Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Jeremy Siskind deserves more views on YT

There are so many bad YT piano educators getting tons of views. Please consider Jeremy Siskind to view and share with your friends. He's amazing and shares amazing content every video and can not believe his low view count. What a hero!

I second this post! Jeremy is fantastic both as a player and teacher. His videos are among the best on YouTube.

Absolutely agree. I found all the videos very helpful. Also check his books!

This one on rhythmic vocabulary is excellent. Jazz articulation and rhythm is a key skill, but normally every book focus more on harmony.




And a this a very common question: how to practice Jazz:

The rhythmic vocabulary cannot be divorced from pronouncing the articulation that we learn from the horn players.

Found a similar video also of Siskind , but the corresponding playing movements still remain to us a mystery .

Here's another great video. IMO, he gives real lessons that are useful to practice and think about. I love how he sells his book and then teaches, no re-directional promoting.

I watch this guy a lot and I like the way he teaches. I would like to know more about his book. At present I am studying/learning from two books by Mark Levine. The Jazz Piano Book and the Drop 2 Book. If I purchased Siskind's book would I just be buying what I already have or would I get more information.
Would it help me to study both books at the same time to get two explanations on a subject? How many pages is his book? If you already have a copy, what is your opinion. Thanks John

Hi John,

I have both books but I am not working with any of them at the moment because I am a beginner and none of them are method books.
They probably overlap sometimes but I think Jeremey´s book is in my opinion the best purchase if you are interested in solo jazz piano. You will get much more information on that topic than on Levine´s book.

Siskind´s book describes all different styles of solo piano from stride to swing, ballads and classical influences. Audio is not included but the youtube channel demonstrates many of the concepts in the book. It is not necessary start from the beginning. Actually the first chapter is for stride wich is an extremely demanding technique. Better start with "stride like" style. Siskind´s book is 181 pages long. Remember it is not for beginners

Another book to consider is solo jazz piano is Bill Dobbins' "The Contemporary Jazz Pianist" . It is a method book of four volumes (I think solo piano is in volume 3 and 4). But I think it is not as "friendly" as Siskind´s, and you need to have good sheet reading skills to benefit from it. I recommend watching Dobbin´s youtube video.

A third one is "Solo Jazz Piano: The Linear Approach" by Neil Olmstead, but this is almost exclusively for bass line in the style of Tristano and McKenna.

Thanks Daniel. I am new to jazz. I only got interested in the last six months. Before that I felt that improvisation was just a bunch of notes. Today I still feel mostly the same way but that is just me. I think that there is a lot about jazz to learn and use that makes real good sense. With that knowledge applied, one could play better arrangements then what sheet music provides. I play mostly ballads - old favorites, love songs, folk and country. I am learning and especially like the drop 2 method. I will check out the other books and maybe buy Suskind's book.