How do I make/add strings to a piano piece

What I need help is how do I make the string parts in the background. This is been troubling me for a while. Like I use to use strings and piano at the same time on top of each other, but I really like it to be in the background but I dont know how to write them! Any help?

erm, my take on this is: Make the strings go softer, and the piano louder?

Depending on what program you use to compose, it would be of more help if you named it. :)

i wouldn't just add the strings, i would actually change the whole thing around. if i keep the whole piano part and just add the new string part, then the string part will sound so..... well, "added". So i think you should rearrange it so all the instruments sound equally important and as if they were always supposed to be playing together.

I think the issue is how to write a string PART that sounds like a background to a piano rather than get it to sound as such in a programme, no? If you are having trouble and don't know what to do with them, try things like block chords in the background that support the harmony of the piano, but add insterest to it. When there is a dissonance in the piano part, have the strings sustain a chord with that feeling. Generally the more dissonant the intervals in the strings the more tense or stressed the finished product will sound, so you could use the string background as sort of a motor to help the piano get from place to place. Also, another technique is to have the strings echo figures in the piano. If the piano plays a little phrase then does something else, see if you can get the strings to echo that phrase in the background after the piano plays it.

That's about as much as I can offer.