Jazz Blog » Major Scales

Immerse yourself in Jazz – Let it Seep in to the Soul

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Read, write, discuss and debate over Jazz. In simple words, love Jazz. Perhaps it is the best way to learn and play Jazz better. Never limit your experimentation during the phase of learning. The more you would experiment, the more you would be exposed to different styles and techniques of jazz. The more you’d be exposed to the styles and techniques, the brighter are the chances of attaining mastery over Jazz.

But while delving over the emotion of Jazz, keep in mind the fact that emotion is intrinsic in nature and no book can teach you to capture it. Your belongingness and affinity enables to master the emotion and help a lot to learn to play Jazz faster. This article comprises some necessary tips on mastering Jazz.

First step of Jazz learning is assessing your self potential. As a beginner you are advised to listen to as many Jazz tracks as you can. Maintain a judicious balance between the all time hits and the current trends. Try to understand the basics and implement it to lay the foundation of Jazz learning. After it learn and try to have proficiency in all 12 major scales. Your exposure and expertise in all the scales helps a lot in future.

In the next step you can buy a Jazz book published by any reputed publisher to make your learning easier. While buying a book, go for that where chord symbols or guitar tabs are written above the melody line. Then master major 7th, minor 7th, and dominant 7th, half diminished and diminished chord of every key. Once you master these, stop taking the help of the book and start playing on your own. With passage of time and experience, learn chord inversions, playing CM7, pentatonic scale, 3, 6, 2, 5, 1 progression, chromatic and diatonic harmony to add to your skill and expertise.

By: Akhila Choudhary

Jazz Piano

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:36:00 +0000

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

Jazz Piano Practice Tips That Work!

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:51:38 +0000

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

Major Jazz Guitar Scales

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:44:58 +0000

There seems to be an endless array of scales to learn for jazz
guitar. What are the major jazz guitar scales to learn, if we can
define the major jazz guitar scales that are commonly used, we’d
reduce our workload significantly.

Jazz scales are used by improvisers to convey complex harmonies
common in Jazz. The jazz guitarist must start with the basic
scales, too often the guitarists dives headlong into the more
advanced scales without having a good working knowledge of the
basic scales used in rock, country, bluegrass etc., these scales
are as follows:

* minor pentatonic

* blues scale

* major pentatonic

Once the guitarist can play these scales in every key the next
scale to learn would be the major diatonic scale and it’s
associated modes based on the major scale.

How the modes work:

If we were looking at a piano keyboard we would notice that
without the black keys there are 8 octaves of the C major scale.
If you run your finger left to right along the white keys you
will be playing , the scale of C major even though you happen to
start on a note other than C. This musical fact is the essence of
the modes. A scale can be played from any of it’s notes to any
other of it’s without moving into another key. Actually if you
were to play the scale of C major from F to F an octave higher
you would be playing a nodal scale based on the key of C and the
scale would be called F Lydian.

In every major scale there 7 modes; one for each degree.

Learn the following table -

Play a major scale from note 1 to note 1 above = IONIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 2 to note 2 above = DORIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 3 to note 3 above = PHRYGIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 4 to note 4 above = LYDIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 5 to note 5 above = MIXO-LYDIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 6 to note 6 above = AEOLIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 7 to note 7 above = LOCRIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 8 to note 8 above = note 1 to 1

All examples above are shown in the key of C major however the
advancing guitarist should practice the modes in every key. The
same formula works for each key:

note 1 to 1 always = IONIAN

note 2 to 2 always = DORIAN

note 3 to 3 always = PHRYGIAN

note 4 to 4 always = LYDIAN

note 5 to 5 always = MIXO-LYDIAN

note 6 to 6 always = AEOLIAN

note 7 to 7 always = LOCRIAN

note 8 to 8 always = note 1 to 1

Each modes unique sequence of intervals creates a mode’s unique
musical (quality) or flavor.

The main thing to keep in mind is that it’s not how many scales
you know but rather how many to “own”, by that I mean how much
you control you have over your scales both intellectually as well
as physically.

The next major jazz guitar scale of importance to learn would be
the harmonic minor scale. Like the modes of major scale the
Harmonic minor scale also has modes built on the different
degrees of the scale.

Here are the names of the modes of the Harmonic minor scale:
the following examples are all derived from the C harmonic minor
scale.

C Harmonic Minor : C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C

2- D Locrian #6: D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C-D

3- Eb Harmonic Major: Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb

4- F Spanish Phrygian: F-G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F

5- G Double Harmonic Major: G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F-G

6- Ab Lydian b3: Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab

7- B Diminished : B-C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B

The real jazz minor scale is the next major jazz guitar scale to
learn. The real jazz minor scale is the jazz variation of the
classical melodic minor scale. An easy way to remember this scale
would be to think of it as a major scale with a flatted third
note.

The real jazz minor scale with it’s various modes. Again, the
real jazz minor scale is presented in the key of C real jazz
minor.

C melodic minor :C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C

2- D phrygian (w natural 6th) : D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C-D

3- Eb lydian augmented: Eb-F-G-A-B-C-D-Eb

4- F lydian dominant: F-G-A-B-C-D-Eb-F

5- G mixolydian (w b6th): G-A-B-C-D-Eb-F-G

6- A aeolian (w b5): A-B-C-D-Eb-F-G-A

7- B altered dominant: B-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B

I would also include the whole tone scale in our list of major
jazz guitar scales to learn.

The note of the C whole tone scale are as follows:

C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C

There’s a lot of study and practice to gain control of the scales
described so far, particularly to know each scale or mode on all
keys, for many guitarists these are the major jazz guitar scales
to know.

By: Mike P Hayes

Essential Jazz Guitar Scales

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:27:28 +0000

Learning jazz guitar can be intimidating and overwhelming for a beginning student. Unlike styles like rock, blues, and classical, jazz guitar demands that a musician master a wide variety of skills, including jazz guitar scales.

If you are absolutely fresh on jazz guitar, the first thing you’ve got to wrap your fingers around is the major scale and its modes. It’s the reference against which all other scales are defined. Learn them in position as well as up and down single strings. It’s also cool to practice them in one, two, and three octaves.

Once you’ve got those under your fingers and in your ears, it’s time to start learning the melodic minor scale on guitar. The difference between a melodic minor scale and a major scale is only one note, the flat third. The melodic minor scale also has some really cool sounding modes, like lydian dominant which works over a 7#11 chord.

It’s also important to learn your pentatonic scales. Most guitarists coming from a rock, blues, or country background are already familiar with the minor and major pentatonic scales, and if you aren’t you have to check them out. The blues scale is also useful.

A common trap that students of jazz guitar fall into is only practicing scales up and down. Of course, it’s important and is the first step to mastering jazz guitar scales. But if you’re at a point where it’s comfortable to play ascending and descending scales and you feel comfortable with the notes, the next step is to start practicing intervals and sequences. Also, try to vary the rhythm in your scale practice.

Learning jazz guitar scales is an essential part of mastering jazz guitar.

By: Scott Anderson