Steve Nixon
With a career spanning global tours and collaborations with legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy, Steve Nixon is more than just a Berklee-trained pianist. He’s a bridge-builder for the next generation of musicians. As the founder of Freejazzlessons.com, Steve turns his performance experience into accessible education, reaching over 70,000 students each month. He’s on a mission to keep the soul of jazz and blues alive in a world where music budgets are shrinking. Read Steve's full bio here.
Jazz Piano Improvisation: Build Great Licks
Do you wish you were better at jazz piano improvisation? Do you wish you could improvise over major 7th chords better than you do now? Do you find yourself lost when major 7th chords come up in your favorite jazz and rock songs? Well, in today’s lesson we’re going to explore some new licks and…
Jazz Masters Method Special Video Blog Thank You
Hey everybody! Today’s post is going to be short but sweet. I’m truly humbled right now. I’d like to thank everybody who’s ordered the Jazz Masters Method DVD so far during this launch week. The response has been simply been AMAZING. I am truly blessed! Thank you!! I prepared a quick little video blog as I…
Learn 7 Sweet Piano Chords
Hey everybody! To celebrate the launch of my jazz instructional DVD “The Jazz Masters Method” (on Monday, October 8th 2012). I wanted to share a quick free piano lesson with you guys before the release. 🙂 (Update: The DVD has been released!! You can get access to the 9 jazz masters right here The Jazz Masters Method DVD ) The…
Stride Piano Lesson: Free Video and Tips
Want some stride piano tips? Would you like to learn more interesting ways of playing your favorite jazz standards and chord progressions on piano? In today’s jazz piano lesson, we’re going to study a classic rhythmic way of doing this called stride piano. (Video lesson, notation, and tips below.) This particular style was made famous…
11 Tips On Playing Piano For Your Career
A few days ago I received an interesting email from a reader of this site by the name of Jake. Jake asked,“Hey Steve! What are the basic skills a piano player needs to play piano for a living, even a very basic one?” I knew this would be a question many of the readers here…
Bill Evans So What Jazz Piano Chords Lesson
Hey friends! Hope you’re having a fantastic day today. Ready to learn some new jazz piano chords? Cool! Let’s get started. In this jazz piano chord lesson we’re going to learn 2 of the most famous piano chords in jazz music. These are the chords that Bill Evans played on the classic Miles Davis tune…
Dominant Bebop Scale Video Lesson
In today’s jazz scale lesson we’re going to explore a very sweet jazz scale. You’ll be able to add it into your playing right away when we’re done. This powerful scale is known as the dominant bebop scale. This 8 note scale can actually can be thought of as a chord and a scale at…
The Gold Medal Jazz Piano Practice Challenge
Hey jazz fans! Hope you’re having a fantastic day today. Ok, in today’s post I’m going to share an exciting new practice challenge I’ve just taken up. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Some people will call me crazy after this but that inspires me even more! 🙂 I’m sharing…
Chet Baker Jazz Improvisation Lesson
In today’s jazz lick lesson we’re going to learn a very simple but cool Chet Baker lick. You guys are going to love this one. Chet’s minimalist jazz improvisation style may be basic, but it’s full of tons of great jazz vocabulary, articulation, swing feel, and soul. Plus, he was an awesome singer too. I know…
Clifford Brown Jazz Improvisation Lesson
I always tell my jazz students if they really want to learn jazz improvisation and master the bebop language then they need to go directly to the source. They need to learn from people like Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Bud Powell, and Sonny Stitt. So, in today’s jazz improvisation lesson we’re going to do just that!…
7 Inspirational Books For Musicians
Hey fellow musicians! I hope you’re having a very musical day today! So, after I released the latest article on building more creativity as a musician, I received a ton of follow-up questions. Many people asked me if there were any inspirational books I could recommend that were written specifically for musicians. We already have…
How To Nurture Your Creativity As A Musician
– Have you ever felt stuck in your development as a musician? – Have you ever felt blocked creatively, energetically, or even uninspired? – If you’re like most serious musicians your answer will most likely be YES! You’re Not Alone All serious musicians have felt this way as they progress through their journey of improving…
How To Add The Major Bebop Scale To Your Playing
Have you ever heard of the bebop scale? Do you wish knew more ways to bridge the gap between the scales you know and what real jazz musicians actually use in their jazz solos? One of the best ways to go about doing this is to learn the method behind the major bebop scale. When used…
How To Play 4 Different Major Jazz Piano Chords
Are you sick and tired of playing generic piano chords? Do you find yourself playing chords the same old way whenever they come up in a chord chart? If so, then this jazz piano lesson was designed for you! In today’s lesson we’re going to take a look at 4 unique ways of playing major…
Why Do You Play Jazz?
