Jazz Piano School

What do Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, and Johann Sebastian Bach all have in common? They all use the diatonic circle of 5ths! This progression has been used for centuries, and in this week's podcast lesson we will discuss how to use it seamlessly to improvise chords and melodies.

Improvising over ballads is usually more difficult than improvisation over medium or fast tunes. Why is that? Because you're EXPOSED. Everything is movving sooooo slowwwww. What do you do? How do you spice things up and creating interesting lines? In this episode I'm going to show you 3 strategies I use every-time I improvise over ballads that you absolutely have to integrate into your toolbox. Enjoy!

If you have never encountered the Lady Bird turnaround or are looking for some new strategies with which to improvise over this device, search no further! In this podcast lesson, we'll go over how Tadd Dameron came up with this trademark chord progression and how you can play over it with style and ease.

What do you do when you are jamming out on 2 chords?...or even 1 CHORD?! Does your mind start freezing up? Well don't worry, in this podcast, I use my electric rhodes sound on my keyboard and give you 12 strategies that you can use to improvise when you're jamming out on 1 or 2 chord harmonies. I demonstrate in a funk style manner but these can also be used in any jazz tunes as well. Enjoy!

For the second installment of this series, we'll be talking about one of the most important aspects of music: TIME. When it comes to practicing, time can be a factor that makes or breaks the efficacy of your practice session. Find out how you can optimize your practicing through good use of time!

In this podcast series, we will be talking about how to optimize your routine to get the most out of your practice time. In this lesson, we're talking about what it means to really practice vs. "just playing." Follow along to find out how!

Give a person a fish and they eat for a day...teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime. This is exactly my approach with all student within Jazz Piano School. Learning jazz piano for a lifetime and NOT a day is about learning jazz piano tools and improving those tools within all the different categories. From there we can start to combine them to create amazing sounding atmospheres and textures. Check out this podcast for an overall plan and approach to learning jazz piano for a lifetime!

In this podcast lesson we take a closer look at the chord which characterized Joe Henderson during the most impactful time of his career. This chord appears again and again in Joe's well known compositions from the 1960's, such as "Inner Urge," "Punjab," "Gazelle," and more! Follow along as we explore the chord within the context of the infamous jazz standard "Inner Urge" and investigate how to use it to our advantage when improvising.

Let's face it...it's SCARY to improvise. It's a very vulnerable thing because you're opening up yourself to the world. You're expressing your true self and true emotions. Now besides all that inner stuff...there is also the fear of simply making mistakes. BUT...enough about the negative...let's get in the positive and I'll show you 3 amazing ways to get stomp on your fears today!

As jazz pianists, we often get caught up in complex chord progressions and substitutions. The question is: What happens when the chips are down, and you have to improvise over only ONE chord? Here are some secret strategies to work on what to play over one-chord vamps.