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Create Emotional Piano Music (Just 3 Notes)

Lisa Witt  /  Improvisation  /  UPDATED Jun 9, 2023

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I’m a positive, happy person. Anyone who knows me will probably tell you that.

But, like everyone, I don’t feel that way all the time. Sometimes I feel moody, and I want to express that on the piano.

I have a really beautiful melody that you can play to create emotional piano music.

And it’s so simple — it’s literally 3 notes.

We’re going to move away from major scales for this one, and focus on A minor.

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The Chord Progression

Because we’re not just going to play 3 notes with our right hand and nothing else — we need a chord progression to play it over.

So for this, we’ll be playing Am-F-G-Em. If you want to think of it in the key of C Major (because they are related), we’re playing the 6-4-5-3.

But I find it helpful to try and think in the minor key — because we are playing more moody music.

The Three Notes

B-C-G

That’s it! that’s all we are going to play in the right hand. And we are going to play them over every single chord in the progression. They sound great over all of them. Go ahead, try it out!

There are reasons why those notes work — but that’s getting into more complicated musical theory, and this lesson is about a simple way to express yourself and create emotional piano music.

How To Play Them

This is where you can really experiment and be creative. The three notes sound fantastic if you play them upwards in order.

But you can also play them going up AND down. And you can even add another G at the bottom.

To make it even moodier you could play the entire thing an octave lower, or you could move up and down the keyboard.

Taking It To Another Key

A minor is a nice key to learn this in — because there are no sharps or flats.

But I would really encourage you to try this in different keys, to help you get more comfortable on the keyboard.

A good key to move to next is E minor because there is only one sharp. So for Em, the chord progression would be Em – C – D – Bm, and the notes to play in the right hand would be F#-G-D.

So try it out! Sit down at the piano and get moody!

And most of all, have fun.

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Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for more than 20 years and in that time has helped hundreds of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others. Learn more about Lisa.

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