Have you ever wondered how good musicians know which notes to play? How every time they play a song it’s a little different, but still feels recognizable? It may feel like magic (and I’m convinced the best musicians actually are wizards), but with a little training and knowledge of basic music theory, you too can express yourself by improvising.

Improvising in music is, in its most basic definition, the act of playing or singing a spontaneously created set of notes over a given harmony. You put together your knowledge of chords, scales, and rhythm to make coherent musical phrases, kind of like when you use your knowledge of words and grammar to create sentences. The best speakers don’t say too much or too little – and the same goes for the best musicians. They know exactly how much to play to sound great.

WHat are the keys on the piano?

There are 12 notes on the piano, and therefore 24 different keys – for each note, there exists a major and minor key. For a quick review on notes, and why there are 12 of them, check out our blog on keyboard layout!

This is the most important piece of knowledge that you need to be able to effectively improvise. Knowing at least the most common major and minor scales on piano (such as C, D, and G, and A, D, and E minor) is essential to be able to do this, though of course it is more helpful to know them all. Every song is written in a key, and knowing the scale means you know which seven of the twelve notes you can play. The reason the above scales are more common is because they have fewer sharps or flats, and so are easier to learn and play. Most songs are written in those keys for this reason.

What are Scale Degrees in Piano?

There are seven notes in a scale. A chord can be built from each note in that scale, and each chord in the scale can be labeled by a number. To avoid confusion between chords vs. intervals, those numbers are written in roman numeral form. Additionally, major chords are written in upper case (so I, IV, and V) and minor chords are written in lower case (ii, iii, vi).

For a quick review, check out our blog on major and minor chords on piano! This way of labeling chords is extremely useful for both recognizing patterns in songs, as well as transposition. For an example, check out the chords in C major below:

Note: The chord made from the seventh scale degree in a major scale is neither major nor minor, but a diminished chord.

Piano Improvisation Basics

So now you know how keys work, and you know what key your song is in, but how do you effectively improvise? You know which notes to choose from, but why choose one note over another? Some basics described below will really help you improvise as you’re taking beginner piano lessons, as well as guide you when you become a more advanced student.

the “Home” of the progression in piano

The most important thing to know is where home is. Most songs are written by repeating a loop of chords repeatedly, possibly changing the loop for the chorus, and maybe having a couple of transitions, but mostly staying within a loop. This is called a chord progression – a series of chords, often played repeatedly, that define the harmony of a song.

Knowing where the I chord is in the chord progression is very important, as that is the “home” of the progression, and during your improvisations that’s where the melody should return to: the home or first note of the scale.

Basically, as long as you play the first note of the key every time the loop gets back to the home chord, it doesn’t matter so much what you play in between. This is a very effective way of teaching improvisation, and one that all instructors at Boston Piano Lessons employ, as it is the fastest way to train you to recognize where you are in a chord progression.

For an example, check out the I-IV progression below (in case you need a refresher, check out our blog on how to read sheet music!):

As you can see and hear, the melody always returns to the note of C – the home of the scale – when the progression arrives at the C major chord.

Try it yourself! Start with any two to four chord progression in C major, and play the progression over and over in your left hand until it becomes routine. Then, add in the melody in the right hand by playing any notes you want, as long as when your left hand arrives at C major (the home of the key), your right hand also arrive at the note C.

how to create a Singable Melody on piano

Another very important strategy of effective improvisation on the piano, and really any instrument, is to create a singable melody. A singable melody is exactly what you think it is – a melody that can be sung by a human being. No matter how much you can shred on the piano, it won’t sound like a melody unless a human being can ostensibly sing it, and the most effective improvisations are always like that. The above example from the Home section is also a singable melody.

Just try and not play notes continuously – play notes just like you talk! Do you just rattle off words with no breaks, punctuation, or pauses, all the words at exactly the same speed and volume? Of course not, that’s how a robot talks, and everyone knows robots can’t play music!

So, when you are improvising a melody, try to make it sound human by making it a singable melody, with pauses, breaks, and having some notes louder than others.

Chord Tones & Non-Chord Tones

Chord tones and non-chord tones are also self-explanatory. Chord tones are notes that are in the chord you are currently playing, and non-chord tones are notes not in the chord. Mastering these takes a good bit of practice and awareness of which chord you are playing at all times. Take the below example:

In this example, the only tones played are chord tones (C and E of the C major chord, and F and A of the F major chord). This results in a pleasant sounding, albeit boring, melody. One way to improve this melody is by adding some non-chord tones. Check out the example below:

By adding just one or two non-chord tones in between the chord tones, the melody is much more interesting. All that is happening here is that there is one non-chord tone connecting the chord tones – a very effective strategy to improve your melodies.

Varying Rhythm

Another strategy to improve melody is to use varied rhythm patterns. Take the below example, where every one of the notes is a quarter note. It sounds alright, but not very interesting.

A way to improve this is to vary the rhythm just a little bit. Take the example below – the same notes are played, but in a slightly different rhythm, and it sounds far more interesting. Just have some notes longer than others and don’t play like a robot, and you’ll do just fine!

Learn to improvise on the piano in Boston, MA

There is absolutely nothing that is more fun musically than improvising. That feeling of knowing (by feeling!) exactly where you are in a chord progression, and using that knowledge, as well as your hard-earned and hard-practiced knowledge of scales, to create spontaneously beautiful music, is the magic most musicians live for.

Really good musicians make it seem both simple and magical all at once, but just the basics written about in the blog above are enough to get you well on your way to making your own amazing and unique music. Try it! You’ll be surprised how quickly you pick it up, but if you want a little guidance, come sign up for a trial lesson at Boston Piano Lessons. Our experience piano instructors look forward to helping you unlock your musical potential!

Keys, Scale Degrees, & the Basics of Improvisation