Somehow when folks talk about jazz chords they see them in an entirely different category from “regular chords”. So are they different? If so, how? This short video answers that question:

Then click here: “Super Chords Made Super Simple!”

Sadly, jazz is slowly becoming a dying art. Cities were once full of jazz clubs, schools were teaching jazz as part of their curriculum and the “coolness” of jazz was alive and well. It was as much a part of American culture as baseball.

The modern day is much different. Many of those storied downtown clubs have closed, schools don’t have the budget to teach the many different styles of music, and only the major colleges and universities now have jazz studies curriculums as part of their degree programs.

With all of the headwinds facing jazz music, that doesn’t mean that it is dead. Still, there are a large amount of people who like to play as well as listen to jazz and if that’s you, there are plenty of reasons why learning how to play jazz piano is not a waste of time. There are many places to play, bands to join, and modern jazz musicians are still producing a lot of new music. With that in mind, let’s look at how we can get started learning.

It’s Easier than you Think

Jazz is not an easy style of music to learn but from a practical standpoint, you can sit in with a jazz band and sound half-way decent much earlier in your development than orchestral music. Imagine trying to sit in with a professional orchestra playing a piano concerto just a few months in to your lessons. With jazz, you can do that.

Why? In part because the amount of chords you deal with in jazz is smaller and those chords often come in a predictable pattern. Every jazz pianist, for example, must learn the 12 bar blues progression in all keys that are common to jazz music. Once you know that, you know the chord progression of a large amount of jazz music and for those songs that don’t fall in to the pattern, you quickly learn by experience.
You should also learn to read a lead sheet. A lead sheet has the melody written out in traditional music notation as well as the chord symbols above it. Learn to read those chord symbols and how to properly voice the chords and you can play with a jazz group. You probably can’t solo with them yet but you can provide chords and background accompaniment. The best way to learn how to read a lead sheet is to purchase a fake book. The New Real Fakebook is one that is well known among jazz musicians.

Anybody who studied jazz in school or took lessons on any instrument related to jazz probably used the Aebersold recordings. This collection has more than 100 volumes of common jazz music. Some of the recordings have the lead line taken out so you can practice soloing and other tracks only have the melody so you can practice accompanying a melody. The Aebersold recordings may be the best way to learn how to play along with a jazz band and best of all, they’re fun!

Every jazz musician will have to learn to solo at some point. Most teachers advise to start with the first 5 notes of the chord and only play 2 or 3 notes per measure. From there, you can work up to more notes and more complicated rhythms.

As always, the best way to learn how to play jazz piano is to take lessons. If your goal is to learn jazz piano, make sure your teacher has experience in this area but remember that regardless of the style you want to learn, you should take the time to learn the basics of piano playing so expect some “classical” training in addition to studying jazz.

For a course in Jazz & Blues Runs On The Piano, click here.

There are many, many forms of the blues, from rhythm-and-blues to all kinds of jazz tunes to hundreds, if not thousands of popular songs, and even some kinds of gospel music. In this podcast I discuss the basis of the scale that makes up the tones used in the blues:

Blues [ 7:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For a course in jazz and blues runs based on the blues scale, please click on “Jazz & Blues Runs”

Here is an easy 2-chord pattern that even beginners can learn to play right away. All it consists of is two chords — and I’ll keep it in the key of G to keep it simple — G and C. By playing the G chord in 2nd inversion (in other words, upside down) you can move to the C chord just by moving your thumb up one key and your little finger up one key, making it very simple to learn. Watch this 8-minute video and you’ll quickly get the idea:

This podcast is part one of a two-part series on the blues scale — what it is, how it is used, and how it is formed. Listen how to include a minor 3rd, diminished 5th, and minor 7th to add all kinds of color to a plain major scale:

The Blues Scale Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For more complete information on playing the blues, click on “Blues, Boogie, & Rhythm & Blues”

The “Walk On Up Blues/Gospel Chord Progression” is an obvious but useful technique in the toolbox of the pianist. After all, the I to IV progression is used all the time in music, so there are multiple times in most songs where this technique — or some variety of it — can be used.

