of working on, you know,

maybe some areas of control that you have with the right hand due to, I mean, I never know if it's more due to, yes, if it's your dominant hand, if you're right hand. And of course that's there. But it's also just the amount of time, the sets and reps, you spent playing melodically with your right hand versus what you're playing with your left hand. So from a mindset standpoint, I always think to go, we were talking about the well-tempered clavier

the other day, that's great, but you can even go simpler or maybe a little easier, which is the Bach two-part inventions. For sure. Like, that can start to get some melodic flare and ideas and confidence going with your left hand because a lot of the stuff that's written there is thrown back and forth between the hands at different times. but it gets you, it sort of forces you to play just as melodically with your left hand as you are your right hand. So that starts to get you the mindset. It's not a stylistic thing yet.

It's not like jazz swinging. But if you want to apply that, then you're jazz playing. Practice doing a single note baseline two feel with your left hand and the melody with your right. Ooh, I thought you would say baseline with the invention in the right. That would be kind of a wacky fusion there. That would be a wacky. No, I'm just saying like, do a blues.

I think they're going to be doing that at the Jen conference. We should do that. No, that's good. But playing a blues with just like a simple, do you feel baseline. Yes. And then filling it, like connecting the dots and filling in rhythmically from what your right hand is playing. That could be eye-opening for how much independence you actually have. Ooh, I love that.

And you know what? Speaking of left-handed baselines, two-feel or in four or in whatever meter you're playing, how about what the hell to do with your left-hand? How about a little melodic playing when you're playing a baseline? I love it. Are you allowed to do that? You can play the melody, even. Did you know that?

Yes. The left is, well, depends. what state you're in. There's a couple of southern states that have made that illegal recently. They're not enforcing that law. Technically it's still illegal. So you check your local laws and regulations people. But yeah, no, the left hand, some people treat it like it's an illegal thing. So even if you're walking a simple baseline, don't just think about the one of the five. Think about connecting things. So even if you're having the discipline of like we love to preach, you know, sit on those half notes so that you get the control and the indepence of the hands

are going. But always be hearing and thinking, always be hearing abh that's going to be a new hashtag for us next year possibly to go along with abel one of our favorites hashtag that up um so we're getting in that mindset of the left hand playing melodically everybody this is the great thing see if you can make these connections there's not a human on the planet i don't think that doesn't hear in their minds at least what a melody is like that's something that a baby responds for sure right little baby look at me uncle peter what little baby wouldn't respond to that they might puke they might throw up they might slap me but you know i'm gonna sell asleep oh it's a little lullaby for adam a lullaby for adam little adam he's got a beard but he's a baby

um yeah so i mean the melodic impulse is is a human thing so why would we not want to connect with that with the left tone on the basic level so that once we do become more melodic and like what the hell we can do with our left hand. Play some melodies, do some improvising. Let's get that connection going that's already there. That's super important, man. Yeah.

So that's it. That's what the hell you should do for your left hand. Right. And how to sing your little baby to sleep. We should do a whole episode sometimes singing. Well, we're going to have to put a warning on it. You know, like the Tipper Gore profanity warning. Remember that?

Warning this entire episode. Like, you'll hear it the musical? You'll hear it the musical. Yeah. We can make it like I love my melodies are so melodic I'm talking about how natural they're horrible

Ryan Ryan the intern engineer over there is literally throwing up Well you won't hear horrible melodies if you go to OpenStreoJazz.com Check out some of our courses Check out the piano access pass It's popping off

It's all of our piano courses we've ever made Plus any will make As long as you're a member Which is a lot Yeah, we have on the books And this is a good time You know kind of at the end of the year Think about that annual membership

if that's going to be your best value, you're going to get like three months free on that and, you know, a lot of great new content. We got the next volume of the jazz piano technique course coming out, which is going to be fun. Panetonics is already in there. It's good stuff, good stuff. If you want to get better.

I mean, yeah. If you want to get worse, we got a couple of the websites. Don't even work. And also, you know, we will be at the Jen Conference. We're going to do a you'll hear it live. That's right. In Nalens. In Naulems.

Nobody calls it in there. Come see us. We'll be at our booth. We'll be at the, you'll hear you'll hear. at live. We'll be hanging out in general in New Orleans that whole week. Adam will be in the French quarter, but not until 1.30 a.m. until 5.30. And then from 537, he'll be passed out on it on Bourbon Street. And then we will drag him back to his hotel room. First time I went to New Orleans, I turned to my wife and I said, I am going to die here. Yet you didn't. No, I mean, when I'm ready to die. Oh, okay. I thought you went, honey, we're going to party and we're going to be dead by debris. No, when the bank account is empty and life is caught up with me, I'm just moving to New Orleans. wins for like two weeks. That's right. Yeah. Good. Well.