How to Improvise on the Piano

Learning to improvise on the piano means more than sitting down at the instrument and tapping out random notes. There's a method behind all that seeming chaos. You must first learn the fundamentals of music by practice, and then you can discover the freedom of improvisation.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Learn the major and minor scales and practice them until you live and breathe them. then do the same with the chords. Once you learn the rules, you can break them.

2. Listen to piano's improvisational jazz greats, including Herbie Hancock or Bill Evans. Note how they play with such passion and creativity. They've crafted their talent with years of hard work.

3. Bring all of your emotions to the piano when you practice. If you could play them, what would they sound like?

4. Explore the blues as well, paying homage to such greats as B.B. King or Miles Davis. Do you pick up a pattern in their work? Those music phrases you hear are part of the vocabulary of blues improvisation.

5. Understand that learning to improvise on the piano is like learning a language. The more you practice, the more fluent you become and the more "words" you will play.

6. Find your own particular style. It's fun to play like someone else, but eventually you'll want to put your stamp on your own improvisation.

Resources

• The Piano Playing with Chords helps teach improvisation.
• Learn the philosophy of improv at the Musilosophy website.