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Top 10 Ways To Improvise On The Piano

by Tania Gleaves on August 3, 2010

1. Use fake books. Fake books, as one of the top 10 ways to improvise on the piano, are gentle introductions to what could be interpreted as the Wild West of improvisation. Improvisation is largely based on freedom of expression. Without having a good foundation of the basics, beginners may feel intimidated by the possibilities. Fake books however contain music that provides opportunities of expression. Since it’s music lacks full notation, fake books allow the musician to fill in the missing parts with what *could* be there or what *should* be there without leaving *everything* up to the pianist.

Click Here And Discover Many Ways To Improvise On The Piano!

2. Make up your own songs. Making up your own songs really isn’t as easy as you might think. If you’ve been trained in the classics for example, you might find it difficult to break from instilled patterns. See if it helps to hum a random melody right off the top of your head at first. Then fill it in with interesting chords. You could probably fill up an entire album of improv this way!

3. Imagine how a master would play a song. Here, you can put your imagination to use and let your fingers tell the story. Ask yourself what Alicia Keys would play for a crowd — impromptu of course. Since her music is already a bit unconventional, your mind shouldn’t have too much trouble inventing new tunes for “her” (er… we mean, for you).

4. Improve a song with elements from your culture, the current holiday, etc. Every culture has it’s own unique set of chords and rhythms so why not incorporate them into the contemporary music that you play? This way, you can spice things up. You could for example, give the National Anthem an Brazilian spin or Italian twist.

5. Try to forget whatever you’ve learned about notes, intervals, scales, chords, and all the rest. Approach the piano as if you’ve never seen the thing before and you wonder what it does. Touch it’s keys and see if your random play generates any interesting tunes. If you should ‘accidentally’ discover a cool tune, melody, chord, or rhythm, build on it. Think of another section that would go well with the element that you just discovered. Keep following this pattern and you’ll have an entire song in no time.

6. Remember that when improvising, there are no mistakes. Okay, that’s not entirely true — but the idea is to break you from fearing improvisation. The thing that prevents a lot of us from even trying improvisation is our own fear.

7. Try different elements within a single song. Mix and mash different rhythms, octaves, dynamics, and more just to see what results. While you might not find anything appropriate for an entire song, you just might discover a unique passage that would fit well in an existing song.

8. While you’re experimenting, record your efforts. You can easily create a database of unique passages if you record your efforts into a sound database. Your database needn’t be anything fancy, as a simple file of wav files will suffice. Just remember to give your recordings descriptive names.

9. Chord it. Play a steady beat and a single chord with your right hand in other words, and use then use your left hand to decorate the chord with an interesting melody.

10. Try playing a song that you’ve committed to memory — only play it backwards. You’re sure to find some unique and creative passages using this method!

Click Here And Discover Many Ways To Improvise On The Piano!

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Learning To Play Jazz Piano From Traditional Training to Improvisation

by Erik Thiede on July 28, 2010

Opportunities To Extend Your Expressions Exist In Jazz Piano

In learning to play jazz piano and other known styles, you’ll not only find opportunities to express yourself, you’ll also find opportunities to improvise. The same opportunities follow jazz music and although they provide for great fun, we want to warn you that
learning to play jazz piano and controlling its elements requires a bit of practice. There aren’t any real shortcuts however one solution to learning how to master its art is to understand what differentiates it from traditional, classical piano.

Click Here And Expand Your Repertoire By Learning How To Play Jazz Piano!

What Distinguishes Jazz Piano Music From Classical Piano Music

In essence, jazz piano incorporates several unique chords and inversions. Inversions are instances in music where ascending intervals are replaced by descending intervals (and vice versa). Playing both these chords and inversions at various times and places is what contributes to improvisation. From major or minor chords and inversions to suspended or augmented chords and inversions, jazz triads work to create sounds that are unique to this particular genre.

Improvisation Follows A Structure Yet Gives The Impression Of Impromptu Entertainment

If you’re unfamiliar with inversions, you can rest assured that they can be learned just as easily as traditional chords can be learned. Perhaps the ironic part about improvisation is that it follows a structure. So that means that although you’ll learn how to play differently, you’ll learn how to play jazz piano based on traditional methods. Yes, there are many different approaches to playing its music and some may not agree with our position here, but you can learn to play jazz piano by pulling knowledge from your classical background.

Classical Music Provides a Foundation To Learn

While some people may derive their sense of jazz skills naturally or from growing up by listening jazz, a classical student can build upon past lessons by shifting away from basic scales and three-finger chords to extensive 2-note inversions or even upside- down inversions. It’s important to remember that there’s no real conflict between the two courses of study and the transition from one to the other is similar to learning how to paint after drawing for many years.

As an analogy, one craft involves the use of widespread color and brush movements while the other involves the use of gray tones and pencil. Both crafts however, involve the use of eye-to-hand coordination and the art of drawing serves as a stepping stone toward learning to paint. It’s the same with learning to play jazz music. Both styles of music involve the use of ear-to-hand coordination and the art of playing classical music serves as a stepping stone toward learning jazz piano.

The only barrier in making a smooth transition is a reluctance to let go of traditional methods. There’s not much practicality in learning jazz riffs, runs, or rhythm combinations unless you’re willing to acknowledge and appreciate how they differ from traditional scales or harmonies. The lessons in jazz piano requires at once, the ability to let go, yet build upon a basic foundation at the same time. Soon enough, you will instinctively grasp its concepts without a second thought.

Click Here And Expand Your Repertoire By Learning How To Play Jazz Piano!

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Top 10 ways to make piano lessons fun

July 9, 2010

Looking for the top 10 ways to make piano lessons fun?
1. Go With The Flow. Sometimes it’s easier to practice piano lessons when they reflect the mood that we’re in. If it’s a sunny day outside, play some music that complements the weather. If you’re excited about a raise at work [...]

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Play Piano By Ear – Learning To Play Without Any Experience

July 7, 2010

Which is better? By ear or notation?
Learning to play piano by ear has always been a controversy probably since the piano was invented.
Proponents of this approach claim that it’s easier and it reinforces key listening skills while critics claim that it doesn’t teach people how to play – it teaches people how [...]

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Top 4 Reasons to Learn to Play Piano

April 18, 2010

The Piano Has Its Own Unique Sound
One of top 4 reasons to learn to play piano is the unique sound it makes. No other instrument comes close to the type and quality of music generated by the piano, which consequently, is a good thing. High quality music requires that its instruments sound [...]

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Learn the Art of Improvisation At The Piano

October 31, 2009

Improvisation at the piano typically means making up music as you go along. Is it possible? Yes it is a definite possibility, that’s how great composers make music with their piano. At first, improvising a melody on the piano seems impossible especially if you are just producing random sounds but as you go along, you’ll [...]

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