"Learn how to play fantastic solos on the Piano or Keyboard"

In this piano lesson, we'll dig into a time-honored technique used by great piano soloists around the world.

You'll learn how to create melodic lines that will grab your listener's attention with chord tones and non-chord tones. We'll begin simply, playing only half notes taken from notes found within the supporting chords. By the end of this lesson, we'll be mixing up the rhythms, and making the solo melody lines more interesting with the use of "passing tones", or "non-chord tones".

In this section of the piano lesson, we'll dig into the details of how to get your hands comfortable with playing solos over any chord progression.

The concepts introduced in this lesson are really pretty simple, but you can continue to develop this technique for years!

We'll start by choosing solo melody notes in the right hand from the chords found in the left hand on the piano, with a half note rhythm. The next steps in this section involve bringing up the speed of your solo melody lines.

Once you're comfortable with improvising simple solo melody lines at a reasonable tempo using notes chosen from the supporting chords, we'll dig into the second section: "Including notes from outside the chords".

Check out the video - these "passing notes" or "non-chord tones" really add depth and character to your melody solo lines.

Finally, we'll mix-up the rhythms, from half notes to eighth notes. In addition, we'll choose both notes found in the chords as well as non-chord tones to create solos that grab the attention of your audience!

If you want to be ready when it's your turn to take a solo on the piano, check out this short but powerful lesson!

Go practice!