Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet Music

Piano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not a science. It is all based on chords and chord progressions. There aren't any steadfast rules for creating an arrangement, nothing to dictate the limitless potential of your imagination. Musicians learn to arrange by simply arranging ? and improvise by improvising -- over and over again. It's a big game of trial and error. But it's also a scientific method: you keep the experiments that work, and abandon those that don't work.

That being said, there are a few things that can help you in the knowledge of piano improvization. Don't think of these as rules, but rather points on a roadmap guiding you through the vast world of arrangement and improvisation possibilities.

- The first step, of course, is to learn as much as you can about chords and how they work. Once you get a handle on piano chords and the chord symbols that represent them such as Fm7, G9, D, C7, etc., you can then learn how to break those chords up in various patterns.

- Learn several different chording patterns, such as open voicing, arpeggios, upward inversions, western bass, Alberti bass, swing bass or boogie bass. This course guides you through these techniques, in addition to others, and teaches you to understand when they're the most appropriate.

- Learn some right hand fillers, like octaves (and the multitude of harmonic possibilities associated with octaves), tremelos, grace notes, twangs, runs, and turnarounds. Again, this course teaches you these fills and several others.

- Study pre-arranged sheet music. Your local music shop will have tons of music books containing several arrangements; read and play through these in detail. Seeing what other people have done with various pieces of music will help you understand the art of arrangement and also introduce you to new techniques!

- Dig into different musical styles, like ragtime, blues or country-western. Pick up some compilation CDs focusing on a particular style of music or purchase some piano sheet music specializing in the style. Understanding the fundamental elements of various styles will help you learn to arrange any song in that particular style -- or just add a few stylized elements to any arrangement.

- Jump online and type in "chord piano" or "piano chords" into your search browser, and you will come up with a zillion choices where you can learn all you need to know about chords in a reasonably short time. It's not rocket science, and once you learn a few piano chords, you probably will become addicted to chords and their application to your piano playing.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and products such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He can be reached at http://www.chordpiano.com. He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Piano Chord Progressions" with over 56,650 current subscribers. Those interested may obtain a free subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com.

---

George Winston and New Age Piano Playing

The first time I heard George Winston play back in... Read More

Adults Can Learn to Play the Piano Too

Are you well past puberty and have always had a... Read More

Open Position Piano Chords - Perfect for the New Age Style

The Open Position Chord (OPC) allows you to create a... Read More

How I Compose a Piece of Music

A number of people have asked about my own methodology... Read More

How To Make Money On A Music Website Through Pay-Per-Click?

Interested in making money while you're asleep, or making money... Read More

Top 50 Music Quotations

Discover the phenomenonal complexity of music and reflect on the... Read More

Copyright Basics for Songwriters

Should you copyright your song? If you're a songwriter, sooner... Read More

New Age Piano Playing and the Sustain Pedal

There are 3 pedals on most pianos. The one on... Read More

Anglican Arrogance: Small-Minded Choirmembers

What is "Episcopal" music?We often hear people express concern about... Read More

ADIRONDACK versus SITKA SPRUCE

Both of these timbers make great soundboards on flat top... Read More

How to Compose Your Own Music Using 8-bar Phrases

Some people think composing is this miraculous thing that only... Read More

Free, Legal Music Online

Almost everyone has heard about the massive crack down on... Read More

How Has Eminem Risen to the Top?

How is it that a little white boy from Kansas... Read More

Why Play Guitar?

As a full-time guitar instructor, I am constantly faced with... Read More

Piano Chords and New Age Music

There are basically two ways you can compose a piece... Read More

Ouch, It Hurts When I Sing!

When I first set out to write this article about... Read More

Creating Your Own Compositions

The idea of actually creating a complete piece of music... Read More

New Age Music - What Is It Good For?

Let's face it. The world will not end if there... Read More

Self-Expression Without Criticism

When I was 9 years old I played the Saxophone... Read More

Piano Lessons Can be Fun!

There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note... Read More

3 Secrets To Understanding What Makes Music Tick

It's no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some... Read More

Music and Emotion

The Age-old Puzzle of Human ResponseIf you've listened to more... Read More

Its Jewish Music, But Is The Music Jewish?

A while back I was driving along the Jerusalem highway... Read More

Music Licensing: The Cold Cash Facts About Money for your Music

Where music meets licensing, there's money to be made. How... Read More

An Introduction to CD Mastering

While many people think that the mixing of the separate... Read More

The King of the Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson Still Stands at the Crossroads

Probably the most enigmatic Singer and Guitarist of the twentieth... Read More

Mp3s ? The Future of Music?

Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and... Read More

Performance and Gigs

"For optimum amp tone onstage, plug your amp into your... Read More

Suzuki Violin Vs Traditional Violin

The Suzuki violin method has come to dominate the way... Read More

New Age Piano and Improvisation

There are so many areas in life where one must... Read More

Born to sing, Britney Spears is as big as ever today

Britney Spears was born December 2 1981 as Britney Jean... Read More

Right-Hand Techniques for New Age Piano

Recently, I had a student ask me to offer some... Read More

Music Making as Spiritual Experience

If you've been playing piano for some time, you may... Read More