Chord progressions/Improv

[ajl]

Hi.

I'm a young student of the piano and I would like to achieve a competence in improvisation within the next year or two that is good enough for me to play small gigs in restaurants or parlors. This is perhaps a little different than the majority of posters here who are learning written music to perform in formal recitals, something I know I do not want to do. I am building a repetoire of pieces that would make good dinner music per say, but I want to also be able to play countless hours of monotonous improv/jazz if I have to. The idea is to weave written music in with improvised music in order to span long periods of time.

My technique is fine. I am okay at riffing with the right hand too. But what I am lacking right now is a knowledge of chord progressions. When I try riffing I usually dabble far too long on one chord and then I try shifting, but its usually just another random chord in root position. I know elementary harmony, so I can analyze chords fairly well and recognize the characteristic sounds of each. But I'd like to get past the I, ii, V, I stuff and start making some long and complex harmonic lines that do not resolve themselves after 15 seconds of playing. I'd like to get to a point where I know so many chord progressions and modulations that I can just play according to the mood I want to convey. If I'm feeling mellow I'll use lots of minor 7th chords, or if I'm feeling bluesy lots of dominant 7th chords with a flatted 10th. Seems like it could be really fun and perhaps cathartic to actually sit down and sing with the piano.

So my question is can any of you direct me to a good website with lots on chord progressions, or books pertaining to this subject? Or can you tell me some common ones, or ones you enjoy playing? I need all the chord fodder I can get!

Thanks 

[quantum]

In addition to chord progressions you could also start experimenting with the 7 church modes.  After that you may want to investigate other scale/mode types inherent in other cultures, the Middle East offers some highly creative modes. 

As for chords you could start experimenting with quartal harmony, that is chords built up on 4ths.  Eg: C F Bb.  Of course you can have different flavours of 4ths: C F# Bb E A D (Scriabin 's chord), etc.

In other words, don't limit yourself to standard Major/Minor harmonies. 

You can go all out and wackey and create some really wierd and dissonant chordal structures by just placing your fingers over random keys.  This may not seem musical at first, but eventually you will develop an ear for creating your own chords and harmonies that suit a paricular idea you may want to convey. 

Check out the audition form for the growing number of improvisations being posted. 

[ted]

I don't think you will have any difficulty finding hundreds of books and articles going into enormous detail about chords and keyboard patterns. It is a lifelong process, rather like the constant assimilation of language vocabulary. My own view, and this is strictly a personal one, is that such a study has to be geared to your personal musical responses. Just as words in themselves are not omnipotent, so possessing a colossal vocabulary at the keyboard does not imply fluency of musical expression.

Some years ago I had the privilege of a few hours private listening to a really accomplished jazz pianist who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of every conceivable chord, voicing and combination. He actually went to the extent of keeping many files of paper on which he wrote notes about new "changes" he had discovered. I had not encountered such mental arithmetic at the piano before and for a while I was overwhelmed. Once the initial effect faded, however, I began to feel that there was "something missing". I soon realised that it was because he thought solely in terms of discrete sections of harmony and changes between discrete sections of harmony - chord blocks, if you like.

I have come to the personal conclusion that music which holds my interest does not proceed according to blocks of prevailing harmony. My interest seems to be carried by an unfathomable mixture of harmony, rhythm, melody and so on.

So, aside from those two cautions, which may be relevant only to me, just visit you local music shop, library and listen closely to as much good playing as possible of the sort you want to emulate.

[jeremyjchilds]

I think you can learn the most from analyzing...

Check out some good lead sheets, analyze the progressions, play them and listen, what context does each degree of the scale add to the overall picture, memorize your favorite chord progressions from the sheets in all keys (Yeah theres a lot of 2-5-1 in the books, but there is also a lot of interesting and rich progressions available and they are right there for you to see)

Transcribe transcribe transcribe. this is so important, for the same reason as learning from the books,

iF you really want to be fluent in harmonic figures, you will have to immerse yourself in them, and be dilligent enough to learn them in every key (this gets easier and easier as you go along) also, think of progressions in thier numeric values, not letternames. OF course, if you get bored, you can always extend less obvious chords to suit the melody note you are using.

THe problem is that so many people think that it should just come naturally, as if you could just sit down and start having one epiphany after another. Improvising is like speaking, I don't know too many 4 year olds who use the exact word for the exact context, thier speaking is rudimentary.

One final thing, don't be afraid to be bored. Keep playing untill something happenns. The next step from familiarity may be boredom, but the next step from there is usually ingeneuity.  Don't give up!!

[c18cont]

Please try,

Virtual Piano chords, and  learn them..(put it in your search and it will come up..)

John

[rjones5766]

I'm not sure that anyone actually answered your question so I'll take a different approach. There are a number of different (standard) chord progressions but you are free to make up your own. One chord generally resolves to the next where some resolve more strongly than others. For exampe a V,I resolution is actually a cadence since its resolution seems final.

Here is a basic guideline when working in a Major key (Upper case is major, lower case is minor):


I     : any other chord in the same key
ii     : IV, V, vii dim
iii    : ii, vi
IV   : I, V, vii dim
V    : I
vi    : ii, IV
vii dim : I, iii


Hope this helps,

Rodney