How To Read Lead Sheets Tutorial
In this jazz standard lessons we explore ‘Tune Up’. This lesson provides an introduction on how to read lead sheets for jazz piano.
‘Tune Up’ is a great tune for beginners because the form is short and there are multiple major 251 progressions for applying basic spread voicings.
Lead Sheets vs. Classical Notation
Unlike classical piano notation, lead sheets usually just contain one staff of music containing the melody. The chord symbols are notated above the staff to indicate what chord should be played.
If you are coming from a classical background learning to interpret lead sheets will be an initial challenge. This is because we are given a lot of creative freedom to interpret (or completely change!) the melody, chords, voicings, and phrasing.
Jazz Foundations & Beyond
In this lesson we apply the basic theory from our foundations course including 7th chords, spread voicings, and major 251s.
We also touch upon chord extensions and chord alterations which are covered in the upcoming PianoGroove courses. Don’t worry if the theory in the lesson does not make sense. This first step is to expose ourselves to more complicated topics and theory areas and the full understanding will come with time.
Related Lessons
We introduce the "9th" chord extension and left-hand 10ths to create fuller sounding chord voicings with a strong har...
We explore chord voicing techniques for the C section of "Moon River" and consolidate the overall structure and form ...
We play the roots in our left hand, the melody in our right hand, and focusing on the selection of the 3rds and 7ths ...
Practice Tips
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The first time you pick up a new lead sheet, analyse the harmony and identify the 25 and 251 progressions. Annotate these progressions to jog your memory when playing the tune.
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Start with simple 3-note spread voicings and focus on clean voice leading where the 7th drops to the 3rd of the next chord.
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Expose your fingers and ears to the shapes and sounds of extended voicings - we cover these voicings and the theory in more depth in the upcoming lessons.
Great lesson! Thanks!
Hi hayden
have you the transcriptions of this video with all the chords that you use ? Thank you
Hi Marc, Apologies for the late reply… i missed the notification for these comments. I will put a transcription together for you. Cheers, Hayden
Hello hayden
Thank you for all the answers and congratulations for your website. It is great.
There are many other questions :
About the player, can you tell me how the AB loop works.
Another problem : Sometimes, when I am in “pause” and after a long time (when I play piano after that you said in the video) , the video is deconnected…I have to connect again in your website….Have you an idea ?(I have a mac)
I am happy because I finish the video (How to read lead sheet ) and I play Tune-up with extension chords.
Sometimes, you play the chord note by note. It is difficult to see what you play exactly .
I look forward your transcription for the video.
Another question : Do you think that memorizing the tunes is a good solution to progress ?
Have a good week end .
Marc
Hi Marc,
Thank you – glad you like the website!
I will shortly be making a video explaining the AB loop feature… i will send this out to all students.
The problem with the video disconnecting… how often is this happening? I have not been aware of anything but I will look into this for you.
Yes you should try to memorise the melody and the chord changes…. the melody is obviously very important.
You should remember the chord changes in terms of the progressions. For example, the first line is a 251 in D major. Then the 2nd line is a 251 a whole step down (251 in C Major). This makes it easier to remember because you don’t have to think of the individual chords (which is 6 pieces of information)… you are just thinking 251 in D Major, and then 251 in C major… then try to do this for the entire song.
Does that make sense?
Hayden
Thank you for your answer hayden
Now I memorize this tune because I played it a lot of times…
But from now, I would try to memorize the next tunes in thinking about progressions of 251.
I start “tenderly part 1” the other song of the beginner. What do you recommend after finishing this lesson ? To continue with tenderly part 2 and start little improvisation with tenderly part 2.
Or I don’t start tenderly part 2 , start blue in green and start improvisation with blue in green.
About the flow player , the message on the mac (after I put the video on “pause” and try to play again after waiting a long time is :
html5 = video not properly encoded
https : //cdn.flowplayer.org/301131/288355.m348
This message appears at every time that I put the video in “pause” a long time (About 5 minutes) and I want to play again.
Have a good day.
Marc
Hi Marc,
I would recommend that you mainly work on Tenderly, you will find this tune much easier… Blue In Green is a difficult tune because there is lots of altered harmony to deal with.
Spend some time on Tenderly Part 1 until you are very comfortable with the arrangement. Spend as much time as you need. Then move onto Tenderly Part 2.
In Tenderly Part 2, we also look at some more advanced voicings… in particular upper structure triads.
Let me know if you have any further questions :-)
Hayden
ps. thanks for sending the error with the flow player… i will look into this shortly.
Hi hayden
Another question: Is it possible to do that for the small hands ?
It is very hard to do : C (root) – D ( 9th) .
Sincerely yours
If you can’t reach that, you can ‘roll’ up the chord and use the sustain pedal for the low note. I would recommend that you keep trying to stretch for these notes and you will find that your reach will get bigger with time.
HI HAYDEN
I start again with “tunes up” and I have two questions about the last measure E-7 and A7. The purpose of this last measure is to return to the first measure and play one more time. But when I want to finish this song , how I play the last measure ?
After playing with simple chords ( first part of the video), must I continue with the extension chords (Kenny Baron….etc…) or can I start another tune like tenderly…So, do not forget that I am a beginner…Marc
Hi Marc,
To finish the song, just go to the 1 chord which would be D Major7. This would create a complete 251 and that would be a nice resolution to end the tune. You can do this on any tune when you want to finish… just do a complete 251 in the key of the tune (This tune is written in D Major)
For example play E-7, A7 and then Dmaj9. A nice voicing for the D Major would be:
Root and 5th in the left hand (D and A)
maj3, 5, maj7 and 9 in the right hand (F#, A, C# and E) – this is like an F#-7 chord… you can then run this up the keyboard in your right hand with the F#-A-C#-E … all the way up.