For more good stuff like this, come on over to Praise & Gospel Piano!

The blues scale is kind of a unique animal: half diatonic scale, half blue notes. Some people think that only the flat 3rd, flat 5th, and flat 7th of the diatonic scale is used in the blues, but that’s not the case. It’s the juxtaposition between the major 3rd and the minor 3rd, the perfect 5th and the diminished 5th, and the major 7th and the minor 7th that creates that facinating tension that creates the “blues” sound. The human voice can sing in the cracks between the major and minor 3rd, but that’s not the case with the piano — we are stuck with fixed pitches — so we need to create some tension between the two. Watch this short video and you’ll get the idea:

If you want more instruction on the blues, go to Playing The Blues on our online catalog of piano courses.

Here’s a bluesy little chord progression you can use in quite a few musical situations. It involves playing the IV chord of the key and then playing the IV chord of that IV chord to create a chord progression that gives a blues oriented sound. It sounds confusing but I think you’ll understand it when you see it on the video below:

For more instruction on the blues check out Blues, Boogie & R&B

This is the last of 4 videos about how a beginner can learn a simple piano boogie pattern and put it together into both hands. It will take some time to get the co-ordination down, but it is doable for many folks.
If you haven’t watched the first 3 videos on the subject, be sure to do so, and take it slow - Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is piano technique. And for those of you who are more advanced, you will be glad to know that tomorrow we will be getting on to other things!

This is a simple lesson for absolute beginners demonstrating how to create a “walk the stairs” boogie pattern in the left hand. Most boogies follow the 12-bar blues format, so we are walking the stairs on the I chord, the IV chord and the V chord in the key of C.

A real easy way to create more motion in a song is through the use of “walk-ups”. Then if you add in a little IV of the IV chord progression, you can get a kind of “gospel” sound. Watch this 5-minute video:

As you probably know, the blues scale is a combination of a diatonic major scale plus the flat 3rd, flat 5th, and flat 7th of the scale. In this 3-minute video I demonstate the fingering of a blues scale descending as we play the blues in the key of F.

As I’m sure you know, the blues are the basis for literally thousands and thousands of songs, particularly in jazz, fusion, rhythm & blues and rock, but also in many many pop songs you don’t normally think of as “the blues”. That’s because the chord structure of the blues is basically the same as the chord structure of songs that use the primary chords: I, IV, and V. Of course the blues adds a 7th to those primary chords, but the basic structure remains the same. Watch this short video and you’ll get the idea:

For a course on playing the blues, please see Playing Blues, Boogie, & R&B

Even beginners can have fun on the piano playing simple jazz sounds using just 3 chords and a little bit of rhythm. Watch this short video to see how to make a simple jazz waltz out of 3 basic chords — the material from which the blues are made:

How To Play In The Cracks To Get a Blues Sound from chordman on Vimeo.

Here is a short video where I “fly over” the 12-bar blues to get an overall picture of what comprises the blues:

For information on the blues, click here.

Piano players who desire to learn the foundations of purely American music should start with the blues. This music form began over a century ago. Today’s jazz, hip-hop, rock-and-roll and rhythm and blues owes a debt to it.

Certainly, the word “blues” evokes a sense of the mood of being blue. The music has those qualities, but in its own way it is also capable of being very uplifting. Many blues songs are cries of hope for better days to come.

The blues form developed out of the African-American experience. The music we call blues is a touchstone back to their struggles in America and their growth as a people to more freedom. Blues songs are rooted in work songs, field chants, singing and talk. They also have their basis in spiritual songs and country ballads.

The first blues emerged out of the Deep South, in Texas, Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta. The music sang of the struggles of the worker and the impoverished lives many of them lived. Their great toil and sacrifice had articulation in stories, with many of them presented in song form.

