Piano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice

00The Theory Map — How the Modules Fit Together 01The Keyboard as a System 02Major Scales, Scale Degrees, Key Signatures, and the Circle of Fifths 03Minor Scales, Relative Keys, and Why Minor Harmony Behaves Differently 04Triads, Inversions, and Voice Leading 05Harmonic Function: Tonic, Predominant, Dominant, and Why Chords “Want” to Go Somewhere 06Cadences, Phrase Structure, Harmonic Rhythm, and Hearing Musical “Punctuation”07Harmonizing a Melody 08Piano Accompaniment Patterns: Turning Chords Into Music 09Voice Leading and Chord Voicings 10Seventh Chords: The Language of Jazz, Pop, and Richer Harmony 11ii–V–I: The Core Progression of Jazz Harmony 12Secondary Dominants: How to Make Chords Pull Toward Other Chords 13Extensions: 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths 14Diminished Chords in Practice 15Chromatic Harmony, Borrowed Chords, and Modal Interchange 16Improvisation from Chord Tones: How to Stop “Running Scales”17Melodic Decoration and Jazz Vocabulary 18Scales and Modes for Improvisation: What to Use, When, and Why 19Playing Melodies by Ear 20Finding Chords by Ear 21Reharmonization: Changing the Chords Without Losing the Song 22Chord Substitution: Different Chords, Same Job 23Intros, Fills, Turnarounds, Transitions, and Endings 24Jazz Ballad Style: Turning Harmony Into a Complete Piano Sound 25Blues: Form, Language, and Piano Vocabulary 26Pop Piano: Simple Harmony, Strong Arrangement 27Waltz and Classical-Style Accompaniment 28Latin and Bossa Nova Piano: Rhythm First, Harmony Second 29Counterpoint and Independent Voices 30Melodic Transformation: Changing the Tune Without Losing It 31Meter and Rhythmic Transformation 32Build Your Own Arrangement from Scratch 00From Lead Sheet to Musical Freedom — the Workshop Map 01Workshop 1 — Build a Real Arrangement from Level 1 to Level 16 02Workshop 2 — “Autumn Leaves”: ii–V–I, Circle Motion, Minor Resolution, and Real Jazz Language 03Workshop 3 — I–vi–ii–V: Turnarounds, Standards, and Making Four Chords Do a Lot 04Workshop 4 — “Fly Me to the Moon”: Long Circle Motion, Major/Minor Centers, and Making the Harmony Sing 05Workshop 5 — 12-Bar Jazz Blues: From Three Chords to a Full Improvisational Language 06Workshop 6 — “All the Things You Are”: Moving Through Multiple Key Centers Without Getting Lost 07Workshop 7 — “Misty”: Lush Ballad Voicings, Melody-as-Extension, Rubato, and Harmonic Restraint 08Workshop 8 — “There Will Never Be Another You”: Faster Changes, Secondary Dominants, and Thinking in Harmonic Flow 09Workshop 9 — “Take the A Train”: Dominant Color, ♯11, Secondary Dominants, and Writing Lines Through Static Harmony 10Workshop 10 — “My Funny Valentine”: Minor Color, Suspensions, Descending Bass, and Reharmonizing Emotion 11Workshop 11 — “Body and Soul”: Chromatic Harmony, Delayed Resolution, and Hearing the Melody as the Top Voice of the Chords 12Workshop 12 — “Someday My Prince Will Come”: 3/4 Jazz, Waltz Feel, Harmonic Motion, and Improvising Across Meter 13Workshop 13 — “Blue Bossa”: Minor ii–V–i, Latin Feel, Modal Color, and Playing Simply Over Two Tonal Centers 14Workshop 14 — “The Girl from Ipanema”: Major-Key Bossa, Chromatic Dominants, ♯11 Color, and Making a Simple Groove Sound Sophisticated 15Workshop 15 — “Satin Doll”: Turnarounds, ii–V Chains, Dominant Movement, and Comping Like You Mean It 16Workshop 16 — “Autumn in New York”: Chromatic Major-Key Ballad, Borrowed Chords, Secondary Dominants, and Elegant Inner-Voice Motion 17Workshop 17 — “All of Me”: Secondary Dominants Everywhere, Turning a Simple Tune into a Functional-Harmony Laboratory 18Workshop 18 — “Have You Met Miss Jones?”: Sudden Key Centers, Major-Third Modulations, and Staying Oriented When Harmony Jumps 19Workshop 19 — “On Green Dolphin Street”: Modal Vamps, Pedal Points, Functional Harmony, and Switching