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Tag: learn to play jazz piano
Jazz basics 4: the altered scale
Here in jazz basics 4 the altered scale derives from the melodic minor scale a half step above the root note of the dominant 7. All will be explained! We are now going to explore the altered scale. This scale has all four altered notes and can be used over a dominant 7 chord to… Read more »
How I teach jazz piano
In 1967 I turned professional as a keyboard player and piano teacher and now that I’m nearly 75 and still teaching, perhaps it’s time to reflect on how I teach jazz piano. I passed all my exams at secondary school except for music, probably because by this time I was already playing in bands and… Read more »
Working with jazz singers
Understandably, most of my jazz piano students want to improvise; their prime aim is to solo creatively. However, my 40 years as a pro keyboard player has taught me that being given the opportunity to solo comes as a bonus. A more realistic expectation for a pianist is that we will spend most of our… Read more »
Teaching the blues is all a part of jazz!
A moment after writing the title of this article, up popped an image of John Lee Hooker smiling and shaking his head. “Nobody can teach you the blues. Blues is a feeling, something you have to live.” I tried explaining that I’m a jazz piano teacher and that teaching the blues is part of my job… Read more »
Stop playing jazzy. Start playing jazz!
Are you playing jazz or just playing jazzy? Here is the third in my series of articles for the website ‘All About Jazz’ I concluded my last article in this series about playing jazz with a piece of advice handed to me by one of my old jazz piano teachers: ‘Don’t try to play jazzy.’… Read more »
Learning to play jazz
Play jazz: practice and theory Have you ever been asked the question “What do you do?” When I used to reply “I’m a singing coach” the usual annoying response was “Do you know anyone famous?” Now that I teach jazz piano, an equally infuriating reaction is “Learning to play jazz? How can you teach improvisation?… Read more »
How to play a jazz solo
The advanced section of my online jazz piano course is called ‘How to play a jazz solo.’ There now follows a summary of these lessons with a link to my jazz course. Lesson 21: Connecting handsIn this lesson I take you through techniques to incorporate your left hand. These include the following: StrideWalking bass linesShearing… Read more »
Studying jazz: Suggested listening part 1
Three ways of studying jazz are playing, studying and listening. Playing: I can only continue to encourage you to seek out other musicians. One of the best ways to study jazz piano is by playing with other people, whether with friends, with your teacher, at an evening class or summer school etc etc. Whatever gets… Read more »
Why I set up Learn Jazz Piano Online with Paul Abrahams.
The birth of learn jazz piano with Paul Abrahams Some of you have followed my old learn jazz piano iTunes audio only podcasts over the last few years. A natural progression would be to use video and offer backing tracks. Although this is what I’m now doing, it’s not the reason why I dreamed up… Read more »
Next lesson for Jazz Piano Online
An update from Paul at Jazz Piano online. You can now buy the complete course so click here! ere’s a summary of lesson 11 of Jazz Piano Online. Lesson 1 of jazz piano online – From scales to chords Lesson 2 – Building a chord sequence Lesson 3 – Mastering every key Lesson 4 –… Read more »