I would recommend that you start on another tune like Tenderly, but remember you can always revisit the tunes that you have learned previously. When you learn some new theory, I would recommend that you go back through the tunes that you know and then apply the theory. It’s a great way to learn in context!
Hope this helps :-)
Hayden
Hey, new here and love the site. Canyou explain about the so what chords you used to fill in the middle. How did you know what chord shapes to use or is that explained in a separate video?
Hi Jean,
Yes this is a very useful reharmonisation technique that I use a lot in my jazz piano playing.
I am taking the melody note, and building a So What chord underneath each melody note. It might sound a little complicated to understand right now, but it’s actually quite simple once you understand the reasoning behind it, and why it works.
This works, ie. it sounds good, because we are moving the exact same chord shape/type around the keyboard, which adds an element of consistency in the sound created, even though the chords/harmony is unrelated from a 251 standpoint.
We can actually do this with any type of voicing and it’s one of the creative freedoms we have as jazz musicians.
Yes these ideas of further explained and developed in upcoming lessons and courses…
You might like to start with the lesson on So What Chords here: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/so-what-chord-voicing/
and definitely check out this lesson on “Harmonising Step Wise Melody Lines” where I explain this concept in more detail – pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/harmonising-step-wise-melodies/ – in particular check out chapter 5 “reharmonisation” where I apply this exact concept of harmonising a melody line with So What Chords.
I hope that helps Jean and enjoy the lessons!
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi hayden
I have another question added to my last message.
What is the first lesson that you recommend to start jazz improvisation ?
Have a good weekend.
Marc
Hi Marc,
I would recommend you watch the lesson on Blue In Green
Improvisation:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/improvising-blue-in-green/
This lesson discusses many basic concepts for improvising over a tune.
It
would be helpful if you learn the tune first too, here is the tutorial:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/blue-in-green-tutorial/
Hope this helps :-)
Hayden
Hi Hayden, What is the recommended order for all of your beginner lessons?
Hi Barb,
Thanks for getting in touch!
I have copied the 2 beginner courses for you below. The new website has all lessons organised into courses like this and it will give students a clear series of progression through the material.
It should be finished in 24-48 hours… I will know more later today once I have spoken with the tech guys.
Hope this helps, the new site also gives you guidance on how to practice each lesson.
Cheers,
Hayden
Jazz Piano Foundations:
1. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/12-major-scales/
2. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/minor-scales-for-jazz-piano/
3. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/intervals-for-jazz-piano/
4. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/triads-for-jazz-piano/
5. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/7th-chords/
6. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/major-251-progression/
7. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/how-to-read-lead-sheets/
Extended Chords & Harmony
1. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/chord-extensions-9ths-11ths-13ths/
2. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/so-what-chord-voicing/
3. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/herbie-hancock-voicing/
4. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/kenny-barron-voicing/
5. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/misty-tutorial-lesson/
6. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/tenderly-jazz-standard/
7. pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/my-foolish-heart-tutorial/
Why are the 9th and 11th chords called 7th chords?
Hi Barb, Good question!
Here is an important point that you need to understand with regards to chord extensions:
If the chord is G-7, as a jazz arranger, you need to decide how to play a G-7 to produce a nice sophisticated jazzy sound.
You need to understand that with any chord, you have the creative freedom to choose what notes to include, your options for minor chords are root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th & 13th (if you add another 3rd on top of the 13 you are back to the root so 13 is the highest extension)
Generally speaking, the higher the extension you include, the richer and ‘more complex’ the sound will be. Complex doesn’t always mean good, sometimes just a plain chord with the root, 3rd, and 7th will sound just fine. Variety is the key.
Another important point is:
Jazz musicians often abbreviate chords to just ‘7’, eg. G-7 or C7 – even if the chord contains higher extensions such as 9, 11 or 13.
This is like shorthand.
It also applied to lead sheets…. just because the chord symbol says ‘7’ … you have the freedom to add in extensions and alterations. That is the beauty of playing jazz music… you have a lot of freedom to interpret chords how you want to.
First I would recommend watching this lesson on chord extensions: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/chord-extensions-9ths-11ths-13ths/
Then check out these 2 lessons on voicing major and minor chords:
Major Chords: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/major-voicing-variations/
Minor Chords: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/minor-voicing-options/
Hope this helps :-)
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
I would like to ask about your voicing in the 7th bar – Cmaj7, why did not you use the same as in the 3rd bar – Dmaj7?
Cheers,
Martin
Hi Martin,
I presume you are talking about the Cmaj13 voicing at 11:45s ?
You could play the same voicing as we played over the Dmaj13 – and that would sound absolutely fine. The only different is that the Cmaj13 voicing has an additional 9th near the top.
Vice versa, you could also add the 9th into the Dmaj13 voicing on the first line.
When playing jazz, variety is key. If you play the same voicings over and over again, your playing can sound predictable.
If I had to give you reasons why I added the 9th over the C Major:
1) C Major is a ‘white key’ ie. all of the notes are white keys, and so it’s easier to cluster the notes together that in other keys. It’s slightly harder to do this in D Major, because you are playing a mixture of black and white keys. So from a technical standpoint, it’s easier to play that voicing – which might have been one of the reasons that my hands went to play it.
2) The Cmaj7 marks the end of the first 8 bars. In bar 9, the melody then changes to a different phrase, whereas, on the 1st and 2nd lines the melody was identical, but a whole step down. By playing that big, dense Cmaj13 voicing with the additional 9th, it acts as a nice end to the first section of the tune.
What I would recommend for you Martin is to experiment. For every single chord, you can add notes in and take notes out. Remember variety is key and you want to create a selection of sounds and textures in your arrangements.
