12 Jazz Questions Answered

You’ve got jazz questions you say? I have jazz answers! Today’s post I’m going to try something I’ve never done before. This will be an experiment of sorts.

I’m going to publish and answer several of the email questions I’ve received recently.

As I mentioned in my jazz holiday post this site keeps getting bigger and bigger. As the site continues to grow the # of emails questions I get on a daily basis has of course grown as well.

Recently I have been getting between 20-50 emails from the site. It’s sort of surreal.

The goal of this site was always to help as many people as possible at one time. I know if one person has a question many more of you will have the same question.  That way everybody can learn jazz on a larger level.

So, here’s a sampling of some of the email questions I’ve received recently and my answers. Let’s get started!

(By the way if you enjoy this type of post going forward please let me know in the comment section below.)

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Hi Steve,

I like freejazzlessons a lot. About the blues scale, I have a question. You did not allude to the dual blues scale (I saw this topic mentioned somewhere), associated with each key. 

For instance, the blues scale in the key of F would be dual to Dm. Any comment on this ? Do you endorse this, and how do you recommend using both ?

Thanks in advance
Francis

Steve: Hi Francis. In my blues scale for piano lesson I taught what many people refer to as “the minor blues scale”.

This scale can be played over a major or a minor key but it does tend to sound a little more ‘inside’ in a minor key.

There are many people who also say there is a second blues scale called “the major blues scale”. This scale is built with scale degrees 1, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6, and 8.

These notes are also the same notes in a relative major and minor situation. I think this is what you may have been referring to when you mention the “dual blues scale”.

For example: the D blues scale is D F G, Ab, A C, D

The F Major Blues Scale is F, G, Ab, A, C, D

As you’ll notice these are the same pitches.

Personally, I tend to only think of there being 1 blues scale. I think of the scale above, the “major blues scale”, as just a major pentatonic scale with a b3 added in there.

Ultimately though these are just ways of thinking about music and different ways of looking at music theory.

Even though I don’t think of a second blues scale or “dual blues scale” it doesn’t mean it’s a wrong way of looking at things.

We all have different ways of looking at and analyzing music.

Regardless of what we call it I think we call can agree that our focus should always be on great rhythm and creating beautiful melodies 🙂

By the way, one of my favorite examples of this mix of blues and major pentatonic together (or the major blue scale) is Chuck Leavell’s solo on the Allman Brother’s classic “Jessica”

The solo starts about 2 minutes 25 seconds in.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDivUb5EeA

Hi,
I’m just a beginner and really am interested in learning jazz piano. I do
have a keyboard at home. I’ m using it to practice simple notes right
now.

I love jazz and was wondering would it be worth my time to step into
this kind of practice.

As a beginner piano player, would it be
possible for me to learn your style. The sound is fantastic. Just
don’t want to start something unless I can truly catch onto this
style.

Brenda

Steve: Hi Brenda,
Granted I’ve never heard you play before but since you’re a beginner should keep working on the basic while you absorb the jazz material on freejazzlessons.com

I would also recommend taking some lessons with a good piano instructor in your area too.

Think of jazz like learning a language and every chord voicing or lick or theory concept as 1 “word”. Every “word” you pick up just adds to your vocabulary and gives you an opportunity to speak more fluently.

So, just dive in and start learning anywhere. You could learn from
any of the lessons.

That being said since you are a beginner…I do have more of a beginner jazz lesson article a basic major jazz chords lesson lesson here. Those should help you get started.

Hello Steve,

Just love your Jazz video lessons. Is there any chance of you doing The Beatles song Yesterday in a Jazz Style? If you cant show that maybe you would do the song As Time Goes By. Look forward to hearing from you soon and your marketing strategy.

All The Best,
Paul

Steve: Hi Paul,

That’s a great idea on doing a Beatles song for the future. I’ll add that to the list of future lessons.

One of the things you could do to get started on a tune like Yesterday is to turn every dominant chord into a II-V. I use this reharmonization technique in this solo piano lesson.

So, if you have an A7 for 4 beats change it instead to Emin7 for 2 beats and A7 for another 2 beats.

Since II-V-I is the #1 chord progression in jazz music that will instantly make your playing more “jazzy”.

You could also try using a tritone substitution for your dominant chords as well.

Hope this helps you get started.

 

Hi Steve,

I am a starting piano player and I am kind of confused with the major
7th chord.

I understand what to play with the right hand but i am real
confused what should I use on left hand. If you could please help with
advice best techniques to play with the left hand?

2) How do I go about setting up private lessons? I am am very
interested in piano lessons?

Felipe

Steve: Hi Felipe,

If you use the search bar on the bottom right for the site you can search for all the lessons I have on major 7th chords.

