Learn to solo with my jazz eBook

Learn to solo : chapters 6-10 I’m not making out that you can learn to solo just by studying my new eBook How To Solo, but  it will certainly lead you on the path to creative improvisation. Click here to purchase all 4 of my eBooks Here are some extracts from chapters 6 – 10… Read more »

Release of my new eBook How To Solo

HOW TO SOLO How to solo is the name of my new eBook which has been released today. With the aid of over 150 illustrations I will show you the way forward with your soloing. Purchase How To Solo here. This is the fourth in the series of my eBooks ‘Learn Jazz Piano.’ You can… Read more »

Learn Jazz Piano checklist for soloing

Learn Jazz Piano checklist for soloing Here are 12 essential tips to learn jazz piano soloing. (This is an extract from my forthcoming book: Learn jazz Piano, book 4: How To Solo.) 1)   Chords belong to families. A chord rarely exists in it’s own right and is far more likely to have a relationship… Read more »

How to solo

How to Solo This is an extract from my upcoming eBook ‘How To Solo’ Chapter 13: Too much information If you’ve ever written a letter of complaint you’ll know that there is one basic ground rule to ensure a positive outcome: be concise and stick to the point. In other words, don’t ramble. If you’re… Read more »

Jazz Repertoire: essential standards part 3

Building your jazz repertoire: part 3 of essential standards Here’s my final list of suggestions for your jazz repertoire. These are all standards that you should become familiar with. Although I’ve listed 14 tunes, I suggest you at least learn What Is This Thing Called Love, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise and Yesterdays. For… Read more »

Learn jazz standards, part 2. (Full list in book 3)

Learn Jazz Standards Here are 10 more jazz tunes you need to be familiar with.  Although they are all popular, the two essential songs are ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘All The Things You Are.’The best way to learn jazz standards is to identify the map, in other words, spot the key centres. Autumn Leaves only has… Read more »

Essential Jazz Standards, part 1.

Essential jazz standards, part 1 As you build up your collection of tunes it’s likely that the bulk of your growing repertoire will consist of what is known as jazz standards. Although this term covers a wide range of material, it usually refers to well known songs played by jazz musicians but originally written for… Read more »

Learn Jazz standards part 3: Tunes in 3/4 time

Learn Jazz standards part 3:Tunes in 3/4 time I’m guessing that as you learn jazz standards most of your repertoire is in 4/4 time. However, 3/4 is just as important and fun to play. This time I’ve also given you the structure (form) of each tune. If you just want to start learning jazz standards and… Read more »

Building your Jazz Repertoire part 2: Latin

Jazz repertoire part 2:10 Latin tunes The world of Latin American music is vast and would take a lifetime of study. What we are looking at here when building jazz repertoire is a small collection of jazz repertoire tunes with a Latin feel; songs that are likely to come up when playing with other musicians. I’ve… Read more »

Building a Jazz Repertoire part 1: The Blues

Building a Jazz Repertoire part 1: 17 essential blues tunes. When building a jazz repertoire there’s no better place to start than with the blues. Notice that blues compositions are not confined to the jazz musicians that we associate  with the genre. We have everyone here from Miles Davis and Charlie Parker to Mingus and Monk.… Read more »