If you played the exact same voicings for every major chord… it might sound a little boring!
Hope this helps :-)
Cheers, Hayden
Hi Hayden, I was wondering where I might be able to find the downloadable transcription for ‘Tune Up’? Thanks! Erik
Where is the transcription? I can’t see it to download it.
For example, to Tune Up?
Hi Hayden, this might be a stupid question but is there a reason why you are not playing the 5th note in the chords? Is it because it would sound too dense/complex? What makes you decide to include the 3d and not the 5th? Thanks!
Hi Rein,
Not a stupid question at all.
We can always add the 5th to our voicinigs. The 5th is an interesting interval because it can be played in the lower registers of the piano without it sounding ‘muddy’. If we want to add weight, density, and impact to our voicing, then we can include the 5th. It just gives a ‘bigger sound’.
The 5th always adds ‘weight’ to the chord, but does not change the chord quality.
The 3rd and 7th of the chord are the most important notes because those notes determine the chord quality, ie, if it is major, minor, or dominant.
Playing jazz standards with root-3-7 voicings is a good place to start for beginners. This helps us to visualise the essential components of the harmony (3rds & 7ths) and how the 3rds and 7ths move in the 251 progression. It’s very important to visualise the 7ths falling to the 3rds in 251 progressions.
Our Brazilian piano teacher Jovino made a nice lesson here which explains about avoiding redundancy in chord voicings: pianogroove.com/bossa-nova-lessons/elegant-efficient-chord-voicings/ – I think you will like that lesson as he explains some important concepts for voicing chords.
Another thing to mention is that in this lesson on “Tune Up”, I do introduce some more advanced theory such as chord extensions and alterations. We cover this theory in the next courses. If any of this theory doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry about it. Just copy what I’m playing, and the full understanding will come with time.
If you have any further questions just let me know.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
thank you for the elaborate response!
Can you tell me why the 3d and the 7th are more important than the 5th, which does belong to the root chord?
Hi Rein,
I’ll try to explain a different way.
Let’s take 3 chords: Cmaj7, Cmin7, and C7:
Cmaj7 = C-E-G-B
Cmin7 = C-Eb-G-Bb
C7 = C-E-G-Bb
For all 3 chords, the root and 5th is C & G.
However the 3rds and 7ths are all different combinations.
Therefore the 3rd and 7th are the most important notes because they define the harmonic quality of the chord.
I’d recommend that you revisit the lesson on 7th chords: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/7th-chords/
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
Why is there a Gb on the two last Em7 and A7 chords in the voice leading section ? Aren’t we just supposed to play 3rd and 7th (+ the melody ) in this section ?
PS: Great lesson btw :)
Cheers,
Pierre-Louis
Hi Pierre-Louis,
I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson.
That Gb – or technically it should be F# – is the 9th of E-7, which then becomes the 13th of A7 in the 25 progression.
They are chord extensions. We look at them in detail in the upcoming course on chord extensions: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/ and in particular, in this lesson we look at how the 9th becomes the 13th in a 25 progression pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-major-251-9th-13th-chord-drill/
And yes, the purpose of the lesson was to build and arrangement using 3rds and 7ths, but I also wanted to add in a few examples of extended and altered harmony to pique the interest of the students and give you a taste of what is coming next in the PianoGroove syllabus.
If it doesn’t make sense right now, don’t worry about it, just copy what is being played and it will all make sense with time.
Any other questions let me know. :-)
Cheers,
Hayden
@@PianoGroove:disqus
nice!
HI Hayden,
Working through Tune Up lead Sheets (the easy section) little confused about the Em7 and A7 at the end as you play it with notes not in the 7th chords I have been practicing i.e the F# is this a lesson I have missed! Ah just read one of your answers below. Good lesson thanks….
HI Ben,
F# is the 9th of E-7 and also 13th of A7.
Check out this lesson for more information on that exact relationship: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-major-251-9th-13th-chord-drill/
I did gradually layer in some more complex voicings in this lesson. I think it’s nice to ‘get our toes wet’ in more advanced theory, even as beginners.
Any other questions, you can ask them here, or in the forum: pianogroove.com/community/
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
Nice lesson for beginners. But I have a question. Are you always use pedal while playing the whole tune？ Because when I record my play，it does not sounds continuous. Or Maybe I miss some important things?
Thank you.
Hi Nnero,
Yes that’s correct I am using the sustain pedal in this lesson.
When playing solo jazz ballads I do use a lot of the sustain pedal. Be careful not to overuse the pedal because it can blur the harmony together, but when used appropriately it creates a nice effect.
Hope this helps!
Hayden
Thanks for your nice answer and suggestion.
Hi Hayden, Thanks for all the work putting these courses together. I have a question: How do you know what kind of extension you can play based on the chord listed on lead sheets? I see that when the melody is a note outside of the the chord listed, it automatically changes the chord. (i.e. the A in the Em7 at the beginning…is the 11th so you played the Kenny Barron voicing of the m11). But what about when b5’s and #5’s start showing up? What is the rhyme & reason with those additions? Is it all what sounds good to the ear or is there a mathematical kind of relationship to what you can play based on what is listed in the lead sheet? Does this question make sense? :) Thanks
Hi Hayden,
There’s just a small mistake in the “Tune Up” transcription. The lead notes in bar 36 should be A, G, A, “C” (not D, A, G.
Regards,
David
I meant to put a “)” after the D.
Regards,
David
Thanks David – I will fix this and re-upload.
Cheers!
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
A beginner’s question here: can you explain why, in Tune Up, you don’t play the melody – the A note – when playing the second-to-last Em7 cord (where you play Em7 and A7)? Is the melody simply left out sometimes?
