This is my first post here... i`m a total newby so i hope this is a good place to post this:

I`m reading the book called "how to play the piano despite years of lessons". It says that when you play Chords with your left hand, the thumb must land between the Middle C and the E right above it.

If the Chord does not land in this area, then you must rearrange the chord so it fits.

This seems like a hassle, and for me requires way more thinking to find the right chord notes.

Is this a legit technique or should i disregard it? If it`s legit, then i have a related question.

Thanks for your help!

John

I`ve never heard of such a practice.
Do whatever you want.

Yeah, that`s sounds incredibly dumb to me.

Yeah, I thought so too. I asked this question in the rec.music.makers.piano newsgroup, and someone had a really interesting reply. To him it makes perfect sense to to this: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=100gjvqbmc5c02b%40corp.supernews.com

John

I see his logic, but playing chords like that only applies to improvisation or accompaniment. It keeps all chords in close range, to make it easier. If you want to keep the song interesting, I would vary it a little.

I have never heard of this as being a strict rule. I guess it helps stop the chords getting that durgey, muddy sound, but that`s only when you get very low. Do what ever sounds good!

I didn`t really understand yr post till I went and take a look at the article yr talking abt. Okie...it`s right to do that, but only in certain times. Esp. when u wanna keep a close relation between changing chords, ao that they harmonise really well, but this method is generally observed by very beginner improvisors, perhaps trained only in very basic improvisatitory techniques. What u get when u play the chords in whatever `close` position is a beautiful, simple bass line, thus supporting the melody and basic musical direction well.
IE:Chord C,Chord Dmin, Chord C, Chord G7, ChordC.
But with this method, u`ll play in these inversions :
Chord C(b), Chord Dmin (b), Chord C (c), Chord G7(root), Chord C ( root).
So, with this, what u get is a `sweet` preceeding bassline which harmonises really well. Check the bass notes of the given chord inversions and u`ll get:
E, F, G, G, C
This approach to harmonising chords is generally used in `japanese` elementary classical music. People were taught to harmonise this way. But if yr good at improvising, then by all means, dun do it within this general guideline.

Did it never occur to this person to change the spacing of chords in the lower register so that they don`t sound muddy?