Jazz piano lesson 16 now available: tritone substitution
As I’ve now completed 15 jazz piano lessons, I’ve bundled these 5 lessons:
11: Autumn Leaves part 2
12: The Blues, part 1
13: The Blues, part 2
14: Bebop Blues
15: Rootless voicing
The video shows you how to voice rootless chords in your left hand. This is a more modern approach that Bill Evans used when playing in his trio. It not only leaves more room for the bass player; these voicings will also inspire your right hand to play far more interesting solos.
Here are some rootless voicings in a II-V-I sequence in Bb.
Besides the 30 minute video, I provide you with 4 downloadable backing tracks, sheet music and a quiz. Here’s the link.
Lesson 15 of my online video course ‘Learn Jazz Piano Online’ is now available. The lesson teaches you how to voice rootless chords in your left hand. This is a more modern approach that Bill Evans used when playing in his trio. It not only leaves more room for the bass player; these voicings will also inspire your right hand to play far more interesting solos.
Here are some rootless voicings in a II-V-I sequence in Bb.
Besides the 30 minute video, I provide you with 4 downloadable backing tracks, sheet music and a quiz. Here’s the link.
I’m now in the process of preparing lesson 15 of my video course Learn Jazz Piano Online. This 15th lesson of Learn Jazz Piano Online will be all about chord voicing, particularly how to voice left hand rootless chords. Playing these chords will achieve two things: the bass player will have more space and your own solos will sounds so much better.
Here is a summary of all 14 learn jazz piano lessons online video lessons so far:
Play with confidence over the blues.
We began, in lesson 12, with a basic 3-chord 12 bar, a sequence that will get you through just about any rock & roll tune and 1000’s of blues songs. Then, in lesson 13, we added a few chord changes to make for a more interesting solo.
Now, in lesson 14, I’m teaching you the changes that Bebop players like Charlie Parker and Bud Powell played in the 40’s. No longer can your rely on the blues scale, because this sequence is packed full of II-Vs that twist and turn through an array of key centres.
If you can play a basic blues and up for the challenge to learn bebop jazz, the link below will take you to the ‘buy lessons’ page. From there, scroll down till you get to lesson 14.
http://www.learnjazzpianoonline.com/lessons.html
Best wishes from Paul at Learn Jazz Piano Online.
This chord sequence is a long way from the basic three chords that are commonly used. Bebop blues still contains 12 bars and hits the IV chord at bar 5. But there are big differences. For a start, chord 1 is now a major 7th rather than a dominant 7th. This means that you can no longer rely on the blues scale. We then encounter a series of descending II-V patterns.
Lesson 13 of my online video course Learn Jazz Piano is now available. It’s time to learn the blues in the way a jazz musician plays.
No longer will you be playing just 3 chords over the blues scale.
Here’s an illustration of how the 12 bar sequence looks after adding some II – V’s
If you really want to learn blues piano you should take it beyond the basic 3 chords.
My eBook Learn Jazz Piano part 2 is also now available.
You can now purchase lesson 12 of my online course ‘Learn Jazz Piano online.’ This lesson is all about the blues. When learning blues piano I’ll teach you how to solo, using many creative techniques. I have also included the minor blues. The blues isn’t always in 4/4 time. In fact 12/8 is very common so we also take a close look at this. As always, I’ve provided you with backing tracks, sheet music and a quiz. http://www.learnjazzpianoonline.com/lessons.html
Here’s an excerpt from my eBook about the blues:
The Blues runs in the face of logic and yet has infiltrated rock, gospel, soul… and, of course, jazz. Although the blues influence is stronger in some jazz players than others, it cannot be considered as a separate entity. If a potential student contacts me requesting to learn just jazz or blues I have to insist that jazz and blues come in the same package or not at all.
The form (structure) breaks all the rules. Most song forms last 32 bars and subdivide into groups of 8. However, a blues sequence usually runs to 12 bars.
(There are other lengths, such as the 8-bar blues but here we will be focusing on 12.)
The chord structure also abides by its own rules. In most western music, V leads to I. The 5th note and chord of the diatonic scale is known as the dominant and its function is to pull towards the I, known as the tonic. If you see a G7,the likelihood is that this dominant 7 chord will resolve up a perfect 4th to a C major or minor chord. In the blues, dominant 7 chords just lead to more dominant 7s. I wonder what Bach would have made of this odd beast.
Here, below, is a basic 12-bar blues sequence in F.
My learn jazz piano eBook for Kindle is perfect for all the essentials of jazz theory. It is meant to be read in conjunction with the learn jazz video course.
To get my Learn Jazz Piano eBook for kindle, go to Amazon on this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Jazz-Piano-ebook/dp/B007V2BQNA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334827811&sr=1-1
To buy Learn Jazz Piano eBook your iPad go to this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/150438
I’ve just uploaded lesson 11 of Learn Jazz Piano Online. It’s called Autumn Leaves part 2 and picks up where lesson 10 left off. This lesson is divided up into three sections: head, comp and solo.
Head – this is just the jazz term for the tune or melody. Because we have been using shells in our left hand, this sometimes creates a rather bare sound when we play just the melody note in the right hand. Shells play 1 and 7 or 1 and 3 of the chord. Most chord voicings require the 1, 3 and 7 in order that the harmony makes sense. Once these three notes are present, we can then add ‘filler’ notes like 5, 9 etc.
In Autumn Leaves, the melody mostly hits the 3. If the shell is playing 1 + 7, then a good filler note might be 5. Remember that it’s the dominant seventh chord that provides all the potential tension. Therefore, our voicing can include altered notes (secondary extensions) to add some spice. These 4 notes are b9, #9, #11 and b13.
Comp – we are at present using a 4-note comp. Once again, look out for the dominant seventh chords, for it’s here that we can include the altered notes. In Autumn Leaves we already have F7 and D7 but in this lesson we add G7. This is known as a secondary dominant.
Solo – In lesson 10 we used horizontal improvisation. This is when we can use one parent scale to play over a family of related chords. In lesson 10 we are starting to solo more vertically, and, once again, the dominant sevenths give us the opportunity to deviate from the parent scale. For example, the chord F7 allows us to play Gb, G# and Db, respectively b9, #9 and b13.
We also revisit ‘walking 3s’. We target the 3 of each chord and walk between these chords on their ‘parent’ track. Once we are walking 3s we are then able to use the diminished chords contained within the dominant seventh (3+5+7) and then play another minor 3rd interval above the 7. This results in the b9.
If you have any questions, please ask.
You can click here to find lesson 11.
