INTRODUCTION
How To Play Piano- How To Play Jazz and Blues- Overview
Recap
Bijan Taghavi defines jazz, in this overview on how to play the piano. Learn to play jazz and blues piano as Bijan Taghavi outlines the harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic vocabulary that is jazz.
Prior to immersing yourself within the technical aspects of the jazz vocabulary, I cannot stress enough the importance of listening and transcribing. Both of these processes are preliminary to any exploration within the jazz language, as internalizing the jazz culture is essential to success. Ultimately- through listening- you have to know what you want to play before you play it. Then- through transcribing- you have the opportunity to learn from the great legends and masters of jazz, by analyzing their approaches to jazz performance.
Finally let's answer a basic question: What is jazz? Jazz is musical freedom; ranging from simplistic to complex harmonies, highlighted by spontaneous creative improvisations, and evident through syncopated rhythms- latin and swing- jazz is the most creative art form.
Now you can begin exploring the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic vocabulary that is jazz:
Also, I firmly believe that blues is a sect of jazz. Nevertheless, understanding the basic blues progression and the bluesy flavor (pentatonic scales particularly) is rudimentary. In my opinion, the hybrid of jazz and blues- jazz blues- is really awesome and the jazz harmony mixed with the bluesy twist adds a nice color to performances!
Prior to immersing yourself within the technical aspects of the jazz vocabulary, I cannot stress enough the importance of listening and transcribing. Both of these processes are preliminary to any exploration within the jazz language, as internalizing the jazz culture is essential to success. Ultimately- through listening- you have to know what you want to play before you play it. Then- through transcribing- you have the opportunity to learn from the great legends and masters of jazz, by analyzing their approaches to jazz performance.
Finally let's answer a basic question: What is jazz? Jazz is musical freedom; ranging from simplistic to complex harmonies, highlighted by spontaneous creative improvisations, and evident through syncopated rhythms- latin and swing- jazz is the most creative art form.
Now you can begin exploring the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic vocabulary that is jazz:
- First, harmonically jazz ranges from simplistic to complex- unorthodox yet beautiful- harmonies. You should definitely check out my Understanding Jazz Harmony series. Many are intrigued by jazz harmony, but are afraid of learning it. For me, understanding diatonic harmony opened up many doors for me; as I was able to subsequently apply the principles of functioning dominants, secondary dominants, tritone substitutions, and more to jazz up my jazz! Know the common chord progressions and familiarize yourself with altered harmony. However- all in all- listening and transcribing the greats (Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Bud Powell) will help you understand harmonic concepts like never before.
- Second, melodically many jazz fanatics are amazed by the spontaneous creative improvisations that come out of jazz musicians, particularly how this beautiful music could possibly be unrehearsed. Well, as my mentor and classical pianist Robert Estrin emphasizes, "the secret to improvisation is knowing which notes to choose from." Now of course the rhythmic aspect to improvisation cannot be overlooked either, however it is important to explore various melodic approaches to improvisation: chord-tone soloing, scales, modes, blues, and licks are many different avenues in which jazz musicians take to create an improvisation.
- Third, rhythmically jazz screams syncopation. The emphasis on the off-beats (for swing): 2 and 4, triplet rhythms, and swinging eights are essential jazz rhythms that are intrinsic to jazz performance. Latin jazz also presents interesting rhythmic displacement. Listen to how the greats incorporate jazz rhythm, and yes- you can even transcribe rhythms (not just notes)!
Also, I firmly believe that blues is a sect of jazz. Nevertheless, understanding the basic blues progression and the bluesy flavor (pentatonic scales particularly) is rudimentary. In my opinion, the hybrid of jazz and blues- jazz blues- is really awesome and the jazz harmony mixed with the bluesy twist adds a nice color to performances!