Learning Jazz Piano
Bradley Burgess
Here's the situation:
I am quite a good classical pianist (working on a DipRSM at the
moment) and am wanting to learn how to play jazz piano. How do I go
about doing this? Or, rather, what's the best way?
Thanks
jonas aras
If I had to do it over again I'd first pick up about a dozen recordings by
the best mainstream players that appealed to my ear. My personal short list
would be Hank Jones, Kenny Barron, Sonny Clark, Wynton Kelly, Oscar
Peterson, Bud Powell, Bill Evans.
Then I'd focus on absorbing the rythmic language employed in their
accompaniment as well as the rythms used for their right hand solos. Then
I'd simultaneously focus on the harmonic aspects of the instrument (chord
voicings). There are plenty of decent books on this subject. You should
have a lot of fun learning copy the comping rythms of the recordings, even
if your note choices for the chords themselves are different.
As far as learning the melodic aspects I'd transcribe about 5 solos and
learn the heck out of them. The point is not to necessarily to regurgitate
the lines as much as using that material as a point of departure for
inventing your own lines.
Having a decent teacher to guide you can also be invaluable. Finding a good
teacher can be hard though.
"Bradley Burgess" <bradley...@webmail.co.za> wrote in message
news:e9c83056.0403...@posting.google.com...
Gerry
Burgess <bradley...@webmail.co.za> wrote:
> I am quite a good classical pianist (working on a DipRSM at the
> moment) and am wanting to learn how to play jazz piano. How do I go
> about doing this? Or, rather, what's the best way?
Get a good teacher. When you find you're not getting what you want,
dump them and get a better teacher. Try to avoid making friends you
can't "dissapoint" or sticking with a lousy teacher because they are a
great player, etc.
Study from books. There are many. Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano" is a
good one. Also the four volumes of John Mehegan books are invaluable
for a pianist. Always have a book that you're working with/on/through.
Take it with you to work or when you get stuck in traffic. Don't
consider it a replacement for playing or practice.
Listen endlessly and analytically to your favorite players.
Surely you read well; get authoritative sheet music and learn the
techniques of other players directly. Learn and discard. Learn and
discard. Learn and discard. The things that are fundamental and
important to you as a player won't evaporate but instead leach into the
aquafir of your musical brain forever. On the irrelevant really washes
away.
--
First they gerrymander us into one-party fiefs. Then they tell us they only
care about the swing districts. Then they complain about voter apathy.
-- Gail Collins
Smith
characters in my news reader? Thanks.
ric
> Could you please remove from your message whatever causes it to load Chinese
> characters in my news reader? Thanks.
I think the problem is on your end. It's fine here.
--
Better than hearing "Lady Day", or checking in at Monterey...
A.J. Robb
Two excellent systems are the eleven book series by Alan Swain
(Jasmine Press I think is the publisher) and Shelly Berg's book called
the "Goal Note Method" (published by Kendor). If you don't know how to
read chord symbols or any of that stuff, then there are a number of
good books that can get you up to speed at a local music store,
including those in the Swain system. If you do read, though, I'd
suggest the Berg book which is primarily a bebop improv book, but
teaches the blues in its first chapters.
You can peruse a lot of different jazz technique books at
http://www.jameyaebersold.com/
The very best way to learn jazz piano though is by taking jazz lessons
from a pianist in your area - I'm sure there are many in this ng who
could help you locate a good teacher.
A.J.
Tim Smith
> Could you please remove from your message whatever causes it to load
> Chinese characters in my news reader? Thanks.
There's nothing but plain ASCII in his message. Your news reader is
misconfigured or broken.
--
--Tim Smith
Smith
news:NbJ9c.3967$yN6....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
No, there isn't. I'm using OE and I'll bet you're using a newsreader that
isn't OE and not set to pick up weird ass fonts.
Mike C.
"Smith" <gsm...@tbanet.org.nospam> wrote in message
news:RGJ9c.342278$B81.4...@twister.tampabay.rr.com...
Agreed. I get the same thing with Gerry's posts. I just cancel the dialog
box and be on my way.
--
Mike C.
http://mikecrutcher.com
"As much as I love music, I never really thought it was my life. I thought
it was the vehicle I used to express my life" - Herbie Mann
Michael
It's this header : Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-2022-jp
Your 2nd sentence is still true though [unless they want a dialogue that is]
--
Michael.
Gerry
It's not Chinese but Japanese (a minor distinction for some, I know).
I only just found that it was producing these difficulties and we'll
put in on the list of things to do.
Alan Young
There is no "royal road" to learning to play jazz.
Here's one possible program, more or less the way I did it over many
years:
(1) get a lot of recordings of Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Keith Jarrett,
and anyone else you like. Listen a lot.
(2) get a few books of transcriptions (there's several good volumes of
Bill Evans available, for example) that include the chord symbols.
(You might want to post a followup question asking for recommendations
for specific books).
Since you can play classical piano, learning the transcriptions
shouldn't be hard; getting it to sound *in the style* of the artist is
the real challenge, and takes lots more listening than reading.
(3) Blank out the transcriptions, and just refer to the chord symbols.
(I assume you know enough music theory to interpret the symbols, but
Mark Levine's book can help with the less obvious ones). See if you can
play in the style of the soloist, using only the symbols as cues to
keep you in the form of the piece.
(4) When you can do a decent job of "covering" a few different pianists
this way, try playing a familiar tune from a fake book (using only
chord symbols). After you've gotten skilled at this process, you can
do it with less-familiar tunes, also.
(5) Over time, you learn to associate chord sequences with sounds. Lose
the fakebook, and figure out chords from what the tune sounds like. Now
you can improvise from scratch, and you're playing jazz.
