Proficient Jazz Pianist Info - Jazz Piano School

The Proficient Jazz Pianist

Become a proficient, confident, well-rounded jazz pianist - without guessing at what to practice or where to start.

If you’ve ever felt stuck learning jazz piano…

If you’ve jumped between lessons, videos, and concepts without a clear sense of progress…

If improvisation still feels confusing, comping feels uncertain, or solo piano feels overwhelming…

It’s not because you lack talent.

It’s because you haven’t been given the right structure.

Why most jazz pianists stall (and why it’s not your fault)

Most jazz piano education gives you information — scales, voicings, licks, theory.

What it rarely gives you is a path.

Without a clear order, clear benchmarks, or a way to measure progress, even dedicated students end up circling the same problems for years — wondering if they’re practicing the right things or making real progress at all.

Hard work alone isn’t enough.

Structure is what turns effort into results.

I spent over $12,000 on lessons.
I studied at top conservatories.
I bought every book, course, and DVD I could find.

And after years of work, I could play maybe three tunes — all by copying my teacher note-for-note.

If you’d asked me to sit down and play something new, I couldn’t.

I didn’t understand why anything worked.
I just memorized shapes and hoped it would click.

Every practice session felt like a question mark:
Am I getting better?
Am I learning the right things?
Why does everything still sound off?

I thought I was the problem.

But I wasn’t.

The problem was the system — or rather, the lack of one.

The moment everything changed

When I attended The New School University in New York City, they didn’t overwhelm me with endless material.

They handed me a list of fundamentals — the building blocks of jazz piano — and said:

“You need to demonstrate proficiency in each of these before you can move forward.”

Before studying with advanced teachers.
Before taking upper-level classes.
Before adding complexity.

I had to prove the foundation first.

That single idea completely changed how I understood music education.

I realized something that still guides my teaching today:

You don’t have to learn everything.
You just have to master the right things — in the right order.

The three goals every jazz pianist actually wants

After teaching thousands of students over the past decade, one pattern became impossible to ignore.

No matter their background, nearly every jazz pianist is working toward the same three goals:

Comping

Playing confidently with others — and for yourself — using groove, harmony, and time as the foundation for both group playing and solo piano.

Solo Piano

Playing standards beautifully on your own, with balance, flow, and musical control.

Improvisation

Freely expressing yourself without relying on memorized licks or feeling lost over the changes.

These three goals became the foundation of a new system.

Introducing

The Proficient Jazz Pianist (PJP)

The Proficient Jazz Pianist Path is a clear, three-goal roadmap that shows you exactly what to work on next so you never feel lost, stuck, or overwhelmed again.

Instead of random topics or endless browsing, you follow a structured path from easiest to hardest, mastering fundamentals before adding complexity.

PJP is not a library.

It’s an orientation system — the starting point for anyone serious about learning jazz piano the right way.

How The PJP Path Works

The PJP Path is built around the three core goals — Comping, Solo Piano, and Improvisation — each divided into clear, progressive levels.

You’ll start with simple, achievable skills that instantly improve your sound, then layer in more advanced concepts only after demonstrating proficiency.

Every level ends with a short, specific proficiency playing test, so you always know exactly where you stand and if you’ve become proficient in that tool or concept.

No guessing.
No wondering if you’re “ready.”
Just real, audible progress.

Goal 1: Comping

Build the foundation everything else rests on.

In Goal 1, you’ll develop the core comping skills every jazz pianist needs — learning how to support other musicians with groove, space, and harmonic clarity.

You’ll focus on:

left-hand and right-hand coordination
rhythmic placement and feel
phrasing and harmonic flow

These skills are essential for playing in a group setting — but they don’t stop there.

Comping is also the foundation of solo piano, because when you play alone, you’re essentially comping for yourself underneath the melody.

This goal establishes the coordination, time feel, and harmonic awareness that both solo piano and improvisation are built on.

Once you complete Goal 1, you can continue leveling up into more advanced comping concepts — including richer voicing structures, fills, reharmonizations, and substitutions — as part of advanced tracks and ongoing study.

Goal 2: Solo Piano

Build a strong solo piano foundation you can expand in any direction.

In Goal 2, you’ll focus on solo piano fundamentals, starting with cocktail-style ballads — where melody, harmony, time, and space all come together.

You’ll learn how to:

balance melody and harmony
support melodies with tasteful left-hand motion
control time, space, and texture
create complete, musical solo piano arrangements

This goal gives you the core solo piano skills that everything else builds on.

Just as importantly, these skills are deeply connected to comping — because in solo piano, you’re essentially comping for yourself while carrying the melody.

