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    The Ultimate Guide To Piano Improvisation: Resource Sheet

    Uploaded by

    Pierre
    This document outlines a 6-step system for learning piano improvisation. The steps include: 1) Learning chord progressions, 2) Experimenting with the minor blues scale, 3) Getting familiar with chord tones, 4) Combining chord tones and blues scales, 5) Learning chord-scales/modes for each chord, and 6) Putting it all together to improvise. The goal is to guide students through the process in a step-by-step manner to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    The Ultimate Guide To Piano Improvisation: Resource Sheet

    Uploaded by

    Pierre
    65 views3 pages
    This document outlines a 6-step system for learning piano improvisation. The steps include: 1) Learning chord progressions, 2) Experimenting with the minor blues scale, 3) Getting familiar with chord tones, 4) Combining chord tones and blues scales, 5) Learning chord-scales/modes for each chord, and 6) Putting it all together to improvise. The goal is to guide students through the process in a step-by-step manner to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

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    Resource Sheet

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    This document outlines a 6-step system for learning piano improvisation. The steps include: 1) Learning chord progressions, 2) Experimenting with the minor blues scale, 3) Getting familiar with chord tones, 4) Combining chord tones and blues scales, 5) Learning chord-scales/modes for each chord, and 6) Putting it all together to improvise. The goal is to guide students through the process in a step-by-step manner to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    65 views3 pages

    The Ultimate Guide To Piano Improvisation: Resource Sheet

    Uploaded by

    Pierre
    This document outlines a 6-step system for learning piano improvisation. The steps include: 1) Learning chord progressions, 2) Experimenting with the minor blues scale, 3) Getting familiar with chord tones, 4) Combining chord tones and blues scales, 5) Learning chord-scales/modes for each chord, and 6) Putting it all together to improvise. The goal is to guide students through the process in a step-by-step manner to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    The Ultimate Guide to

    Piano Improvisation
    Resource Sheet
    This 6-step system is designed to help guide you into the world of improvisation. It’s so easy to
    get overwhelmed with all the information out there. The purpose of this lesson is to provide you
    with a step-by-step system that you can follow and avoid getting overwhelmed.

    Step 1: Learn the chord progression


    The first step is to learn the chord progression. It’s constructed using rootless voicings and it
    should be played with the left hand. Practice it over and over until it becomes very familiar.

    Step 2: Play around with the minor blues scale


    Once you are comfortable playing the chords in your left hand. It’s time to start playing around
    with the minor blues scale. Learn it and master it. Then spend a lot of time experimenting with it.
    Try playing simple, short phrases to begin with. Avoid just playing up and down the scale.

    www.pian opig .c om
    Step 3: Get familiar with the chord tones
    Once you’ve spent a considerable amount of time playing around with the blues scale, it’s time to
    learn about chord tones. Chord tones are essentially just the notes within a chord. They can
    provide a lot of color and interesting sounds to your improvisation. Here are 3 exercises for you
    to do:

    Exercise 1

    Play through the chord progression in the left hand, whilst playing the chord tones 1, 3, 5 and 7
    in the right hand. You should only play one note per beat.

    Exercise 2

    Repeat exercise 1, but this time, play the chord tones 3, 5, 7 and 9.

    Exercise 3
    Play through the chord progression, along to the backing track, and improvise using nothing but
    the chord tones from each chord. You’re still only allowed to play one note per beat.

    Step 4: Combine chord tones with the blues scale


    When you feel comfortable improvising using the blues scale and you know the chord tones like
    the back of your hand, it’s time to combine them together. Get the backing track on, or
    metronome, and play around improvising using the blues scale combined with the chord tones
    from each chord.

    www.pian opig .c om
    Step 5: Learn the chord-scales / modes
    When you feel you need a step up from the chord tones & blues scale. It’s time to learn the
    modes that go with each chord in the progression.

    For the Gm9, we will use the G Dorian scale:

    For the Cm9, we will use the C Dorian scale:

    For the Dm7b9, we will use the D Dominant Diminished scale:

    Step 6: Put it all together


    When you know the modes and scales for each chord, have a go improvising with them.
    Combine this with the chord tones and blues scale.

    There is an infinite amount of possibilities you can come up. Get creative and don’t be afraid to
    experiment. When you’re at this stage, it’s still beneficial to return to previous steps and limit
    yourself as it can force you to be more creative.

    Good luck!

    www.pian opig .c om

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