When you improvise with chords, you have an understanding of chord construction. When note-reading a piece of music, because you know the chord, you know what note/s are likely to come next – because they are part of the chord.

Now – what to do with that chord you have just constructed? Chord inversions are an easy foundation for improvising.

Inverting a Chord

Here’s a page from the Teach Yourself to Improvise with Chords book showing the positions of chord inversions. I highly recommend using a “crab-crawling” motion. At first it takes a bit of thought to keep two fingers in place, releasing only when the lower finger replaces a higher finger. But soon it doesn’t hardly require any thought at all.

To “crab-invert” a chord is very useful when creating chord inversions:

• Doing so assures you are playing correct keys. Otherwise it is somewhat easy to lose track of what the inverted key/s should be when constructing chord inversions.
  
• Being able to correctly invert a chord makes creating a basic left hand accompaniment easy – you just copy the right hand chord and then invert it higher or lower as you like. No extra thinking required to construct left hand chords.
  
• Doing this is very “freeing” to your improvisation. The right hand constructs the chord (with the melody as the top note) and left hand copies. Chord inversions soon come easily.

Now What?

Once you have constructed a chord in the right hand – have fun with it in the left hand accompaniment. Try playing the notes in various ways until you find what you like and decide to keep.

When you play all the notes of a chord simultaneously, it is called “blocked”. When you play the notes one at a time, or one then two, in any order, this is called “broken”.

Some ideas on how to play a broken chord are:

• Root (low on the keyboard) – followed by the 5th (higher on the keyboard about an octave) – then the 3rd (either the next after the played 5th or the next lower than the played 5th). There really is no right or wrong choice, just do what you think sounds best at that point.
  
• Root as single note or as an octave (low on the keyboard) – followed by 2 or 3 notes of the blocked chord – invert the same on the next beat, higher or lower.
  
• Start with the root as a single note, then follow with the rest of the chord notes as eighths or eighths and sixteenths. Mix it up!
  
• Using the pedal blends the low and high sounds in a lovely way.
  

An Example

In this fragment from Lullaby, look at just the bass line accompaniment:

Line 1 measures 1 – 3 are the root and 3rd together, followed by the 5th.

Measure 4 is a broken chord, Root – 3rd – 5th.

Line 2 measure 1 is Root – 5th – 3rd. Measure 2 is Root – 7th – 3rd.

Measure 3 is Root – 5th – Root+3rd together. Measure 4 is Root – 5th -7th+3rd.

You see that not only can the chord be played “broken” but the notes of the chord can be “spread out” (high or low) however you like. The individual notes of the chord inversions can each be inverted (high or low); put the 3rd higher than the 5th, for example.

I invite you to give this a try! Look over some sample pages to get better acquainted. Click the link or go to the pianorev.com Home page, BOOKS dropdown, Chords Series. OK, it’s not a series yet, but Book 2 is in the works!

As I said (and experienced for myself as a student), it is so enlightening and fun when you understand why and how the composer chose certain chords for a certain song! You truly can know how to play piano with feeling once you know the foundation of chords within a song -because knowing the notes used from the chord frees your thinking to concentrate on how with feeling you want to play – not having to devote as much brain space for note-reading. Construct the chord, then create chord inversions to increase your “playing power!”

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Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning student

Leslie believes that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.

She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”