Once you complete Goal 2, you can continue leveling up into additional solo piano styles — including Slow Swing and Medium/Fast Swing — as part of advanced tracks and ongoing study.

Goal 3: Improvisation

Develop real language, phrasing, and musical freedom.

In Goal 3, you’ll build the core skills needed to improvise confidently — learning how to connect chord tones, develop motifs, phrase musically, and create direction in your solos.

Rather than memorizing licks, you’ll focus on understanding how lines are constructed and how harmony, rhythm, and phrasing work together in real music.

This goal gives you the improvisation foundation everything else builds on.

Once you complete Goal 3, you can continue leveling up into specific improvisation styles — including Bebop, Blues, and Modern Jazz — as part of advanced tracks and ongoing study.

What makes this different from other jazz piano courses

✔ A clear start instead of endless options
✔ A defined order instead of scattered topics
✔ Proficiency tests instead of vague progress
✔ A system built from real student results
✔ One connected path — not disconnected ideas

This is the same structure I used inside my live programs, where students who had struggled for years suddenly began improving faster, playing with confidence, and finally understanding how everything fits together.

Those results were so consistent that I rebuilt 10 years of Jazz Piano School creation around this framework.

What happens after the PJP Path?

The Proficient Jazz Pianist Path is where everyone starts.

After completing PJP, students who want continued growth, accountability, advanced style tracks, more tool refinement and community support can continue inside the Jazz Piano School membership.

But PJP always comes first.

It’s the foundation.

Who is this for?

This is for you if:

You want a clear, structured path instead of guessing
You’re tired of collecting random concepts
You want skills that will really move on the needle on your playing
You want confidence sitting down at the piano
You care about real, lasting progress
Any level and any skillset

This may not be for you if:

You’re only looking for isolated tricks
You prefer unstructured browsing
You’re not ready to commit to fundamentals

When People Implement Jazz Piano School Education They Get Results.

It really is that simple.

I’ve seen it happen for over 10 years now — for myself, and for thousands of students all around the world.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve ever stopped improving.

Every single year, month, and week, I’ve been obsessed with one question:

“How can I make Jazz Piano School even more effective — so more students actually reach their goals?”

Over the past year, I’ve invested thousands of dollars into my own education — studying how to create real transformation in online learning.

What I discovered were the true needle movers — the things that actually turn a “want to learn” student into a confident, high-achieving musician.

That’s what inspired the creation of The Proficient Jazz Pianist (PJP).

This isn’t just another update or a new course.

It’s a complete evolution of how students learn jazz piano — combining structure, accountability, and inspiration in one place.

I’ve never been more confident that what’s inside The Proficient Jazz Pianist will help you finally make real, lasting progress — faster than you ever thought possible.

But of course… you don’t have to take my word for it.

Will this work for me?

If you've read this far, then I know that you're serious but there could be a few thoughts of running through your mind.

Things like...

"I don't have enough
time for something else."

This mom of two is finding time simply because Jazz Piano School is soooo easy to follow!

Check out what she has to say...

The last thing you and I want is something else on our todo list. That's where Jazz Piano School is unique. With years of experience teaching thousands of students in person and online, I KNOW what works for student success.
That's why the entire course has been intentionally structured to help you absorb the content and get you playing jazz piano fast.

And just like James Watson who is actually a composer and doing lots of other things as well, Jazz Piano School is "such a clear, structured and thought out lesson plan."
He actually has to FIGHT the urge to move on! 🙂

"How is this different from
other online jazz piano websites."

This is truly the ONLY online jazz piano website that gives you a complete, step-by-step educational curriculum to follow.

The curriculum and materials inside Jazz Piano School aren't based off of a couple of lessons, or a couple of subjects here and there.

It's the accumulation of thousands of hours of schooling, teaching, troubleshooting, testing, and observation of jazz piano success.

We provide a blueprint that is proven to work over and over again. This is why it is being used in colleges, universities, high schools, studios and homes through out the world.

And don't forget...I actually used this system myself to teach myself jazz piano freedom and go on to have a fulfilling career as a professional jazz pianist.

"No matter how hard I try and learn I still can't put
anything together to play
the way I want."

I know you feel frustrated, discouraged, and overwhelmed by the journey that is jazz piano.

It's not easy!

Trust me when I say this...that's exactly how I felt for the first 10 years of my life.

Learning from the "Traditional Methods" of jazz education.

It's like trying to go through encyclopedia's yourself to learn American History.

Pretty much near impossible without the right roadmap, plan and structure to order all the information for you.

