Archive for the tag: improvisation

Improvisation – Jazz Piano Lessons – Sounds Good at Slow Tempo

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Improvisation – Jazz Piano Lessons – Sounds Good at Slow Tempo

Do your fingers seem to only have one speed—slow?
Want something bluesy you can play slowly and still sound great?

Take some piano lessons from Scott Houston “The Piano Guy.” In this video, Scott shows you how to use a 12 measure pattern to create a great bluesy sound that sounds great played slowly.

The example for these piano lessons are taught in the key of C two octaves down from Middle C.

The order to play the chords follows the 12 measure pattern:
C-C-C-C-F-F-C-C-G-F-C-C

Frequently you will see the C7, F7, G7 played, but today we are going to make it even simpler and use a variation of the C, F and G Chords for your left hand part.

We will just be using the two outside notes (removing the middle note of the triad) of the chords for this pattern.

C = C,E,G: We will play the C & G.
F = F,A,C: We will play just the F & C.
G = G,B,D: We will play the G & D.

After playing the two outside notes, we will keep the pinkie on the root but will then move the thumb up one step and play that. So the pattern will look like this:

1. C & G and C & A
2. C & G and C & A
3. C & G and C & A
4. C & G and C & A
5. F & C and F & D
6. F & C and F & D
7. C & G and C & A
8. C & G and C & A
9. G & D and G & E
10. F & C and F & D
11. C & G and C & A
12. C & G and C & A

Another way to look at it is:

C & G and C & A (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 4
F & C and F & D (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 2
C & G and C & A (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 2
G & D and G & E (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 1
F & C and F & D (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 1
C & G and C & A (playing quarter notes 4 times= 1 measure) X 2

Then repeat over and over again! Added bonus—at the end of each 12 measure pattern before you go back up to the top, you can play a G augmented (G aug) F, B, D# in your right hand

Practice playing the left hand pattern solely until you get to the point that you can play it pretty easily without having to think too hard or until your hand has that muscle memory.

Once you get the left hand pattern down, you are ready to tackle the right hand part. With your right hand, you will be improvising. Just stick to all the white notes with the exception of the Bb. If you want to, you can also include the Eb. If you stick to playing only those keys you will never hit a clam.

The key is to keep your pattern in the left hand playing slowly and consistently at the same tempo.

Have fun with this slow blues pattern. It is a great chance to practice your improvising!

Scott’s life goal is to help you learn to play piano through piano lessons that you can take anywhere and at any time to get you started having some fun at a piano or keyboard as quickly as possible.

Scott Houston is the host of The Piano Guy television series on Public Television and has taught hundreds of thousands of folks like yourself, how to have some fun on their piano or keyboard. He wants to help you get there too—as quickly as possible.

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Improvisation – Jazz Piano Lessons – Sounds Good at Slow Tempo

Simple PIANO EXERCISES for Advanced JAZZ IMPROVISATION

Learn jazz piano No Comments »

Fundamental, simple and very powerful right hand modal jazz piano exercises. We take advantages of the physiology of the hand using primarily the 3 first fingers making a strong, simple and ‘fast moving’ foundation to be used when playing a jazz piano solo.

We reuse the same unique 3 finger hand grip (lick) to play the pentatonic scale and all the 7 church modes. Furthermore we use the hand grip to play chromatic scale and off scale.

Having done the groundwork we expand the 3 finger hand grip also using the 4. and 5. finger.

The main idea in this lesson is to make great sound – but in a simple manner. We will avoid overthinking when playing a solo. We will use simple but powerful tools. The tools shall not make things complicated, instead they shall free our mind. Then we can use our energy on expression and feelings bringing forward the soul of music.

I’m referring to the following videos from NewJazz:
Lesson about playing jazzy blues and using blue notes: https://youtu.be/NZXNJbAzRiw
Lesson about playing chromatic, atonal and non diatonic using structures, sequences and patterns: https://youtu.be/ItlFm9cyMQg
Building the Circle of Church Modes: https://youtu.be/MJz9NFfWN-I
Advanced lesson about modal theory: https://youtu.be/v5cw-WYNBgI
Playlist with Music by Oliver Prehn: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd8gNAxPUcJyXS3nFg47C-yKPHEIXctjc
All lessons from NewJazz: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd8gNAxPUcJwjbL1wNigG9wI0SOthmdJB

Make the circle of church modes. The print in PDF: http://newjazz.dk/musik/CircleOfChurchModes/CircleOfChurchModes.pdf

Plz write me in the comments below if any questions. I will try to answer as quickly as possible 🙂

Warm Regards
Oliver Prehn

Donations:
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https://www.paypal.me/newjazz
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Jazz Piano For Beginners || Tutorial #3: combining scales into an improvisation

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My book: http://www.billspianopages.com/how-to-really

Next tutorial in the series due: Wed 30th Nov 2016 EDIT: I’ve pushed it back into December to make room for the latest Train Your Piano Brain and some Christmas stuff. Look out for Jazz Piano #4 the week before Christmas!

Previous tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZxYMVef6Kc

My Patreon campaign: http://www.patreon.com/billhilton

Full fingerings for major and minor scales: http://www.pianoscales.org/major.html [NB, this page is a great resource, but I’d avoid using their suggested fingerings for pentatonic scales, which I think encourage overuse of the strongest fingers]

This is the third in my series of tutorials on jazz piano for absolute beginners. In this one we think in more detail about how to build and use particular scales, work on a new exercise and look in depth at how you might approach it.
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Jazz Piano For Beginners || Tutorial #2: pentatonics, blue notes and how improvisation works

Learn jazz piano No Comments »

Jazz Piano For Beginners || Tutorial #2: pentatonics, blue notes and how improvisation works

Info about my book: http://www.billspianopages.com/how-to-really

Next tutorial in the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2DKnBJO6Lk

Previous tutorial in series: https://youtu.be/ABuewbFpyhg

This is the second tutorial in my series on jazz piano for absolute beginners. In this lesson we build on what we learned in the first tutorial, using the C major pentatonic scale and two notes from the C blues scale to improvise over two, and then three, chords in the left hand.

I also introduce shell chords – incredibly useful for jazz piano – and talk about some of the underlying music theory it’s useful for you to know, especially if you’re relatively new to the piano or just coming back to the instrument.

Finally, I talk about the mental processes involved in jazz piano improvisation (and, in fact, in most forms of improvisation, musical and otherwise), and how skilled pianists and other improvisers have a mental toolkit from which they build their improvisations. This all depends on developing a “flow state”. The best jazz pianists have the biggest and best-practised toolkits and the best flow.

Jazz Piano for Complete Beginners

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► Download this Quick Tip lesson sheet & backing track:

Jazz Piano Complete Beginner Lesson – 10 Steps

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LESSON SUMMARY

Are you a complete beginner who would like to learn jazz piano? If you think you need to learn a million scales, arpeggios, and chords to play jazz, then you are wrong! You can start playing jazz right away, even if you have zero piano playing experience. In this jazz piano lesson, you are going to learn the first steps to playing jazz piano, including:

– How to play jazz chords
– The most important progression in jazz
– How to move between chords efficiently
– The most important scale for jazz piano improv
– 3 essential jazz improvisation techniques and exercises

By the end of this lesson, you will have a firm grasp for jazz foundations. You will undertand basic jazz harmony, how jazz chord progressions work, and best of all, how to express yourself freely by improvising jazz piano. Let’s dive in.

Get your FREE 14-Day Trial to PWJ here: https://pianowithjonny.com/

Happy practicing!
Jonny May
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