Guitar and piano sound excellent together. Both instruments are capable of producing gorgeous sounds, and when paired together, they can take your music to a whole other level. However, how do you make these instruments play side by side without creating a cacophony?
Here are 11 tips for playing the guitar and piano together:
- Do not play the way you would alone.
- Tune the guitar to the piano.
- Understand each other’s chords.
- Have the piano “carve out” a range for the guitar.
- Play at different rhythms.
- Know that neither needs to be the sole accompaniment.
- Do not be afraid to take the solo.
- Communicate about sound.
- Listen to another guitar/piano duet.
- Do not be scared to start over.
- Practice together, not apart.
In the rest of the article, I’ll take you through each of these tips in hopes of helping you better understand how to arrange a stellar guitar-piano duet. You’d be surprised how much freedom and creativity you’ll find in your music when you play by the rules.
Related: how hard is guitar compared to piano. New to this topic? Start with our self-taught guitar roadmap.
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1. Do Not Play the Way You Would Alone
As soon as you sit down with your instrument, you’re going to want to play like you do when you’re alone. However, with piano and guitar, it is not going to be that simple. Neither instrument ought to play as if it were solo – both musicians need to listen to one another and respond as needed moment by moment.
Jazz players have a saying: serve the music and not yourself. This motto has to be your mindset going into a piano and guitar duet (or any duet, for that matter). Since both instruments rely on chords, you will need to adjust your style and probably your frequency as well. I’ll talk in more detail about this later, and it is perfectly fine if it takes the two of you a while to feel how your instruments can work together and adjust accordingly.
This is a skill you won’t be able to develop simply by doing some research or reading a book; so get practicing and tweak as necessary.
2. Tune the Guitar to the Piano
If you have an older piano, it may be in tune with itself, but not the rest of the world. An out-of-tune piano does not mean your piano is unfit to play with other instruments, just that the other instruments will have to accommodate for its shortcomings! When playing guitar and piano together, the guitar should be the one to cater to the piano’s tuning as a piano is much harder to adjust.
Have the piano play the guitarist’s desired notes and let the guitar sharpen or flatten the tuning to fit the piano (Related: are classical guitars tuned differently). Tuning your guitar perfectly definitely follows a bit of a learning curve, so be patient with yourself and the other player. The whole tuning process may initially set your teeth on edge, but trust me, it will be far worse if the two tones do not match!
NOTE: If you have a keyboard, you can, of course, skip this painful step. Your biggest hurdle will be making sure the keyboard has the perfect volume so it does not fall into oblivion but also doesn’t drown out the guitar. However, this part is best left up to your and your partner to navigate. And don’t worry – the rest of the article’s tips still apply to you, so read on!
3. Understand Each Other’s Chords
If either the guitarist or the pianist has played the other instrument in the past, the process will be significantly simpler to navigate. However, for a beginner guitarist or pianist, the chords of the other instrument may not make as much sense. It is essential to be on the same page before you start playing so that neither of you is astounded or confused by clashing sounds.
If you tell a pianist to play a G major chord, they will likely play the triad G B D with both hands. Tell a guitarist to play a G major chord, and they will ask which one. Since a guitar has six strings, there are far more ways to play a G major chord – you could have three Gs, two Bs, and no Ds. This difference in chords is why it is essential to talk with your partner about which notes they’re planning to play so that the piano can adjust and change the sound if necessary.
Ideally, the piano should play the same notes as the guitar and not just stick to the piano chords with which they are most familiar. Sticking to guitar-like chords does not mean the piano should only play the guitar’s chords, it just means that the pianist should have their hands hovering over the notes the guitar is planning to play.
The pianist can always have fun with the sound and harmony and create unique variations as they wish, just as long as they hear what the guitar is doing and adapt accordingly.
4. Have the Piano “Carve-Out” a Range for the Guitar
Now, as vital as it is to know the notes your partner is playing and try to remain on the same page, playing the same exact notes in the same octave can actually end up causing a bit of a clash. The two of you will unnecessarily compete for space and sound, and it will not be the musical experience you want.
Instead of playing in the same frequency, have the pianist play above or below the chosen octave of the guitar. This way, both instruments will be heard, and there is less chance of an uncomely cacophony of notes. Utilizing the full range of both instruments means you don’t have to waste piano space where the guitar can reach. Use the piano to play where the guitar cannot, and let the guitar play where it is comfortable!
Feel free to play around with this as well. The piano can start in the lower octaves and then jump higher, or your guitar can b