The piano is an amazing instrument. So many notes, so many keys! That's why the crossover or arpeggio technique is employed frequently. It allows the pianist to use much of the keyboard and the left hand.

The trick to using this technique is in the crossover itself. Usually, the left hands initial position will span an octave and then the index or ring finger will be used to crossover the thumb to continue playing more notes of the chord.

A good example of this is the piece "Thanksgiving" by George Winston. Here, a whole harmonic background is created by the left-hand crossover technique while the right improvises a melody line. And the results are a beautiful piece of music! Nothing complicated here. He just gets his left hand down using a few chords. This creates the backdrop for the entire piece - and the mood!

You too can create your own harmonic backgrounds. Once you learn how to do the crossover technique, you'll find it to be something you'll use over and over again. Why? Because of its capacity to use much of the keyboard and the beautiful sound you can get from it.

There are many variations to the crossover technique as well. In fact, you can actually use it to cover more than 4 octaves of the keyboard! You just keep crossing over with the left hand to cover as many notes as you wish. Another great example of this technique is the lesson "Morning Mist!" Here we use 4 chords and a simple crossover technique to create a light ambiance. We keep playing these chords in the left hand while the right is free to improvise a melody and we have created a beautiful piece of music!