How to Improvise On The Piano in 7 LEVELS!

[@alexleonard5601]

Just want to say you have the most comprehensive and practical videos on Piano ive ever seen, keep up the great work and thank you sir!

[@matticawood]

Thank you! I’m glad you think so! 😊

[@cleavonolivera801]

This might be the most informative video about music theory and improvisation on yt. This video deserves a lot more views.

[@matticawood]

Thanks! I’m glad you found it useful 😊

[@KelvinDominick-p9m]

That improvisation was stunning beautiful story to it, definitely a movie soundtrack vibe to it. On my 3rd listen, beautiful.

[@hgdrn]

Now that I've listened to 30:56, let me add: This is really REALLY wonderful! 🙂

[@matticawood]

Thank you! 😊

[@kiranjaybabla8925]

Was that entirely in C major?

[@TonyPackham-x3j]

Thank You Mathew! As a newbie to piano, coming from a technical world, and going down a few you tube rabbit holes...this video finally got me to understand the differences/relation between scales and chords

[@Johnnywanton]

I think you should develop this into a full course. I would definitely buy it.

[@matticawood]

Maybe that is something I will do in the future 😊

[@nikospapaspyrou1810]

This video has been very helpful for my piano practice! Thank you so much! Keep up the great work!!

[@Soares-Rodrigo]

Wow! What a Masterclass!

[@matticawood]

I’m glad you enjoyed it Rodrigo! That members badge suits you 😉

[@Sophie-lf9zn]

Wow you really explained everything so clearly and so well! I‘ve been playing the piano for almost 20 years, but I‘ve mostly just played classical music and focused on working on technique, as improvising or composing were never a priority to me (and frankly I‘ve been quite intimidated by it). Recently I‘ve developped an interest in improvising and being creative on the piano though, and this video really made me understand where to start ☺️ thank you!

[@ha1chigo]

Your videos are literally amazing! I’ve never been able to understand piano until i found your videos, i really wish these videos exist six years ago when i first started playing piano, you’re putting so much effort on making these videos, it is just so amazing!

[@matticawood]

Thank you, I appreciate that and I’m glad you get something from them! 😊

[@Ted95On]

Enjoying all the content so far as everything’s been very informative. Been binge watching all the videos this past month as I’m getting back into the piano and trying to actually learn it properly this time. Planning to book some lessons when I advance some more and gather up all my questions and issues so I can get some proper help

[@matticawood]

That’s great that you’ve got back into it 😊 I hope it’s going well!

[@Justmewapiano]

Omg you actually did the video thanks so much!!!!!

[@matticawood]

I did! I held off for a little while because I knew it would be a challenge including enough necessary information without confusing it 😊

[@hgdrn]

Another brilliant vid, thanks for this high quality content, highly appreciating it. 👍 But: your left ear plug drives me nuts, please plug it in, always, please. 😁

[@matticawood]

It’s so that I can hear myself talk out loud but also hear the piano 😂

[@noneofyourbusiness7651]

You are so good at explaining! And your videos are structured really well and to the point. Love it. And I don't even have a piano! 😂

[@kiranjaybabla8925]

Wow i loved this so much! The ending was just improvising in C Major right? Incredible! I'm going to nail level 1.

[@HarpurrPiano]

Fantastic video

[@matticawood]

Thanks! 😊

[@The_Kings_Lunch]

I love it!

[@matticawood]

Thank you! 😊

[@mostafaheshamahmed1607]

Very good video. I was looking to understand how I can borrow chords from other keys and this gave me a good start

[@matticawood]

Borrowing chords is a nice way of making music sound super interesting. The easiest way to do that is using chromatic movement, or pívot notes. You could change the tonality of a chord. For example, if I am in the key of C major and play a G major chord (GBD), I can change to a G minor chord (GBbD) pretty easily! - you can even play a chord from the G minor scale after a G major chord because G major doesn’t sound too different to G minor. (E.g. G major - GBD to Bb major - BbDF) You can pívot around 1 note from a chord. For example a C major chord (CEG) to Ab major (AbCEb), because they both share the note C, so a listener can latch onto that note! 😊

[@mostafaheshamahmed1607]

@@matticawood makes sense. Thanks a ton for the advice!

[@WoodyGamesUK]

Another thing to mention is that the highest note in the chord will sound stronger to the listener, it's the one that will be identified as melody note, and that they would sing if they were humming the tune. Based on that, one way to think of playing a melody with added chord notes with the right hand is to play the melody note on top, and add any other note(s) from the chord, in any position in any octave, but lower. You can also repeat the melody note somewhere lower. And of course I'm not saying that every melody note needs to be harmonised with other notes from the chord. It's more common to emphasises the first beat (where the chord has changed) with extra notes, to highlight the chord change.

[@matticawood]

That is very true and a nice point to add 😊 Sometimes melody notes can be below the chord notes, but you are right that they are more naturally identifiable at the top…so if chord notes are added above a melody, you’d have to make more of an effort to make the melody stand out!

[@cdwweb]

Bookmarked this video to refer back to as I attempt to put the techniques into practice (starting from level 0). Loved the improv at the end. 🫶🏼🎶 Thank you for the great resource.

[@123SLM123]

I was getting worried when I didn't see a Matthew Cawood upload in 9 days yesterday.

[@matticawood]

Never fear! I was in a cave editing 😉

[@mrmagmrmag]

Question: As scales of A natural minor and C major share the SAME notes and therefore the same diatonic chords, what makes the listener KNOW (or me as player) if I am improvising in one or the other? Why should there be any difference what feels like 'home' and do you express this while playing, if you only rely only on notes/chords within/of the scale?

[@matticawood]

The relationship between the chords change as well. For example, if I were to finish a phrase in C major using chord V-I this would feel like the phrase has ended in C major. Playing a chord V-I in A minor would be E-A and would feel like we are in A minor. Although the notes in the natural minor are the same…the way we perceive the chord relationships and which chords are important is different. There is also a small matter of the harmonic and melodic minor scales which I didn’t discuss (to avoid confusion). However, the harmonic minor scale (which is used for writing harmony - chords) uses a sharpened 7th note. In A minor, that is a G#. So you will often see chord V as E major (E G# B) rather than E minor (E G B). That means that chord V-I is often E major - A minor, which you definitely wouldn’t see in C major. So there are a few differences that change the feeling of the music so that a listener knows which of the two keys they are listening to. - but as a player, you don’t need to learn an entirely new scale. 😊

[@mrmagmrmag]

@@matticawood Thank you very much for the comprehensive answer. Much appreciated!

[@Sasukesanimation]

How does he have less than 100k subs?

[@matticawood]

Thanks! I’l hopefully get there one day soon! 😊

[@alexiachamberlin8019]

Very nice but a lot of information to take in at once

[@matticawood]

It is! It’s definitely not intended for learning all at once, but rather for everyone at different levels to be able to take something from it and to come back to it to know what you can do next 😊

[@alexiachamberlin8019]

@@matticawood thanks I'll give it a go

[@john3088]

Great video, but why are you afraid or unwilling to take a breath?