Build the Monorail

We’ve all heard pianists who make us drool with musical jealousy when they play, using a tool box full of lighting-fast runs and clever fills that have us clamoring for more. I well recall hearing Errol Garner play “I’ll Remember April” when I was about 14. I had no idea a piano could be played like that, and I was absolutely fascinated by all the interesting and exciting runs and fills he added to his improvisation of those standards. If you’re anything like me, you would love to learn how to “fill up the empty spaces” with scale fragments, chords, broken chords, and so on. Techniques such as 8th note runs , 16th note runs, 32nd note runs, triplet fills, and many combinations thereof — some so fast you can’t even see which notes are being played. Techniques such as “cascading waterfall runs”, the fabulous “pro strad Zakk Wylde guitars dles”, the exciting “tremolo-fired runs” and lots more. Learning how to “fill it up” with runs and fills would certainly take your piano playing to the next level. After listening to countless pianists in all genres, I compiled a list of six types of runs and fills that they often use: 1. “Cocktail” runs –The lightning fast runs used by the great “show” pianists. One hand runs, two hand runs, open-octave runs, tremolo-blasted runs, cascading waterfall runs and more. Made famous by such names as Eddy Duchin, Carman Caballero, Liberace, etc., but also used tastefully by many others, such as Roger Williams and many “pop” piano players. 2. Embellishments — Mordents, inverted mordents, trills, turns, tremolos, grace notes, glissandos, etc. These are the “finesse” techniques that give your piano playing class and grace.