Piano: Basic Voicings for Accompanying Songs
How to go from textbook chords to accompaniment that sounds professional, with both hands and just a few notes.
By Damián Calle ·
A chord in root position—C, E, G stacked up—sounds correct, but if you jump from chord to chord always in that shape, your accompaniment gets clunky. Voicings fix that.
Inversions: move as little as possible
Every triad can be played in three arrangements: root on the bottom, 3rd on the bottom, or 5th on the bottom. The golden rule is to pick the inversion that makes your right hand move as little as possible. Going from C major to F major, for example, the C stays put and only two fingers move.
Split the work between your hands
- Left hand: the root, or root and 5th.
- Right hand: the 3rd and the 7th (if the chord has one), plus a color note.
That keeps the low end clean while the upper register carries the harmonic information.
Try this
Take the progression C – Am – F – G and play it so the top note of your right hand forms a little melody. That thread of top notes is what makes an accompaniment sing.
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