Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum How to get into Jazz?

I'm trying to get into Jazz. I've asked my teacher before, though she mainly told me to first learn all 7th chords in all inversions. She also told me to mainly focus on certain notes of the chord, to make sure I don't clash with other musicians like the Bass.

However I'd also like to know some theory for improvisation. At the moment I'm looking into passing chords and borrowed chords, 9ths 11ths 13tns.

Do you guys have any suggestions for which parts on theory to dive into, so that I can apply that to my improvisations?

This is one attempt, to give you an idea.

https://soundcloud.com/xynaxia/jazzy-attempt

Well the advice about learnng all the 7th chords in all inversions, although in itself is not a bad idea it's a bit like saying you can fix a car by learnng how to undo the bolts i.e. there is a bit more to it. I don't consider myself qualified to give you an answer to your question but would suggest you get a teacher that teaches jazz or get one of the many
jazz piano/theory books available which will take you through things in a logical way.
As important as learning the theory is learning the language of jazz, what does it sound like, so I would also recomment lots of listening.
Good luck

My teacher currently does her master in Jazz, she's a Jazz musician herself. Though at the moment she teaches me classical.

I've been listening to Jazz quite a few years already too!

Good song.

Sounds like you’re off to a good start. Of course you know to improvise it is good to be in the chord you’re on, landing on the root or a principal note of the chord right? Sounds like you’re doing that. I would also work on ii-V-I progressions, iii-vi-ii-V-I, work on transitioning these chords with minimal movement, which helps w inversions. A good way to practice this is working with a bunch of standards w lead sheets.

Hi Hyena,

The UK ABRSM has a graded Jazz Piano course taking you from Grade 1 to Grade 5. This might well suit your needs?

https://us.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/jazz-exams/jazz-piano-exams/

I was told by a professional pianist that the best book for music theory for both classical piano as well as contemporary piano (jazz, pop, rock) is this one. I understand though that volumes 1 and 2 are more useful than volume 3, the latter being more of an exhaustive catalog.

Who is this professional pianist?

He is one of the moderators of Reddit's r/piano subreddit and has a B.M. in performance himself. He was negative about Kostka's Tonal Harmony which he says he used in college, and instead recommended the Harrison series as more relevant for today's music.

Listen, listen, and then listen some more and in between transcribe. Jazz is all about ear and hearing and responding to those you're playing with. Improvisation is composing in the moment so to practice write everyday.

Kenny Werner has some good video classes over on My Music MasterClasses as well as other musicians. These guys are all working musicians so their lessons are more practical than theoretical worth checking out.


https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/?s=kenny+Werner

I did this exam, Grade 3. You had a small piece, fly me to the moon was one I remember!. and then an improvisation section. In the improvise section you get empty bars with the chord sequence. They used to label the notes in each chord to use. So you can improvise without needing to learn chords sequence.

Improvise is very hard. I would not myself suggest you try it like that. You need to start with a simple approach. I had no idea what to do as my teacher didnt really advise on what to do so improvise section was heavily criticised by the examiner. Well that was the end of my journey into jazz. I myself would not recommend this exam as it just put me off jazz.

I have however found a video on youtube which is good and shows some simple ways to make it jazzy. I like it. He takes a simple tune and adds just, Swing and Pausing in places. Very nice. I'll try it tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5UknUASR4

If it helps my tutor put me on to two books by Tim Richards: Exploring Jazz Piano and Jazz Piano 2. The books include cds and are very thorough in terms of theory and practice. They help you progress form whatever level you are already at wheras if you rely on youtube videos, good though many are, your progress will be much more random!


Here's a link to one of Tim's videos that complements a chapter in his book 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ust...yB04OJdvgwDkB14_qS1&index=2&t=0s

Well if the OT is starting out he would likely start with Grade 1, right? No point jumping in on Grade 3 given the difficulties of improvisation as you say.

That 'Fly Me to the Moon' is just one of 5 'standard' pieces for Grade 3, with another 10 pieces to get through for 'Blues' (5) and ''Contemporary Jazz' (5). So a lot more to it than suggested. Hard work for sure.

So perhaps Grade 1 along with the quick studies and other stuff available for course are needed if serious about learning jazz for first time. I would not put off anyone based on playing one tune out of the program. ; )

This is covered most often in the Pianist Corner - Non Classical sub-forum. To find past discussions you might just Google "Pianoworld learning jazz" or something (probably better than the built-in search in PianoWorld).