Practice Jazz Bass Lines by Making a Play List

On 12.28.09, In Jazz Blog, By admin

Jazz falls in the spontaneous forms of music. Nobody is a Jazz expert from birth; rather it is rigorous practice and love for Jazz music that extracts an expert from a common Jazz lover. Take the example of any Jazz expert, you will find that continuous improvisation and repeated practice have made them the master of the art. First they learn all genres of Jazz and then they tried to specialize and have expertise in one form.

On the path of specialization, your interest plays a significant role. Once you know the basics, step forward to have mastery in one. The logic behind it is very simple. One lifetime is perhaps not the enough tenure to excel in all forms of jazz and having expertise in left hand Jazz piano playing like Art Tatum, thundering blues lines like Oscar Peterson and the harmonic complexity of Bill Evans. Hence, specialization leads to excellence. This article comprises of beneficial tips that make your Jazz piano practice easier.

1- Expose yourself to a variety of Tempos

When you practice jazz piano, Practice at a variety of tempos like slow, medium and fast. From quarter note = 40 to 360- never be scared of any tempo.

2- Be creative

While using the metronome, let the creative part of your Jazz-love perform its best. Click on the upbeats (beat two and four) instead of downbeats (one and three). Set the metronome in your comfort zone and practice Jazz piano for all patterns in both hands. It helps you to be more creative and develop a greater level of dexterity.

3- Apply the golden “Five Time” rule.

While practicing Jazz piano or baselines, play the scale, chord, lick, pattern, phrase or song five times in a row without committing any errors. If you commit any mistake (whatever negligible it might be), you are lacking in concentration. Practice this rule until you have not attained mastery.



By: Akhila Choudhary

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Jazz Piano

On 10.28.09, In Jazz Blog, By admin

Jazz piano is one of the most vibrant, energetic, specialized types of music. Famous jazz artists you may want to listen to are Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarret, Bill Evans, to name but a few. To learn jazz piano you need to take some time to listen to jazz CD’s and maybe watch DVD’s as well. To learn jazz piano, one needs to be very patient and dedicated to practicing the genre.

Jazz piano is characterized by a lot of improvisation. A jazz musician can be given a fake music sheet or chord chart and he can improvise on the spot over those chord progressions. It is recommended that a jazz musician know or have standard songs in their repertoire. Standard songs include songs like “Willow Weep for Me,” “Summertime,” and “Georgia on My Mind” to name but a few. Standard songs are songs that have been covered by many recording artists in the past, usually every year. For example one may consider the gospel song “Amazing Grace” a standard gospel song because a lot of artists have covered the song throughout the years.

Knowledge of scales and chords are essential tools needed to be a good jazz musician, let alone the technique needed to play this genre. As a jazz musician you will need to practice different types of scales, chords, arpeggios, staccato playing, legato playing, playing chords on the left hand while playing scales in the right hand at the same time.

To learn jazz you need to start with the basics: minor and major scales and minor and major chords. Once you master these then you can go forth to learning advanced chords(jazz chords) and scales. These chords include diminished, dominant, major nine, tritone chords, etc. Advanced scales will entail learning lydian, diminished, chromatic, melodic minor scales, for example.

You must remember that when it comes to playing the piano, it is not how you play but how you play is very essential as well. This is the reason why you need technique: how hard or soft do you play the notes, how you sit at the piano, breathing, how you position your hands and fingers on the piano, playing chords and scales, etc.

You will definitely need resources to play the piano, someone to hold you by the hand. The key to mastering jazz piano is to learn (get as much information as possible), patience and practice!practice!practice!

By: Jay Mtimkulu

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Jazz Piano Practice Tips That Work!

On 10.15.09, In Jazz Blog, By admin

Warm up and stretch. Bill Evans used to put his arms under a hot-air dryer (you know the ones in the bathroom?) to help warm up his arms. Warm ups and stretching are very important. You can run your arms under warm (hot-as-you-can-take-it) water and rub them. You’ll be surprised how this helps a lot! Try running through 5-finger scales, Major scales and arpeggios.

Practice in “Chunks”. When you are learning a piece of music, break it into chunks. A good chunk is 2-4 measures for a difficult piece or 8 measures for an easier piece.

Vocalize Rhythms. I cover vocalization of rhythms on my DVDs. Basically, you assign a non-sense syllable to each rhythm and “sing” the rhythm. This helps you to really feel the rhythm rather than over intellectualizing it.

Practice slowly, then build up speed. Think about this: Every time you play something wrong, you are getting better at playing it wrong! Basically, you want to play slow so that you can play accurately.

I see so many students play fast and make the same mistake over-and-over again. Go slow, then build up speed. You’ll see a big difference!

Use a metronome. Digital metronomes are more accurate than the “wind up” kind. Set the metronome to a slow tempo to start, like 80 or 90. If you are playing jazz, try setting the metronome on 60 and think of this as beats 2 and 4. Beats 1 and 3 do not click. You think of them in your head.

Keep your eyes on the music. You do not need to look at the keys in order to play. If this were the case, how would people with impaired vision play? We look at the keys as a “crutch”. Try your best to look more at the music and less at the keys.

15 minutes a day is better than 2 hours on Sunday! There are several reasons why practicing throughout the week (even for 15 minutes, but try for 30) is better than the “big” practice session once-a-week.

First of all, most of us (me included) can only really concentrate for about 30-45 minutes on one task. So, I’d rather see you practice for a concentrated 15 minutes rather than a “What’s for dinner tonight? How much homework do I have? I need to call Jill after this….” 45 minutes.

Second, 15 minutes spread out over 7 days will help you to remember concepts. Imagine studying math for only one day a week, then taking a test? Practicing every day helps to “lock in” what you are learning.

Comfort. If you are uncomfortable, you will not want to practice. Remember:

Sit on a comfortable bench that is not too high or low. Practice in a well-lit room. You do not want to strain your eyes to read the music. Avoid a room with a T.V. in it. Too much temptation! Try to practice at a set time every day. This helps you get on a schedule. Sit up tall, but not stiff!

Patience. This should go without saying, but you need to remain patient with yourself. Learning to play the piano (or any instrument) can be frustrating. Some days you’ll amaze yourself at your progress. While other days you’ll feel like you have stepped backwards.

Learning is cyclical. It’s like the rising and falling of waves in the ocean. Some days you’re up, some you’re down. Once you realize this, and accept it, you’ll be able to step back and look at your musical journey in “perspective”.

This is a great way of looking at practicing. Remember the old saying that “It is not the destination but the journey?” Think about where you started and where you are now. You’ll probably be amazed at your progress.

If you are just starting the piano, I’d like to suggest that you record yourself on CD or video tape playing your first piece. Reason: when you feel down about where you are, pop in the video and look at where you were.

There are many other tips that can be added to this list, but this is a great start.

If you have not subscribed to the free JazzPianoLessons.com E-Lessons, I’d like to encourage you to do so. I have created 20 video lessons that are absolutely free. The E-Lessons are for students of all levels.

Have Fun Practicing!

By: Willie Myette

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