Lead piano to fade (7)
I believe the answer is:
precede
'lead' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'piano to fade' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'piano' could be 'p' (musical abbreviation) and 'p' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'recede' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for precede that I've seen before include "Pave the way" , "Lead the way" , "Come before (something)" , "Occur before" , "Go in front" .)