Jazz Piano School

The piano has 88 keys! But rarely do students and even intermediate players playing gigs utilize the ENTIRE piano when they play. If you're not...then you should be! But what exactly should you be playing in each area? In this episode I'll teach you exactly what to do in each register of the piano. Enjoy!

Harmonizing melodies with chords can be tricky...especially if you're trying to make it actually sound good! How do we know what chords to play with the melody note? What makes it sound good? All these questions and more popup and it can become very frustrating. In this podcast, our brand new JPS staff educator will address those questions and provide you with an amazing strategy to harmonize melodies with ANY chord you want! Enjoy!

This simple chord trick involves using your own voicings to your advantage in a way that will instantly improve your playing. Bill Evans used this technique throughout his career, most notably on the classic album "Portrait in Jazz." You can use it too, find out how in this week's podcast!

Arpeggios can be reallllyyy boring...or they can be used to add some burnin movements into your improvisation! I'll be talking about the latter. These 3 different ways to add arpeggios in your improvisation are sure to help you add some flying, fast movements up and down the piano for an amazing texture you're going to love! Enjoy!

Knowing what kind of style, what kind of approach you should take on a tune can be tough? How do you go at it? Old school? Modern? Flowy? Hard swing? In this episode I'll give you 5 quick tips that will allow you to easily understand the approach you should take when playing a tune. I also go over specific approaches at the end. Enjoy!

I give you all the details you need to know about our amazing 2.0 launch coming October 7th @ 7am est. Here is the link to video 1 in the brand new workshop I'm releasing as well! https://jazzpianoschool.com/launch-video-workshop-video-1/

Jazz Piano School 2.0 is set to launch October 7th @ 7am EST. Complete with new designs, new features like flash cards, practice workouts, new navigation and so much more. One of the coolest things will be our brand new 6 Stage success path. Our success path will allow you to start in a place that's right for YOU, and continue forward with learning that is CORRECT for the place that you're in. Get our Success Path Workbook in this podcast. I say the link inside. Enjoy!

Music is very powerful. Like...very...very...powerful. I mean you know right?! Why do you think you're on this journey? Music has the power to heal, transform, inspire, calm, soothe, and about a billion other things. In this episode I talk about what music means to me, how it changed my life, and how my mission to teach you jazz piano will help you change lives as well. Here we go!

What the heck is a backdoor ii-V? Find out in this week's podcast! Once you master this short but common progression, you will be seeing it all over the place!

What do Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, and Johann Sebastian Bach all have in common? They all use the diatonic circle of 5ths! This progression has been used for centuries, and in this week's podcast lesson we will discuss how to use it seamlessly to improvise chords and melodies.

Improvising over ballads is usually more difficult than improvisation over medium or fast tunes. Why is that? Because you're EXPOSED. Everything is movving sooooo slowwwww. What do you do? How do you spice things up and creating interesting lines? In this episode I'm going to show you 3 strategies I use every-time I improvise over ballads that you absolutely have to integrate into your toolbox. Enjoy!

If you have never encountered the Lady Bird turnaround or are looking for some new strategies with which to improvise over this device, search no further! In this podcast lesson, we'll go over how Tadd Dameron came up with this trademark chord progression and how you can play over it with style and ease.

What do you do when you are jamming out on 2 chords?...or even 1 CHORD?! Does your mind start freezing up? Well don't worry, in this podcast, I use my electric rhodes sound on my keyboard and give you 12 strategies that you can use to improvise when you're jamming out on 1 or 2 chord harmonies. I demonstrate in a funk style manner but these can also be used in any jazz tunes as well. Enjoy!

For the second installment of this series, we'll be talking about one of the most important aspects of music: TIME. When it comes to practicing, time can be a factor that makes or breaks the efficacy of your practice session. Find out how you can optimize your practicing through good use of time!

In this podcast series, we will be talking about how to optimize your routine to get the most out of your practice time. In this lesson, we're talking about what it means to really practice vs. "just playing." Follow along to find out how!

Give a person a fish and they eat for a day...teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime. This is exactly my approach with all student within Jazz Piano School. Learning jazz piano for a lifetime and NOT a day is about learning jazz piano tools and improving those tools within all the different categories. From there we can start to combine them to create amazing sounding atmospheres and textures. Check out this podcast for an overall plan and approach to learning jazz piano for a lifetime!

In this podcast lesson we take a closer look at the chord which characterized Joe Henderson during the most impactful time of his career. This chord appears again and again in Joe's well known compositions from the 1960's, such as "Inner Urge," "Punjab," "Gazelle," and more! Follow along as we explore the chord within the context of the infamous jazz standard "Inner Urge" and investigate how to use it to our advantage when improvising.

Let's face it...it's SCARY to improvise. It's a very vulnerable thing because you're opening up yourself to the world. You're expressing your true self and true emotions. Now besides all that inner stuff...there is also the fear of simply making mistakes. BUT...enough about the negative...let's get in the positive and I'll show you 3 amazing ways to get stomp on your fears today!

As jazz pianists, we often get caught up in complex chord progressions and substitutions. The question is: What happens when the chips are down, and you have to improvise over only ONE chord? Here are some secret strategies to work on what to play over one-chord vamps.

Comping can be difficult. It's hard to know what to play to create a solid, lush, supportive sound for your accompaniment comping. If you only learn one comping setup this is IT! Hands down this will deliver the MOST supportive and effective jazz comping sound you need while playing in any group. Duo, Trio, Quartet...anything! Have fun!