The very very very basics of learning to play jazz on keyboard or piano?

Question

Anyone know of any books in the library or Barnes & Noble that shows different ways to ad-lib bar by bar of songs? Even "Mary Had A Little Lamb" would be a start.

Answer 1

The most basic advice I can tell you is to not be afraid. Trial and error my friend. Try to play something, and if it's wrong try again.
Buy Jamie Aebersol's "How to play jazz and improvise" Book 1. There's a CD with it. That's a basic start.

But here's a little more so you won't have to ask a new question after step one... You'll find you'll be very limited with just the trial and error method with no real theoretical and musical training. So, If you want to know the "very basic" instead of the "very very basic" 1st, listen to jazz, learn chords, the scales and arpeggios that go with the chords then learn tunes that use the scales, chords and arpeggios, then finally, try to improvise.

Here's the the next step: listen to what the greats play on the tunes, transcribe and learn what they play, then borrow some ideas from the greats to help you with your improv.

Unfortunately, There are no shortcuts with this! People devote their entire lives to jazz improvisation.

Answer 2

a digital keyboard will be helpful for learning scales, and textbook song itself. But a real piano opens up an entirely new avenue for inspiration I have been playing for 27 years. I own a real piano, and, because it is acoustic, and natural, the body reacts positively to sound waves that are not digitized. This is always true with an acoustic instrument. but if you only have a digital keyboard, you can still learn scales and the chords/notes of the sheet music. But it is a "textbook" version of it. When you play the same song on an acoustic, you will notice yourself becoming more attached to the song, more moved by the song, and more inspired to adding a little improv to the song.

Answer 3

there are two books by mark levine. the jazz piano book moves slower. the jazz theory book goes quicker and more advanced