What’s The Most Important Thing You’ve Learned Studying Jazz?
One of my favorite parts of studying jazz at Berklee was that there were lots of great musicians around me to learn from and share ideas with.
The sense of community was very helpful!
We had so many like minded people working together on a common goal to become better jazz musicians!
This created an incredible environment for musical growth.
If anybody had an issue learning a new tune, developing new playing techniques, learning a new lick there, etc. etc. there were hundreds of fellow musicians around to hang out with and help.
I made huge leaps in my playing during the years I studied at the Berklee College of Music.
I had great instruction of course while I was there, but so much of my growth happened because of the wonderful community around me.
Simply put, a great community was important for my growth as a jazz musician. It’s important for your growth too!
Your 21st Century Jazz Community
So, here’s the cool thing. There are thousands and thousands of amazing people and great musicians who come to this site every month to hang out and learn jazz piano together.
Though, we many not physically be in the same room we all have an intense love for music and learning jazz.
Our shared passion and love for music unites us in a profound way. We are very much a community as well!
Since we are an online community of jazz aficionados here, I thought it would be cool if we could create a sense of that growth through our community as well.
So, with the spirit of sharing and community that we’ve developed here on FJL, I thought it would be fun if everybody shared 1 tip that they’ve discovered that has helped them become a better musician.
It can literally be anything that’s caused a breakthrough moment for you with music or jazz.
Perhaps it’s something about:
- Technique
- Rhythm
- Learning Songs
- Jazz Theory
- Chord Progressions
- Practice Tips
- Self Discipline
- How To Overcome Musical Challenges
- How To Get Gigs
- Something you learned about piano technique or fingering that’s made a big difference in your playing?
- Perhaps you learned some chord voicings that really impacted your growth as a musician?
- Maybe you have a tip on jazz ear training?
- etc. etc.
It can be literally anything that has caused a musical breakthrough for you. We’d love to hear from you!
Simply, share 1 tip that that’s made you a better musician in the comments area below!
Your Voice Is Incredibly Important
Karma Fuschiana flower
I truly believe in the concept of music karma. This is the power of great education and sharing.
The more we give in this world the more we receive.
So, please leave a comment below and share your 1 tip.
Every person’s thoughts are important and a valuable voice in the ‘learn jazz piano’ community! This is your forum.
Special Note
I expect a fair amount of responses to this (like the hundreds of comments we got on this one) so make sure you bookmark this page and keep coming back to it for updates.
Lets build a massive list of tips here.
Thank you in advance and look forward to hearing from you! Remember, your thoughts can and will make a difference!
No matter your experience level. You know at least 1 thing that someone can learn from.
See you in the comments area!
Sincerely,
Steve Nixon
Practicing with a metronome everyday instead of every once in awhile made my rhythm a lot better. Wish I had started that years ago.
Learning tunes by ear instead of by lead sheet, then learning them in different keys is great ear training.
Great tip Colin
Taking riffs through several keys has helped my ear and my finger dexterity.
A fakebook doesn’t have all the answers. Find recordings and great videos and keep studying.Took me 20 years to figure out but better late than never.
My suggestion is very basic……practice practice practice daily.
Do not lay off of the daily piano practice for 30+ years …..
It is almost as if I am starting over……
It’s a simple concept but so important. You nailed it Tom! A very important tip.
I unabashedly imitate or copy something that I hear on a jazz recording. Catch me if you can.
biggest thing that helped play some fake book tunes was learning about shell chords and chord structure ..so that now I am confident that I can at least start to practice a piece and hear it coming together
Play with a group. That helps so much to make a pianist play in time. If you can’t find a group, then play with backup tracks.
That’s an excellent tip Diana. It definitely ties into Rico’s tip for on developing your rhythm. I’d like to also point out that playing with other musicians is fun to
*o!*
If you have trouble hearing changes , listen to the bass as they play the root of the chord often. Once you have the basic chord (major or minor) you can then start plugging in any extensions and alterations. If you can’t hear the add on notes , you can never be wrong playing the basic chord until you can.Just be careful of flat or sharp 5’s! In Jazz, hearing chord changes is very important and better than just reading the chart. It will help you solo and develop your style.
