ionian
The 10 Most Important Jazz Scales
The topic of improvisation can be quite overwhelming for jazz students when they consider all the various chords and scales that exist in jazz music. Fortunately, in today’s Quick Tip, The 10 Most Important Jazz Scales, Jonny May helps students get ahead by sharing the “go to” scales that he relies on most often when … Continue reading “The 10 Most Important Jazz Scales”
The Ultimate Guide to Music Theory Terms & Jazz Definitions
The jazz piano student’s indispensable online dictionary of music theory terms, concepts, definitions and vocabulary words! How to Use this Dictionary of Music Theory Terms & Jazz Concepts Like any high-level discipline, professional jazz musicians use a host of specialized terms to define music theory concepts and techniques. Therefore, we’ve compiled this free online dictionary … Continue reading “The Ultimate Guide to Music Theory Terms & Jazz Definitions”
Jazz Piano 1-Year Practice Plan
Are you eager to learn how to play jazz piano, but you don’t have a clear road map of what to practice? Well, in today’s Quick Tip, Jazz Piano 1-Year Practice Plan, Jonny May shares a practice blueprint that will help you crush your jazz piano goals in the next 12 months! In this lesson, students … Continue reading “Jazz Piano 1-Year Practice Plan”
5 Major Scale Exercises to Practice Daily
Most piano students spend time practicing scales, but is this time well spent? For example, what does a student gain from playing a traditional major scale exercise in parallel octaves? Perhaps not as much as you thought. In today’s Quick Tip, 5 Major Scale Exercises to Practice Daily, Jonny May shares a different approach to … Continue reading “5 Major Scale Exercises to Practice Daily”
Drop 2 Piano Voicings – The Complete Guide
Sometimes as jazz piano students, we can get so caught up with progressions, voicings and improv ideas that we fail to give adequate attention to the timeless melodies that we’ve inherited. You know you’re guilty of this if you treat a jazz melody as “filler music” before your solo starts. Well, in today’s Quick Tip, … Continue reading “Drop 2 Piano Voicings – The Complete Guide”
Modal Interchange: The Complete Guide to Borrowed Chords
Occasionally, as a pianist, you may find yourself in a situation in which you must perform a song that you don’t particularly like. For example, maybe you feel that the style is too plain or the chords are too predictable. However, with reharmonization, you can infuse any piece of music with your own harmonic expression. … Continue reading “Modal Interchange: The Complete Guide to Borrowed Chords”
Cinematic Chords—The Ultimate Guide
Have you ever listened to film music and suspected that film composers play by a different set of music theory rules? If you have, you’re right! Much of the suspense music that you hear in modern film and video game soundtracks does not use chord progressions associated with traditional harmony. So how do Hollywood film … Continue reading “Cinematic Chords—The Ultimate Guide”
C Natural Minor Scale – The Complete Guide
As a music student, perhaps you know of the natural minor scale, but are not sure how to actually use it in your playing? The following complete guide on the C Natural Minor Scale addresses this common experience. In fact, a solid understanding of the natural minor scale can make major changes in your playing! … Continue reading “C Natural Minor Scale – The Complete Guide”
7 Techniques to Spice Up a Jazz Melody
One of the most challenging topics to learn and teach in jazz education is how to interpret a jazz melody. As a living performance art, many aspects of jazz phrasing are difficult to represent with music notation. Overtime, students learn to interpret jazz melodies represented on lead sheets using established melodic and rhythmic idioms of … Continue reading “7 Techniques to Spice Up a Jazz Melody”
Lift 2 Chords – The Gold Chord Voicing
If you are a student of jazz piano, you have probably heard of drop 2 chords. But what if you played lift 2 chords instead? If you have never explored lift 2 chords, then you are missing out on a beautiful jazz piano voicing technique. In fact, Jonny refers to these exquisite jazz piano chords as “Gold … Continue reading “Lift 2 Chords – The Gold Chord Voicing”
Piano Musical Modes – The Complete Guide
The simple pleasure of an ice cream cone on a hot summer day is a tradition enjoyed by many cultures. Certainly, one of the most exciting things about going to the ice cream parlor is the free samples. Otherwise, it might be impossible to make a decision when faced with the endless frozen mountains just … Continue reading “Piano Musical Modes – The Complete Guide”
The Beginner Jazz Piano Practice Guide
There is nothing quite like the sound of jazz piano—the colorful chords, playful melodies, bluesy inflections, and a swinging comp. These may be some of the reasons why you were drawn to study jazz piano. For other aspiring students, their journey began when they were arrested by a particular jazz pianist’s sound—Red Garland, Bud Powell, … Continue reading “The Beginner Jazz Piano Practice Guide”
How to Improvise a Solo With the Major Scale 1
In this workshop, you will learn how to improvise piano with one of the most important scales – the Major (Ionian) Scale. We’ll start with learning the notes of the scale along with 3 common chord progressions you can use when soloing. Then we’ll learn 5 left hand accompaniments, including chording, rock, latin, flowing, and … Continue reading “How to Improvise a Solo With the Major Scale 1”
Essential Jazz Piano Exercise – Chromatic Neighbors
Imagine you are taking a trip to somewhere you’ve never been before. You probably don’t want to look like a tourist, but you’re not sure how to blend in and you don’t know the language. What you need are connections! The right connections will help you avoid awkward moments and allow you to fit in … Continue reading “Essential Jazz Piano Exercise – Chromatic Neighbors”
How to Practice Scales for Jazz Piano
Do you want to learn how to effectively practice your scales so that you can play jazz piano? Most students learn their major scales by playing them up and down the piano. While this is a good exercise to master technique, it does not help you effectively improvise using your scales. To accomplish this, you … Continue reading “How to Practice Scales for Jazz Piano”
Learn Modern Jazz Piano Chords
Do you want to learn essential techniques to play modern jazz piano chords? In today’s piano lesson you are going to learn how to construct quartal voicings commonly used to get that modern jazz piano sound. You’ll learn: The most common scale used for soloing over minor chords The minor 11 chord Harmonizing with minor 11 quartal … Continue reading “Learn Modern Jazz Piano Chords”