Thousands of other students have shared the same frustrations...but what they've found is that after joining Jazz Piano School they actually felt CONFIDENT.

They knew what to learn and practice for the first time. This gave them momentum to push forward, and keep going on the right path to reach their dream.

"I don't want this to take years of my life."

Me either!

That's why the content in Jazz Piano School is designed to be as efficient and effective as possible. Sarah has light bulb moments all the time when moving through our education!

Everything was developed to follow a perfected sequence of learning so that you can achieve your goal as quickly as possible as long as you're working through the materials.

"No one will be available to help
me if I start and then get stuck."

Amy found our support to be one of the highlights of Jazz Piano School. It helped her feel confident that she could do this!

The best part about Jazz Piano School is we have trained college graduate "Progress Teachers" ALWAYS available to answer any of your questions whenever you want.

You can ask them anything...at anytime...go ahead and bug us. We LOVE it!

And of course, yours truly is always available to help you as well. 🙂

"But there is already so much free jazz piano education available on the internet."

There is! And that's great!

It's always nice to pick up little nuggets here and there.

But let me ask you a question...how do you know what to learn first?

And how do you know what to learn second?

How do you know if that course you just bought on block chords is actually WHAT you need in this moment?

I'm sure you're interested in it, but is it actually helping you move forward to your primary goal?

And what voicing strategy is right for your level, or what improv elements you should be implementing at this current moment based off of what you've just learned?

The problem is, you don't really know if the information you're getting is RIGHT for where you are in YOUR journey.

Which is completely OKAY! 🙂 Because you're not the teacher.

You cannot TEACH yourself by watching youtube videos, reading articles and purchasing small courses you think are best for you.

This is exactly what Trevor did and listen to what he found out...

This is exactly why Jazz Piano School is the best.

It gives you a structured, clear, plan that will build your confidence, bring you happiness, and give you all the momentum you need to succeed and achieve your dream.

"But, will this actually help me play the piano the way I want?"

Like I said, belief is everything.

Having students around you that are seeing results and sharing them so you believe you can do it to is one of the most powerful motivational tools.

What's Included When You Join The Proficient Jazz Pianist Path

✔ The Proficient Jazz Pianist System (Core Path – Lifetime Access)
A complete, three-goal roadmap covering Comping, Solo Piano, and Improvisation — organized from easiest to hardest, with clear levels and proficiency benchmarks so you always know what to work on next.

✔ Structured Levels + Proficiency Tests
Each stage includes specific practice goals and simple playing tests so progress is measurable — not based on guessing or comparison.

✔ Style & Skill Expansion Paths (Unlocked After Core Goals)
Optional level-up paths in styles like Bebop, Blues, Modern Jazz, and advanced Solo Piano — designed to build after your foundation is solid.

✔ Practice Frameworks & Weekly Focus Guidance
Clear guidance on how to practice, what to prioritize, and how to avoid overwhelm — so your time at the piano actually moves the needle.

✔ Community & Ongoing Learning Environment
A supportive space to ask questions, stay accountable, and keep learning as you grow — without pressure to “keep up” or rush.

Start where real progress begins

You don’t need more content. You need clarity, order, and a system that grows with you. That’s exactly what the Proficient Jazz Pianist Path was built to provide.

Start the Proficient Jazz Pianist Path Today!

The only thing you risk is spending a little time at the piano — which you were going to do anyway.

30-Day, No-Risk Guarantee

I want you to feel completely confident starting the Proficient Jazz Pianist Path.

That’s why you’re covered by a 30-day, no-risk guarantee.

You’ll have a full month to explore the system, work through the early levels, and begin applying the structure at the piano. This is enough time to know whether the approach resonates with you and whether it’s helping you make clearer, more confident progress.

If at any point during the first 30 days you decide the Proficient Jazz Pianist Path isn’t the right fit, just email us and you’ll receive a full refund — no questions asked.

There’s no pressure to rush, no obligation to continue, and no fine print.

Try the system, see how it feels at the piano, and decide with clarity.

If You’ve Ever Dreamed of Sitting Down at the Piano and Just Playing…

To play something beautiful — not because you memorized it,
not because you copied someone else,
but because you felt it — and it came out naturally, effortlessly…

That’s what this is all about.

The Proficient Jazz Pianist isn’t just another course.
It’s a complete system that finally shows you what to practice, how to measure your progress, and when to move forward — so you can actually feel yourself improving week after week.

You’ll know what you’re doing.
You’ll understand why it sounds good.
And you’ll be able to create freely, confidently, and joyfully — at any piano, anywhere.

I’ve seen it happen thousands of times, for players of all levels.
And I’d love for it to happen for you, too.