Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Get “An Introduction to Cocktail Piano” today: billspianopages.com/cocktail
Everyone loves cocktail piano — the lush, chilled-out sound that echoes from every piano bar in the world — so in this tutorial we're going to go through a bunch of drills and exercises that will help you take your cocktail playing to the next level. There are eleven cocktail piano exercises in total, in three categories. First are six broken chord exercises, great for finger control and mobility around the piano keyboard (essential for cocktail piano, which uses a TON of space on the keyboard); then come four chord jumping exercise to help with your finger placement, especially on tricky chords with lots of black notes (popular cocktail piano songs are often in "flat" keys with many black notes); finally there's an exercise that takes a common chord progression and moves between keys to help you develop a feel for how different keys and their chords work on the piano keyboard.
If you’ve liked this and you want to find out more about cocktail piano, I've made lots of other tutorials on the subject. Here’s a playlist of my other cocktail piano tutorials: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QlnF-gxs4wKb2F8V4nPdZYd
....and don't forget to check out “An Introduction to Cocktail Piano”, because if you've liked this tutorial, you'll love it — find out more here! billspianopages.com/cocktail
You might also like my Jazz Piano For Beginners series of YouTube tutorials, which you can find here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QmN-lQYtSAULCvdomKraZ1S
MY OTHER BOOKS
Seven Studies in Pop Piano: billspianopages.com/seven-studies
An Introduction To Cocktail Piano: billspianopages.com/cocktail
Book bundle deal: billspianopages.com/bundle
All six of my Piano Packs for £16.95: billspianopages.com/pianopacks
My Patreon page: patreon.com/billhilton
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Facebook: fb.me/billhiltonpiano
Twitter: twitter.com/billhilton
Instagram: instagram.com/billhilton
00:00 Why cocktail piano is so useful
02:56 Basic C major broken chord exercise
04:26 Black note broken chord exercise
05:25 Focussing on evenness and control - critical for cocktail piano
06:16 Basic four-note broken chord exercise (Ab)
06:40 Advanced four-note broken chord exercise (Abmaj7)
07:20 Broken chords on diatonic sevenths over two octaves (Eb major and C major)
08:56 Basic arpeggio runs using different chord shapes
09:46 Fast cocktail-style arpeggio runs
10:52 Basic chord jumps, white note chords
11:54 Basic chord jumps, awkward chords
12:14 Jumps in inversions, white note chords
12:46 Jumps in inversions, awkward chords
13:07 Key changing exercise using simple chord progression
14:58 How to work out key transpositions
16:51 Wrap-up and further info
#piano #cocktailpiano
Get “An Introduction to Cocktail Piano” today: billspianopages.com/cocktail
Everyone loves cocktail piano — the lush, chilled-out sound that echoes from every piano bar in the world — so in this tutorial we're going to go through a bunch of drills and exercises that will help you take your cocktail playing to the next level. There are eleven cocktail piano exercises in total, in three categories. First are six broken chord exercises, great for finger control and mobility around the piano keyboard (essential for cocktail piano, which uses a TON of space on the keyboard); then come four chord jumping exercise to help with your finger placement, especially on tricky chords with lots of black notes (popular cocktail piano songs are often in "flat" keys with many black notes); finally there's an exercise that takes a common chord progression and moves between keys to help you develop a feel for how different keys and their chords work on the piano keyboard.
If you’ve liked this and you want to find out more about cocktail piano, I've made lots of other tutorials on the subject. Here’s a playlist of my other cocktail piano tutorials: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QlnF-gxs4wKb2F8V4nPdZYd
....and don't forget to check out “An Introduction to Cocktail Piano”, because if you've liked this tutorial, you'll love it — find out more here! billspianopages.com/cocktail
You might also like my Jazz Piano For Beginners series of YouTube tutorials, which you can find here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOuhygfD7QmN-lQYtSAULCvdomKraZ1S
MY OTHER BOOKS
Seven Studies in Pop Piano: billspianopages.com/seven-studies
An Introduction To Cocktail Piano: billspianopages.com/cocktail
Book bundle deal: billspianopages.com/bundle
All six of my Piano Packs for £16.95: billspianopages.com/pianopacks
My Patreon page: patreon.com/billhilton
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Facebook: fb.me/billhiltonpiano
Twitter: twitter.com/billhilton
Instagram: instagram.com/billhilton
00:00 Why cocktail piano is so useful
02:56 Basic C major broken chord exercise
04:26 Black note broken chord exercise
05:25 Focussing on evenness and control - critical for cocktail piano
06:16 Basic four-note broken chord exercise (Ab)
06:40 Advanced four-note broken chord exercise (Abmaj7)
07:20 Broken chords on diatonic sevenths over two octaves (Eb major and C major)
08:56 Basic arpeggio runs using different chord shapes
09:46 Fast cocktail-style arpeggio runs
10:52 Basic chord jumps, white note chords
11:54 Basic chord jumps, awkward chords
12:14 Jumps in inversions, white note chords
12:46 Jumps in inversions, awkward chords
13:07 Key changing exercise using simple chord progression
14:58 How to work out key transpositions
16:51 Wrap-up and further info
#piano #cocktailpiano