Sing it ‘every which way’ – roots, melody, bass lines, guide tones, inversions, bass lines, voicings, harmonies, rhythms, etc. – and listen to the spaces (you don’t have to fill them) and to where your ‘mind’s ear’ wants to go next, maybe follow when you play. Helps you get inside the music…
Yes! Love this one right here Jane. The more you can hear the more doors open in your playing. Singing really helps this too.
Rhythm is probably one of the most important aspects of jazz piano. One way I found helps me is to listen to and study latin based jazz songs. These rhythms are complex, require speed and accuracy. Learning these rhythms can add flavor to your playing and make playing slower ballads much easier to play rhythmically.
You nailed it here Rico. Great tip. So many people learning jazz neglect rhythm.
I play a solo cocktail piano a few times a month for an over- 55 singles dinner club. I take requests, which is somewhat risky, but if I get a request I don’t know, I tell them I’ll learn it and play it next time. The demographic, being mostly in the 55 to 75 year-old age bracket, means I get a lot of requests from The Great American Songbook: Gershwin, Porter, Mercer, Loesser, etc.
If you’re playing solo piano, know your audience and what they would like to hear.
Btom, You are 100% right. Knowing your audience is huge when it comes to repeat booking for gigs and connecting with the audience. It’s funny how much my repertoire has grown/changed in the last 15 years as a result of that.
You can always introduce things to a new audience but it’s helpful to initially connect on things that may already be familiar with. Establish a rapport so to speak 🙂
Practice all kinds of different scales. Altered, diminished, modes, melodic minor etc.
Nice tip Tracy!
Learn as many voicings as you can. Variety, variety, variety
Understanding the Circle of Fifth’s clockwise and I use the circle of fourths counter clockwise. If you study and have a copy of the circle sitting in front of you, you can see 4th relationships F to Bb, Bb Eb ect. you can see the 251’s, Major and Minor relationships on the inner side of the circle. It is a powerful theory tool, if you take the time to understand it and it will definitely help you recognize changes in the music that you are playing
Great tip Leonard. So many great jazz tunes feature 4th relationships in their chord progressions.
I got great benefit practicing small parts, let’s say two measures, preferably a phrase. repeatedly and after mastering it passing to another phrase and then joining them and so on.
Olomo, This is a great tip. I also like to focus on smaller passages and repetition is huge. Love it!
I don’t think i’m a good jazz pianist. My friends don’t agree with my statement. However what I have is confidence and I think when you are brave as I am, people get a bit fooled when they see my confidence but I know I have a lot to learn. So my advice is that to try to be confident. Not cocky as I already know that I have a lot to learn. It’s just a trick that I use so I know nothing really about being nervous or having stage fright. Another thing I do which is another trick is that I am a much better jazz singer than a pianist “in my opinion.” When I have to do a show that requires me to solo I cheat and take the time and practice a solo, then during performance I know that people think it’s spontaneous. I get good feedback but the down side is that the solo is usually stuck with me. This is part of my growing process. Sorry if my advice is not too good but i’m just sharing what I do.
Confidence is important. Thanks for reminding us of that Juliet. It’s very cool to hear what you do. I also think it’s great you have support from friends and family.
Learning to change up the rhythms on tunes & using 7 & M7 chords, & the extensions & cluster voicings & the rootless voicings & improving over them is helping me to make songs more jazzy & the blues scale added in has been an eye opener, It’s too difficult to name just 1 thing here, but practicing with patience & persistence seems to be key, and especially NO QUITTERS!
No quitters 🙂 Love that part Jude.
I am a jazz vocalist and am new to playing jazz piano. However, one of the handiest things I’ve learned so far is that when you play the chords of a tune, you will have a much “jazzier” sound if you voice the root and 5th in the bass with the 3rd and 7th in the right hand, adding 9s, 11s and 13s to the right hand when it sounds good. Of course, variations, additions and exceptions come into play often and add spice and variety, but this is a good place to start to make your playing sound like the right style. A simple tip, but hopefully helpful to someone 🙂
Good tip Janet. Thanks for sharing!
