Check out my book: http://www.billspianopages.com/how-to-really

Previous tutorial: http://youtu.be/lf68y-uRXGQ

A couple of weeks ago I made a tutorial about how to create a chord progression from scratch on the piano. Towards the end of that tutorial I played an improvisation on the progression, which several people have asked me to talk about in more detail.

So here it is. In this tutorial I talk about some of the techniques of pop piano improvisation, using last week's play through as an example. In particular I talk about how to master the rhythm that I use - which is a really distinctive and useful one if you're interested in playing pop piano - and the importance of control, expression and musicality. A really important point to understand when you're playing any style of piano, whether from written music or an improvisation, is that it's about more than just pressing the right notes. In fact, getting the expression and musicality of the thing right is, if anything, more important than getting the notes 100% perfect.

I also discuss some of the improvisational techniques I'm using to create melodic and harmonic interest, including chord suspensions and changing chord inversions to create musical shape and fragments of melody.