Someone puts a random song in front of you and says:

“Okay, play it.”

😳

Suddenly you’re thinking…

“What am I supposed to do with my left hand?”

“Where do I put the chords?”

“How do I make this sound like an actual arrangement?”

And before you know it, you’re wishing you had picked the recorder instead. 😂

But there’s actually a really simple way to approach this.

In this lesson, I’m breaking down my 3-step “cookie cutter” system for taking basically any melody and turning it into a full-sounding piano arrangement.

The system is:

1. Foundation — Create a solid bass line using the 5-1 Neighbor technique.
2. Structure — Take the melody and make it sound more interesting with turns and slides.
3. Decorate — Add chord pops and guide tones to fill out the spaces between your melody and bass.

The really cool part?

You can use this system on songs you’ve never played before.

I’ll demonstrate it with tunes like Autumn Leaves, Fly Me to the Moon, and The Way You Look Tonight.

And once you understand the formula, you don’t have to stare at a blank piano wondering, “Uhhh… what do I play now?” 😅

You just work through the steps.

Foundation → Structure → Decoration.

And suddenly, that random tune starts sounding like a real piano arrangement.

Share This