--
Alan
http://www.hummingbear.net/~aayoung/Jazz/jazz.html
"Pray every day to every god."
-- Kurt Elling, "Resolution"
ptooner
Outlook express and I see no problem.
Gerry
"Smith" <gsm...@tbanet.org.nospam> wrote in message
news:RGJ9c.342278$B81.4...@twister.tampabay.rr.com...
Mi...@hotmail.com
>Two excellent systems are the eleven book series by Alan Swain
>(Jasmine Press I think is the publisher)
I can't seem to find any info on these books through Googling. Do you
have more specific info?
jonas aras
available thru Aebersold.
robin...@tesco.net
Try:
"The Classical Approach to Jazz Piano"
by Dominic Alldis
published by Hal Leonard
Robin
Tim Smith
>> > Could you please remove from your message whatever causes it to load
>> > Chinese characters in my news reader? Thanks.
>>
>> There's nothing but plain ASCII in his message. Your news reader is
>> misconfigured or broken.
>
> No, there isn't. I'm using OE and I'll bet you're using a newsreader that
> isn't OE and not set to pick up weird ass fonts.
Nope. I examined the raw posting. The only slightly odd thing he does is
specify iso-2022-jp as his character set, which is a set used for Japanese
email. However, it contains 7-bit ASCII as a subset, and his post consisted
entirely of characters from that subset. Any good newsreader should display
his post just fine. OE is not usually considered to be a good newsreader.
--
--Tim Smith
Smith
> Nope. I examined the raw posting. The only slightly odd thing he does is
> specify iso-2022-jp as his character set, which is a set used for Japanese
> email. However, it contains 7-bit ASCII as a subset, and his post
consisted
> entirely of characters from that subset. Any good newsreader should
display
> his post just fine. OE is not usually considered to be a good newsreader.
Says who and why? People just like to bash OE because they're jealous of
Bill G. I've used it for years and never had a lick of trouble except when
someone inserts something funny into their message.
ptooner
"Smith" <gsm...@tbanet.org.nospam> wrote in message
Well, I use Outlook and the news reader is the same. The only thing that I
don't like about it is that to sequentially read a newsgroup you have to hit
the inconvenient CTRL U after each message. NEtscape had a handy little one
click arrow at the top.
gerry
Mi...@hotmail.com
>Says who and why?
What a stupid and worthless post.
Smith
news:trhk60tp4ta1vkv7a...@4ax.com...
>
> >Says who and why?
>
> What a stupid and worthless post.
Kind of like every one you've ever posted...
Gerry
> Could you please remove from your message whatever causes it to load Chinese
> characters in my news reader? Thanks.
Is this better?
A.J. Robb
You can call Alan Swain Studios in Evanston, IL: 847-328-0653. It's a
full line of books taking you from the very beginnings of Jazz (and
music theory) through very advanced techniques and topics. The
eleventh book is actually rather different, specifically geared at
classical players wanting to delve into the Jazz world. It comes with
a half demonstration, half play-along CD. I can't recommend his
technique highly enough.
Same accolades go for the Shelly Berg book. Different approach,
probably best if you have some rudimentary jazz knowledge and
experience behind you. It covers the basics, but doesn't really
explain them. It immediately launches into advanced solo technique
(no, not scary advanced!). You can certainly use both approaches
side-by-side, and you'll get a great education.
Zoro
"Smith" <gsm...@tbanet.org.nospam> wrote in message
news:RGJ9c.342278$B81.4...@twister.tampabay.rr.com...
Liz
in piano performance, all classical, but I want to learn jazz piano
also. It's forcing me to practice, stick my neck out and learn to
improvise in front of other people and be ready for the next class.
Our textbook is the Goal Note book by Shelton Berg mentioned in other
replies, and it's a great approach.
I also tried taking private lessons but couldn't find a jazz piano
teacher in the area. This class is definitely doing the job for me!
Good luck to you.
Liz
bradley...@webmail.co.za (Bradley Burgess) wrote in message news:<e9c83056.0403...@posting.google.com>...
A.J. Robb
> If you can, take a class at a university if available. I've got a BM
> in piano performance, all classical, but I want to learn jazz piano
> also. It's forcing me to practice, stick my neck out and learn to
> improvise in front of other people and be ready for the next class.
> Our textbook is the Goal Note book by Shelton Berg mentioned in other
> replies, and it's a great approach.
>
> I also tried taking private lessons but couldn't find a jazz piano
> teacher in the area. This class is definitely doing the job for me!
> Good luck to you.
>
> Liz
I hope you're enjoying it - if you keep at it, soon you'll use
improv'ing as a form of exploration, and you won't need to worry about
evaluation! It's such a great ride, I'm glad you've hopped on. I
started as a Classical pianist as well, and continue to play
Classical, but Jazz has become "my" music and Classical a means of
refining my senses.
This week though I've been undergoing an opposite experience from you
in your Jazz class: Louis Andriessen is visiting my university and
I've been playing his music for him the last few days. For me it's
"how well can you become the composer?" He's really strict in how he
wants his stuff interpreted, but he's also an incredibly nice person.
But in comparison to your assignment, where it's "be creative and
we'll tell you what we think" right now for me it's "be perfect and
exact, and we'll tell you what we think."
The Music Factory
Burgess) wrote:
>Hi everyone
>
>Here's the situation:
>
>I am quite a good classical pianist (working on a DipRSM at the
>moment) and am wanting to learn how to play jazz piano. How do I go
>about doing this? Or, rather, what's the best way?
>
>Thanks
Take a look at the methods that I employ on my website and see if
anything would work for you.
Regards,
EJ
http://www.everygoodboydoesfine.com
http://www.internetpianoteacher.com