Iām certainly not going anywhereā¦ PianoGroove is my life and I love teaching online and managing the website.
Iāve been drawn away from my original teaching schedule with the growing commitments of managing the website/forum and working with our extended teaching team.
However, Iām working on getting things in place to free up my time againā¦
So lots more lessons to come from me, and Iāll always be here in the forum to advise and guide our students
Wellcome guys ! @dr1 wow impressive background in piano ā¦ hope hearing your playing soon on the forum . Dont tell me more how long you can play in a day ā¦ i will be jealous
Iām David from Vancouver, Canada.
I used to play the piano in high school jazz band back in late 80ās and early 90ās.
I learned to read sheet music note by note but I never learned to play by ear or
learn chords beyond the very basics (C, Cm, C7ā¦ and likes).
Never really grasped aug/dim, and other more complex chords).
Since I graduated from high school, there hasnāt been much attempts to improve my piano.
Carried on with my life, but I would always appreciated listening to good jazz artists,
as I grew up listening to a lot of smooth jazz / GRP-labeled cassettes and CDs.
My favorite artists are Jeff Lorber, David Benoit, Rippingtons, Joe Sample, & Hisaishi Joe.
Now, Iām taking a mini sabbatical and I finally have time to work on my skills.
Hereās where I am today (without any sheet music, and without any practiceā¦) https://youtu.be/syYuEzqfqmU
but Iād like to be able to play a full hour of jazz music at a local bar I frequently visit.
Itād be nice if I could achieve it by coming Christmas.
Iām now reviewing Jazz Piano Foundations, and to be honest,
I find it a bit boring just to go over music theory.
I think I do okay in simple scales (C, D, G, maybe E), but not really motivated to
learn my chord positions for more complex scales.
Iām not sure if mechanically following the chord progressions and positions will
improve my skills or motivate me to move forward, either.
If I can commit 45-60 minutes each day on practicing my piano skills,
how would you recommend that I spend my time for the next 3 months?
David
PS. I donāt have the perfect pitch,
and I always wondered if itās a skill that can be mastered by practice.
Welcome David. Iād recommend starting with the practice plans that are listed with each beginning group of lessons. It has worked for me. (And I had around 40 years of not playing anything. ) Those boring bits will pay off in the future. And as the plans indicate, at least half of your time is with the fun stuff.
At any rate, have fun. I think youāll enjoy the experience and will progress if you stick with it.
Thanks for sharing your performance of āOver The Rainbowā - I like your chord choices and it gives me a much clearer idea of the most suitable courses for you.
A first recommendation would be to add some kind of intro and outro to each tune you are playing. We have an introductory lesson here on the 1-6-2-5 progression which I think you will enjoy:
I see that you are playing āOver The Rainbowā in the key of C Major, and so that would make your 1-6-2-5 progression:
Cmaj7 / A7b9 / D-7 / G7
Of course you can add any combination of extensions, alterations, passing chords to this basic progression. More info on this below.
It can be nice to cycle around that for both and introduction and an ending to extend the length of any tune you are playing. The V7 chord (G7) leads back to the Imaj7 chord (Cmaj7) and so the progression is a cycle, and when ready, you can drop for the G7 straight into the start of the tune.
Most jazz standards tend to start and end on the Imaj7 chord so this kind of intro/outro will will have you covered for most tunes.
That could help with your āfull hour of musicā goal for the local bar.
I would recommend that you start studying the following 2 courses simultaneously:
Extended Chords & Voicings
This course introduces 9s, 11s, & 13s, and we look at some common extended chord voicings that are very useful to have under your fingers:
Altered Harmony & USTs
This course introduces the concept of chord alterations. I did see you played some alterations in your arrangement of āOver The Rainbowā - for example, at 0:43 seconds, you play A7b9
This course will explain the different ācoloursā you can add to dominant chords to create more harmonically-complex and sophisticated voicings and progressions:
Intros, Endings, & Turarounds (optional, focus on the above 2 first)
This is housed as an āAdvanced Courseā but based on your performance, I donāt see any reason why you cannot learn the arrangements. In all of these lessons I demonstrate different ways to create extended intros for jazz standards:
I agree with @scott1 that it would be good to check out the Foundations Practice Plan.
I understand and appreciate that some of those exercises are boring, but they will give you solid foundations for the more advanced theory, and perhaps even highlight weaknesses in your playing that you didnāt realise.
Aim to play the following 2 exercises in less than 5 minutes each:
All 12 major scales and identify the notes numerically ie. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 instead of: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C and you must do this for all 12 major scales. Donāt skip this!!
3 note 251 progressions with root in left hand, and then 3rd and 7th in right hand - being able to clearly visualise the 7ths falling to 3rds in 251s in all 12 keys will help you greatly. The 3rd and 7th are the essential components of the harmony and so itās important to be able to see that half-step relationship which will also help you in creating improvised melodies.
If you canāt do that, I would recommend spending 10 minutes on it each day until you can.
