Hi folks. New to Piano (1.5 yrs) age 52. I am curious and thought what better place to ask than in the composer barn!

When I am not actually practicing but just doodling around...how do I know what compliments what chord? In other words, If I play a left hand C Maj Chord....how do I know what right hand melody compliments that chord without it soundling like I am just running a scale?

I like 12 bar blues but am not at the level to keep a good left hand bass line running and develop a riff with the right that doesn't just sound like I am playing a blues scale. But, I don't know what chords/notes go together to improvise.

I know I should still be focusing on the basics still. But, when I am just sitting there having fun, I am at a loss.

Thanks for any advice!

Well... I would think that as long as your melody stays in line with the scale that goes with the chord you are playing it should be fine. Sometimes the melody isnt inline with the chord you are playing when you are transitioning to a different chord or to a different key.

Sometimes your melody can stay within the same simple scale but you use different chords with in that scale as the left hand accompaniment.

This could go on for a whole book so rather than writing it out for you I googled Piano improv techniques for you and this looked like it fit with your questions

Piano Improve Techniques

You know it's right because it sounds right! When you've found some diferent things that sound good over a particular chord, you may see a pattern emerging - the notes of the chord and a corrosponding scale will probably be heavily (but not exclusively) featured. But let theory describe your music, not constrain it!

Find some printed music that includes chord sumbols, or analyse the harmony of a simple "classical" piece. What notes does THAT composer use over certain chords?

If we were sitting at the piano, I could demonstrate how just about ANY pair if netes could be the melody of a G7 - C progression!

Also, try to get away from the habit of playing a block chord in the LH. It's a boring, muddy sound. Better to think of a melody and a strong bass line, let the "middle notes" fit in wherever they can.

There's a lot of music waiting to be played! Enjoy!

I usually start with a melody and then find chords that will harmonize with the melody notes. Many times a chord that contains the melody note on down beats will be the chord that works best.

Sometimes the melody note may be a 7th or 9th or sus4 of the chord you want.

As stated above, study simple songs that you know and see how other composers have solved the harmony/melody solution.

If you play a Cmaj Chord, You could play the notes of the scale, and the other ones. Example:

a) If you are playing slowly, any note in the scale of C it's ok, but for the longer notes use C,E,G,B,D. (The grades I,III,V,VII,IX of the scale).

b) If you play fast, All the notes are ok. I mean you can mix white and black keys in this particular case. The "blue" notes (black keys if we talk about C Major) are the ones that are not in the scale. They give color and tension . The notes C,E,G,B,D are the "release of tension".

So you can play a game of tension, and release, using all the notes of the keyboard. You can experiment with the notes, the speeds, the volume (crescendo, diminuendo), and the articulation (legato, staccato, tenuto ...). The possibilities are infinite.