Learning to improvise involves learning to use a variety of ingredients and techniques, similar to how ingredients and techniques in the kitchen make all kinds of interesting and delicious dishes. In this lesson, we look at a new ingredient, arpeggios, and a new way of using chords and arpeggios by playing them in more than one location on the keyboard.

Click here to download a pdf of this lesson, and watch the video below.

First, arpeggios: An arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time. Also referred to as “broken chords”. You can play notes of the chord in any order, up, down, every-other, and combinations to make a variety of different arpeggios.

Secondly, different locations: Any chords, arpeggios, notes, and scales that you are learning can be played in different locations across the piano keyboard, thus giving many more options on how to play a chord in a song.

Each time you learn a new ingredient or technique, you can practice mixing it up with others you’ve learned. In this lesson, we mix together chords, arpeggios, and different locations on keyboard to create new patterns.

Remember, just like a pinch of salt or pepper can make all the difference in the kitchen, so too the little pieces you learn at the keyboard become goto ingredients you can add to your playing as you improvise.