A big boost to the stature of the blues came in 1912, when William Christopher Handy transcribed and published the song “Memphis Blues.” He was an African-American dance orchestra conductor. He gave himself the name “Father of the Blues” because of his tireless efforts to write, transcribe and publish blues music to get it to the masses.

The blues progressed from the Deep South to the north and entrenched itself in cities such as Chicago and Detroit. The music changed as it moved northward. No longer all about the poor conditions in the south, the music began to speak of the urban environments African-Americans were now living in.

The blues changed even more in the ’40s and ’50s as radio continued to spread its songs all over America. New electronic innovations lent the blues a different sound, with electric guitar at the forefront. Musicians carried this fresh electric sound with blues elements into the rock and R & B genre, which developed.

Those who hear that blues sound in much of today’s music may not understand that the music is very basic in its construction. A piano player desiring to learn the blues can understand its elements quickly with a little bit of study.

The most common blues heard and played are the 12-bar blues. Blues musicians found they could express their thoughts fully in a mere 12 bars or measures of music. However, there is room in these 12 bars for much creativity, whether musical or lyrical.

Almost all of blues music is in 4/4 time. This means there are four beats in each bar. Within a bar, each quarter note receives one beat. Further, a 12-bar blues song is broken down into three sections of four bars each. Musicians usually build blues chords on the first, fourth and fifth notes of an eight-note music scale. These form the blues chord progression. The first chord is typically prominent in the first four bars. The second four bars normally highlight the fourth chord of a scale, and the last four bars highlight the fifth chord of a scale.

For the lyrics to a blues song, the AAB pattern is predominant. A singer will sing the first and second four-bar verses with the same lines sung in each. The third four-bar verse will have different lines. Therefore A and A refer to the verses with the same lines; the B refers to the verse with different lines.

There can be different 12-bar segments in a blues song. When one 12-bar section gets resolved with the last four bars answering the previous eight, a new motif can develop in the next 12-bar section. In addition, while the 12-bar blues are the most common form in the blues arena, there are exceptions to it for variety and experimentation.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a movement in Britain, which brought about the “British Blues.” They were followers of the American blues tradition and very strict in following this form to a tee. This ended in the middle 1960s as the musicians from this country began to develop their own blues concepts and styles, although still based on the pioneering American blues school of thought.

The blues lends itself to much of the piano music available for playing today. Its influence is apparent in Broadway show tunes, film music and much music of the love-ballad type. Blues music can be a welcome addition to any pianist’s repertoire.

In popular music, blues keyboard riffs are universal. From Billy Preston jamming with the Rolling Stones to Ray Charles kicking into “What I’d Say,” blues progressions and scales serve as the basis for legendary songs and amazing keyboard solos. One of the greatest aspects of blues keyboard riffs is the musical theory behind them, which is simple enough for beginners, yet still challenges virtuosos.

An important musical tool to understand when playing blues keyboard riffs is the pentatonic scale. The minor pentatonic scale is the basis for most blues solos. Its cousin, the blues scale, adds a flatted fifth in between the fourth and fifth of the minor pentatonic. The major pentatonic is also used in blues keyboard riffs.

If you’re not familiar with these scales, here are some examples. We’ll use the key of E. The minor pentatonic consists of the tones 1, b3, 4, 5 and 7. So in the key of E we would have E, G, A, B and D. To change this to the blues scale, add the flatted fifth, which is bB. This gives you the notes E, G, A, Bb, B and D. The major pentatonic consists of the 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. In the key of E, this gives us E, F#, G#, B and C#. By learning these scales up and down the keyboard, you will have a base on which to build some awesome blues keyboard riffs.

So how do you make these scales mourn and wail like only the blues can? By knowing them inside and out, you can make musical theory sing. Running up and down scales will just make your blues keyboard riffs sound like finger exercises, but knowing how to blend major and minor pentatonic together will leave your listeners astounded. The key is to understand how blues keyboard riffs incorporate each scale over different chords.

