Online Piano

Recently, I had a student ask me to offer some techniques for using the right hand. Usually, it’s the left hand that causes the most difficulty but I had to think about it because up till then, I really did not have any “techniques” for the right hand.

I thought about it and tried to think about what I do as far as improvising with the right hand goes. Basically there are really only a few things you can do. You can:

1. Play single note runs - this is where you just play one note at a time

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Have you ever dreamed of penning your own compositions? Writing music has been a dream of mine for the longest time. And it’s a dream I am fortunate enough to have realized.

The idea of having a finished piece of music in front of you is exciting to say the least, but many students rush the process and end up with music that is less than what they originally thought of.

The way around this “compostion trap” as I like to call it is to be able to sit down at the piano or keyboard and be able to play for at least 15-20 minutes without judging what is coming out of you. Once you can do this, your ability to capture

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To the uninitiated, the piano keyboard looks like a sea of black and white. So many keys!

The way most piano teachers handle this problem is to first show students where middle C is - and I agree this should be the first thing newbies learn. But after they learn this visual marker, it’s time to really make the piano keyboard easy to see. How? By showing students how to form chords.

Sure, you could spend your time learning every single note on the piano. And you’d probably still be confused as to how to make music. But if you learn a chord-based approach first, you’ll be able to see piano keys as chords instead of individual notes. And when this happens

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The piano is an amazing instrument. So many notes, so many keys! That’s why the crossover or arpeggio technique is employed frequently. It allows the pianist to use much of the keyboard and the left hand.

The trick to using this technique is in the crossover itself. Usually, the left hands initial position will span an octave and then the index or ring finger will be used to crossover the thumb to continue playing more notes of the chord.

A good example of this is the piece “Thanksgiving” by George Winston. Here, a whole harmonic background is created by the left-hand crossover technique while the right improvises a melody line. And the results are a beautiful piece of music! Nothing complicated here.

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Ah… the arpeggio. A miracle of cascading notes that produces a beautiful sound on the piano. To most it’s a mystery how it’s created. But to those who understand chords, it’s just a matter of practicing until the pattern is mastered.

Now, the arpeggio can be used either in the right or left hand (or both together) but it’s usually the left-hand that takes up this amazing technique. Let’s look at how one might use an extended arpeggio pattern to create an improvisation.

The first thing you need to know about most left-hand arpeggios is that they usually start below the middle of the keyboard. Most pianists begin their run below middle C and there’s a good reason for this - bass

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