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike 👋
Good question.
When arranging from lead sheets, we don’t have to play the melody exactly as it’s written.
We can leave notes out, add notes in, add embellishments such as turns, trills, and grace notes. We can change the phrasing and placement of the notes. This is all part of the creative freedom we have as jazz musicians.
The lead sheet is simply a rough guide for the melody. If we listen to a selection of different recordings for any jazz tune we will hear that in each recording the melody will be played differently. Sometimes perhaps just slight variations, whilst other times more stark variations.
This is the process of arranging a song and it’s what each person’s playing personal to them.
My advice would be to listen to lots of different versions of the songs you are learning and find your own ways to play, phrase, and embellish melody.
Hope this helps and any further questions let me know.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden, I’m new to the site and am enjoying the lessons. I was wondering if there is a backing track to play along with for practice.
Hi Nicholas 👋🏻
Welcome to PianoGroove and I’m glad that you are enjoying the lessons.
Yes there are a couple of options for backing tracks, if you are playing over jazz standards such as this, I would recommend using the iRealPro App. You can find more information here on how to download the app and how to download the pack of 1300 jazz standard backing tracks:
pianogroove.com/community/t/irealpro-backing-tracks-setup/651
Using this app, you can change the key, the speed, the drum sounds, the feel (swing/straight/latin/funk etc…) and many other options.
The iReal Pro App is either $14 USD on iPhone, or $20 for Apple computer. I have it on both my phone and my laptop and I find it very useful; not only for backing tracks but also for checking the chord changes of songs I am learning.
Often lead sheets contain mistakes and inaccuracies, so the iRealPro is a good ‘second source’ to check the chords and sometimes find alternate changes to play around with.
In summary I highly recommend this app and it’s a very useful study aid. Read over the forum post above for more information on how to download and install it.
The second app I wanted to quickly mention is the DrumGenius App, read more on that here in our community area: pianogroove.com/community/t/drumgenius-best-metronome-practice-app-ever/3308 – you can download the app and you get to choose 3 backing tracks for free.
These backing tracks have more realistic drums, but do not include bass. They are very good if you want a drum beat to play along with the Chicago Blues style for example: pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/chicago-blues-hand-independence/
I hope this helps Nicholas, and let me know if you have further questions.
Enjoy the lessons!
Cheers,
Hayden
awesome lessons! enjoyed it so far though a bit overwhelming :)
Hi Kevin 👋🏻
Glad you’re enjoying the lessons.
Yes I do touch upon some more advanced techniques in this lesson.
Whilst it’s good to play tunes with just R-3-7 when starting out, it’s also nice to ‘get your toes wet’ with some more interesting voicings. My view is that students should alway be ‘getting their toes wet’ in more advanced theory. That is how we progress. Initially we don’t understand, but at least we are exposing ourselves to the theory. The full understanding will come with time. So don’t fret if any parts were overwhelming.
You can study multiple courses at once, so I often recommend students to study the following 3 courses at once:
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-piano-foundations/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
Much of the theory is interrelated and it will give you more of a sense of progression when you see how the foundational material is applied and developed in the course on extended chords.
Above anything else we must be enjoying studying jazz and so I recommend to dedicate half of your practice time to playing and learning the jazz standards. Ultimately that is how we apply the theory so you will learn a lot just from playing the arrangements.
I hope this helps Kevin and any other questions you can catch me over email or in the community area: pianogroove.com/community
Enjoy the lessons!
Hayden
that 11th chord is probably the most beautiful chord I’ve ever heard. Great lesson, thank you!
Hi nice one for ur lessons bruda !
something thats puzzling me though is how i would go about finding the extensions off my own back ?
Hi Max 👋🏻
We have a dedicated course on chord extensions, you can find that here: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
The more jazz standards you learn, the more this information will make sense and you will become more aware of the options available to you when voicing chords and arranging tunes.
I’d recommend diving straight into the course on chord extensions.
Much of the theory is interrelated and so it will be nice for you to see how the foundational material that we cover in this course is then applied to more advanced voicing techniques.
For now, just copy the arrangements, and the full understanding will come with time.
Stay safe and enjoy the lessons!
Cheers,
Hayden
I WATN TO BUY THE LEAD BOOK 1 MENTIONED IN THIS LESSON.
I HAVE TRIED THE CANADA NUMBER AND EITHER GET ‘THIS NUMBER IS INCORRECT’ OR. LEAVE A MESSAGE.
CAN YOU HELP.
I WANT TO SEND IT TO MARYAL LAY IN VANCOUVWER, MY SISTER WHO BOUGHT THIS COURSE FOR ME.
THANKS
LIBBY MACDONNELL
Hi Libby,
Apologies for missing your call earlier.
I will email you my recommendations with the Real Books right now.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
Thank you for the lessons. They are so useful and to-the-point.
Why is the 5th note of a chord not often played? ( say in C7, G not is always played?)
Cheers,
Elaine
Hi Elaine 👋🏻
The 5th is an optional note to play.
It’s the 3rd and 7th that defines the harmonic quality of the chord (major, minor, dominant) and so the 3rd and 7th are the most important notes, or the ‘essential chord tones’ as they are aptly named.
However, the 5th does have a useful purpose; it creates a bigger, thicker sound when we include it in our voicings. So whilst it doesn’t add anything to the harmony, it can be useful to create more weight and impact.
As a beginner, it’s very important that we are visualising the voice leading of b7ths falling to 3rds in 25s and 251s, and so this is why we often omit the 5th in the beginner lessons so that this voice leading is very clear and easy to see.
My recommendation is to experiment with and without the 5th in our voicings. We then develop an appreciation for how it changes the weight of the chord which allows us to make more informed choices on when and when not to use it.