Between Two Different Ways of Thinking 20Workshop 20 — “I Got Rhythm” / Rhythm Changes: AABA Form, Fast Turnarounds, Dominant Chains, and Thinking One Phrase Ahead 21Workshop 21 — “Stella by Starlight”: Ambiguous Tonal Center, Non-Diatonic Harmony, and Hearing Function Without a Comfortable Home Key 22Workshop 22 — “There Is No Greater Love”: Major-Key Fluency, ii–V Compression, Secondary Dominants, and Making a Standard Feel Effortless 23Workshop 23 — “Night and Day”: Pedal Tones, Chromatic Descent, Repeated Motifs, and Making One Harmonic Idea Sustain a Long Phrase 24Workshop 24 — “My Romance”: Major-Key Lyricism, Diatonic Substitution, Deceptive Motion, and Making Simple Harmony Sound Personal 25Workshop 25 — “My Funny Valentine”: Minor Line Clichés, Chromatic Bass, Pedal Points, and Making Tension Feel Inevitable 26Workshop 26 — “’Round Midnight”: Chromatic Melody, Diminished Color, Altered Dominants, and Making Dissonance Sound Beautiful 27Workshop 27 — “Nardis”: Modal Minor, Phrygian Color, Non-Functional Harmony, and Improvising When the Chords Don’t Behave Like ii–V–I 28Workshop 28 — “So What”: Pure Modal Jazz, Quartal Voicings, Dorian Improvisation, and Building a Solo Without Chord Changes 29Workshop 29 — “Maiden Voyage”: Sus Chords as Stable Harmony, Parallel Planing, Quartal Color, and Hearing Chords Without Major/Minor Labels 30Workshop 30 — “Footprints”: Minor Modal Vamp, 6/4 Feel, Cross-Rhythms, and Creating Tension Without Faster Harmony 31Workshop 31 — “Giant Steps”: Coltrane Changes, Major-Third Key Cycles, Ultra-Fast Tonal Reorientation, and Surviving Harmony That Moves Faster Than You Can Think 32Workshop 32 — “Naima”: Pedal Points, Slash Chords, Upper-Structure Harmony, and Hearing Vertical Color Over a Stable Bass 33Workshop 33 — “Dolphin Dance”: Ambiguous Tonal Centers, Lydian Colors, Slash Chords, and Harmony That Changes Its Meaning While You Listen 34Workshop 34 — “Invitation”: Minor-Key Gravity, Descending Bass, Dominant Chains, and Hearing Long Harmonic Sentences 35Workshop 35 — “Stella by Starlight”: Ambiguous Function, Deceptive Resolutions, Local Key Centers, and Navigating When the Harmony Refuses to Behave 36Workshop 36 — “Caravan”: Phrygian-Dominant Color, Dominant Pedals, Harmonic Minor, and When a Dominant Chord Becomes the Home Sound 37Workshop 37 — “St. Thomas”: Calypso Groove, Anticipation, Rhythmic Independence, and Making Simple Harmony Feel Sophisticated 38Workshop 38 — “Cantaloupe Island”: Funk Vamp, Sixteenth-Note Groove, Ghosted Attacks, and Improvising Over One Chord Without Sounding Empty 39Workshop 39 — “Watermelon Man”: Blues-Funk Vocabulary, Dominant Vamps, Riffs as Harmony, and Making Repetition Feel Inevitable Instead of Boring 40Workshop 40 — “The Sidewinder”: Hard Bop Groove, Dominant-Blues Harmony, Riff Layering, and How to Make a Vamp Feel Like a Full Arrangement 41Workshop 41 — “Chameleon”: One-Chord Funk, Clavinet Logic, Syncopated Ostinatos, and Building Harmony from a Bass Line 42Workshop 42 — “Take Five”: 5/4 Meter, Asymmetric Groove, 3+2 vs 2+3 Grouping, and Improvising Without Losing the Barline 43Workshop 43 — “Blue Rondo à la Turk”: 9/8 as 2+2+2+3, Additive Rhythm, Switching Between Odd Meter and Swing, and Keeping Form During Metric Changes 44Workshop 44 — “Afro Blue”: 6/8, 3-Against-2, Hemiola, Polyrhythmic Independence, and Hearing Two Meters at Once 45Workshop 45 — Afro-Cuban Piano: Son Clave, 2–3 vs 3–2, Tumbao, Montuno, and Learning to Place Every Note *Around* the Clave 46Workshop 46 — “Spain”: Phrygian Color, Fast Latin-Jazz Motion, Sudden Key Centers, and Keeping the Groove Alive While the Harmony Moves 47Workshop 47 — “Freedom Jazz Dance”: Displaced Accents, Motifs That Refuse the Barline, Quartal Harmony, and Making 4/4 Feel Unstable Without Changing Meter 48Workshop 48 — “Actual Proof”: Metric Illusion, Superimposed Groupings, Advanced