6 Tips for Improvising on Piano During Live Worship

Whether you are playing on a worship team or for personal worship, there will be times when you need to improvise, or play an instrumental part. Improvising may seem daunting at first, but with practice and a few basic pointers, it can actually be quite enjoyable. Here are 5 tips to get you started improvising for worship.

Before you begin, be sure to download your free Worship Piano Toolkit to guide you as you play!

Tip #1: Keep a consistent chord progression.

Choose a chord progression and stick with it! If you are in the middle of a song, you can use chords from the song (for example, the chord progression from the chorus). If you are transitioning between songs or just playing background music, it works best to choose four chords and play them for four beats each. Here are a few chord progressions that work well:

C-G-Am-F (1-5-6m-4)

F-C-G-Am (4-1-5-6m)

C-Am-F-G (1-6m-4-5)

C-F-C/E-G (1-4-1/3-5)

Tip #2: In the right hand, play mostly notes from the chord.

In the right hand, rather than playing the full chord, choose separate notes from the chord to play. For example, for the first measure of the C-G-Am-F progression, you may choose to play the notes E-G-C-G all as quarter notes (one beat each). Feel free to add other passing notes in between these chord tones.

Bonus: Check out the video tutorial at the end of this article to see this explained in more detail!

Tip #3: Try different rhythmic ideas.

Instead of playing the right hand notes as quarter notes, what if you played two quarter notes followed by a half note? Or what if you added some 8th notes?

Be sure to watch the video tutorial, as I demonstrate these ideas!

Tip #4: Play a single note or 1-5-8 arpeggio in the left hand.

Keep the left hand simple, playing a single note (the root note of the chord) or a 1-5-8 arpeggio (such as C-G-C for a C chord). Most of the beauty of improvisation is created in the right hand, so be sure not to overplay the left hand.

Tip #5: Play simply.

Typically, less is more. Especially if you are playing underneath a person speaking, be sure not to draw attention to your playing so that the congregation can focus on what the speaker is saying. Simply holding whole notes or half notes is usually more than sufficient when playing underneath a speaker.

Tip #6: Ask the Holy Spirit what to play!

The Holy Spirit is the worship leader… so ask Him what to play! Often He will give you a chord progression and some ideas for improvising. Follow His lead, and your improvisation will be much more beautiful that what you could ever have created on your own.

Video tutorial

For a detailed walk-though of how to get started improvising for worship, watch the video tutorial below.

Ready to go further?

The Membership gives you a structured, step-by-step pathway from basics to real worship-ready playing—covering chords, progressions, patterns, and full song application so you can play with confidence.