What The Heck Are Modes, And Why Do I need To Learn These Weird Names?
Good morning everyone, maybe not morning for you as you read this, but it is for me so I think I’ll keep that. I’ll be talking about modes in this post, and particularly, why do they help with improvisation. Most people I come across in jazz or music say modes are useless, or yea I […]
Learn The Rhythmic Feel And Notation Of Swing
Learning the swing feel in jazz can be frustrating when you’re first starting out. What gives jazz that feeling that makes you want to dance? Why do you feel like taping your foot every time you listen to an album. I’m sure you know because of the title of this blog, but yes, it’s the […]
5 Jazz Piano Doubts Reversed.
Every unknown skill or topic has myths behind it that we all as individuals tend to create in our minds. This may be from our own creative brain power, or from a friend who is feeding us these terrible ideas. Have you ever heard “Oh you can’t do that, those guys are born able to […]
How To Decipher Jazz Fake Book Charts!
So maybe you’ve read my posts on triads and 7th chords. Hopefully you have. Hopefully you have practiced the triads and 7th chords. If you have, then you are ready for this post! If not, you can still learn from the post, you will just need to learn your chords first before reading any charts. […]
4 Considerations for Jazz Piano Comping (Written by Dr. Samuel Griffith, trombone)
1) Time Beginning jazz pianists frequently forget, ignore, and devalue the importance of comping IN TIME. This should be the number one consideration when comping! If a pianist comps with bad time, or is playing out of time, the power of everything they do is lessened. Sometimes, even more experienced players will sacrifice time to […]
Introduction To 7th Chords
Do you ever walk into a restaurant and hear someone playing the piano, and just wonder how they get those juicy jazz sounds? Or maybe you hear a song on a movie that sets the perfect kind of atmosphere for a 1950’s scene. Those harmonies (chords) that you are hearing are mainly 7th chords! And […]
How To Start Playing Pop And Cover Songs Today!! Part 4 – Rhythms
Rhythms are the last key ingredient to being able to play any song of your choice and make it sound decent to the average listener. Rhythms will be serve a large role when I begin talking about Jazz more but for now the simple rhythms you will learn to play will help you spice up […]
How To Start Playing Pop and Cover Songs Today!! – Part 3 Hands Together
So the great thing about pop songs is that for the most part the only chords you’re ever going to see are major and minor triads…did you hear that? Let’s let that sink in for a second…. I’m going to say it again. The majority of chords in pop songs are ONLY major and minor […]
The 6 Most Important Steps To Booking More Gigs
Does Wynton ever look bad? Nope, cause he’s a professional. There’s one thing that always makes me chuckle when I meet someone new. It’s the moment they ask me what I do for work. In our society everyone is judged by what we “do”. People who work a 9-5 are almost more respected than someone who creates their […]
How To Start Playing Pop and Cover Songs!! Part 2 – Minor Triads
Well I have some good news and bad news. The good news is if you’re reading this you didn’t get too discouraged by part 1 and you’re eager to learn more. The bad news is you have to learn 12 more chords, but wait…they’re extremely similar to the major chords. So if you we’re good […]