Syncopation, and Staying Relaxed When the Rhythm Sounds Like It Changed Meter 49Workshop 49 — “Footprints” Revisited at the Advanced Level: 6/4, 3-over-2, Ostinato Independence, Metric Displacement, and Keeping a Groove Stable While the Phrase Floats 50Workshop 50 — “Nefertiti”: Repetition as Development, Harmonic Motion Under a Fixed Theme, Metric Ambiguity, and Learning to Change the Background Instead of the Melody 51Workshop 51 — “A Night in Tunisia”: Pedal Bass, Phrygian-Dominant Color, Afro-Latin Ostinato, Bebop Contrast, and Switching Musical Worlds Without Losing the Form 52Workshop 52 — “Moanin’”: Gospel-Blues Harmony, Call-and-Response, Block Chords, Locked Hands, Riff Construction, and Building a Shout Chorus 53Workshop 53 — “C Jam Blues”: Minimal Material, Maximum Swing, Space, Repetition, and Making Two Notes Carry an Entire Chorus 54Workshop 54 — “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”: Soul-Jazz Harmony, Gospel Cadences, Backbeat Feel, Repeated Hooks, and Making Simple Chords Sound Warm Instead of Plain 55Workshop 55 — “Honeysuckle Rose”: Stride Piano, Tenths, Two-Beat Swing, Bass–Chord Independence, Walking Between Roots, and Breaking the Pattern Without Losing the Style 56Workshop 56 — “Mack the Knife” Prelude: Walking Bass, Two-Beat-to-Four-Beat Escalation, Chorus Building, Modulation, and Making Repetition Grow 57Workshop 57 — “Mack the Knife” Arranging Laboratory: From Two-Beat Cabaret to Swing, Walking Bass, Stride, Block Chords, Modulation, Latin, Funk, Ballad, Minor Reharm, and Full Performance Architecture 58Workshop 58 — “The Bare Necessities” Arranging Laboratory: Swing, New Orleans, Stride, Boogie, Blues, Bossa, Funk, Waltz, Gospel, Minor Parody, and Playful Orchestration 59Workshop 59 — Behind the Beat: Neo-Soul Pocket, Microtiming, Grace-Chord Slides, Inner-Voice Motion, and Rich Harmony Without Losing the Groove 60Workshop 60 — “Butterfly”-Type Floating Harmony: Deep Pocket, Pedal Centers, Upper Structures, Parallel Voicings, Common-Tone Motion, and Making Harmony Feel Suspended Rather Than Functional 61Workshop 61 — Melodic Minor as a Practical Color System: Altered Dominants, Lydian Dominant, Minor-Major Harmony, Locrian ♮2, and Choosing Tension by Destination 62Workshop 62 — Harmonic Side-Slipping: Chromatic Planing, Approach Chords, Outside Playing, Semitone Detours, and Returning Home Without Sounding Random 63Workshop 63 — Triad Pairs and Upper-Structure Improvisation: Getting Modern Jazz Color Without Thinking in Seven-Note Scales 64Workshop 64 — Pentatonic Superimposition: One Five-Note Shape, Many Harmonic Meanings, Modern “Outside” Color, and Improvising Without Sounding Like a Scale Exercise 65Workshop 65 — Motivic Development Across Harmony: Sequence, Inversion, Fragmentation, Rhythmic Mutation, and Making One Small Idea Survive an Entire Form 66Workshop 66 — Melodic Development Through Guide Tones: Making 3rds and 7ths Sing, Connecting Chords Horizontally, and Building Lines That Explain the Harmony 67Workshop 67 — Bass-Line Reharmonization: Creating New Harmony by Designing the Bass First 68Workshop 68 — Harmonic Rhythm as an Arranging Tool: When Chords Change, When They Don’t, and How to Create Momentum Without Adding More Harmony 69Workshop 69 — Chord-Melody Architecture: Four-Way Close, Drop-2, Block Chords, Melody on Top, Inner-Voice Logic, and Turning a Single Line into a Piano “Section”70Workshop 70 — From Lead Sheet to Full Solo-Piano Arrangement: Melody First, Bass Second, Inner Voices Third, Chord Symbols Last 71Workshop 71 — Countermelody and Inner-Line Arranging: Writing a Second Voice That Supports the Tune Without Fighting It 72Workshop 72 — Orchestral Thinking at the Piano: Register, Density, Doubling, Texture Rotation, and Making Two Hands Sound Like an Ensemble 73Workshop 73 — Transitional Harmony and “Glue Chords”: Connecting Sections