Jazz Piano School, Ep 27 : Connecting Chord Changes In Your Solo
To make our solo’s sound good we need to be able to connect the chord changes smoothly in our right hand. This means hitting chord tones on down beats without having to think about it. The ability to play these chord tones on down beats as the chords are changing will allow our solos to reflect the harmonies perfectly. We want to practice this very slowly at first until we build up our spontaneous flow. This is not something you will be able to go fast with. If you do you will hinder your learning of this skill set.
Jazz Piano Schools 10 Step Guide To Learning Jazz Piano
I love writing posts such as these because jazz seems so mystical from an outside observer. It is as if jazz is like a magic show, with tricks and illusions. The reality is learning jazz and how to play jazz piano can be broken down like a blueprint. Sorry to burst your bubble. Obviously to […]
I Maj7 to IV 7 Turnaround (LOTW #40)
This is a nice lick for this slightly on common turnaround. You won’t find in too many places. One of them being “The Song Is You”. Very diatonic but the addition of the sixteenth note approach back down on the F-7 chord adds just enough flavor to make this lick sound good. Enjoy!
1-4-3-6-2 Turnaround (LOTW #39)
What I love about this lick is the chord tone pattern in measure 2 that moves down a half step. The first measure starts with a nice chromatic triplet approach which moves us in to the F7 mixolydian scale then we come down and land on the 5th of our E-7. Here we start our […]
Bluesy Oscar Peterson Lick (LOTW #38)
This lick is definitely more advanced technically than some of the others. Practice the consistent triplets very slowly at first until you get the hang of it. This lick was based of an Oscar Peterson intro I was working on with my student over “On A Slow Boat To China”. In this lick we are […]
Minor 1-6-2-5 Lick (LOTW #37)
Minor turnaround can sometimes throw people off. We take on the same principle I’ve taught before. Target the chord tones on downbeats. It’s tricky knowing how to connect the harmonies. We start on the third of our C- then make our way down to the third of the A7 chord. Notice the ornamental triplet we […]
Pentatonic Turnaround (LOTW #36)
This lick is based on the turnaround from Lady Bird. All we are doing in this one is stringing together some pentatonic patterns over the maj7th chords. The consistency of the major 7th chords makes it nice for us to play pattern like material over the harmonies. Enjoy!
I-VI-bVI-V Turnaround (LOTW #35)
This lick is pretty simple for the most part. The use of a tritone sub in place of the 2 chord is what spices things up in this progression. Instead of going 1-6-2-5 we go 1-6-b6-5. The first measure is simple diatonic movement with some rhythm. In the second measure we are now playing our […]
Diatonic Turnaround (LOTW #34)
This lick is great for beginner’s over diatonic turnarounds, meaning chords and notes all coming from the same key. On this lick we start on the 3rd of Cmaj7, the note E, then move down to the 3rd of A-7 the note C. From there we outline the chord tones of A-7 and approach the […]
Top 5 Things To Know When Choosing A Piano Teacher
Choosing a piano teacher can be very tough. How do you know what to look for? You’ve never played piano in your life, or maybe you have but you’re still unsure. In this post I will help you feel confident that you can select a good classical and jazz teacher for yourself or your children. […]