Let me know if you have any more questions here.
Cheers,
Hayden
With chord extensions, are you suggesting you can add a 9th or a 13th anywhere it’s possible, as an addition or is there a method to knowing where, which extension and when?
Hi Lindsay 👋🏻
Good question!
Yes there are some general rules to follow. For dominant chords we can usually add both the 9th and the 13th to get a richer sound. For major chords, the 9th is often used to create a jazzier sounding voicing. For minor chords, the 9th and the 11th are very common, as we see in the following 3 lessons from our chord extensions course:
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/so-what-chord-voicing/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/herbie-hancock-voicing/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/kenny-barron-voicing/
We cover chord extensions in detail in the beginner course on “Extended Chord Voicings”.
You can study multiple courses at once, so I’d recommend studying the following 3 courses together:
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-piano-foundations/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
– pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
Much of the theory is interrelated and it will give you more of a sense of progression when you see how the foundational material is applied and developed in the course on extended chords.
After studying the course on chord extensions you will have a much better understanding of how and when we can add extensions to our voicings.
Take a look over those lessons and if you have any more questions just let me know.
Cheers,
Hayden
Wow man, that Kenny Barron chord is extremely beautiful.
Wow—-super eye opening. This is an important lesson for early, early beginners to watch.
Thanks Toby!
Glad you enjoyed the lesson.
We do introduce some more advanced arranging techniques in this lesson, all of which are covered in the upcoming courses, so don’t worry if some of the chords and voicings are new to you… all will be revealed in the next courses.
Cheers!
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
I have just signed up and the website and syllabus looks fantastic. I had some jazz piano lessons with a teacher some years ago, but have become very rusty and your lessons look perfect for me to dust off what I already know and learn more. I’m afraid I’ve run into a road block already though – I had never heard of the Kenny Baron voicing, and I suspect my teacher never mentioned them to me because they are impossible with my small hands. I can’t do the first bar in either right or left hand 😕. You suggest raising them an octave, but I have played around and can’t find how to make that work in the left hand, and trying it in the right hand loses the sound of the melody (if I put the Gb in the right hand). Clearly I’m going to have to bypass that voicing, but could you suggest a standard alternative I could use in situations where you suggest that voicing? – I assume it will come up in a number of future lessons, so some idea of how find an alternative would be really helpful. Thanks!
Hi Jane 👋🏻
Welcome to PianoGroove.
Yes it sounds like the website and syllabuses will be perfect for you with your previous jazz piano experience.
And that’s no problem with the Kenny Barron Voicing being too large for your hands. I can provide some solutions for you that don’t require hand stretching devices 😅 …
Firstly we do have a dedicated lesson on the Kenny Barron Voicing in the upcoming course on chord extensions, check it out here: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/12-major-scales/
In that lesson we talk about ‘rolling’ the chord up the keyboard if we can’t reach the notes to play them all at once. Here we use our index finger as a ‘pivot point’. This might seem unnatural at first but with practice it will become part of your playing style so give that a try.
And yes here is an alternative voicing that we can play for any minor 11 chord. Remember that we need to keep the 11th on top of the voicing as this note is specified on the lead sheet, the notes underneath can be re-arranged.
For the E-11 Kenny Barron Voicing, we play E-B-F# in our left hand, and then G-D-A in our right hand. Instead we can play an E Minor Triad in our left hand, and a D Major Triad in our right hand. See the attachment. In this voicings we are simply stacking the notes sequentially in 3rds so we have root-b3-5-b7-9-11.
I have also included the same voicing for the D-11 in the same graphic.
It is usually possible to re-arrange the notes of a voicing in a smaller section of the piano. I created this tutorial many years ago and stupidly I didn’t think to offer an alternate voicing for that section.
One thing that I can do is split this tutorial just before the section on “Extended Chords” and then re-do the latter half and offer alternate voicings.
I will get to work on that today.
I hope that helps Jane and do let me know if you have any further questions on this.
Cheers,
Hayden
ps. don’t worry if some of the theory in this lesson doesn’t make sense, it will all make sense after watching the following 3 or 4 courses on the website.
I would also recommend that you get stuck into the tutorials in our Beginner Arrangements Course here – pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
Hi hayden!!
I just subscribed to your lessons earlier. As a piano beginner, i find it really hard to absorb everything in this fundamental course. Lol. Should i just go through each lessons like once a week? Or is it ok to go through them in one sitting?
Hi Noe,
Welcome to PianoGroove!
Yes this theory takes time to master so you can watch these lessons and then progress onto the next courses.
Just make sure to come back and revisit the practice plan for this course perhaps every other day or every few days.
The most important part of this course is to learn the 3-note 251s in all 12 keys, in both type A and type B. Depending on your level it can take many months to learn this material and also we can always get better at it so it is an ongoing process.
I recommend that students study the following 3 beginner courses together:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-piano-foundations/
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
Much of the theory is interrelated and it will give you more of a sense of progression when you see how the foundational material is applied and developed in the course on extended chords.
You might also like to check out this Beginner Jazz Q&A Session: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/live-qa-jazz-for-beginners/ – It’s 90 minutes long but I share lots of advice for new students.
I hope that helps Noe and let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Cheers,
Hayden
A great lesson, thank you, Hayden. I like it a lot as I can apply what I have learnt from the previous lessons.
I am still learning this lesson, but it starts to make sense now.
Thanks Wayne, I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson.
Definitely get stuck into the lessons in our beginner jazz arrangements course here: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
A key goal for new students is to expand their repertoire of jazz standards and so set a goal to learn as many new tunes as possible.
