LH Comping Approach for Solo Piano
(Broken Shells on "Have You Met Miss Jones")
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Broken Shells (aka Bud Powell LH) is a common LH Comping Approach for Solo Piano.
When to use this approach? 1) Especially at a med-up swing tempo where stride may feel too hectic, the Broken shells can give you a more spacious texture. 2) Or even at a medium tempo, this approach may be more appropriate in certain stylistic contexts. How to use this approach? 1) Harmonically: the shells (either 1+10/1+7+10 or 1+7/1+3+7) give us sufficient chordal support against RH single note lines 2) Rhythmically: break up the shell parts to syncopate and bring out multiple subdivisions. Some ways that we can break up the shell parts are: a) top then bottom note b) top, bottom, then top again c) sometimes we can even add a chromatic approach from below into the top shell part to add even another rhythmic subdivision, if desired. **note LH broken shell parts are often on offbeats to syncopate against RH eighth notes |