Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Beginner Jazz Piano Players

Beginner Jazz piano players should be aware of the hard work involve to be successful at playing jazz. Although playing jazz music and wanting to start your journey into the world of jazz music requires work, the rewards are great. For players, the art of playing jazz requires a lot of practice and being alone with the piano. Learning the art of jazz on the piano, only requires that you have a basic knowledge of the piano. You should have the basic concept of scales and its construction. The knowledge of chords and their formation and triads. If you do not know most of these things, don't give up on learning how to play jazz. No one has mastered everything in jazz. It would take a lifetime to do this. You should take a few things that you interest in and incorporate it in your practice.

Beginner jazz piano players should start focusing on learning the 12 basic major and minor scales. Major scales play a big role in the jazz principles and techniques you will be practicing. Although memorizing the 12 different major scales is good, you should understand the theory on how major scales are created. When you begin to learn your scales, you should use what is call "The Circle of Fifths".

This is the concept known a the Circle of Fifths

*C major = A minor

*G major (1 sharp) = E minor

*D major (2 sharps) = B minor

*A major (3 sharps) =F# minor

*E major (4 sharps) = C# minor

*B major (5 sharps) = G# minor

*F# major (6 sharps) = D# minor

*Db major (5 flats) = Bb minor

*Ab major (4 flats) = F minor

*Eb major (3 flats) = C minor

*Bb major (2 flats) =G minor

*F major (1 Flat) = D minor

All musicians should know how to play in all 12 keys. Knowing how to do this plus having a good idea of chords and how they are made, will make you very much in demand in the jazz arena.

Learning jazz piano is not as difficult as it seems or look, it just takes time and practice. All jazz musicians

must go through the seem thing. It is the one who sticks with it that will be successful. With time and practice your rewards will come as a beginner jazz piano player.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Learning how to Play Jazz Piano

Learning how to play jazz piano is the next stage to take in your piano lesson training. After taking piano basic piano lessons, you should have a basic understanding of the keyboard. To have a good feel for playing jazz, you should have a good understanding of chord construction and formation, feeling the rhythm of the song and keeping a steady beat. You should also have a good understanding of the twelve scales and their modes. This sounds like a lot of work, but if you love music, and want to be the best that you can be at playing the piano,this work should come easy. You must also have a basic understanding of piano theory.

Learning how to play jazz piano, involves learning all twelve basic scales. you should also learn their triads. A musician should know how play a solo in any key. Knowing how to do this, will help you sit-in and play with any band at any time. In order to do this, you should start practicing the scales on the piano with your right hand. Once you feel comfortable with your right hand, start training your left hand. Once this is accomplished, start using both hands together playing the scales up and down the keyboard. Start slowly with both hands on the piano, playing each scale for one octave.

Learning how to play jazz piano will put a lot of pressure on you at first, but the rewards will last a lifetime. Playing jazz on the piano will give and get you great rewards in your life and finance. Learning jazz piano is a life long commitment. There are so many styles, scales and voicing in jazz, that you will never know everything in playing this type of music. One thing would help, is to start listening to different types and style of music.

You will begin to see results when you put aside a certain time each day to do your jazz lessons, when you start learning how to play jazz piano.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Jazz Piano Techniques

Jazz piano techniques should be studied by anyone wanting to be a good jazz pianist. Learning how to play jazz on a piano involves a lot of practice with different styles, patterns and jazz techniques. Learning good jazz techniques is very important in playing jazz. You should set aside at least an hour or more each day to practice different styles, patterns and techniques.

Some techniques for practicing jazz are chords, triads, scales and much more. A good musician should know how to play chords and read sheet music. So, if you are wanting to play jazz on the piano, you must get a good understanding of piano theory. You will need a basic knowledge of chord formation, a good rhythmic feel, and a good knowledge of scales and modes.

Jazz piano techniques involves learning all twelve major scales.Just remember, when you begin to practice the scales, that the scale of B is the same as Cb (C flat). The key of F sharp F# is the same as G flat Gb. The scale of C sharp C# is the same as D flat Db. You should also learn chord inversion. You can start with the chord inversion of C major 7th CM7. It would look like this, (C,E,G,B) or (E,G,B,C) or (G,B,C,E) and (B,C,E,G). You should learn these four positions for every chord.