This will give you the quickest results and the greatly improve your understanding of jazz harmony.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
Thank you for your reply and the link to “Beginner Jazz Piano Arrangements.” I will definitely check that out someday. I am still learning this Tune Up :-p
I have a question for the chord or voicing for Em7 and A7 (video time at 16:07) (please see attached screenshot). Would you mind explaining please, why:
– F# is used in Em7 chord or voicing
– B and F# are used in A7 chord or voicing
Thanks,
Wayne
Hi Wayne 👋🏻
Great questions here.
This is all explained in the upcoming course on Chord Extensions, which I recommend is studied in combination with this course.
The F# in the E-7 chord is the 9th, and so this creates an E-9 chord. We could also play E-7 in our left hand (E-G-B-D) and then play F# and A in our right hand and this creates an E-11 chord… which is even more colourful.
We introduce the concept of chord extension in the next theory course, I’d recommend you dive straight in: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
I included this in this lesson just to give students a taster of what is coming next.
Next question,
For the A7 chord, that is actually an A13 voicing, the B is the 9th of A7, and the F# is the 13th of A7.
Check out this lesson on the extended 251 progression – pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-major-251-9th-13th-chord-drill/ (also part of the next course on chord extensions) and you will see how the ii-9 and the V13 chords are related in the extended 251 progression.
I hope that helps Wayne, and let me know if I you have any further questions.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden
Such a great arrangement for Tune Up so thanks! Tune Up itself is quite short so can you suggest a way of lengthening the arrangement if I wanted to play it through a few times without simply repeating it?
Many thanks
John
Hi John,
I’m glad you liked the arrangement.
Yes it is a very short tune, in fact one of the shortest in the jazz standard repertoire!
When this tune is performed with other musicians we would simply cycle around and around the form, starting with the ‘head’ or the main melody, and then the musicians would take turns to improvise over the changes.
It is most often performed at fast tempos too, whereas in this lesson we arrange the tune at a ballad tempo so that we can really analyse the harmony and voicings.
I do agree that cycling around and around can become quite monotonous – and so my main recommendation would be to move onto other tunes to expand your repertoire and expose yourself to harmonies in different keys.
I would recommend starting with our “Beginner Jazz Arrangements” course: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/beginner-jazz-piano-arrangements/
The first lesson on “The Nearness Of You” is a nice tune to learn – pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/nearness-of-you-for-beginners/ and we also have a live seminar on that tune where we delve deeper into the harmony – pianogroove.com/live-seminars/nearness-of-you-solo/
Another one of my favourites from that course is “Pure Imagination” – pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/pure-imagination-for-beginners/
and the final tutorial on “My Funny Valentine” incorporates some more advanced theory and is a little more challenging: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/my-funny-valentine-lesson/ – we cover all of this theory in the upcoming courses so don’t worry if it doesn’t all make sense right now.
When starting out with jazz piano, a key goal should be expanding our repertoire and so I would recommend setting a goal of learning a new tune every couple of weeks, or every month, and this task becomes easier and easier with each new tune that we learn.
I found the jazz standards to be the key to acquiring a deeper understanding of jazz harmony, and so learn the arrangements in combination with the theory lessons. It’s natural to forget some of the songs as we learn new ones, and so try to memorise the forms of the songs which helps to reduce the amount of information we need to remember, here is a lesson on common jazz forms which most tunes follow: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/common-jazz-forms/
I hope this helps John and gives you some direction with how to progress.
Let me know if you have any other questions on this.
Cheers,
Hayden
Thank you that makes sense. I’ll move on to another arrangement and of course the theory lessons. I have loved “Pure Imagination” since I watched the film as a child so I can’t wait to learn that one!
Cheers
John
As a beginner and newcomer to PianoGroove (joined on July 4) I am posting this comment in the hope that others may find it useful. It is not a question, so no response is sought or needed.
I have founded it extremely valuable, before watching a video lesson, including this one, to go over not just the lesson description and practice tips but also all the posted comments and responses. At times this is hard to do and time consuming as there are many comments, and I am eager to get to the video. I have discovered, however, that the questions (and Hayden’ responses) often anticipate and cover the same questions I may have had. And even more important, there is just a wealth of information, including practical tips and advice and some more advanced theory in Hayden’s answers that often go beyond anything I may have thought of asking. It is like a bonus lesson. After less than a month of being a PianoGroove member I can attest that things that seemed too advanced and confusing at the beginning start becoming clearer the more you study and practice.
Hi Humberto,
Thanks for the comment and I’m really glad to hear that you have found the comment section useful.
I have spent many hours replying to students on the lessons pages and so it’s awesome to hear that you are getting value from the comments.
If I can help you with anything you are working on, don’t hesitate to let me know. :–)
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi hayden,
have you the transcriptions of this video with all the chords that you use in mp3 ? Thank you
Hi Hayden do you think you will do a course to learn to read is it something you may look at. I know sometimes I get a little lost.
Hi Dino,
Yes that’s a great idea and I can certainly create more lessons like this which are very-beginner focused.
For reading lead sheets, we just need to learn treble clef notation, and not full piano notation. This website contains many useful studies for reading and understanding music notation: musictheory.net/lessons – this is used by some of our other students.
I am currently creating a new course on “Cocktail Piano For Beginners” and this will be ready later this month and we will focus on the tune “Misty”.
Try to set a goal of learning a new tune each month, even at just a basic level, and then move on to the next tune. It’s very much a numbers game and so the more tunes that you learn, the easier it will become to read and interpret lead sheets.
Let me know if I can help further.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi, There’s a little mistake in the transcription, on page 3. After the Dmaj13 in bar 43, there should be a bar that contains nothing but a rest (or the Ds you play with your left hand in the video). Missing an empty bar isn’t the end of the world, but it confused me a little when comparing that play-through with the Real Book version.
