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Chord jumping is a simple technique that allows you to use much of the piano. You simply take a chord and "move it" up the keyboard. Now, I'm not talking about inversions here, although there's nothing wrong with inversions. I'm talking about taking a simple chord structure and just using the entire piano to create with. Here's what I mean. Take the lesson "Coral Reef" for example. Here we have 2 chords, A minor and F Major. The beauty of only having 2 chords for this improvisation exercise is that it frees you up to experiment. That is, you can focus on moving them around instead of looking to see when the chords change. Here you use your two chords and you change them whenever you want. The left hand is playing an octave (open position) while the right hand is free to play melody. And the sound created from this is fantastic. In fact, to the untrained ear, you never would know that just 2 chords are used. But it's true. The thing about chords and playing them is that the magic really unfolds when you limit choice (use only 2 chords and have a certain technique to play them) and let your intuition guide you. Then you can finally forget about thinking and actually experience the music firsthand. This is a place of pure improvisation and inspiration where your intuition guides you. There is no thinking, no wondering what to do. Now, instead of trying to make the music go somewhere, you let go and allow the music to tell you where it wants to go... a subtle but necessary shift if you want to experience all that music making and improvisation has to offer you. Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!
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