How to Make Piano Chords Sound Better: 8 Embellishment Techniques (Part 2)

To make basic major and minor piano chords sound richer, change the time feel with a triplet at the end of the bar, weave diatonic thirds through the chord, add secondary dominants before target chords, and colour chords with extensions such as sevenths and ninths.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 20 min

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This lesson by Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music finishes a set of eight ways to enrich a chord progression built from plain major and minor chords. It is for players who already know their major and minor chords and a few inversions. Using Hallelujah as the playground, it covers four techniques in detail, then recaps all eight in one improvised performance.

None of these ideas really change the chord. An Ab major chord is still Ab major. You are decorating the journey from one chord to the next, which works best when a chord lasts four or eight counts.

1. Change the time feel at the end of the bar

Take an F major chord. Playing it as four quarter notes (1 2 3 4) is the simplest pulse. Adding eighth notes divides each beat by two. For interest, switch to a triplet near the end of the bar, dividing that beat into three. If you can keep the eighth-note feel going elsewhere while the triplet appears, you get a pleasant polyrhythm. This works well when the melody is resting at the end of a phrase. You can also change the bass or play a short melodic climb there. It suits any song, even Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

2. Floating thirds

Build every third from the scale of the key. In Ab major these are Ab-C, Bb-Db, C-Eb, Db-F, Eb-G, F-Ab and G-Bb. Then weave them in as passing movement inside the chord you are holding.

• Play Ab major in an inversion that contains C and Eb.
• Move from the C-Eb third down to Bb-Db, the next third in the scale, and back.
• Use this stream of thirds freely over any chord of the progression.

Over the relative minor, F minor, the same idea can make the chord sound darker and more sorrowful. Stay within the key: the key itself gives you plenty of harmony.

3. Secondary dominants

This technique adds a new chord between two existing ones. A secondary dominant is the dominant seventh chord built a fifth above the target chord. It pulls strongly towards that target. Examples in E major:

• E to C#m (vi): insert G#7 (sometimes written Ab7).
• E to F#m (ii): insert C#7 (Db7).
• E to G#m (iii): insert D#7 (Eb7).
• E to A (IV): insert E7, the I chord as a dominant.
• E to B (V): insert F#7.

The diminished chord on the seventh degree gets no secondary dominant, because it is already unstable. Secondary dominants may alter your melody slightly, but that can add new spice. Write them out neatly and study them before you play.

4. Extensions and additions

Take a chord and see what you can extend: sevenths, ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, 6/9 chords, or flattened and sharpened tensions. These colours can make a progression sound very ambient.

Recap of all eight techniques

1. Suspensions such as sus4.
2. Cadences, like IV to I (plagal), or a minor iv to the major I.
3. Arpeggios of the chord at the end of the bar.
4. Passing melodic notes leading to the next chord without invading the singer's space.
5. Bass movement climbing to the next chord's root.
6. Time feel changes, such as an end-of-bar triplet.
7. Floating thirds from the key.
8. Secondary dominants. In Eb major, G7 leads to Cm, C7 to Fm and D7 to Gm.

Extensions colour the whole thing at the end.

How to practise

Choose a simple song with long-lasting chords and add one technique at a time. Map out secondary dominants on paper first. Once each idea feels natural, improvise freely and mix them, aiming for a more human, creative sound than programmed music.

Questions about this lesson

What is a secondary dominant on piano?

It is the dominant seventh chord built a fifth above a target chord, inserted just before it. In E major, G#7 leads to C#m and C#7 leads to F#m.

Why is there no secondary dominant for the diminished chord?

The diminished chord is already unstable, so approaching it with another unstable chord makes little sense. The lesson leaves it out for that reason.

What are floating thirds?

They are the thirds built from each note of the key, such as C-Eb and Bb-Db in Ab major. You move between them as passing notes while holding a chord.

When should I use these chord embellishments?

They work best when a chord lasts a while, such as four or eight counts, and when the melody is resting. That leaves room to decorate without clashing with the singer.

Practise it

• The Dominant SeventhStudy dominant-seventh harmony through musical examples.
• Voicing RoomA hands-on lesson room for piano chord voicings.
• Piano classes at Nathaniel School of MusicLive online or in Bangalore, with a teacher.
• All free music apps40 practice tools for harmony, rhythm, ear training and more.

Related lessons

• How to Build Chords for Any Melody on Piano (Cadences and Music Theory)To harmonise any melody on piano, start by adding fifths and thirds under each melody note, then choose chords using cadences such as V–I, ii–V, V–vi and IV–I, and add colour with line cliché basses, secondary dominants, ii-V-I movements and chords borrowed from the parallel minor.
• How to Make I V vi IV Sound Way More Exciting on Piano (5 Methods + Bonus)To make the I V vi IV progression (C, G, Am, F in C major) sound more exciting, keep the four chords but add plagal embellishments, passing bass lines, an epic bVI-bVII cadence, secondary dominants or ii-V-I approaches, or revoice the chords with fifths, sevenths, spread thirds, add2 and sus chords.
• How to Play Do-Re-Mi on Piano (The Sound of Music, Easy Tutorial)To play Do-Re-Mi on piano, learn the melody in Bb major (Do = Bb) with the right hand, then accompany it in the left hand with Bb and F roots for the first four lines and Eb, C, F, D, G minor, Eb, F and Bb for the second half.
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