Learn all the blues scales in every key, left hand, right hand, both hands together, One, two and three octaves. Practice these scales for a minimum of 15 min’s a day and feel the vastly improved dexterity in both hands.
Àpprove
1.Listen to the Bass note to get a sense of the rhythm
2.If you are struggling with the melody look at the Lyrics of the song to help you
Michael Brecker’s Approach to Practicing:
– Make up your own exercises.
– Work on something diligently. Then leave it alone for awhile. Come back to it in a few weeks or months.
– Avoid writing (reading) exercises in all keys. Instead, jot down the idea and manipulate it mentally. It’s important to develop the skill of moving things around in your mind, not relying on wrote repetition of things you’ve practiced reading in all keys.
piano tip 1
hey Steve,
what a great idea … here is my tip
how to generate out of major and minor triads, minor pentatonics
(blues scales)
the black keys are the notes of the Eb minor pentatonic
scale: Eb Eb | Gb Ab Bb | Db Eb
so, E G A B D is the E min penta
chords have extensions … they make improvisation sound richer … triads may be used to create phrases … instead of using chord-scales …
G min triad (G Bb D) in the key of F major – F A C … two triads: G min and F maj … F maj = upper extensions of G min: F(b7), A(9), C(11) … adds colour and is more melodic …
play: G Bb D, F A C … chord: Gm9 [F,Bb,D,A]=[play together as a chord] or Gm9 [G,Bb,F,A]
min triad, play maj triad from b7 degree of the chord …
play through each example …
four individual triads: G min, Bb maj, D min, and F maj
Gm, G Bb D; Bb, Bb D F; Dm, D F A; F, F A C …
chord Gm7: min triad on the root (Gm), maj triad on the b3rd
(Bb), min triad on the 5th (Dm), and a maj triad on the b7th (F) …
now play over a Gm7 chord: G Bb D, Bb D F, D F A, F A C, –
A F, A F D, F D Bb, D Bb G …
G min chord voicings:
[G,F,Bb], [Bb,G,D], [D,Bb,F], [F,D,A], [G,F,Bb] …
sound musical and expressive: chords BbM7 or Gm7
phrase: ( / = note goes up, = note goes down); (F D B)3 = triplet
G Bb D F A – C A | – (F D Bb)3 A G – ||
A min and melodic extensions:
chord: Dm7
Am, A(5) C(b7) E(9); C, C E G(11); Em, E G B(6); G, G B (1,root) …
comp: Dm7 (r=eight note rest) (-=sustain) (|=bar line)
tune: A ||D/ E F G A – C B | r G E A/ r F D E/ | C A D/ B G E F/ D | – – r r r lowA | E/ G E F/ A r G | B/ D A C/ E G r D | F/ A E G/ B D C A | – – rr rr | A C/ E G B G E | F/ A C E r D B G | A/ –
F D E/ – (C A F)3 | E F/ rr rr rr | A E G/ F A C/ E | B D/ F A B D F A | B C A F E D r A | C/ D B rr rr ||
chord: Gm7
phrase: r G (Bb/ D F)3 (G#/A)quick – C (G#/A)quick | – – rr rr ||
dominant chords:
Gm, Em7b5, and C7/9 are all related coz of the G min triad …
Gm, G Bb D; Em7b5, E G Bb D; C7/9, C E G Bb D …
all melodic extensions of G min can be played over C7 chord … you’ll get tensions 9, 11, and 13, which are the natural colour tones of a dominant chord …
chord: C7
C7, C E G Bb; Em7b5, E G Bb D(9); Gm7, G Bb D(9) F(11); BbM7, Bb D(9) F(11) A(13); Dm7, D(9) F(11) A(13) C ||
check out Bill Evans …
many players use this:
chord: C7/9/13 [C,E,Bb,D,A] or [E,Bb,D,G] or [E,Bb,D,A]
line: E Eb | D Bb G Gb F D E/ G | Bb D A D rr rr ||
chords: Db7 (Fm7b5 arp.)| C7 (chrom.)
