A Section Harmony Drills
In this lesson we start by discussing the form and structure of “The Nearness Of You” and identify the repeating sections. We then introduce 2 drills to help you learn and memorise the harmony of the A Section.
Harmony & Left Hand Stride
When playing solo jazz piano we are responsible for outlining the pulse of the tune and keeping a steady and solid rhythm as we play through both the head of the tune and during our improvised solos.
In this lesson we introduce 2 harmonic drills. We start by playing the harmony over 2 hands and then we play both the bass and the harmony in our left hand to create a basic left hand stride style.
The Importance Of Learning The Form
Throughout this course we are going to break down the tune ‘The Nearness of You’ into three distinct sections. We have the 8-bar A section that repeats twice so we’re going to view this as an 16 Bar chunk of of the tune. We then have an 8-bar B section. And finally, we have a 12 Bar C section.
We will isolate each section to internalize the harmony and then we will add them all together. This will deepen our understanding of the tune and it will also help our internal compass to understand exactly where we are in the tune at all times.
Lesson Downloads
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A Section Stride Drills & Voicings File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
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Practice Tips
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To internalise the chord changes, count through each bar with left hand bass and the 3rds and 7ths in the right hand.
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Once this is comfortable, play both the bass and the 3rds and 7ths with the left hand to create a basic left hand stride.
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If you're new to stride style, start with just 1 bar and cycle around. Then add the next few bars, and gradually work up to the full 8 bar A Section.
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Remember that the harmony of the 2nd A Section is almost identical to the 1st A Section.
At the beginning you refer to a previous lesson in the key of FM. I’m unable to find this. Please provide a link. Many thanks
Hi Rodney,
Thanks for letting me know about this. When I plan these courses, the scripts and overall structure of the course sometimes evolve. This is one of those instances.
The lesson that you are looking for here is this one: pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/diatonic-7th-chords-in-f-major/ – which is part of the bluesy stride course on “Georgia On My Mind”. I think the reason that I didn’t include it in this course is that it would be pretty much a duplicate of that lesson.
Check out the lesson above and I will change the opening statements in this lesson to reflect that the video is part of another course.
Cheers,
Hayden
P.S – The harmony of “Georgia On My Mind” & “Nearness Of You” is very similar, and so once you have learnt one of these tunes, the other one would be a breeze to learn. They are 2 great tunes to learn so I recommend to add these 2 to your repertoire. We have covered both tunes extensively in the live seminar section of the website too.
Many thanks Hayden. Both tunes are well known to me – as a listener until now.
Really appreciate your detailed and speedy responses.
Have you ever considered adding a search feature to the website?
Regards
Rodney
Hi Rodney,
Yes there is a search box in the top right hand corner of the pro dashboard: pianogroove.com/welcome-to-pianogroove/
There is also a search feature which can be accessed here: pianogroove.com/?s= – this used to be in the main navigation and it seems it was not carried across to our new design. I will ask the developer to add it again as I agree it would be useful to have a search box on every page, not just the pro member dashboard.
Cheers,
Hayden