Piano improvisation: Learn To Improvise On Your Piano By Faking
Do you have a fake book? Just one of those songs could be the
source of many meaningful exercises that will help you grow as a
musicician and as a pianist.
What is a fake book?
A "fake book" contains songs written in a concise format that
includes only the melody and chords, letting you interpret the
song's performance according to your own taste.
The songs in a fake book have a single melody written out in
notes with the lyrics written beneath the notes. Above the notes
of the melody you'll find the names of the chords to play.
This format is very compact. You will often see fakebooks
containing 500 or more songs. Here are some suggestions on how
to use one of these songs for increasing your improvisational
skills:
1. Chords. The suggested chords are often very rudimentary. Most
jazz pianists spice up the songs with more elaborate chord
progressions. Try to find more chords to use in the song. This
exercise will increase your skills in chord theory.
2. Scales. When you have elaborated upon the chord progressions
in the song you can choose scales that work with the chords you
have chosen. If you find this hard to do you can buy scale books
with scale suggestions for different chord progressions. This is
an exercise in scale theory.
3. Practising piano chords. Start with the first chord in the
song, play it in different positions on your piano and in
different combinations.
4. Practicing chord progressions on the piano. Take a couple of
bars of the song and practise to play the progressions over and
over again varying the chord voicings.
5. Practicing scales on the piano. Begin with the first chord
and the scale you have chosen with it and start by playing the
scale up and down the keyboard with the right hand and the left
hand.
6. Practice piano improvisation with scales. As soon as you
master playing the scale up and down the piano it is time to
create music with the scale by playing around with it, creating
patterns and inventing melodies.
7. Practise piano improvisation. Take a couple of bars and play
them over and over again with chord voicings in the left hand
and improvising with the appropriate scales with the right hand.
It is also good to practice piano improvisation with your left
hand and voicings with your right hand.
There are of course many more things you can do with a song in
order to develop your skills in piano improvisation. Help
yourself and don't forget to have fun and to also play the song
in its entirety with the melody.