line: r F (Ab/ Cb Eb)3 Bb Ab G D | Bb G Gb F E C/ rr ||
chord: C7
line: high E D Bb G E D Db C | B E/ Bb E/ G A Bb – ||
ok, back to E G A B D is the E min penta
here is A min penta A C D E G
play: rr G – A A – G | – r low A G/ – A A – :||
G – A is the chord, namely Am, Am7, or A7
D – E is Em, Em7, or E7
F – G, Gm, Gm7, or G7
C – D, Dm, Dm7, or D7
play: rr C – D D r F | D – r low D C/ – D D :||
C – D, Dm, Dm7, or D7
C – D gives you the chord and F the quality, in this case minor … D – F is minor 3rd, b3 …
D gives you the name of the pentatonic, in this case D penta … F gives you, D minor penta …
play: D in bass, above C D/ F G F D F/ – | C D/ F G F D F/ – ||
this was a penta sound …
play: D in bass, C D F G F G F A | C A F G C D F G | F G F A C A F G :||
C – D gives you the chord, Dm7 or D7 = D min penta
F A C gives you F maj triad = D min penta
play: bass F, G A C D F – G F – low F very high F D C A G F D F-||
now play the same with D in the bass and then switch as you
like …
how about G in the bass?
comp: Dm7 improvise: with min pentas
tune: A ||D/ E F G A – C B | r G E A/ r F D E/ | C A D/ B G E F/ D | improvise: F G (G#/A)qu. C – rr lowA | E/ G E F/ A r G | B/ D A C/ E G r D | F/ A E G/ B D C A | improvise: G F D C A G F D | r A C/ E G B G E | F/ A C E r D B G | A/ – F D E/ – (C A F)3 | E F/ improvise: G A C D F G | A E G/ F A C/ E | B D/ F A B D F A | B C A F E D r A | C/ D B improvise: G/ E D B G E A/ F D E/ G A C D F G (G#/A)qu. C D (D#/E) qu. D B Bb A G (E/D) qu. B A G E F D F G (G#/A) qu. C – – || … End
This is great stuff. Thanks Joe for taking the time and writing this!
I find it useful to remember these guidelines for harmonic progression:
1. Any Major,minor,dominant,half-dimished can be preceded by a dominant chord whose root is a 5th higher.
2. Any major,minor,dominant,half diminished can be preceded by a dominant whose root is a half step higher.
3. Any Major,minor,dominant,half-dimished can be preceded by a dim chord whose root is half a step lower.
Hope this helps..
Hey Steve. As an intermediate jazz pianist, would like to share a moment that forever moved me forward playing jazz with a strong sense of “perseverance”. About 4 years ago, as part of a local jazz workshop, I played my first gig at a jazz club, in front of a live audience. We played a 5 song set, with the last song being How High the Moon…an up tempo tune that gave me fits to learn while preparing for the gig. It was the final song of the set, and to our surprise, Wynton Marsalis’ sax player, Warm Daddy Anderson, joined us on stage. Got through the intro and head, and Warm Daddy took the first solo. He was was incredible! The audience cheered as he finished. To my shock, he then turned to me and signaled to take the next solo. Little did he know that I was so mesmerized by his solo, I had lost my place in the song. Yes, a strong sense of panic hit me, as I tried to muster something to improvise. At that moment I knew I was way over my head. We made it through to the finish, and the crowd clapped with approval. I was devastated and disappointed at my critical solo lapse. While exiting the stage, a lady approached and introduced herself as a music director at one of the local universities, and told me that she understood what I was trying to do musically, and then said: “Terry, just remember one thing…not just anyone can get up on a stage and do what you just did! Be proud of this moment!” I walked away encouraged, and realizing that with hard work, desire to learn, my love and enjoyment of music and “perseverance”, I will move ahead. I now have my own jazz band (Club Malbec), and we are moving ahead and enjoying every gig!
