Sunday, September 20, 2009

Piano improvising

My friend Kathy lent me a book " How to play the piano despite years of lessons" when I mentioned I would like to learn to improvise. Us textile artists don't just chat about visual art!
Well, that book really changed my thinking and piano playing practice.
It claims" no need to know scales or chords" and that may well be true, but I have done scales and chords all my life, but I never knew how to apply what I knew.
As per usual, you take from instructional books what suits you. Once I understood how the chordal system applies to music, I had this lightbulb moment!
I got out some of my old song books. They are also called "Fake Books" because they have the melody line only plus the chord indicator and you "fake" the left hand. It was amazing, all of a sudden it no longer took months and months of frustrating practice to play a song!
It is now so much fun to play, I spent a few hours every day.
I have ordered another book " How to play from a Fakebook" so I can give Kathy her book back.
Thanks Kathy!

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