Hi,
I looked for the Real Book v1 link you mentioned in this lesson in the resources section but didnt see it. I found it on line though. Is it a paperback book or only a CD rom?
Hi Darren,
My apologies for the late reply here. I wasn’t notified of this comment.
The real books are usually in PDF format and can be downloaded electronically.
There are many different versions of the real books online. In the different versions you may find slightly different chord changes to the tunes that we cover on PianoGroove.
I recommend to follow the notation and demonstrations in our video lessons and use other sources if needed. Listening to the tunes that we are working on, and transcribing from our favourite recordings is also very important. We will explore this topic in my live seminar tomorrow: pianogroove.com/live-seminars/how-to-transcribe/ – hope to see you there.
A very happy new year to you and enjoy the lessons!
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi hayden,
This is a great course ! Thank you !
I have a question though : I sometimes struggle to choose a fingering that allows to combine the open voicing and the melody on the right hand… is there any strategy that facilitates that process ?
Again, thank you for the great work you are doing.
Cheers.
Pascal
Hi Pascal,
Thanks for the feedback – I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the course!
Good question.
A general rule to follow is that the right hand pinky finger plays the melody, sometimes also the 4th finger, and then we can use the fingers in both our left hand and right hand to play the notes of the open spread voicing. Of course there is a lot of freedom there as we have many fingers that we can choose from.
There is no set-in-stone rule, it can depend on what came before in the harmony and melody, and also what is coming next. The more tunes that you learn, the more natural this will become.
Also understand that learning 3-note spread voicings is just 1 type of voicing technique that we can use. In the courses below we also explore “Stride Left Hand” where the left hand plays all of the harmony, and the right hand is free to add more melodic embellishment.
I recommend to start studying the following 2 courses where we explore many different styles of voicing techniques and principles. This will also teach you 2 new tunes, “Misty” and “Georgia”:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/bluesy-jazz-piano-beginners/
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/cocktail-improvisation-for-beginners/
As you progress through these lessons, and learn more tunes, I guarantee that the fingering to use will become much more intuitive and natural for you, until you don’t need to think about it at all!
Set a goal to learn 5 or 10 tunes on the website and in the process you will learn a huge amount of voicing techniques.
Have fun and let me know if I can help further here.
Cheers,
Hayden
ps. here are a couple of other beginner tunes that are great studies for visualising spread voicings:
– Nearness Of You: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/nearness-of-you-for-beginners/
– Pure Imagination: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/pure-imagination-for-beginners/
Hi Hayden,
Thanks for your answer that brings some clarification (or confirm what I suspected…).
I will defintely take a look at your recommandations (“Nearness Of You” and “Pure Imagination”).
Your courses and website are really great ! Thank you again.
Cheers.
Pascal
Hi Hayden,
I hope you are OK.
I am a little confused when it comes to calling the chord degrees in some situations…
For example, when you show the D Major 13th chord, you count : LH : 1 – 5 – 9 / RH : 3 – 13 – 7 – 3.
Could we also count : 1 – 5 – 9 / RH : 10 – 13 – 14 – 3 ? (the last degree being 3 because we get back to 1 when we reach 15…) ? Or could we decide to count from the root on each hand : LH : 1 – 5 – 9 / RH : 3 – 6 – 7 – 10 ?
Sorry if this is a stupid or already answered question… but I would like to clarify that… Can you help me ?
Thank you !
Cheers,
Pascal
Hi Hayden!
Are there any tricks to wrap my head around how to best spread the chords from the base up and in which hands? At the moment I have gathered the rule of root always in the bass & then to just fill in the missing notes of the 7th chords – in-between the bass and the given note in the melody.
Feels a bit tricky at first. Are there any common finger patterns that might help me learn common voicings a bit quicker? Hope this made sense.
Thanks!
Hi Jannah,
Good question.
The best way to learn to play spread voicings is by playing lots of tunes. There is no set-in-stone formula for which fingers and which hands to play the 3rd and 7th, other than we have to add these tones in between the root and the melody note. Often there is more than 1 option.
I recommend to get started on the whole step 251 drill in this course: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/major-251-drill-for-beginners/ and this will help you to visualise 3rds and 7ths. Other than that start playing lots of tunes. It’s difficult at first but with each tune that we learn it becomes easier and easier.
Regarding your other question, yes there are many common patterns for voicings, and we start to cover these in our chord extensions course: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/ – we are always learning new voicings, whether we have been playing jazz piano for 2 years, or 20 years, there are always new voicing configurations to learn. Check out that course and it will get you started.
I will also send you some more recommendations – keep an eye out for an email from me.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
I’ve just reached this point in the Jazz foundations course having just finished the 251 lessons. Would you recommend learning the four pieces in the “Jazz Standard Studies” in order, i.e. do they build on each other?
I ask as I’m really drawn to Georgia on my mind – it’s a beautiful piece and it’s exactly the kind of piece I want to play – and I’m wondering if I should jump straight into that? On that note would you also recommend the full course version (Bluesy Stride Piano For Beginners) over the individual lesson at my stage.
Thanks,
Ali
Hi Ali,
Yes I recommend that you immediately start the dedicated course on “Georgia On My Mind”, you can find that here:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/bluesy-stride-piano-beginners/
It’s always a good idea to choose tunes that you are personally interested in. We have 2 other lessons dedicated to “Georgia” here:
pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/the-major-blues-scale/
pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/georgia-on-my-mind-tutorial/
and also the lesson in our Foundations course. I recommend to study all of these lessons simultaneously or choose the ones which are the best fit for you.