The other exercises (minor scales, triads, 7th chords) are all still important, but the above 2 are in my opinion the most important to learn thoroughly before moving on. It will simply save you time in the future.
Once you encounter upper structure triads in the āAltered Harmony Courseā I highlighted above, you will see how important it is to be able to invert and manipulate triad shapes around the keyboard, and so as @scott1 says, working on the foundation exercises will pay off in the future.
Hereās what Iād recommend:
If you could make that 45-60 minutes per day into 2 hours each day, you will see much better results. I found it very effective to do 1 hour in the morning before I went to work, and then I would play most of the evening. Aim for 1 hour in the morning, & 1 hour in the evening.
Revisit and stick to what you are practicing. The key is to dedicate yourself to a consistent practice routine. Use the downloadable PDF resources and practice plans to give you that structure.
Work on multiple courses at the same time, Iād recommend the Extended Chords Course, and the Altered Harmony & Upper Structure Triads Course - but as mentioned, you will be making life harder for yourself if you donāt know your major scales numerically, and also simple 3-note 251s in all 12 keys.
Donāt forget to have fun with itā¦ This is supposed to be a fun hobby after all!! You have a nice goal to work towards with your āfull hour of music by Christmas timeā but also understand that learning jazz is truly a lifelong pursuit, there is always more to learn. I find accepting that takes the pressure off and makes the whole process more enjoyable. I just try to get a little better each day.
Hereās 4 forum threads which you may find useful with your āfull hour of musicā goal:
my Name is Michael 55 years old and living in the southwest of Germany (Palatinate), surrounded by vineyards and forrest.
IĀ“m here at pianogroove for my second day now and wanted to tell you a little about me:
IĀ“ve been an accordion-player for many years now (not professional). Together with a saxophone player and a bass player we play Klezmer-Music most of the time.
Since 4 years I make coversongs together with my partner. SheĀ“s singing while I play guitar (acoustic) most of the time. But we also started to take some songs with piano in our repertoire (Adele, Norah Jones, Sara Bareilles ā¦).
Now I found that the most interesting arrangements of modern pop-songs always almost contain elements of jazzmusic! And thatĀ“s when I started looking for online-courses on jazzpiano - and found pianogroove.
So here I am - still a bit confused with all that material offered - and looking forward to my ācareer as jazz-accompanistā
Warm welcome Michael! You are going to love your jazz journey with pianogroove. I just started about six months ago. I only wish I had found this site years ago, but better late than never!
To work on your accompaniment skills, Iād first recommend checking out Lyndolās course on āHow To Accompany Singerā:
Iād also recommend working through our Beginner Jazz Courses, this information will give you the foundational information you need to be more comfortable and confident in all styles of music.
My opinion is thatā¦ No matter what style of music you want to play, having a good understanding of jazz harmony will always be as asset to you.
Jazz theory is the most complex and challenging to learn, and you will find that instrumentalists who play pop, funk, gospel, soul, R&B, HipHop, Neo-soul, etcā¦ will have studied jazz harmony at some point in their musical development.
Ultimately, it will give you a deeper understanding of all music which will help with your performance/composition in any genre.
The jazz standards are simply nice āetudesā in which to apply the theory and get familiar with basic harmony in all 12 keys.
ā¦ for your words of welcome! It already feels a bit like familiy here - thatĀ“s great.
@Hayden:
Your advice, what courses I should consider is very helpful! I already started to watch the Foundational Course, just to start with a beginners mind
But, hey: LyndolĀ“s course is exactly, what I need to start jazzing with my Partner!
IĀ“m so glad, I found you guys!
Being part of such a supportive community is priceless
I recommend that students study multiple courses at once. For yourself, I would recommend to work on the following 4 courses, and remember that all progress is saved to your student dashboard.
Jazz Piano Foundations:
This course introduces all of the foundational theory such as scales, triads, 7th chords, and the 251 progression.
How To Accompany Singers:
This course provides a nice introduction to the art of vocal accompaniment:
Extended Chords & Voicings:
This course introduces chord extensions. This is when we extend past the 7th of the chord to access the 9th, 11th, and 13th:
Learn To Sing & Play:
Once you have completed āHow To Accompany Singersā - then move onto this course. The lessons in this course are more advanced studies of vocal accompaniment:
Iām a half-decent pianist I guess, having done grade 7 about 20 years ago, and played on and off since. I studied music at degree level, as part of a music and sound recording course, but primarily played sax and cello when there. I now work with musicians a lot, but am a recording engineer for film and TV, rather than a performer, these days.
I have always wanted to play better jazz on the piano, but never really ālearnt itā. Jazz, Soul, Funk and Blues are mostly what I listen to. I played in a soul band for about 5 years after uni, on Rhodes and Hammond, but always felt let down by solos and improv. Iām a fairly good accompanist, but really do stick to tried (or is it tired?!) and tested voicings and styles.
Iād love to expand my horizons in terms of scales, ideas, voicings, confidence in a solo, accompanying, etc. Iāve been lucky enough to play with some amazing keys plays in my time, and I know I donāt have the ability to hit those kinds of heights, but thereās still much room for improvement.
