The Basics of Learning How to Play Jazz Piano
Learning how to play jazz piano is part of the more the advanced portion of piano lessons. It requires that you have learned and mastered the basics o...
Learning how to play jazz piano is part of the more the advanced portion of piano lessons. It requires that you have learned and mastered the basics of playing a keyboard.
As with most types of piano music, it is essential that you understand the basic notes, chords and hand placement for you to begin to understand how to put jazz chords together. Jazz is a fantastic form of music filled with trademark chords, unconventional rhythms, and is filled with emotion and soul.
A jazz piano lesson teaches you the ability to improvise and lets you be creative with these personal and soulful sounds. The right lesson plan early in your piano skills development is important for you to begin learning how to properly play jazz chords.
To begin learning a jazz piano lesson, you first have to understand the specific jazz chords. This requires that you are beyond the basic ability to play triad chords. Jazz notes start in the 6th cord, which are 4 note combinations. Then there is the 7th cord, 3 notes with the 4th being lowered a half step.
You also must be able to play a major 7th cord. When you begin to practice these chords, you will start to hear some of the distinctive sounds of jazz. Once you have mastered these chords you can begin learning how to put them together into a progression, or series of chords.
The most common jazz progression is 1-4-2-5. This means each number is the first note in each chord. Proper finger placement will speed this process up. Jazz is all about improvisation so as you practice these chords it is good to try them out in minor keys too. This will let you get the feel for jazz piano. The next step will then be learning how to add base.
If these steps seem confusing to you, remember that learning the basics step by step is the easiest way to move quickly through your lessons. This is where a quality online teaching program is very helpful in speeding up the learning process.
An online piano learning program like the Rocket Piano system with video tutorials and dynamic learning tools are very easy to follow for beginners.
Rocket Piano, which you can follow from beginner to advanced levels of piano lessons, has additional course materials on specifically learning how to break down and play jazz chords. It really makes learning how to play jazz piano a lot easier.