This lesson will show you how to create and weave your own solo using chord tones and enclosures. We will use the song “It Could Happen To You” to create our solo.
Learn important practice concepts to get the most out of your improvisation.
We will be going over the 5 elements needed to effectively improvise.
In this improvisation lesson, we will be covering different approaches to improvisation like chord-tone improvisation and chord-to-scale relationships. I’ll also show you how to create scale “cells” to enhance your improvisation lines. Other Chapters in this Piano Lesson: 7 Days of Improvisation – Day 2 Requirements: 1. knowledge of triads 2. knowledge of seventh chords 3. must be able to create and spell notes of chords 4. must know how to create chord shells (R3, R7)
When it comes to playing the piano, you can play…Right Hand Alone, Left Hand Alone, or Hands Together. Don’t think of your hands being independent, think instead of the cooperation between them! Having an understanding of your chordal options, for the style you are working with, will help guide you in your rhythmic choices and how your hands cooperate with one another.
Learn Dorian and Phrygian modal improvisation in this lesson. You’ll also learn how to improvise over a latin tumbao bass pattern. I will also show you how NOT to use your modes and a better way of thinking about and practicing modes.
Using different scales like pentatonic, modes, blues and other scales, the techniques in this lesson will show you how to elongate your improvisation lines to create a more interesting solo.
In this lesson we will learn about diatonic triads and seventh chords. In addition you'll learn about subdominant chords.
In this lesson you’ll discover how to add emotion into your music and see me ‘bare my soul’ more than any other lesson.
In this lesson we will move toward a jazz style and you’ll learn how to create chord structures that sound more open.
I’ll teach you my original song entitled Gratitude and explain how it was composed.
In this lesson you’ll learn the arrangement for the song Gratitude and I’ll answer student questions.
In this lesson I'll answer questions I received from students for this course.
This lesson shows you how to break up simple triads to create a more advanced arrangement.
Building off of lesson 1, now learn to substitute chords to create a more robust chord progression. We will also use Jingle Bells as a springboard.
In this lesson, slash chords and chord tensions are introduced which change the bass motion of the song and create a more sophisticated “spicy” sound.
In lesson 4 we will add more rhythm to the chord progression to create a better sense of flow between chords.
Now we move into minor and you’ll learn different ways to use relative and parallel minor in your compositions.
In this lesson I’ll show you how to create different improvisation lines using a variety of techniques like chord tones and approaches. These techniques work over ANY kind of song or style.
In this lesson you'll learn some advanced warmup techniques that I like ot use to get ready for a performance.
Learn how to get those classic organ sounds by manipulating the drawbars and settings of the organ. If you want those classic organ sounds, this is the lesson for you! You'll learn to create the organ sounds of: Steve Winwood, Goldy McJohn, John Lord, John Evan and Greg Rolie.
Shout music is a type of gospel music characterized by very fast tempo, chromatic basslines, snare hits and hand claps on the upbeat of each beat. In this lesson you'll learn how to play the bassline along with chords.
In this lesson you'll learn some classic organ licks from songs like: "Green Onions", "Smoke On The Water", "Will You Be There", "Gimme Some Lovin'", plus some cool organ techniques.
This more advanced lessons will give you more organ shout techniques that you can use.
Jimmy Smith helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music. Learn how to create his signature sound in this lesson.
Another classic Christmas song. Its lyrics were written by William Chatterton Dix, in 1865. This carol is set to the tune of “Greensleeves”, a traditional English folk song. In this lesson, you’ll learn each section of the song in two ways. First you'll learn an easy version perfect for beginners. Then you'll learn to create an advanced jazz piano arrangement of the song.
Learn different ways to create an arrangement for a Christmas song.
5 rhythms that are great to master and use in your improvisations. You'll learn each rhythm along with examples of how to use them.
This Andraé Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) classic Soon and Very Soon was written in 1978 and features a lot of rich gospel piano techniques. You’ll learn the entire song and techniques like how to play gospel walk ups, syncopating the bass pattern and other ideas that you can incorporate into your own piano arrangements.
Learn how to create an arrangement for rock styles by learning rhythmic accents, how to break up chords, clusters and more.
Learn how to use cells, sequences and rhythmic variations to improve your improvising.
This is where the “rubber meets the road.” It’s game time. In this session you will be playing along with the band…LIVE! Don’t worry, we will go slow and I’ll be there to guide you every step of the way. If you’ve worked through the “This Can’t Be Love” Piano Melody And Comping lesson, you’ll definitely want to put your skills to the test in this live band session.
Learn how to use arpeggios over 2-5-1 progressions to create beautiful introductions and endings.
Using the song "Harlem Nocturne" as an example, you'll learn how to fill out a chord progression for a song.
A quick lesson on how to create a walking bassline.
In Part 2 of this lesson, you will learn the jazz devices that are used to build this advanced arrangement. Once finished, you will have a full solo piano arrangement of this tune, complete with intro and ending. Topics covered in this lesson include filling space, inserting a ii-V progression, stride technique, creating an intro, and creating an ending.
In this fakebook comping lesson we will be using the 3/4-time song Alice In Wonderland to cover some very important piano comping techniques. This is the second part of the lesson and we will cover the rest of the song.
Learn this cool jazz/gospel chord progression along with analysis.
In this lesson you’ll learn different boogie piano accompaniments and licks. Most important, Willie will be showing you his process for how to break down a lick in order to play it hands together.
Learn how to use the dominant bebop scale to improvise over dom7 chords.
In this lesson we will use the classic standard “Georgia On My Mind” to create guide tone lines to create more structure in your improvisation.
This up-tempo Rogers/Hart jazz piano classic will get your toes tapping and is great for the intermediate or more advanced player. If you’ve gone through my Step-By-Step Standards series, then you’re ready for this lesson. Inside, you’ll learn rootless voicings along with comping techniques to get you ready for playing with the band!
This fun jazz standard is a great introduction to the world of jazz piano. Using simple block chords, you’ll learn how to play this arrangement in 4-steps. Geared for beginners, but valuable for all levels of player, you’ll also learn a simple stride pattern that you can apply to countless other jazz standards.
This lesson features a popular Duke Ellington tune. You will learn an advanced arrangement of this tune and breakdown the various jazz devices that go into creating a pro arrangement. Topics covered in this lesson include mapping the form, bebop scale harmony and theory, and the planning technique.
This lesson will show you how to analyze jazz progressions to make it easier to memorize. The voicings in this lesson are great to learn and the fill-in-the-blank exercises will help you understand the material easier.
Have you ever wondered how advanced players are seemingly able to memorize so many tunes and transpose them so easily? Would you like to learn a trick that ALL advanced jazz players know that allows them to do this? This lesson completes the explanation of the concepts introduced in Part 1, starting with an explanation of how to build diatonic 7th chords. You will learn why harmonic analysis (also referred to as Roman numeral analysis) will change the way you think about songs and teach you how to use this information to approach memorization and transposition just like the pros!
Learn how to play this classic song from Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue” recording. Since this is a more advanced “like a pro” lesson, you’ll learn how to create chord substitutions that you can use to add more spice to the arrangement.
In this lesson I’ll show you how to play this classic song using an extremely easy technique. Perfect for students of all levels. It Had To Be You – Learn my simple method to arrange Jazz standards quickly. Learn how to simply the chord patterns to make it easier to create your own arrangement.
Learn the essentials in the Key of Ab
Learn the essentials in the Key of Bb