As I hit 40 this summer, I feel another mid-life crisis coming along and am attempting to reform my post-uni band. Hoping to break away from blues scales and play something that Iād like to listen to (even if the drunk people in the pub are usually appreciative anyway).
Be great to have a rummage around in here, although not entirely sure where I should start. I have a good understanding, up to a point, skill up to a point, and some experience. just not very much. Any pointers very welcome, and am perfectly happy to start right at the beginning if thatās the best approach.
Brilliant, your classical studies will certainly be an asset for you in terms of finger strength and dexterity.
I would imagine you have strong sight reading skills too. The key goals of the PianoGroove Course is to reduce reliance on notation and to help students understand harmony numericallyā¦ this allows us to be more spontaneous in our performance and improvisationā¦ more on this below.
Itās also great that you have experience with other instrumentsā¦ A nice variety of instruments too with sax and bass!
My opinion is that experience with any other instrument will broaden your musical perspectives, tastes, and influences which is always good when playing and exploring the jazz idiom.
However, there are a few things that are very important to have in place:
Learn major scales numerically, so that you see each scale as 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 instead of the actual note names. This gives you the foundations for exploring extended harmony, and altered harmony and it will make it much easier for you in the long run.
Understand the theoretical underpinnings of jazz voicings which are triads and 7th chords. There are exercises such as inverting triads and 7th chords which take a lot of time to fully master, so donāt let this stop you from progressing further on in the course. As long as you understand how to construct all triads and 7th chords, just revisit the exercises in the foundations practice plan now and again.
We must be able to play 3-note 251 progressions in all 12 keys in Type A and Type B. Without notation. Itās important to be able to visualise the 3rd and 7th of each chord, and also the voice leading of b7 to 3 in all 251s. Again this takes time, do donāt let it stop you from progressing in the syllabus, but make sure you are revisiting this until you have it fully internalised.
Even after advanced classical studies, students may not have these foundation in place. So thatās a few things Iād recommend working on as a priority.
Next for voicings, check out these courses in the following order:
That is a lot of work/material there Richard, but the theory lessons in those courses will give you a huge pallate of new ācoloursā, ātexturesā , and voicing techniques to add to your playing.
Itās hard to gauge your exact level, but perhaps check out this course first:
This is one of our advanced courses and builds upon many earlier theory topics.
I try to unite a lot of other areas of the PianoGroove syllabus to show an āend resultā of learning the different types of voicings, and studying/transcribing jazz solos.
The harmonic lessons in the course cover extended chord voicings, rootless voicings, and upper structure triads, and so if that stuff is new to you, then it would make sense to study the courses bullet pointed above.
Finally moving onto improvisation:
In my opinion, transcription is by far the most effective way to learn to improvise.
To become great improvisers, we must listen to jazz regularly - both live and off records - and we must also transcribe lines and solos from our favourite players. This is why we set up the listening area of our forum to allow our students to share and discover new records.
This is how we develop our āown soundā when improvising. Everyonesā āsoundā is very personal to them because it is a manifestation of the musicians, artists, and recordings that they have studied and transcribed from.
When listening and/or transcribing, it might take months or even years for those sounds to show up in our improvisation, and so I like to look at it as a musical investment for the future.
We have a course on transcription here:
I recently made some blues transcription lessons too, check out the thread here:
Our 12 bar blues improvisation course covers some very important improvisation concepts:
chord tones
guide tones
approach patterns
enclosures
chromaticism
Check it out here:
This course was designed for beginner students, but it should open your eyes to the other options aside from the blues scale improvisation and how this all ties together.
Throughout the course I talk about the importance of transcription and so it will give you some useful insight and guidance for this. The course currently finishes with the transcription study highlighted above.
I also teach the course with iRealPro as the backing track, and so all the voicings and concepts covered will be perfect for playing with your newly reformed uni band
A final noteā¦
I hope this stuff helps give you some guidance Richard.
We have some new initiatives coming up soon in the forum to help students with improv. One of my goals for this year is to give students the structure, direction, and encouragement they need to become proficient improvisers.
wow thanks for such a long response. I will go through that a few times to make sure Iāve understood it all. I surprised myself that I could still more or less play all the scales, even tough Iāve not done any for 22 years! Not sure how much of that āfinger dexterityā remains! From the sounds of some of the scales, thereās a bit of work to do there.
Iāll take my time learning all those 251ās in each key, and then move on from there.
thanks again and Iāll ping in any questions I have as I go,
Wellcome Richard ! hoping hearing you soon your playing here ā¦
Maybe you could join me in my practice plan so we could be encouraging each other, i would be happy to take the basic with you .
take a look and please contact me if you are interesting :ā¦ i am looking for a little team to keep improving Here i expose the all idea :
bienvenu Marc.
) Those boring bits will pay off in the future. And as the plans indicate, at least half of your time is with the fun stuff.
I certainly agree with that!
hoping hearing you soon your playing here ā¦