Comping Patterns : 4C - 5C - 6C - 7C - 8C - 9C
Left Hand : Boogie Bass Patterns (Click on any pattern to hear its Audio)
Audio Demos : CP 4 - 9
Boogie bass patterns are very useful for keyboard comping.
Simply combine a boogie pattern in the left hand with a rhythm pattern of chords in the right hand.
Comping Pattern 8 is a typical style used by Fats Domino. But less busy patterns can be just as effective.
Playing a disciplined repetitive rhythm pattern produces appropriate comping for many tunes. It is also good practice and expands your vocabulary of rhythmic motifs and phrases.
Eventually you should become more flexible, especially with the right hand.
Repeat a pattern for 4 or 8 bars, then introduce a new idea.
Good comping sounds like a melody. It becomes a rhythmic counter-melody to the melody line of the soloist. Comping Pattern 7 is a simple example of this.
The blues is an important musical form in Rock and Roll music.
In Rock and Roll the blues is played in two different rhythm styles
- Shuffle style, using swing quavers as in Jazz
- Straight Eighths, where all quavers are equal half beats