Jazz piano advice?

Question

I have played both piano and guitar, know basic music theories (chord, scales, etc), can read music but very slowly, have pretty good ears (used to transcribe guitar tablature a lot) but have little rhythmic sense when it comes down to reading from sheet music, and not that good at piano (pretty good at classical guitar tho).

Where should I start if I want to learn how to play jazz piano? By this I mean practical exercises, not so much theoretical stuff. Now all I can do on the piano is to play some songs becasue I had basic trainings in piano techniques, but I can't construct chords other than ones in the scale of C. I also know but can't play scales other than C smoothly. What should I do to be able to play jazz piano?

Answer 1

It is interesting that you talk about scales. Even before I got to that part of your question I was going to tell you about scales!

In Jazz playing, you have to be ready (and able) to do anything at any time! You need to be able to go in the direction the music takes you. The only way you are going to be able to do that on keyboards (or ANY instrument) is to have ALL 12 scales mastered! Notice I said 12, of course that is greatly simplified. Jazz musicians have to master much more than 12 major scales, especially the minor 7th and dorian scales. But you said you wanted PRACTICAL not theoretical help.

So here it is: If you can't play all 12 major scales, you can't play jazz. On any instrument.

I was born into a jazz band and had to learn fast! It took me years to do other than exactly what the other band members were telling me to do. It took a lot of just memorizing. It wasn't always very musical and certainly wasn't very creative.

When I got with a contemporary of mine who actually was a classical player, he gave me scale syllabuses and made me practice them. I started hearing what I had been missing. But more importantly, practicing the scales built up my hand and finger strength and consequently my ability to play faster lines! It also expanded my ideas of WHAT TO PLAY.

Then a saxophone player came into the band and loaned me a copy of his Charlie Parker practice book. He told me it helped him a lot. I took one of the lines from the book that I really liked which actually is the head to one of Parker's tunes-- I think "Wouldn't Ya" or something like that, Anyway it is just 20 notes, starting out with a major scale, but going to the dominant 7th and ending on the minor third. It sounds really good and is a lot of fun to practice. Once I started practicing that line through all 12 keys, my playing and improvisation really improved. It is difficult fingering in some keys, but that's part of jazz.

So the end of the story is: PRACTICE SCALES! It is not theoretical. All music comes from the scales. It is not infinite, it is limited to the 12 tones! So it won't take you long to memorize all of it. After daily practice for a few months, you will learn how to use it and how to make it fun. One way to do this is, as you learn a song, learn it in all 12 keys! You will really get into the song and improve your playing as well. This is especially easy with rock and blues songs.

Answer 2

A good book to start off with would be: Jazz Piano Chords by Mel Bay Publishing. Now if you have very little theory background a theory book would be in order. Possibly Essentials of Music by Alfred Publishing. There are also useful sites online like musictheory.net .
Know your scales completely. There is no substitute for this. Jazz musicians in particular need a freedom at the keyboard, which comes from knowing all the keys inside and out. Go to the Scales Chef on www.practicespot.com anc you can print mjor and minor scales there. Search the internet for other scale modes.
You best bet would be to find a good teacher in your area who has some background in jazz. Try musicstaff.com, MTNA.org or pianoteachers.com . Naturally I think this is the best aveune for learning. (I am a piano teacher myself.)
Good Luck to You!

Answer 3

I have the following jazz books: Art Tatum Solo Book Bill Evans Fake Book Bill Evans Signature Licks Jazz Riffs for Piano Oscar Peterson Jazz Exercises I can email these to you if you want. private message me your email address.

Answer 4

You obviously understand your biggest limitation. Get out of C. Start out by moving to F and G, the most closely related keys, then work your way around the Circle of Fifths. Start with major scales and the three basic 7th chords in each key. Then turn your ear to what some players that you enjoy listening to are doing with them.

Answer 5

Practice scales and chords in other keys.

Even if you just play in the key of C, you're going to be going into different scales and modes as you create your jazz tune.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

I think one idea might be to imitate the greats. Play along on their records. Grab some Bill Evan's CDs, for example.