left-hand lock step with the chord changes in support of the bass guitar, gives me a high level of confidence to do the same when I play worship piano in a live band, as long as I keep a few things in mind.
SPACE FOR BASS
In a studio environment there’ s forethought to the bass parts, so they’ re locked in with the kick drum. This means a similar level of detail and intention go into those bass piano notes. From how often they’ re played, to the specific EQ of the piano sound itself. In fact, it’ s not that uncommon to hear an entirely separate‘ bass piano’ track that has different EQ, compression, and reverb settings from the‘ normal’ piano, so they can more aggressively lean on that piano bass to thicken the low end.
The point I’ m making is that these are all planned and executed variables in the studio and at a professional level, but the average
Sunday morning worship team environment can be a lot less predictable.
So when you consider whether or not you should lean on that left hand from the piano be sure you have a high degree of understanding and confidence in what your bass player is bringing to the table. If their playing is consistent from rehearsal to service time, then you can plan to double up those parts with ease. If they’ re a lot harder to count on, then you may be better left‘ leaving them space to figure it out’ so that at the very least you’ re avoiding active clashes.
In the same way, on most modern worship recordings the bass parts lean towards simplicity and foundation-laying. If your live bass player prefers to move around a lot, adding in walk-ups / downs that are hard to predict and match, you may serve the overall band better by holding back to ensure you’ re not muddying the low end.
All of this without even mentioning synth bass parts. That’ s for another article, I suppose. If I’ ve accomplished anything here, I hope it’ s to at least give you freedom to consider, explore, and try something you may have been led to believe was never a good idea at some point in the past.
The question is not,“ Should I use my left hand?” The better question,“ Is what I’ m playing making the band feel clearer, stronger and more unified?” Sometimes the most musical answer is to stay out of the way. But sometimes, especially in big modern worship moments, the most musical answer is to put that left hand back to work.
David Pfaltzgraff Founder and Lead Sound Designer at SundaySounds. com, a site that resources worship keys players and guitarists around the world. David currently resides in Des Moines, IA with his wife and two boys. He enjoys volunteering in his church’ s worship ministry, old synthesizers, and a good super-hero movie.
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