Top 6 Improvisation Techniques for Jazz Piano

In this article I’ll show you 6 improvisation techniques for jazz piano (or any instrument). These include chord tone soloing, approach patterns, triplet rhythms, ‘chordal textures’, ’playing out’ and more.

1. Chord Tone Soloing

The first improvisation technique is ‘chord tone soloing’, which means to compose melodies using the four chord tones of the chord (1 3 5 7).

So over a D minor 7 chord, you would play D F A C.

Over G7, you’d play G B D F.

And over C major 7, you’d play C E G B.

You can play these notes ascending, descending, and in any combination:

IMAGE - chord tone soloing over 2-5-1. D F A C B G F D C E G B.- over left hand literal voicings

I consider ‘chord tone soloing’ to be the most fundamental soloing technique - and many of the remaining techniques will be built on top of this strong foundation.

Now you can even go one step further and play the 9th with this group of notes:

IMAGE - 5 chord tone notes over the ii-V-I in C. D F A C E - G B D F A, C E G B D

I usually play natural 9ths above most chords - including all 3 chords of the major ii-V-I.

The only exceptions would be for a minor ii-V-i - in which case I would add a flat 9th over the ii chord and V chord:

IMAGE - 5 chord tone notes over the minor ii-V-I in C. D F Ab C Eb - G B D F Ab, C Eb G B D

This gives you 5 notes to play from over each chord (1 3 5 7 9) - which is plenty. It’s also a lot easier than having to construct a 7 note scale for every single chord. With this technique you just play the same notes that you’re already playing in the chord.

NOTE: You also get a nice series of steps to play, from 7 - 1 - 9 - 3 - if you want to play a short scale in your solo.

2. Approach Patterns

Jazz musicians will play from a wide variety of pre-written melodic shapes, which are placed before a ‘target note’ (usually a chord tone, 1 3 5 7).

These preceding melodic patterns are called ‘approach patterns’.

The most simple (yet effective) approach pattern is ‘the half-step below approach’. Simply precede any chord tone by playing the note a half-step below.

So over a D minor 7 chord - your chord tones are D F A C. Each of these notes can be preceded by a half-step below (even when it takes you chromatically out of scale):

IMAGE - D min 7 with the half-step below approach. D F A C

Over D minor 7, you can precede D with C#.

F can be preceded with E.

A can be preceded with G#.

And C can be preceded with B.

When using the half-step below approach, the approach note (the half-step below’ should last an eighth note, and then you’ll resolve to the chord tone a half-step above (e.g. C# - D).

IMAGE - ii-V-I with half-step below approach ideas

Other approach patterns include:

The ‘chord scale above’ approach - precede any chord tone 
(1 3 5 7) with the note above. For this to work, it needs to be the next note up within the scale that the music is in.

So unlike the ‘half-step below approach’ (which can be outside the scale), when approaching from above it sounds better when you keep your notes within the scale that you’re in. That’s why it’s called the ‘chord scale above’ approach - it stays in the scale.

Here are some chord scale above approaches applied to a ii-V-I in C:

IMAGE - ii-V-I with chord scale above approach ideas

3. Enclosures

‘Enclosures’ are approach patterns which surround the ‘target note’ from both sides. So you could combine the previous two approach patterns, like this:

  • Half-step below - chord scale above - target note (e.g. C# - E - D).

  • Chord scale above - half-step below - target note (e.g. E - C# - D).

Or you could use more complicated ‘enclosure’ patters, like this:

IMAGE - more complex enclosure ideas. E D C# E D. E Eb C C# D. C D E C# D.

It’s fine for these enclosures to come out of scale, as long as they end up resolving to the ‘target note’ - which will usually be one of the chord tones.

Want to get my favorite improvised melodic lines and ii-V-I patterns notated as sheet music?
Click here to download the Jazz Tutorial Improvisation cheat sheet (free).

4. Add a Triplet

Next, let’s discuss rhythm. The majority of your improvised lines will be made of eighth notes:

IMAGE - improv line that’s a ‘series of 8th notes’.

However, to stop your playing from sounding predictable (and break out of eighth note pattern), you need to vary the rhythms now and then.

A classy sounding trick is to add a triplet to each line (or at least most lines).

In music, a ‘triplet’ is when you play three evenly spaced notes in the space of two. This can be applied to any note length (half note, quarter note, eighth note) - but when soloing, it’s usually applied to eighth notes.

So instead of playing two eight notes in a row, which would last one quarter note (‘one’ - ‘and’), you can divide that quarter note into three ‘eighth note triplet’ notes - where each note of the triplet is the same length.

More simply, if you’re playing a song that’s in swing time, then you’re already playing to a triplet feel (you’re imagining that each beat is divided into three eighth note triplets - and every off-beat you play is delayed and played on the third triplet note (so you’re not even playing two evenly spaced eighth notes to begin with).

This means that to play three eighth note triplets, you just play all three beats of the swing time feel:

IMAGE - swing time = 4 triplets. 12/8

When you listen to jazz musicians improvise, you’ll hear plenty of eighth note lines, with one triplet (three notes) added somewhere in the line. The triplet usually sounds best played at the beginning, or the middle of the line:

IMAGE - examples of triplets in a line. ii-V-I in C. Beginning or middle of line

PRACTICE TIP: Compose 10 melodic lines over the ii-V-I (in C) and add a triplet to each line.

