logo
logo
Sign in

Just Starting Out With Jazz Piano… Read This.

avatar
ChristopherHines
Just Starting Out With Jazz Piano… Read This.

If you are new to jazz piano, figuring out what to work on and what to practice can be a daunting task. Here’s a few tips and bits of advice to get you off to a flying start:


The Importance Of Jazz Standards

I am a strong believer that learning to play as many jazz standards as possible is the quickest way to improve. This is because you are exposed to many different chords and progressions. Once you can play 10-15 jazz standards you will have an armoury of different chord voicings at your disposal. This is why all PianoGroove tutorials are focused around jazz standards. I always relate what I am teaching back to jazz standards so that you understand the theory in a practical context.


The Start Of A Journey

Firstly understand that learning jazz is a journey and it will take time. Don’t expect for it to happen overnight. You will never get to the point where you have ‘learnt everything’ – there is always more to learn. Instead of focusing on the end, enjoy the journey you are taking.


Common Chord Progressions

Major 251s and minor 251s are the most common and important chord progression in jazz and so you need to be able to play these. Check out the lessons on the major 251, rootless major 251 and the minor 251 and I have also included the practice resources for these lessons below so print these off and work through them in all 12 keys. When you can play these comfortably, you will find it much easier to play through jazz standards.

collect
0
avatar
ChristopherHines
guide
Zupyak is the world’s largest content marketing community, with over 400 000 members and 3 million articles. Explore and get your content discovered.
Read more