Would You Like to Take a Peek
at a Naked Piano Player?
Did you know that there are many piano players who are stark naked? Some
of them probably live in your neighborhood. One of them might even be your
next door neighbor.
They come in all shapes and sizes and ages. About half of them are female,
so I guess you know what the other half are. When you see them out and
about in the normal workday world you would never suspect a thing. They go
to work, go to school and many of them go to church.
Would you like to sneak around with me and take a peek at these naked
piano players?
Of course you know I'm putting you on. It's not the person who plays the
piano that is naked, it's the music they play. They play "naked music."
What in the world is "naked music?"
You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound
strange, don't they? We've all heard of popular music and rock music and
gospel music and jazz music, but naked music?
Naked music is simply the notes on a piece of sheet music. It's "naked"
not dressed up or arranged at all. No fills, no slurs, none of the
ingredients that make a song come to life.
Not a single professional musician plays the music exactly as it appears
on a piece of sheet music. Instead, they use the written music as a map,
or an outline, and then proceed to do their own thing with it. They twist
it, bend it, add to it, subtract from it, put fills in it, change the key,
change the words, change some of the melody notes, and on and on.
So when you hear your favorite artist perform a piece of music, if you
look at the written sheet music while they are performing it, you will see
it is MUCH different and MUCH better than the plain old "naked music!
So how can the average piano player dress up naked music? There are many
ways, but here are seven of my favorites:
1. Change the chords slightly by adding color tones. What are color tones?
Color tones are notes added to the basic chord, usually expressed as 6ths,
7ths, 9ths, etc. For example, instead of playing just a straight C chord
as it is written C, E, G try adding a color tone to it, such as a 6th (A)
or a 7th (Bb) or a major 7th (B) or a 9th (D). In fact, try adding a
couple together, like a 6th and a 9th. So instead of being a plain vanilla
chord made up of C, E, and G, you've made it a tasty variation adding A
and D to the equation.
2. During the pause between phrases, add a counter melody. How? Take the
given melody notes and turn them upside down or inside out, or change the
rhythm slightly so the tune is still recognizable, but different.
3. Add chord substitutions. Instead of always using the chords that are
written, ask yourself this question: "Into what other chord will this
melody note fit?" For example, if the melody is G and the chord is C, what
other chords contain the note G in them? There are several answers to that
question. G is not only in the C chord, but it is also in the Em chord,
the Eb major chord, the G chord, the Gm chord, etc. Try one of those
alternate chords until you like the sound combination, then use it instead
of the C chord. It will add an originality and freshness to your playing
almost immediately.
4. Add fills and runs between phrases. How do you do that? Simply break up
the chord that is in force at the moment, and run it up the keyboard as a
broken chord one note at a time. Or start at the top of the keyboard and
come down. Or play with the chord a bit by playing 2 of the 3 notes
instead of the entire 3 note chord.
5. Use melodic echos. After you have played the melody, echo it by playing
it an octave higher, or two octaves higher, or an octave lower.
6. Use half-step slides. If the chord progression is from D7 to G7,
instead of going to G7 directly, "slide into it" by playing the chord that
is one-half step above namely, Ab7, then quickly sliding off Ab7 to G7.
7. Use "blue notes." Blue notes are created by sliding off a black key
onto a white key quickly. For example, if the melody is E, slide off Eb to
E quickly using the same finger.
This is just a tiny sampling of what you can do to dress up your music.
There are literally hundreds of other techniques, from cascading waterfall
runs to inside blues moves to deceptive cadences to tremolos to twangs to
crunches to straddles to 3-1 breakups to walk-downs and walk-ups to jazz
voicing chords and on and on.
By simply adding a few of these techniques to your playing you can easily
double and triple the excitement created by your piano playing as you
"dress up naked music!"
Duane Shinn is the author of
"How To Dress Up Naked Music
On The Piano!" He also writes a free email newsletter "Piano
Chords & Progressions!" which is available at
""PlayPianoCatalog"
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