5. Chordal Textures

Most jazz piano solos feature a section where the melody stops, and the pianist plays a series of chord voicings, to an interesting rhythm.

This adds variety to your solos by introducing a new texture. It also gives your right hand (and brain) a break, from having to continually compose melodic lines.

Here’s a simple technique you can use to create ‘chordal textures’ in your solos:

Choose a chord voicing in your left hand (rootless voicings work well). Let’s take a C minor 7 chord for example, you could play a 7 9 3 5 rootless voicing (Bb D Eb G).

Now in your right hand, choose a single note (from the scale that you’re in - in this case, C dorian). Play this note to an interesting rhythm, and play the chord below it to the same rhythm:

IMAGE - cocktail texture. Cm7 voicing (7 9 3 5) with single melody note (C) played to interesting rhythm.

You can also make your right hand walk up a few notes in step (keeping within the scale that you’re in), while continuing to double the same chord voicing below:

IMAGE - cocktail texture. Cm7 voicing (7 9 3 5) with single melody note (C) played to interesting rhythm.

And of course, you can use this technique over several chords in a row. So each time the chord changes, you change your left hand’s voicing to the new chord:

IMAGE - cocktail texture. Autumn Leaves type melody, runsning up in step, doubled in octaves.

This ‘chordal texture’ sounds best if you play your right hand loudly, and left hand (chord) a bit quieter - so that the listener hears the melody note on top. You can also double your right hand in octaves for an even louder sound.

6. ‘Playing Out’

‘Playing out’ is a modern sounding improvisation technique - it’s when you play all of the ‘wrong notes’ for a brief section (usually 4-8 eighth notes in a row).

So let’s say there’s a C minor 7 chord. First let’s establish the ‘correct notes’ - normally I’d play from the dorian scale over minor 7 chord.

IMAGE - C dorian scale over C min 7 chord

C dorian scale = C D Eb F G A Bb

Next, figure out all of the wrong notes. To do this, walk up in half-steps (through the entire chromatic scale), and make note of all the notes that aren’t in your current scale.

If you’re playing in C dorian scale, the wrong notes (missing notes) will be C# E F# G# B (or the notes of E major pentatonic scale).

IMAGE - C dorian scale = right notes. Wrong notes = C# E F# G# B

Now you could play this 5 note scale (the wrong notes) over the same C minor 7 chord in your left hand.

IMPORTANT: For ‘playing out’ to work, you must start your melody ‘in’ the scale (C dorian) - then play ‘out’ (E pentatonic) - and then end back ‘in’ (C dorian). Otherwise it will just sound like you’re playing wrong notes by accident - rather than intentionally playing wrong notes (like a genius!)

IMAGE - playing out over C min 7. C dorian scale - E pentatonic - C dorian scale

Let’s take another example - let’s say you have a C major 7 chord. First establish which scale you want to play over this chord (there’s always a choice of scales, but choose one). Let’s keep it simple and play from C major scale:

IMAGE - C major scale over C maj 7 chord

C major scale = C D E F G A B

Next, figure out all of the wrong notes, by walking up the chromatic scale and making note of all the missing notes.

So for C major scale, the wrong notes (missing notes) will be Db Eb Gb Ab Bb (or the notes of Gb major pentatonic scale).

It doesn’t matter if you spell these notes with sharps or flats - whichever is easer to remember.

IMAGE - C dorian scale = right notes. Wrong notes = C# E F# G# B

Now you can play this 5 note scale (the wrong notes) over a C major 7 chord - but make sure you start your line ‘in’ the scale (C major) - then play ‘out’ (Gb pentatonic) - then end back ‘in’ (C major):

IMAGE - playing out over C maj 7. C maj scale - Gb pentatonic - C maj scale

You can apply this ‘playing out’ technique to any type of chord (V7, ø, min-Δ). However, I tend to use it over major 7 and minor 7 chords - and usually only when the chord is held for some time (4 bars or so).

The Improvisation Cheat Sheet

I’ve notated some of my favorite improvised lines to demonstrate these techniques in action. Add these lines to your playing, and use them to get fresh ideas and inspiration.
Click here to download the Jazz Tutorial Improvisation cheat sheet (free).

Summary

We looked at 6 improvisation techniques which you can use to add variety to your soloing:

  • Chord tone soloing - use 1 3 5 7 9 of each chord.

  • Approach patterns - especially the ‘half-step below approach’.

  • Enclosures - precede a ‘target note’ with a series of notes from both sides (e.g. E Eb C C# D).

  • Triplets - add a triplet to every line of eighth notes you play.

  • Chordal textures - play a chord voicing in your left hand, and a single melody note in your right hand, and double both hands to the same syncopated rhythm.

  • Playing out - Identify all of the wrong notes (the missing notes from the scale that you normally wouldn’t play). Then compose a line that plays ‘in’ - ‘out’ (the wrong notes) - ‘in’.

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About the Author

Julian Bradley is a jazz pianist and music educator from the U.K. He has a masters degree in music from Bristol University, and has played with and composed for a variety of big bands.
Julian runs the popular Jazz Tutorial YouTube channel and writes educational jazz lessons at JazzTutorial.com