Have Faith - You, Too, Can Play Gospel Piano

There’s nothing quite like the soulful beauty of gospel piano. With its emphasis on strong melody and smooth chord voicings, gospel piano is a style like no other. Whether you are a beginner to piano or a seasoned veteran looking to expand your horizons, gospel piano is a style you can’t overlook.

Though there isn’t a specific gospel chord progression, learning some of the patterns found in many common gospel songs can make playing gospel music easier, and get you playing gospel music like a pro in no time. The instructors at our piano school in Boston can help start you down your path to being a gospel musician! 

Origin of Gospel music

Gospel music is inextricably linked to the Christian Church. The first mentions of gospel music are in the mid-18th century, with some of the most famous tunes such as Amazing Grace and Rock of Ages written at that time. The songs began just with the lyrics, and were sung with different tunes, until the mid-19th century when the recognizable melodies of today were standardized. 

How piano replaced the organ

The origins of gospel piano start with Ira D. Sankey, a traveling musician from Pennsylvania born in the mid-19th century, who traveled America and Britain with preacher Dwight L. Moody. He composed, arranged, and performed on the piano while singing many of the tunes we know today.

Though there are other musicians who contributed to (and continue to contribute to) the gospel piano we know and love, Sankey was definitely the first and the origin of the style. Church music was much more linked to the organ, a heavy and expensive instrument - but the energetic and rhythmic style of singing and playing gospel music was much better showcased by the piano rather than the organ due to the piano’s percussive ability. The ubiquity of the piano as an instrument, as well as how much more portable it was than an organ, also largely contributed to its use as the main instrument of gospel music.

Repeated refrains

Gospel music’s frequent use of repeated refrains stems from another source of its origin - plantation songs. These songs used lots of call-and-response, which is when the main singer sings something (the call) and the other singers reply with something else (the response). This was very important in churches where this was used, as these refrains were often something spiritually significant, which was remembered by the churchgoers as many at that time were illiterate and could not read the Bible or other songbooks for the words. 

Characteristics of Gospel Piano

Gospel Piano, while a style with great breadth, is nonetheless characterized by a few commonalities. These include the use of the major blues scale, also known as the country blues scale, the frequent use of a sequential bassline, whether descending or ascending, with specific chords over it, and an often-repeated refrain.

Major or Country Blues Scale

The Country Blues Scale, not to be confused with its close relative, the blues scale or minor blues scale, is so nicknamed for its ubiquitous use in country music, especially by the keyboard player. And as country music is a relative of gospel music (as they most certainly come from the same roots), both use this scale in almost every song. 

For a quick review on scales and keys, check out our other blogs!

The Country Blues Scale consists of the major pentatonic scale plus a flat third and flat sixth. The C country blues scale consists of C, D, Eb, E, G Ab, and A (pictured right). Check out this blog if you need a refresher on reading sheet music.

It is best to think of the additional notes (the flat 3rd and 6th) as passing tones and ornamentation, meaning they add color and an interesting quality to the melody, rather than being appropriate notes for the main melody.

Basically, if a song were a sandwich, the normal major pentatonic scale would be the bread and fillings, and the additional notes would be spicy sauce or mustard. Sure, they are essential to the flavor of the sandwich, but the sandwich would still be a sandwich without them, while the add-ons are just that - add-ons. 

However, learning the major pentatonic and its relative, the major blues scale, is essential to playing gospel piano licks. The most common lick is to play the 2, the flat 3, and the 3 in order so quickly that it sounds like a single note. It’s so common because it is so simple - you can add it in almost anywhere as a little ornamentation and it will fit. You will hear this in almost every gospel piano song, and every gospel piano player should know this one. Pictured left.

A great example of the use of this lick is in “Georgia On My Mind,” performed by Ray Charles. He uses this lick countless times throughout the song.

Sequential Bassline

While there isn't a specific gospel chord progression, there are, however, certain common chord progressions used in gospel piano, and one of the most ubiquitous is the chord progression over a sequential bassline.

Many songs use a stepwise sequential bassline, which is where the bass moves in the same direction (downwards or upwards) by sequential steps as the chords change rather than jump in different directions with every change of chord. Read our blogs on chords and seventh chords for a quick review! Gospel music, and specifically gospel piano, uses a very particular chord progression over a sequential bassline, often in the introductions to songs.

The song “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power,” written in G major, uses a great example of sequential ascending bassline, using the chord progression Am, E/B, Am/C, C#dim, D7. Pictured below, the bassline ascends in order, from A, to B, to C, to C#, to D. 

This version of the song is performed by Andrae Crouch.

Call-and-Response

Call-and-response is common in many kinds of music, but rarely is it as well done as in gospel music, as gospel music is almost designed around it. One of gospel music’s sources is plantation song, which was entirely call-and-response based music. Another source is early church music, which used call-and-response refrains effectively to administer messages of faith. It is no surprise that so many gospel piano songs use call and response refrains.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” linked here as a performance by the acapella group The Plantation Singers, is a great example of call-and-response.

Whoever is leading the song calls out “swing low, sweet chariot,” and the audience responds “coming for to carry me home.” Sometimes the leader calls out something else, but the response is always “coming for to carry me home,” which makes it really easy to teach to newcomers, and by the end of the song, it would be like you’ve been singing it all your life.

When trying to emulate this call-and response on piano, you can choose to play the call a little higher and the response a little lower in register (or vice versa), or play one with the left hand and one with the right hand - it is up to you to interpret it. However, if you just add a little bit of space between the call and response, echoing the space after the call that the audience would give before delivering the response, the division between will be clear and the call-and-response will be felt. 

Learn to play gospel piano in boston, ma

Even as a novice pianist taking beginner piano lessons, these few tips and tricks on playing gospel piano can make you sound authentic quickly! And as an expert player, learning the origins and influences of gospel piano can inform your choices when you play gospel piano. 

Whether you’re playing on your own, playing all the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms, or in an ensemble with other musicians and a choir, knowing the basics and key features of gospel piano presented here is the secret to good gospel piano. 

Want the expert guidance of a professional piano instructor as you learn to play gospel music? Schedule private piano lessons in Allston with us!