Smoothly Without Over-Reharmonizing 74Workshop 74 — Rhythmic Reharmonization: Keeping the Chords but Changing Their Placement, Anticipation, Delay, Pedal, Syncopation, and Groove Identity 75Workshop 75 — Intervallic Improvisation: Fourths, Fifths, Wide Leaps, Octave Displacement, and Making Modern Lines Sing Without Losing the Harmony 76Workshop 76 — Long-Line Improvisation and Phrase Architecture: Breathing Across Bar Lines, Building 4–8 Bar Ideas, Delaying Resolution, and Making a Solo Tell a Story 77Workshop 77 — Playing *Through* Changes Instead of *On* Changes: Harmonic Landmarks, Guide-Tone Networks, Common-Tone Paths, and Hearing the Form Ahead 78Workshop 78 — Upper-Structure Voice Leading in Motion: Keeping Rich Extensions Smooth Across Chords Instead of Treating Each Voicing as a Separate Shape 79Workshop 79 — Harmonic Density vs. Melodic Freedom: How Much Harmony Is Enough, When to Leave Space, and How to Avoid “Over-Explaining” Every Note 80Workshop 80 — Harmonic Ambiguity and Delayed Identity: Sus Chords, No-3rd Voicings, Slash Chords, Pedals, and Letting the Listener Discover the Harmony 81Workshop 81 — Polychords and Bitonal Hearing: Two Harmonic Worlds at Once, Upper Structure vs. True Polychord, Controlled Clashes, and Making “Wrong” Chords Sound Intentional 82Workshop 82 — Symmetrical Harmony and Harmonic Geometry: Diminished Cycles, Augmented Triads, Whole-Tone Motion, Major-Third Systems, and Escaping Ordinary Tonal Gravity 83Workshop 83 — Voice-Leading Reharmonization: Building New Chords from Melodic Lines Instead of Substitution Lists 84Workshop 84 — Modulation Architecture: Pivot Chords, Direct Modulation, Common-Tone Modulation, Sequential Modulation, and Making Key Changes Feel Inevitable 85Workshop 85 — Extending the Form: Intros, Interludes, Turnarounds, Tags, Vamps, Codas, and Writing New Material That Still Belongs to the Song 86Workshop 86 — Through-Composed Solo Piano: Escaping “Head–Solo–Head,” Connecting Sections Without Resetting, and Making the Entire Performance One Continuous Narrative 87Workshop 87 — Harmonic Rhythm as Narrative: Accelerating, Decelerating, Delaying, and Reframing Chord Changes to Shape Form 88Workshop 88 — Harmonic Memory: How Earlier Chords Change the Meaning of Later Chords, How Repetition Rewrites Function, and How to Make a Listener Hear Long-Range Relationships 89Workshop 89 — Independent Clocks at the Piano: Separating Bass Time, Chord Time, Melody Time, and Phrase Time Without Losing the Groove 90Workshop 90 — Rhythmic Motif Development: Turning One Tiny Rhythm into a Whole Solo, Accompaniment Language, and Arrangement Identity 91Workshop 91 — Rhythmic Counterpoint: How Two Rhythmic Ideas Can Coexist Without Becoming Clutter 92Workshop 92 — Groove Transformation: Turning the Same Harmonic Material into Swing, Funk, Bossa, Waltz, 6/8, and Half-Time Without Losing Its Identity 93Workshop 93 — Tempo Architecture and Rubato: Ritardando, Accelerando, Fermatas, Metric Modulation, Free Time, and Returning to Pulse Without Losing the Listener 94Workshop 94 — Touch, Articulation, Dynamics, and Pedal as Structural Tools: Making the Same Notes Speak in Different Voices 95Workshop 95 — Arranging by Ear from a Recording: Extracting Melody, Bass, Harmony, Groove, Texture, and Form Without Depending on a Lead Sheet 96Workshop 96 — Real-Time Harmonization by Ear: Going from a Melody You Can Sing to a Full Piano Arrangement Without Stopping to Analyze Every Chord 97Workshop 97 — Audiation and Inner Hearing: Hearing the Bass, Chord, Resolution, and Next Phrase Before Your Hands Play It 98Workshop 98 — The Flexible Arrangement: Fixed Landmarks, Improvised Connective Tissue, Real-Time Decisions, and Playing the Same Arrangement Differently Every Time 99Workshop 99 — Accompanying Another Musician: Following a Singer, Leading Without Controlling, Recovering from Unexpected