Five Steps To Embellishing A Song At The Piano

Five Steps To Embellishing A Song At The Piano

You love playing the piano but are increasingly frustrated with only being able to reproduce what is in front of you. No sheet music, no play. Oh you only have it in the key of Eb? Well sorry I can’t play that. Does this sound like you?

Several years ago I could only play exactly from the piano sheet music in front of me. If I looked up from the music for a fraction of time I lost my place. I was only comfortable in the keys of C, F, and G. Sometimes D and Bb. But I longed to play and smile at the congregation in my church. Or check the worship leader to see if he was going to add another stanza. Then I started to learn Pachelbel Canon in D. Ever heard it? A study on the D scale. It opened my eyes to improvising or embellishing on a song at the piano.

Here are five key things to remember to help you do the same.

1.Learn and practice your scales in all keys. Nobody likes this. It’s not fun but it can greatly increase your playing proficiency if you are diligent.

2.Learn and practice chords. Especially the odd ones such as diminished, augmented, 6ths etc. These can quickly give color and style to your songs.

3.Fake it. Use a fake book to play. This will greatly encourage you to add to the harmony and melody because you only have a chord symbol and one melody line in front of you. It will sound very dry so you will be motivated.

4. Use the whole piano. Play those same notes just an octave higher. Now try one more octave

5. Don’t get discourage by your first results: You may not like your first results but don’t give up.

Visit the Struggling Church Musician Piano page for more resources to playing the piano by ear and chord piano.

BONUS : Fleetwood Mac Biography And Top 10 Songs

I probably started listening to Fleetwood Mac when I was about 10, 11 or something like that because I remember getting their Greatest Hits album and it had only just been released and at the time I didn't really know who they were but because I always listen to all sorts of music people just used to buy me music instead of toys. When I listened to it I knew most of the tracks and I now think of it as one of my top 20 albums of all time.

Fleetwood Mac are an English/American cross breed who formed in 1967 in London. The group have gone through far too many changes in members to list them all but the most notable members of Fleetwood Mac are, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Fleetwood Mac are probably one of the most hard working bands of all time and have released many albums (sometimes three or four in a year). 1968 saw the releases of Carousel Ballroom, Mr Wonderful and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. In 1969 there were four albums, English Rose, Live In Amsterdam, The Pious Bird Of Good Omen and Then Play On.

Only one album was released in 1970 which was Kiln House, one in 1971, Future Games and one in 1972, Bare Tree. Mystery To Me and Penguin were released in 1973. Heroes are Hard to Find in 1974 and another two released in 1975, Fleetwood Mac which contained the hits Rhiannon, Say You Love Me and Landslide and In Chicago which again was a great album and a compilation. In 1977 they released the collaboration album Fleetwood Mac And Christine Perfect - Albatross which contained the massive hit Albatross and they also released another of their most successful albums the same year which was Rumours and is another of my favourite albums of all time and contains the songs You Can Go Your Own Way and You Make Loving Fun.

In 1979 Fleetwood Mac released Tusk and the song of the same name became another huge success along with the songs Sara and Think About Me and the album has sold over 4 million copies and they went on a tour of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany (where they toured with bob Marley), Netherlands, and the UK. During the tour they recorded the music for the Live album which was released in 1980.

Mirage was released in 1982 and contained the hits Wish You Were Here, Gypsy and Oh Diane. After this release they went on tour again and released the Boston Live album. 1987 was the release of Tango In The Night which went to #1 in the UK charts three times in one year and after this album Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac. In the following Decade they released several more albums (Greatest Hits, The Blues Collection, Behind The Mask, 25 Years - The Chain, Oh Well Live, The Blues Years, Time, Live At The BBC and The Dance (which saw the reunion of the old Fleetwood Mac).

In 1998 Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and it is reported that they will be collaborating with Sheryl Crow in 2009 and there are plans for a new album and a supporting tour.

My Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Songs are:

01. Everywhere
02. Black magic woman
03. Rhiannon
04. Gypsy
05. Landslide
06. Go your own way
07. Little lies
08. Albatross
09. Seven Wonders
10. Buddy's Song