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Piano improvisation techniques don’t have to be complicated. In this tutorial I explain how to create interesting piano improvisations using an exercise based on just a couple of chords - in this case, Am7 and Fmaj7.

The left-hand part of this improvisation exercise is simply the open fifths of the chords. You could play shell chords instead, but because the sevenths will be used in the right-hand part, open fifths can sound a little better.

For the right-hand part, try to stick roughly to the A minor 7 pentatonic with a few blues notes added in. You don’t need to focus too much on choosing notes that fit with the left hand, try to let the notes just fall under your fingers. Sometimes this will create quite a cool sound, and sometimes it won’t work at all – this is when spending time at the piano keyboard and experimenting becomes really important.

Have a go at incorporating some runs, arpeggios, crush notes and riffs to make the improvisation more interesting. If you’re stuck for ideas, have a look through some of my earlier videos on improvisation and some of the other exercises I’ve posted.

The wider point of the lesson is that experimentation - playing around on the piano to see what you can do - is key to the process of learning to improvise. Even playing around with really simple ideas such as two-chord improvisation can be really good practice, especially if you’re interested in develop your basic piano improv skills.

So, have a go at the exercise, but make sure that you don’t just learn it off by heart and stop there. It’s essential that you sit down, play around, and experiment in order to really get the hang of improvising.

If you want to know more about improvisation or other aspects of jazz, blues and pop piano, take a look at some of my earlier videos. You might also be interested in my book, How to Really Play the Piano, which teachers improvisation through the medium of 12-bar blues, and is full of handy stuff on chords and various aspects of
harmony.