Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Need some tips on improvisation!

hey there!

I took piano roughly 2 months and a half ago, and I'm having a lot of fun (practicing an average of 2 hours a day). At this point, I really want to learn how to improvise, at least a little. I know it's very hard and I'm not expecting to get anything worth listening to right off the bat, but I want to get started at least.

I learned the Blues scale recently, and I have been toying with it. I can manage to improvise some decently sounding melodies one-note at a time (no chords involved) but I don't really know how to advance from that point, my main problems are:


1- I don't know how, where or when use chords in the melody I'm improvising. I know which chords are important in major scales (dominant, tonic, etc) but I can't really relate that theory to actual improvisation, much worse when it comes to the blues scale, which doesn't follow the scheme I'm used to.

2- My left hand is sitting there, dead. What it should be doing is a mystery. I suspect that, in fact, I should base my improvisation on the chords played by the left hand but I haveno clue how to start / what to play with it. Is it related to the scale I'm improvising in?


Any tips on improvisation are moore than welcome. If you can link me a source for learning, even better. Thanks!!!

There is an improvisation thread for beginners right on this forum. It is a jazz study group located here:

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...2/topic/005653/Number/0/site_id/1#import

Barb

Try getting the chords from a simple tune in the sheet music, using maybe 3 or 4 chords. You are just going to use the chords, not the tune.

Learn the chords in the left hand first. Just in a block, don’t think you have to move on the chord tones yet. That will come later.

Try making a melody in the right hand using only the chord tones that you are playing in the left.

1st just on one chord, than on 2 etc.

Your melody will sound a bit sterile but that is ok for now. After you can do that using the whole chord progression then you can start to add some non-chord tones in your melody.

1st add a passing tone. That is the tone between 2 chord tones. So now you can make your melody with just chord tones and passing tones.

Then add an upper neighbor. That is the tone above a chord tone and then returning to it. Now just chord tones and upper neighbors.

Then add the lower neighbor. Just chord tones and lower neighbor.

After you get pretty good with just one non-chord tone, then you can start to mix them up.

I have not visited the subject of melody shape and melodic cadences, but maybe this will give you a little fun as you experiment.

I just posted a new issue of my newsletter where I talk about improvisation. Find it at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/newsletter2.html