Hello my fellow jazz fanatics! I’d like to welcome all 21,879 subscribers to the free jazz lessons subscription list. We’re growing by leaps and bounds every day and I’m thrilled to have you here! Today, we’re going to help you solve some of your musical problems. In order to do that I’d like to share…
Altered Scale – A Simple How To Guide
Are you curious how to use the altered scale? Are your dominant chords getting a bit boring? Do you wish you knew some more interesting scales to use over them? Well, in today’s jazz scale lesson I’m going to teach you a very cool sounding scale you can play over your dominant chords. This scale…
5 Recommended Recordings That Have Made Me A Better Jazz Musician
You’ve heard the common phrase, You are what you eat before right? Well, when you’re learning to play jazz you are what you listen to! If you want to learn this style of music you’ve got to listen to the right music! So, today I’m going to talk about some recommended jazz albums that helped me…
4 Different Ways To Play Minor Jazz Piano Chords
In today’s free jazz piano lesson we’re going to take a look at 4 different ways of playing minor chords. Once you learn these sweet chords you’ll have the ability to play a lot more interesting sounds every time you see minor chords written in a chord chart. Start by watching the video lesson first. Then…
How to Play Jazz Piano – A Beginners Guide
Alright, so how do you really learn jazz piano? Since I started this site I’ve received numerous emails from readers asking me the best way to learn how to play jazz piano and how to get started learning jazz as a beginner. Let’s first start with my jazz piano journey to give you an example……
Tritone Substitution – The Ultimate Guide
Check out this cool tritone substitution tutorial: In this video I’m going to teach you how to play a tritone substitution. We all know how important the II-V-I chord progression is to jazz music. It’s used in thousands of jazz standards. Now, it a beautiful sounding chord progression but sometimes in order to not sound…
Interview With Jazz Legend Joey Defrancesco
One of the best ways to learn jazz is to sit down and talk with virtuosic jazz musicians. In this incredible interview we get an opportunity to sit down and explore the mind of jazz organ virtuoso Joey Defrancesco. (audio interview below) Who Is Joey Defrancesco? Joey Defrancesco is simply one of the greatest jazz…
What Do You Struggle With The Most When Playing Jazz?
Hello readers! For today’s jazz post I’d like to start a very important discussion with you guys. One that should have taken place along time ago. If you are reading this article you have no doubt a love and passion for learning jazz and improvised music. Playing jazz is an unbelievably rewarding journey. Learning such…
7 Tips To Help You Play Better At Fast Tempos
Do you have trouble playing well at faster tempos? Do you feel like you just can’t execute your ideas as clearly as you’d like? Do you sound good at slower tempos but the second the tempo starts getting up there your jazz improvisation starts to suffer? If you answered yes, (which most musicians probably will) there…
How To Play Here’s That Rainy Day-Reharmonization Lesson
We all want to learn more about jazz chords don’t we? We love the way (fill in your favorite jazz musician here) plays but for some reason we can’t seem to figure out what they’re doing. Great jazz musicians tend to play so much more than what’s on a plain old chord chart. So, how can…