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This tutorial is for you guys who are working on your cocktail, jazz and blues piano skills. One of the problems you'll typically come across when working on a piano improvisation of a chord progression is that many songs get harmonically predictable towards their ends, often using ii-V-I chord sequences to reach a conclusion or turning point. It's in this part of the song that, as an improvising pianist, it's easiest to "sag" and lose improvisation.

So, there are a couple of things you can do. One is something I've covered before, which is to extend and substitute chords to create a richer, more musically interesting sound. This can involve a bit of thought and jumping around the piano keyboard, but is usually effective.

The other thing is to add passing chords to add greater complexity and interest to the journey back to the tonic. These extra chords often allow you to get rhythmically creative, too.