The shell voicings lesson,  and the rootless II-V-I-VI chords lesson will work great for you as starting points for learning more about chords you can play in your left hand.

I get a few emails a week from people asking if I’ll teach them. I’m truly honored by the request for private lessons.

I do teach privately a few hours a week at this point for students who are serious about their improvement.

This definitely may change in the future but right now most of my “teaching time” goes into running this site and handling the sales of the Jazz Masters Method DVD and my Learn Blues Piano DVD.

Since there are so many regular visitors to the site I like to think I have 18,000 private students. Just a different way of looking at things i suppose 🙂

Dude,

Lovin’ the lessons. I found you on Youtube a few months back and have become a fan. Just curious what do you do with your time all day? How do you have time to do all this stuff and keep a life?

Seth 

Steve: Hey Seth. You asked an excellent question that…wait…hold on… Actually, I feel like since you called me dude I should probably call you dude too.  So, let me start over.

Hey Dude…thanks for the email and support 🙂

This is a sort of a complicated answer so I’ll keep it short. I don’t know if I have what most people would call “a life”.

Every day is very different depending on my gig schedule. I tend to spend the vast majority of my time practicing, gigging and creating content for this site, hanging with my family, and eating (which I do a lot of).

Lately since I’ve started touring with Earl Thomas I find myself on airplanes and airports quite a bit too. This has allowed me some time to start reading books again since there’s no piano or wifi on the planes 🙂

I also try to hang as much as possible with the Freejazzlessons.com mascot Apple The Cat too.

 

Hi Steve,

I’m a 60 yr old self-taught intermediate player and hope you can help. Much is available on instructional dvd and books on melodic improvisation over set chord changes.

I have found no with instruction on chordal improvisation – improvisational creation of
harmonic movements and chord progressions without the melodic improvisation. Is this an area of study that you have come across? I wish some would tackle this area of improvisation.

David

Steve: Hi David,

Nice to hear from you. There are over 100 lessons on the site and I’m sure you’ll find many useful (many of them have video demonstration).

You’re referring to the concept of a melodic outer voice or creating a counter melody with the top notes of your chord.

So, off the top of my head you can check out the Bill Evans video lesson, a spread voicing video lesson, the Satin Doll piano lesson,  and the 7 sweet piano chords lesson. These lessons will give you a lot more info on creating some variety on the top notes of your chords.

Thanks for saying hi and welcome to the community!

 

Hello Steve,

I am a classical piano course student for years but zero knowledge of
Blues and Jazz, so i’m wondering if these course are right for me?

Tay

Steve: Hi Tay. Well I’ll let you be the judge of that yourself whether or not you like the lessons. 🙂

That being said a lot of the people who view the lessons on this site started with classical music.

It’s a fairly common thing for pianists to play classical or at least study with a classical teacher before they start working on jazz.

I studied classical for a few years as well before I got into playing jazz and other contemporary styles. So, I feel like I know where you’re coming from.

To help classical musicians make the transition to jazz I wrote this 4 tips for switching from classical to jazz. I also wrote this article on uncommon tips for practicing technique for the jazz piano player.

I hope they help you!

Hi Steve,

I am new to the site and just starting to learn jazz. I noticed that
in the open voicing lesson, each voicing plays the same five notes for
each chord number.

Also, notice that in the stride lesson, the same five notes appear. For example, 2 chord is 1-3-5-7-9 and the 5 chord is 1-3-7-9-13, etc. Is this accidental or are these the most prevalent combinations?

Thanks.
Wake

 

Steve: Hi Wake, Welcome to the community. The voicings i use in the open voicings lesson and the stride lesson are very common. 

There are tons of different chord combinations and voicing concepts though. Register on the piano always plays a huge role for chords.

Some voicings are technically correct but if they’re too low or too high on the keyboard they wouldn’t be used much. Hope this helps!

 

Steve… Love your lessons. In regard to the Wynton Kelly lick,  Kelly is
substituting an Ab 7 for the D min7 in that chord progression which
accounts for the Ab, Eb and Gb in the line. Also notice the use of the
Bop scale in the line.

Keep swingin’ Tom ,

Hey Tom!

Good to hear from you. Thanks and glad you dig the lesson. Yeah, you’re correct in regards to the scales. It’s definitely another way to look at it.

I love looking at jazz from many different angles.

I was thinking about it as a combination of locrian with some chromatic approach patterns. It could also be looked at more vertically….as all minor 7(b5) chord tones 1-3-5-7-b9.

Then the G, and Gb function as an approach to the b3 (F) in the line.

It could very easily be analyzed as bop scale though like you mentioned. I love the idea that there are several different ways to look at the same notes. I like the way you look at it alot too!

How’s the scene down in Austin? I’ve always wanted to check it out.