{"id":104,"date":"2014-11-16T00:03:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T00:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/proproach.com\/piano-techniques\/?p=104"},"modified":"2014-11-17T17:28:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T17:28:59","slug":"play-cocktail-piano-whats-it-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proproach.com\/piano-techniques\/play-cocktail-piano-whats-it-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Play Cocktail Piano: What’s It Take?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Play-Cocktail-Piano\"You want to play cocktail piano and wonder if you have what it takes.\u00a0 It’s been a specialty of mine for many years and I am happy to admit that I’ve had a lot of fun on each and every cocktail piano gig that I ever had to privilege of being a part of. I have played on board cruises, have performed for wedding receptions and for special corporate functions, and have served as a soloist for many other situations. As a cocktail pianist, you accept the responsibility of being the sole performer, so it’s all you! Along with this goes the kind of freedom that only a solo gig can provide.<\/p>\n

The fact that you want to play cocktail piano means you’re open to learning what it really takes. Well, you’ll be happy to know that even if you’re a novice, you can gain some satisfactory results rather quickly. You’ll want to feel comfortable with playing melodies to a nice variety of standard tunes. Also, you’ll want to gain a familiarity with common 7th chords, including major 7ths, dominant 7ths, minor 7ths, and diminished 7th for starters. There are many types of 7th chords that serve as variations of these and you’ll want to eventually learn them but these basic four are the most prominently used.<\/p>\n

As you engage in the art form of cocktail piano, your own curiosity should lead you to being open to learning to improvise to a degree, including incorporating piano fills in your playing and also embellishing those melodies.\u00a0 In addition, you’ll want to adopt an attitude of playfulness, always being open to having fun with what you are playing and becoming more and more creative. Having an open mind will be conducive to your enjoying yourself and eventually becoming a more competent piano stylist.<\/p>\n

Once you become familiar with those basic 7th chords, by the way, you are likely to want to acquire a knowledge of how chord voicings work. Chord voicings are your ticket to adding a whole lot of spice to your playing. It’s one thing to be able to play a Cmaj7 chord in its basic form, for example, but if you can play it in a variety of ways, including using open and closed voicings, your playing will have a lot more dimension to it. In addition, your confidence as a stylist will soar… and this confidence will easily be evident in the eyes (and ears) of your audience.<\/em><\/p>\n

Above all else, get started! You must begin somewhere, so choose a favorite song, learn that melody well, bring yourself to a point where you can confidently play the chords that accompany that melody, and play, play, play! As you become more and more familiar with that song, you’ll soon become inspired to enhance it with piano fills, embellishments, voicings, and more. Your playing will mature before you know it!<\/p>\n

Remember,<\/p>\n

Always…<\/p>\n

ALWAYS…<\/p>\n

PLAY WITH PASSION!<\/p>\n

Musically,<\/p>\n

Dave
\nwww.PianoAmore.net
\nwww.ProProach.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You want to play cocktail piano and wonder if you have what it takes.\u00a0 It’s been a specialty of mine for many years and I am happy to admit that I’ve had a lot of fun on each and every cocktail piano gig that I ever had to privilege of being a part of. I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Play Cocktail Piano: What’s It Take?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[19,4,24,3,5],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nPlay Cocktail Piano: What's It Take? - Learn To Play Cocktail Piano<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/proproach.com\/piano-techniques\/play-cocktail-piano-whats-it-take\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Play Cocktail Piano: What's It Take? - Learn To Play Cocktail Piano\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You want to play cocktail piano and wonder if you have what it takes.\u00a0 It’s been a specialty of mine for many years and I am happy to admit that I’ve had a lot of fun on each and every cocktail piano gig that I ever had to privilege of being a part of. 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