Changes, and Making the Piano Behave Like a Listening Partner 100Workshop 100 — The One-Take Arrangement: Building a Complete Performance in Real Time from Melody, Function, Form, Groove, and Ear 101Workshop 101 — Arrangement as a Generative System: Rules, Constraints, State Changes, and How to Design a Performance That Can Recreate Itself 102Workshop 102 — Reduction and Recomposition: Strip a Finished Arrangement to Its Musical Skeleton, Then Build a Completely Different Arrangement from the Same DNA 103Workshop 103 — From Arrangement to Original Composition: Building a New Piece from Motif, Bass, Harmonic Function, Form, and Constraints 104Workshop 104 — Writing Strong Original Melodies: Motif, Contour, Repetition, Tension, Climax, and How to Make a New Tune Feel Inevitable Instead of Random 105Workshop 105 — Composing the Harmonic World Under an Original Melody: Making Chords Feel Inevitable Instead of Merely Interesting 106Workshop 106 — Composing Bass Lines That Carry the Piece: Root Motion, Counterpoint, Groove, Inversions, Pedals, and Bass as a Source of Harmony 107Workshop 107 — Composing Inner Voices and Counterpoint: Making the Middle of the Texture Carry Meaning Instead of Merely Filling Chords 108Workshop 108 — Composing Form: Turning Good Phrases into a Complete Piece Through Repetition, Contrast, Return, Development, and Long-Range Memory 109Workshop 109 — Composing Transitions, Interludes, Introductions, and Codas: How to Connect the Important Parts Without Writing “Filler”110Workshop 110 — Writing Development Sections: How to Take One Idea Farther Without Losing Its Identity 111Workshop 111 — Composing Harmonic Rhythm and Pacing: How Fast the Harmony Changes, When It Stands Still, and Why Timing Can Matter More Than Chord Choice 112Workshop 112 — Composing Texture and Register: Turning the Piano into an Ensemble, Controlling Density, and Making the Same Notes Feel Like Different Music 113Workshop 113 — Writing Original Chord Progressions: Functional Logic, Voice-Leading Logic, Modal Logic, and How to Avoid “Chord Collection” Syndrome 114Workshop 114 — Composing Groove and Rhythmic Identity: How to Make a Piece Move Before You Add More Notes 115Workshop 115 — Writing Original Improvised-Sounding Lines: How to Make Composed Melodies Feel Spontaneous Without Becoming Random 116Workshop 116 — Building a Complete Original Piece from Nothing: An Integrated Workflow from First Seed to Finished Piano Composition 117Workshop 117 — Editing and Revising Your Own Music: How to Know What to Cut, Preserve, Simplify, Intensify, and Leave Alone 118Workshop 118 — Memorizing Music as Structure: How to Stop Depending on Finger Memory and Learn a Piece So You Can Recover, Transpose, Reharmonize, and Play It Flexibly 119Workshop 119 — Writing and Hearing Tension Arcs: How to Control Dissonance, Expectation, Delay, Release, and Emotional Pressure Across an Entire Piece 120Workshop 120 — Writing Complete Endings and Cadences: How to Make a Piece Feel Finished, Suspended, Open, Circular, or Inevitable 121Workshop 121 — Improvisation as a Composition Engine: How to Capture Spontaneous Ideas, Recognize What Is Worth Keeping, and Turn a One-Time Performance into a Real Piece 122Workshop 122 — Building Your Personal Musical Language: How to Combine Harmony, Rhythm, Melody, Bass, Texture, and Form Without Sounding Like a Collection of Borrowed Styles 123Workshop 123 — Composing Outside Your Comfort Zone: How to Write in Unfamiliar Keys, Modes, Meters, and Tempos Without Losing Your Musical Identity 124Workshop 124 — Turning Your Music into a Lead Sheet and Performance Map: How to Notate Enough to Preserve the Composition Without Freezing Every Detail 125Workshop 125 — The Final Integrated Capstone: From Empty Keyboard to Finished, Memorized, Flexible, Transposable Solo-Piano Piece 00The Songbook — Reference Recordings

