Warmup suggestion

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Warmup suggestion … as fast as possible… letf and right hand. (it is the same for each hand) .up an down .use different fingerings …with accents by 2,3,4 depending on how many octaves :wink:

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Looks like a fun one, rhythm before speed for me

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Awesome! Thanks Marc… this is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping to see people sharing :relaxed:

Looking a little closer… the whole phrase contains every note of the C Half Whole Diminished Scale.

C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb, …

Furthermore, remember that the…

  • C HW Dim Scale
  • Eb HW Dim Scale
  • Gb HW Dim Scale
  • A HW Dim Scale

all the same scale and the exact same notes… you simply start at a different point in the scale.

Your warm up suggestion would actually be a great line/pattern to play (ascending or descending) over the following 4 dominant chords:

  • C7alt
  • Eb7alt
  • Gb7alt
  • A7alt

Try it out… play the 3rd & 7th these chords in your left hand, (for example, for C7alt, just play E(3) and Bb(b7) ) and then play this diminished line in your right hand… it sounds awesome!

For each of these chords, those 8 notes make up the: Root, b9, #9, 3, #11, 5, 13, b7


You could also play this line over the following 4 diminished chords:

  • Edim7
  • Gdim7
  • Bbdim7
  • Dddim7

Remember that in diminished harmony… Edim7, Gdim7 & Bbdim7 & Dbdim7 share the same notes. They are simply inversions of each other.

This is the beauty of diminished scales/diminished harmony. There are only 3 diminished scales, and each of these scales can be used over 4 different alt dominant chords, and 4 diminished chords.

… And of course, if you can use the scales over each of these chords, the licks, lines, and patterns derived from the scale can also be used over each chord.


I have a follow up lesson on the Diminished scale which will be finished soon. We look at the above application and also explore a few diminished patterns that you should know. I will certainly be including this example (maybe not as fast as Marc can play it though :wink:)

A brilliant warm up exercise and a fantastic diminished pattern. Thanks again for sharing Marc!

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Small patterns as the last one (some are perfect to give an impression of water if played very precisely , softly and fast) can be found here
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~gross/Slonimsky/Thesaurus.of.Scales.And.Melodic.Patterns.Nicolas.Slonimsky.pdf

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The great master for “water sounds” is Ravel in “jeux d’eau”, and also Debussy in “reflets dans l’eau”.
In the last one, you can find a progression I always loved which could be nice in jazz ballads…or in Hayden’s progressions


Unfortunatly, I’m not good enough to adapt it or even transpose it easily )))

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Thanks Marc… I’ll have a play around with these patterns.

I think we should start a forum category for impressionist music… Ravel and Debussy are amongst my favourite classical composers (I’m also a big fan of Chopin).

Leave this with me :relaxed:

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suggestions

• “normal” scales
• “normal” scales, 1 hand shifted +3 or +6
• scales in thirds
• scales in thirds 1 hand shifted +3 or +6
• scales in 6th
• scales in chords beginning with any chords of Hayden progressions major or min
• application on a lick
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some chords …
(here, rachmaninoff concerto 2)image

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Thanks for sharing Marc. That’s a very thorough warm up routine!

It’s great that you are taking a line like this and transposing it around the piano.

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The MinorMajor line over the 1 chord is particularly useful… take this around all 12 keys.

Adding the major 7th in your lines over minor chords is such a great sound. Play around with this in all keys. I am planning a dedicated lesson on this (mode #1 of the melodic minor scale) and will demonstrate a number of important lines and patterns. This will be ready in the next few weeks.

Here is the original lesson on the line Marc referred to if anyone else is interested: https://www.pianogroove.com/chet-baker-minor-251-line/

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Yes…
Infact, as I’m very bad at Harmony theory, I didn’t think anything but practising things in thirds or sixth for flexibility of fingers or wrist )))
In classical, it’s very often used

Of course, that would be so cool if you could write also studies (various keys) on each technical lessons including nice turnarounds etc… a kind of nice small book as Oscar Peterson did but, more technical :wink:

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for extensions 5421-135
Or, using a well known patern as

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Yes I think this is a great idea. It would be mostly formulas with a notation example in 1 key.

Different options for creating: Intros, Outros & Turnarounds.

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Just to help chord progression learning on left hand :wink:

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Awesome thanks for sharing Marc.

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brahms-pieces-piano-73-min.pdf (1.6 MB)

of course, it could be possible to transpose, to add famous #5 or whatever )))
nb : it can be beautiful if well played

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Looks interesting Marc!

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I love the left-hand pattern with the rootless voicings:

  • ii-9 with the b3, b7, and 9

moving to…

  • V13 with the b7, M3, and 13.

It’s just 1 note that is changing from the ii-9 to the V13 chord - the index finger falls by a half step (the b7 of the ii-9 chord falling to the M3 of the V13 chord). The other notes remain the same… Simple but effective!

That in itself is a great exercise to take around all 12 keys.

I just did it and it was a nice warm up for my day’s practice - for my left-hand at least!

What book is this from @marc421812?

As for the right hand…

I wish I could analyse/play it as effortlessly as the underlying harmony… I need to work on my sight reading a little more :face_with_monocle:

This is a really nice study Marc… I’d to incorporate this into a “5-minute masterclass” lessons.

Perhaps starting with the left hand through all 12 keys, and then adding a simple right-hand line that works over any ii-V progression.