You might also like to dip into our other dedicated jazz standard courses:
“Misty” – Cocktail Piano Improvisation
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/cocktail-improvisation-for-beginners/
“Nearness Of You” – Ballad Voicings, Fills & Runs
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/ballad-voicings-fills-improv/
These courses are mixed-level, starting with the most basic theory, and gradually increasing the sophistication of the chord voicings and arranging techniques in each lesson.
These courses will help you to understand the application of the theory in the upcoming courses (chord extensions, chord alterations, rootless voicings and stride, chord substitution) and allow you to see the results of working through the theory drills and exercises in these theory courses.
I hope that helps Ali.
If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to let me know.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hi Hayden, thanks for your speedy and comprehensive reply! And I’m glad to hear I can dip in and out of a few courses.
I have another related question about the ‘blues’ lessons. Do these also build on the Jazz foundations course? I ask as many of the blues courses are what excites me, and I’m wondering if whether the drills at the end of the jazz foundations course will be useful for the blues?
Hi Ali,
Yes absolutely get started with some of the blues material if you are interested in the style.
I recommend my new course “Slow Blues For Beginners” if you are new to the blues: pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/slow-blues-piano-for-beginners/
Whatever type of improvised music that you want to play (jazz, blues, gospel, funk, RnB, latin etc…) having a solid grasp of jazz theory will always be an asset to you.
In the slow blues course above, we primarily use triads and 7th chords and so you should find that it complements what you are learning here in the jazz foundations course.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Thanks Hayden :)
Hello, Hayden
I am now practicing “the beginner practice planner” ( 6 drills). And I have also started “How to read lead sheet (“Tune up”).
In “Tune up”, you talk about extensions. Unfortunately, extensions don’t appear in “the beginner practice planner”. However, “Tune up” is aimed at beginners ?
Marc
Hi Marc,
Yes we touch upon some theory on chord extensions to give the students a taste of what is coming next.
Chord Extensions is the next course to study in our beginner courses, you can find it here: pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/
Please watch these 3 seminars to understand how to progress through the beginner/early-intermediate courses on the website:
pianogroove.com/live-seminars/jazz-voicings-for-beginners/
pianogroove.com/live-seminars/chord-progressions-for-beginners/
pianogroove.com/live-seminars/how-what-to-practice/
After watching these 3 seminars you should have a clear understanding of the main milestones which lie ahead for you, and also how the foundations course is very closely related to the course on chord extensions.
If you have any further questions just let me know.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Great Lesson!
However, I’ve just sat down to practice the song, and discovered that the downloadable lead sheet attached to this lesson is “Moon River,” not “Tune Up.”
After digging through the site, I cannot seem to find the lead sheet for “Tune Up” anywhere.
Could you take a look / let me know where to find it?
Thank you kindly.
Hi John,
I have just fixed the issue with the downloads. You will now find the correct chord chart in the Downloads section.
Let me know if I can help further.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hi Hayden,
I am currently practicing the ‘Tune Up’ lead sheet, but I’m having trouble understanding the chord structure and how to play the left-hand chords. Do you have a transcription of this song that I could reference?
Also, are transcriptions included with the lead sheets for practice in other parts of the program as I progress?”
Hi Lee,
Thanks for getting in touch.
Yes transcriptions are included for most lessons on the website, but not for the beginner courses which focus on how to read lead sheets. The goal of this lesson and our other beginner lessons listed below for you, is to learn how to read lead sheets, and whilst I appreciate that a transcription would help with this in the short term, my view is that it’s counter-intuitive to the goal of these lessons which is to free yourself from 2-staff notation.
Here’s what I recommend for you:
Check out the following 3 courses which move at a slower pace and teach the basic of reading lead sheets:
Reading Lead Sheets “Moon River” & “Fly Me To The Moon”:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/lead-sheets-for-beginners/
Reading Lead Sheets “My Foolish Heart” & “Autumn Leaves”:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/reading-lead-sheets-bb-major/
Reading Lead Sheets “Misty”, “Tenderly” and “Over The Rainbow”:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/reading-lead-sheets-eb-major/
In these lessons we go into much more detail on the exactly what you mention (chord structure and how to play the left hand chords) and so after studying the 7 jazz standards included in these courses you will have a much better understanding of how to arrange a lead sheet with basic voicings, and ready to get the most out of this lesson which moves at a slightly faster pace.
Please check out the lessons above and I’m sure that you will find these lessons much better suited to meet your goals of reading and interpreting lead sheets.
Here to help if you have any further questions.
Best,
Hayden
Hi.
I am a little bit confused!
At 1:30 when you play the seventh chords the descriptions above the notes writes flats when the A7 and the Dmaj7should use sharps. Why is that? I noticed these in other places in other lessons as well.
Is this an over site or something I do not get!
I know they are the same notes but it might be a mistake isn’t it?
Thanks!
Gabor
Hi Gabor,
Yes in some of the older lessons on the website the light-up keyboard is set to all flats. This is why you will see the incorrect enharmonic equivalents, although it is the correct note on the piano. Depending on the jazz standard, this is sometimes not a problem as jazz standards written in flat keys are much more common than sharp keys which is why we chose to use all flats at that time.
For this song “Tune Up”, we have 251s in D Major and so the sharps in Dmaj7 and A7 show as flats on the light up keyboard, however the correct notes are demonstrated so please just copy what is being played.
Starting from around 6 years ago, all tutorials are now created with the correct enharmonic equivalents as we developed a new workflow to ensure that the enharmonic are always accurate.
For more beginner lessons on how to read lead sheets, please study the courses in the “Lead Sheet Fundamentals Learning Path” pianogroove.com/syllabuses/lead-sheet-fundamentals/ – here you will find 9 jazz standard studies and the correct enharmonic equivalents are always shown.
Please let me know if I can help further.
Best,
Hayden