Category: articles for learn jazz piano

This is the place to read lots of articles written by Paul Abrahams that relate to your jazz practice and how to improve your jazz solos.

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 »

Stop trying to swing in jazz

What do we mean by the word swing in jazz? Referring to swing in jazz Dave Brubeck tells the story that Miles Davis approached him at the end of a gig and murmured in his ear “You’re the only person in this group that swings.” Had Brubeck replied: “What, exactly, do you mean by swing?”… Read more »

Playing without the dots

  Why you should memorise tunes Sheet music is just information, it’s not the music itself. The more you read what’s in front of you the less head room you’ll have for creativity. Playing without the dots opens up your ears! Which tunes should  I learn? This, of course, is very much up to you.… 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 »

Finding the sweet notes

In video lesson 24 of Learn Jazz Piano  I focus on how songwriters employ ‘sweet notes’ to add that spine tingling effect to their melody. I then relate this to jazz improvisation and show you how to employ this technique of finding the sweet notes in your solos. Using these well-chosen notes is a good way… Read more »

Checklist for jazz piano solos

Here is your checklist of jazz piano solos with 12 essential tips. (This is an extract from my fourth eBook: Learn jazz Piano: How To Solo.) 1)   Chords belong to families. A chord rarely exists in its own right and is far more likely to have a relationship within a family. It has usually… Read more »

How to solo

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 returning a broken radio, your main point is that it’s not fit for purpose. To supplement this with an… Read more »

essential jazz standards part 3

Here’s my final list of suggestions for your jazz repertoire. These are all essential jazz 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 more of a challenge, take a look… Read more »

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

The best way when learning jazz standards is to identify the map, in other words, spot the key centres. Autumn Leaves only has two, but All The Things You Are moves through  no less than five keys! Here are 10 more jazz tunes you need to be familiar with.  Although they are all popular, the… Read more »