13.57 Another: Fmaj9

13.56Another example: Dm11 13.55Practical chord-building workflow 13.54The melody gets priority 13.53Do not make every chord extended 13.52Add extensions to secondary dominants 13.51Transpose the formulas 13.50Notice the shape pattern 13.49A useful minimal voicing library 13.48Don't obsess about exact labels when playing 13.47Extension ear training 13.46Upper structures 13.45Chord symbol may describe the whole vertical sound 13.44A melody can determine which extension to choose 13.43Voice-leading the colors 13.42Same progression, richer colors 13.41Extensions are color, not function 13.40Try this progression 13.39Dominant sus 13.38`sus` is different 13.37`add` notation 13.36Extension notation assumes the 7th 13.35Don't memorize every altered dominant yet 13.34Dominant ♭13 13.33♯11 13.32Dominant ♯9 13.31Where does the ♭9 come from?13.30Hear G7 versus G7♭9 13.29Altered extensions 13.28Tensions versus extensions 13.27Don't double the color tone unnecessarily 13.26Melody F over Dm7 13.25Melody A over Cmaj7 13.24Extensions and melody 13.23The chord symbol is increasingly becoming a menu 13.22Compare tonic colors 13.216/9 chord 13.2013 versus 6 13.19Example: G13 13.18The hierarchy of important notes 13.17Why omit the 11th on G13?13.16G13 does not mean seven simultaneous notes 13.15What is a 13th?13.14Dm11 is especially useful 13.13Minor 11 works beautifully 13.12This is why major 11 chords are less straightforward 13.11What is an 11th?13.10One of our favorite voicings 13.9Apply this to ii–V–I 13.8Practical 9th voicings 13.7The three most useful 9th chords 13.6Cm9 13.5C9 means dominant 9, not major 9 13.4Cadd9 is not the same as Cmaj9 13.3Why are they called 9, 11, and 13?13.2But pianists normally do NOT play all seven notes 13.1Start with Cmaj7

571 / 18210 · Module 13 — Extensions: 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths← prev ⊞ all next →

13.57Another: Fmaj9

root F
3 = A
7 = E
9 = G

Practical:

LH F

RH A-E-G

That's it.

← Previous13.56 Another example: Dm11 Next →13.58 Your first rich progression

13.58Your first rich progression 13.59Improvising over extensions 13.60Extensions can become melody targets •Homework for Module 13 •Module 13 mini-test

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