I’ve just released a new eBook, "The 2+2 Chord Method — How to Play Piano from a Fake Book."
The idea is simple: two notes in the left hand and two in the right, with the melody always on top. Starting with just the melody and chord symbols in a fake book, the method shows you how to turn them into a complete solo-piano arrangement.
The book begins with simpler textures—one note in each hand (1+1), then two notes in the left hand with the melody in the right (2+1)—before developing the full 2+2 Method: two notes in each hand, with the melody on top. It expands from there into richer voicings, accompaniment styles, bass lines, stride, Bossa Nova, and complete arrangements of standards.
The goal is not to memorize my arrangements. It is to learn how to sit down with a fake book and create your own solo-piano arrangements.
Below is my 2+2 arrangement of “Someone to Watch Over Me,” one of the complete arrangements included in the book. In the bridge, I vary the basic 2+2 texture with left-hand arpeggios.
For $10/month, Patreon members get access to the complete 2+2 Method eBook, along with more than 1,500 solo-piano arrangements of standards, new arrangements posted daily, and my other piano teaching material:
www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas
I’m Harry Likas—a jazz pianist and piano teacher, technical editor of Mark Levine’s The Jazz Theory Book, and reader and advisor for Mark Levine’s The Jazz Piano Book.