Hi,
I really like this song as to me the harmonic changes are mind blowing. Still, I do not get good ideas how to make this song as interesting as it deserves it, so it would be nice if there would be a tutorial on how to play this song to get some inspiration.
Thanks for this request - I have added the tune to our upcoming lesson schedule.
Do you want to play this song solo piano? Or with a backing track?
Bossa, Samba, and other Brazilian styles can be quite challenging for solo piano performance as we are required to play the bass line, the syncopated comping, and the melody.
When using a backing track or playing with a bass player, we don’t play the bass line which makes this style much easier to perform from the pianist’s standpoint. In this setting we would comp in our left hand and play the melody/improvisation in our right hand.
You might like to check out the 3 tutorials that I made on Blue Bossa in the following course:
We explore some simple bass line techniques, syncopated right hand elements, and melodic considerations.
Many of the concepts that I teach on Blue Bossa can also be applied to Song For My Father.
Hi,
Thank you for your suggestions. I am going to look at these courses. Regarding your question, I was thinking of playing this as a solo. I see that this is challenging, and that is why I did not come to a nice solution/ arrangement how to play this tune in a way that satisfies me. I was wondering if you could give some suggestions how to make this arrangement more interesting or to create in general more interest, both harmonic and rhythmwise. Is it also possible for example to play the baseline partially even in the right hand?
Hi @henningleske - my pleasure with the course recommendations.
Okay leave this with me and I will try to create a beginner arrangement for the tune. It’s not a tune I have studied before but I’m sure I can arrange it for solo piano performance.
Bass lines are typically played in the left hand whilst the right hand plays the melody and syncopated comping when the melody rests.
Playing this song with a backing track is a great way to add more rhythmic interest.
We have the option of using a bass + drums backing track which frees up our left hand to play syncopated comping voicings whilst the right hand plays the melody.
Here is a bass and drums backing track which you can experiment with:
Click the 3-dot icon and you will see the “Download” button.
The other option is to use a drum backing track (no bass line) which adds some rhythmic interest.
With this approach we would be required to play the bass line, comping, and melody, which is the tricky part of playing this style for solo piano.
I will experiment with both approaches.