For a basic twelve-bar blues progression, the choice of scale is open, with a few basic rules thrown in for good measure. One of the basic rules to keep in mind is that there are two easy scales to use over any one chord. If you’re playing over an E or E7 chord, you can choose to use the E minor pentatonic or the E major pentatonic. By alternating between the notes of these two scales, you’ll find a variety of notes from which to choose when playing blues keyboard riffs.

You can change any of the minor pentatonic to the blues scale for some added flavor. To do this in the major pentatonic, it may be easier to visualize the scale differently. Take the root of the chord and drop it a minor third. For example, if A is the root, then you would go down to F#. Now play a minor pentatonic in this key. You’re using the same notes as the A major pentatonic, just starting on a different root. Change it to a blues scale and you’ll have the notes F#, A, B, C, C# and E. Now you’ve got another blues scale to play over an A chord! It’s that simple, and it works for any key.

By mastering the use of these scales, you can play any blues keyboard riffs that come your way. The trick is to practice them until you no longer have to think about the notes; you just feel them under your fingertips. Then you’ll wail and mourn like only the greatest blues players can.

The ability to play blues piano is usually not expected of beginning pianists. There are reasons why most beginning pianists start out playing old songs written by classical composers from centuries past. Many songs written for the piano by such composers as Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky were originally intended as pieces to be used for lessons. Plus, the conventions of classical music lead to chord structures, harmonies, and melodies that were comparatively straight-forward, perfect for students who were not musical experts.

Attempting to play blues piano presents new challenges for pianists. Many non-musicians don’t realize the technical difficulty of blues and jazz music, but in fact, to be an accomplished musician in one of these genres requires years and years of intense training and practice. Some would even say that these musical genres are actually more complicated than pre-20th century musical forms, which would mean that blues and jazz musicians are, in general, the most accomplished and versatile musicians out there.

So, as you can guess, the decision to take the plunge into playing blues piano should not be made lightly. In order to have a true understanding of blues, its scales, harmonies, and rhythms, one needs to have at least a basic understanding of more traditional musical forms. Blues isn’t a parallel form of music to Classical and other traditional genres; no, it’s an augmentation of traditional music. Just like jazz, blues actually complicates traditional music. Thus, unless you have a natural feel for the blues, your study of blues piano requires at least a solid bedrock of musical knowledge.

I presume that you already know, at the very least, about the traditional major scale. For example, in order to understand and play the C blues scale, you must know the C Major scale.

If you have that knowledge, then it’s pretty simple. The blues scale simply takes the major scale and adds three extra notes. That’s it. The three extra notes are a flatted third, a flatted fifth, and a flatted seventh. Thus, the C blues scale has all of the same notes as the C Major scale — that is, C D E F G A B — with the three additional notes being E flat (or D sharp), G flat (or F sharp) and B flat (or A sharp).

That’s right, if you look closely at the blues scale, you’ll find that there are only two notes that are not included. In the C blues scale, only C sharp and G sharp are not played.

If you want to play blues piano, learning the blues scale is your first step. Even doing nothing more than playing the scale, you’ll hear a “bluesy-ness” to the scale, and if you are a fan of blues, it will sound great to your ears.

Once you can do this, you are ready to play blues piano. The next step is to try improvising. Come up with a chord progression. C F G C is a standard blues chord progression, except — and here is another important point — it is fairly standard in blues music to turn nearly every chord into a seventh chord. So, this progression, in blues form, would be C7 F7 G7 C7. Of course, with the new notes added in, you must remember that, in most cases, these should be played as minor 7th chords. Thus, both the C7 and F7 chords use notes that are not in the traditional C Major scale.

Once you have your chord progression down, improvising is easy. Come up with a simple, bluesy melody, and go from there. Just remember that in order for the music to have that special blues quality, you need to utilize those extra three notes that are not in the traditional scale. Those are the notes that give blues its edge.