5-Minute Piano Lessons

Piano improv is simply piano composing music done on the fly

The upside is that any mistakes are gone in an instant (unless you are so silly you call some attention to them.) The downside is that it requires some ability to play PLUS some measure of creativity. If your entire piano training has been “how to properly follow directions” then you are unused to exercising your own musical creativity. Perhaps some of this will help you “unleash the beast” of your “inner music monster!”

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Basic skills needed in a purely technical sense are:

1. Ability to pedal left hand chords smoothly

2. Ability to play right hand melody lines (one note at a time)

Here’s what you do:

1. Play 4 note chords on the white keys. The first of these is composed of the notes C E G and B natural. This chord is called a C Major Seventh and sounds VERY jazzy (or like “lounge piano” if you have had some bad experiences !)

2. Pedal each blocked chord you play. As the pedal takes over sustaining each chord, move your left hand to the next chord and get ready to play it!

3. The next chord is a Dm7, composed of the notes D F A C.

4. The third chord is Em7 = E G B D

5. The fourth is Fmaj7 (F Major Seventh) = F A C E

6. Now go back down: Em7, Dm7, Cmaj7 (play this twice.)

7. The full LH chord progression is eight bars long (with one chord per measure) and goes like this:

Cmaj7 Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, Em7, Dm7, Cmaj7, Cmaj7

8. Get so good at the LH action (plus pedal) that you can do it while asleep. (Well, not really, but that gives you some idea of how good you need to be.)

9. Finally, play little phrases on the white keys with your right hand while the left hand accompanies with this white key chord progression. Keep in mind the idea that the notes in these little melodies could be sung. I find that “flash and fire” is detrimental to good phrasing. Think I’m kidding? Study the guitar work of BBKing for examples of how to do it proud – that’s where I learned it. For more advanced coverage of  this topic and many others see the ebook “Dan Starr’s Big Book of Adult Piano” available here.

Tags: Bbking, C Major, Chord Progression, Composing Music, Dm7, Downside, F Major, Fmaj7, Guitar Work, Hand Chords, Inner Music, Jazz Piano, Melody Lines, Metronome, Musical Creativity, Nine Steps, Note Chords, Phrasing, Piano Improv, piano training, Technical Sense, White Keys