Down by the Bay: Left Hand

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to learn
how to improvise your own left hand part
for "Down by the Bay" using the chord symbols. Let's come to the piano to get started.
For the left
hand part, we're going to be reading the
chord symbols from the lead sheet. So
let's scan through and figure out which
chords were going to be using. The first
chord we come across is a B-flat major
chord. So what we'll use for "Down by the
Bay" is this pattern that you hear
sometimes in boogie or jazz where you
just use an open fifth, and then you step up
with this top note to the interval of a
sixth, and it is alternate between those
two. Kind of makes a fun, very simple kind
of boogie pattern. ♫Down by the bay,♫
Okay, see what I mean?
So take your finger 5 of the left
hand on B-flat, and then finger 1 on F,
and again you're just gonna go back and
forth, so your thumb will just kind of shift back and forth.
Try this on your own with me, let's slow
it down a little.
Ready go, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4. Good, so you'll do that pattern
whenever you see the B-flat major chord symbol.
Next we come across an F or F
major. So for the F you'll come down here,
with an F on the bottom, then we'll come
up a fifth to this C, and once again our
finger 1 will just go back and forth
between a fifth and a sixth, a fifth and
a sixth. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Now will you try that with me?
Let's slow it down, go. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Good, now let's
back up to the top and try this slowly.
I'll play the melody, you just worry about
the chords. We're gonna do two measures
of B-flat, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4,
then two measures of F. 3 4 1 2 3 4
we'll stop. There's more F after that, but
let's just do two measures of B-flat, two
measures of F. Now, note that the chords
don't start until you get to the word 'bay',
so the melody will go ♫Down by the♫ and
then 'bay' is beat 1, where you're going
to start these chords. Here we go. So wait
until 'bay' to start your B-flat. Ready,
♫Down by the♫ Go, 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 to F 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Now let's stop there. Good, how did you do at
the shift from B-flat down to F? If that was
a little bumpy you can press pause and
just practice that shift from here to
here. You've got to make that move pretty
quick, from B-flat down to F. Let's try it a couple
times. B-flat, down to F, B-flat, down to F. Pause if
you need extra practice with that,
otherwise let's try it one more time. So
remember when I hit 'bay', that's where you
start the chords. Here we go, ♫Down by the bay,♫ 2 3 4 1 Get ready to shift. 2 3 4 1 Good, now if we keep going
you'll see there's no new
chord symbol, and that just means to keep
playing whatever chord you were on, which
was F. So here we're gonna keep going with the F chord, ♫home♫ 2 3 4 1 ♫I dare not♫ then what do we do?
You see another B-flat, so we come back up to B-flat, 1 2 3 4 1 ♫For if I♫, then what? We get an E-flat major
chord. Now we could come up here to
E-flat, but I think it sounds cooler to
go down to this low E-flat. ♫For if I do♫ So a
fifth above E-flat, remember E and B are
a fifth apart, so in the key of B-flat, E-flat
and B-flat are a fifth apart. So our E-flat
chord will have this E-flat and B-flat,
and then for the fifth going to the sixth,
remember B is not diatonic in this key,
so a step above E-flat would be C
not B, so B-flat to C, B-flat to C, with
that E-flat on the bottom. So try this
with me for E-flat, go back and forth, back and forth. So that's our E-flat chord, okay? So let's start on
♫For if I♫ Then on the word 'do', that's when
you start the E-flat. Here we go, get
ready to start your E-flats when I hit
the word 'do'. Go, ♫For if I do♫ 2 3 4 1
♫my mother will♫ Back to B-flat, 3 4 1 2 3
And then right here, kind of want to pause so
the soloist can get ready. You could keep
the chords going, we could go, ♫my mother will say♫ 2 3 4 1 2 3
Actually let's do that. I kind of like
that better. So what we're going to do is
when we have ♫my mother will♫ we'll go 1 2 3 4 1. During those 3 beats of rest, just keep going 1 2
3, but stop on 3. So now the
soloist can play or sing their part.
♫Did you♫, and then on 'ever see a goose'
we're just gonna hit the court on beat
1. We want to give the soloist a little
bit of space to do their solos, so we
don't want the accompaniment to be too
overpowering, so we're just going to kind
of lighten it up by just hitting on beat 1. ♫ever see a goose kissing a moose?♫ see how I just
played that chord on beat 1, then I was silent on beats

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