So many piano students wonder how they can improvise. They just don't understand how someone can sit down at the piano and play off the top of their head. What they don't know is that there is some method or system behind the pianist's approach. One of the best methods is to just pick a few chords from a Key and play.

For example, imagine you're sitting down at your piano and you just want to play what you feel. What do you do? For starters, you could place your fingers on the first chord that calls out to you. Perhaps a minor chord is what you feel like playing. Or maybe you're in a Major mood. The key is to not think about it and allow the fingers to move towards what it wants. Take the lesson "Reflections in Water" for example.

Here we start out by playing a C Major 7 open position chord. This chord choice really determines the way the whole improvisation is approached. By using this chord structure, you've already determined what the sound will be. Now all you have to do to create your free-form improvisation is to play around with this chord and a few others from the Key of C.

In this lesson, you have the chords you will be playing and the order in which they are to be played. Now, you can relax and play around with the possibilities and come up with your own unique improvisations. And of course, by using this lesson as a template, you begin to understand that the way pianists can sounds so professional when sitting down to play is by using chords.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!