Learn How to Play Jazz Piano

(Scroll down to see the full list of lessons in this section)

The jazz genre of music is heavily focused and revolved around improvisation. To the layman enjoying a jazz piece, it may seem easy because of its free spirited styles. Well, the truth is, it isn’t. When I first dabbled with jazz music, I came in heavily influenced by my classical background and this was really tough to get used to it.

Why? In jazz, complex chords like the ninths and thirteenths are often used. In classical music, these were like taboo. You’ll never find them these dissonant chords in a classical piece. Truth be told, if Beethoven or Mozart was still alive and heard jazz being played, I am sure they would have frowns on their heads.

Unlike the classical genre where you learn music theory, practice sight reading or memory work on your pieces, Jazz requires application of your music knowledge. This is also one of the reasons why many people find it very challenging.

Learning something and actually putting it in practical use isn’t that easy. Because understanding music theory is just a prerequisite to playing this form of music, its hard for beginners to grasp the concepts used in jazz.

Besides the different chords and inversions that are you need to learn before being able to improvise over them, the jazz player also needs a more hands on approach to applying advanced finger techniques to achieve the play and sounds.

To be fair, classical piano pieces aren’t that easy to play either. If you can master the classical Chopin pieces, I am sure that you can also pick up complex jazz riffs with some practice. And that’s what I am going to show you here. I hope to share with you some of my insights to jazz piano playing and how you too can take your steps towards becoming a master pianist.

Jazz Piano Lessons Listing:

1. Understanding Melody Harmonizing in Jazz Piano
   
   The idea behind harmonizing a melody in jazz piano is pretty much the same as in other styles of music. By taking a melody and adding chords/notes to it, it adds flavor and color to the music.
2. Jazz Piano Chords And Voicings
   
   Jazz music is deeply entrenched with improvisation. As a jazz musician playing the piano, a good understanding of the jazz chords and their voicings will help greatly in your craft.
3. Common Intervals Used in Jazz Piano Playing
   
   After playing piano for a while, your ear will surely start to develop sensitivity to recognize music intervals. In jazz playing, being able to identify some common intervals used will help you improve in this style of music.
4. How to Comp Chords For Jazz Piano Music
   
   One distinct aspect of jazz playing is the comping of chords. Learning to comp chords might seem relatively easy on first sight. One common problem that many people have is that as soon as you try to add rhythms or melodies to that rhythm, everything might fall apart.
5. Playing Jazz Riffs Through Chord Changes
   
   Adding jazz riffs in a musical progression is relatively easy if you know how chord structures and music harmony works. Developing such a skill will help you improvise on the piano easily.
6. Basic Jazz Piano Turnarounds
   
   The term turnaround is used when chord progressions are used repeatedly in a song. In jazz music, a turnaround is a good method to end a particular section of the song and help lead the music into another section.
7. How To Play Jazz Piano Chords
   
   The world of jazz music is truly a big one indeed. Besides technical playing skills, there are a variety of jazz piano chords that need to be mastered in order to comprehend the style of music fully.
8. Jazz Piano Techniques
   
   When most people think of jazz piano techniques, boring exercises like scale runs, hanon workouts, arpeggios will often come to the mind of the pianist. Check out these tips and exercises that will help you improve your skills as a pianist.
9. Rootless Piano Chord Voicings
   
   Everything and anything can happen in jazz piano. Did you know that rootless piano chords are a commonly found way of playing chords to create that distinctive jazz sound?
10. Swing Phrasing on Piano
    
    Besides swing and bebop styled music, swing phrasing is also commonly found in jazz genres of piano playing. In this lesson, we will get you introduced with the concept of applying it in your playing.