What a cool story. Thanks for sharing that with us Terry. I’m sure many readers can relate. Perserverance is absolutely critical in pursuit of any worthwhile skill development.
Piano tip:
Fellow the lessons instructions to the letter. View & listen to lesson video often!
Right on Azande!
Sorry I have three. My best tip: Play your favorite recordings as best you can, but voice the chords how they work for your hands and sound best for your ears. I find that keeping a music diary with my own lead sheets and observations really helps.You will find connections that you didn’t realize existed and soon be cross-referencing great riffs and changes between songs. Tip two: It seems ironic but slowing down and really listening actually has helped me get better faster. Tip three: Indulge in guilty musical pleasures. I have a “time-out” playlist including 70’s Isley Brothers, Steely Dan and On-the-Corner era Miles. Remember why you started playing music in the first place! Joy is a form of inspiration. 🙂
Cocoa this is a goldmine of tips. Love it. I also keep a music diary (actually 3 different ones). I really like your ‘guilty pleasure’ playlist concept. Great idea.
Great tip Kitty. Thanks for reminding us that the fundamentals are always important.
In order to get a better sound from the jam tracks I use my iPhone and Bluetooth it to my sound bar .i select the jam tracks from my iPhone.It gives me a much bigger sound.Its like the backup musicians are right here.Terry
Great idea Terry! I have a keyboard amplifier that I run all my sound from in my practice room. It really makes practicing with jam tracks and recordings a lot more fun as well.
I play saxophone professionally. I mess around with jazz piano.
A dear friend of mine, Ron, studied piano years ago at the Oscar Peterson Jazz School in Toronto. He once told me that Oscar gave him an incredibly hard jazz lick to learn and he worked on it all week and finally got it under his fingers. At the lesson the next week Ron played it for Oscar and he said
“Yeah Ron, that’s great. Now learn it in the other 11 keys”
A shocker at first, but this is something i always try to do on the saxophone.
I’m also working on it with the piano. I like the chromatic approach
like on the song “LOVER”. And sometimes to break that up use ascending or descending whole steps :
Like the last 8 bars of “STELLA BY STARLIGHT”
This O.P. tip also works well with your own original licks- to learn in all keys-which i keep stored in a music notebook, but only written out in one key.
I JUST LOVE THE STEVE NIXON JAZZ PIANO COURSE !
Jack, thanks for sharing this Oscar Peterson story. To be able to get insight from a jazz masters like Oscar Peterson is very important. It’s a reminder for all of us of how important multi key practice is. So many doors open up musically from practicing in all 12 keys. Glad to hear you’re enjoying my courses too Jack! I’m honored and humbled by your kind words 🙂
this is a small tip but one that helped me with Lead sheets. In trying to determine which inversion to use, I noticed that very often the bass is chromatically or diatonically moving up or down which gives a structure to the song instead of moving randomly in various directions.
When you are transcribing difficult parts wear ear plugs or cotton wool in your ears. This helps shut out the quiter overtones and let’s you hear more of the fundamental. I learned this when I was playing saxophone and I’ve found it works just as well on piano.
Hello Steve, I sight read and can’t improvise much. I want to be able to do jazz as well as classical. Maybe I should start again and stay on a course.
The below tips might relate more to classical than jazz Steve, so I won’t be offended if you don’t include them.
Staccato: It’s the speed of the release. There are many different speeds of release of notes.
Legato: In piano playing, for one moment there are two notes down on the key-bed before releasing the first note.
Piano tone: Two factors; the speed of the depression and weight.
True piano tone comes from the arm weight.
Rhythm Problems: Make each beat into a mini bar.
Finger Training: Usually a firm curved finger (to control tone) close to the keys with a straight up and down motion.
Harsh piano tone that we don’t usually want, is caused by hitting at the key so that it acts like a hammer.
Brian, I love these tips. I’m taking notes! It’s great to hear from a classical player. We need more of you folks here.
Learn chord voicings from people who are better than you but don’t be scared to play them differently.
Thanks for sharing Jesse.