Having good jazz piano techniques is vital to your musical studies. If you are planning to do solo jazz performance or starting your own trio or joining a band, listening to all types of music and practicing all types of music style will help you. Playing jazz also requires you to keep a good time. listening to various styles of music is the best way to gain an understanding of this great music. After you have learn the basics of playing the piano and want to move to the next level, start practicing jazz piano techniques

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Jazz Piano Playing

Jazz piano playing can be a lot of fun and with a little hard work can be very rewarding. You should have a basic knowledge of the piano. Basic knowledge consists of knowing all 12 scales and their chords and chord construction. Another important thing to have is good timing. You should put aside a time and place in your home to practice. Listening to jazz recordings is another to help you with your timing. listen great recordings by Count Basie, Thelonius Monk and Art Tatum. Listen to the chord structure of the recordings and how it flows in the songs.

Jazz piano playing involves practicing your scales and chords each and every day. Have a metronome handy to help you  with your timing. You should know all 12 major scales and their chords. If not, make it point to either begin your practice with a certain scale and the chord that goes with it or end your practice with it. All the scales will sound different, except for the following scales.

* C# scale is the same as the D flat scale

* B natural scale is the same as the C flat scale

*F# scale is the same as the G flat scale

Just remember to have fun while practicing jazz on the piano.

Jazz piano learning involves learning chord voicings. Playing jazz involves the use of major, minor, augmented, diminished, seventh, diminished seventh and many more. Here are some examples of the chord voicings. (Using the C major scales)

*C major triad- uses notes C-E-G, and the chord symbol is C

*C minor triad- uses notes C-Eb-G, and the chord symbol is Cm or C-

*C augmented triad- uses notes C-E-G#, and the chord symbol is C+5 or C+ or C(+5)

*C diminished- uses notes C-Eb-Gb and the chord symbol is C dim

*Major Seventh- uses notes C-E-G-B, and the symbol is

Jazz piano playing and jazz is an art form that is finding it's way back into society. You won't be able to learn and master everything in jazz in one lifetime. So, find a few things and become very good at it. Just remember to always have fun in your jazz piano playing.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Beginners Jazz Piano Chords

Learning beginners jazz piano chords is essential in your development as a jazz pianist. Having the knowledge of chords and scales is the building block for a solo artist. There are types of chords in jazz music. There are the Major chord, the Minor chords,The Dominant chords, The Minor seventh chords
and many,many more. The beginner jazz piano player should start with the major chords and become very good at knowing and hearing them.

What are chords? Chords are a group of notes, when played together produces a certain type of sound. The basic chord with least amount of notes (or tones) is called a triad. Here are a few beginners jazz piano chords you should begin to learn and memorize.

*C Major,C-E-G.

*F Major,F-A-C.

*Bb Major,Bb-D-F.

*Eb Major,Eb-G-Bb.

*Ab Major,Ab-G-Eb.

*Db Major,Db-F-Ab.

*Gb Major,Gb-Bb-Db.

*B Major,B-D#-F#

*E Major,E-G#-B.

*A Major,A-C#-E.

*D Major, D-F#-A.

*G Major,G-B-D.

There are many more jazz piano chords. Continue to practice each group until you are comfortable with that group and move to the next.

You should set aside time each day to practice chords and scales on the piano. Practice running chords and scales on your right hand and switch to your left hand and do the same thing.

You will not become an expert overnight, but with a lot patience and practice, you will be able to master beginners jazz piano chords.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Learning Jazz Piano for Beginners

Learning jazz piano for beginners is a smart way to further music abilities. Playing jazz piano should be the ultimate goal of any piano player that want to extend his or her musical career. When you learn how to play jazz piano, it can open up many doors in your life. You can either start your own jazz trio or join a band playing jazz on the piano. There are many opportunities when you learn jazz on the piano. With practice you will be able to express yourself in soloing over sheet music or by just playing whatever you feel in your heart.

Learning jazz piano for beginners involves a lot of work. You should know or start practicing the basic 12 scales and their chords.A scale is note that starts on a certain key to the same key an octave higher. A scale consist of eight tones. There are many types of scales. For the purpose of starting jazz piano , we will start with the major and minor scales.
The 12 major scales are;

*C- The notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.
*D- The notes are D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D.
*E- The notes are E_F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E
*G- The notes are G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G
*A- The notes are A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A
*B- The notes are B-C#-D#-F-F#-G#-A#-B
*F#- The notes are F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-F-F#
*F- The notes are F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F
*Bb- The notes are Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb
*Eb- The notes are Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb
*Ab- The notes are Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-G-Ab
*Db- The notes are Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-Cb-Db

There are three notes in the scale that are Enharmonic. They are different keys (or scales) with the same pitch (or sound the same).When you start to practice the 12 scales, you should practice each scale with left hand, then with your right hand. Practice this way until you feel comfortable using both hands.
Learning jazz piano for beginners will not come overnight. You will have to practice very hard every day. You will not master everything in jazz, just put your attention on what you can do in learning jazz piano and master that.