Technique & Musicality

The Landing Pad

Every root position triad is seven semitones wide. Your left hand does not rebuild itself at each chord. It keeps its shape, lifts, travels, and lands.

One shape, moved

Pick any two chords. Watch the frame stay the same size while it travels.

A piano keyboard showing the left hand moving between two chord positions

Try this order

  1. Leave it on C and G. Press Show me both and watch the scramble lose the race to the exact same pair of chords.
  2. Switch to a pair from a song you are learning. Watch the gold bars. Seven semitones every single time.
  3. Try a major to a minor, like C to Am. Only the middle finger moves inside the frame, by one semitone.
  4. Now try C to B or C to Bb. Same seven semitones, but the reach feels different because a black key sits on the edge of the shape. That is the approximately.
  5. Now put your hand on the keys and copy the Keep the shape version. Hover first, no sound.
  6. Go to Leaving early and play along with the count. Lift on 4 every single time.