| Do you have a fake book? Just one of those songs | | | | 3. Practising piano chords. Start with the first chord in |
| could be the source of many meaningful exercises | | | | the song, play it in different positions on your piano and |
| that will help you grow as a musicician and as a pianist. | | | | in different combinations. |
| What is a fake book? | | | | 4. Practicing chord progressions on the piano. Take a |
| A "fake book" contains songs written in a concise | | | | couple of bars of the song and practise to play the |
| format that includes only the melody and chords, letting | | | | progressions over and over again varying the chord |
| you interpret the song's performance according to | | | | voicings. |
| your own taste. | | | | 5. Practicing scales on the piano. Begin with the first |
| The songs in a fake book have a single melody | | | | chord and the scale you have chosen with it and start |
| written out in notes with the lyrics written beneath the | | | | by playing the scale up and down the keyboard with |
| notes. Above the notes of the melody you'll find the | | | | the right hand and the left hand. |
| names of the chords to play. | | | | 6. Practice piano improvisation with scales. As soon as |
| This format is very compact. You will often see | | | | you master playing the scale up and down the piano it |
| fakebooks containing 500 or more songs. Here are | | | | is time to create music with the scale by playing |
| some suggestions on how to use one of these songs | | | | around with it, creating patterns and inventing melodies. |
| for increasing your improvisational skills: | | | | 7. Practise piano improvisation. Take a couple of bars |
| 1. Chords. The suggested chords are often very | | | | and play them over and over again with chord voicings |
| rudimentary. Most jazz pianists spice up the songs with | | | | in the left hand and improvising with the appropriate |
| more elaborate chord progressions. Try to find more | | | | scales with the right hand. |
| chords to use in the song. This exercise will increase | | | | It is also good to practice piano improvisation with your |
| your skills in chord theory. | | | | left hand and voicings with your right hand. |
| 2. Scales. When you have elaborated upon the chord | | | | There are of course many more things you can do |
| progressions in the song you can choose scales that | | | | with a song in order to develop your skills in piano |
| work with the chords you have chosen. If you find this | | | | improvisation. Help yourself and don't forget to have |
| hard to do you can buy scale books with scale | | | | fun and to also play the song in its entirety with the |
| suggestions for different chord progressions. This is an | | | | melody. |
| exercise in scale theory. | | | | |