An in-depth study of rootless chord voicings; we create rootless 251 progressions in major and minor keys & apply to 3 well-know jazz standards.
Learn the tune “Georgia On My Mind” in the soulful style of Ray Charles, starting with the most basic arrangement techniques and gradually increasing the complexity.
Learn why rootless voicings are an essential component of jazz piano performance. We cover the theory and the most important drills to master.
Learn how to play and improvise in the cocktail piano style. We cover chord voicings, chord progressions, and improvisation techniques for solo jazz piano.
In this course we explore stride drills for beginners, harmonising and reharmonising the melody, adding runs and fills, and techniques for improvisation and soloing.
A course dedicated to elegant stride for jazz ballads. We use the harmonically rich tune “Body & Soul” to explore stride, melodic embellishment, fills, runs, and improvisation.
These principles can be applied to any tune. Always remember to look at melody and chords for inspiration when introducing a tune.
We build upon what we have covered in the previous tutorials by introducing upper structure triads, sus chords and a stride style.
Commonly associated with the film “Casablanca”, this classic is written in Eb Major and follows a standard 32 bar A-A-B-A form.
We explore the unique left hand stride style of the New Orleans pianist James Booker using the famous tune “On The Sunny Side Of The Street”.
In addition to a full arrangement, we also cover the 4 bar introduction which is heard in the famous Nat King Cole recording of this tune.
The tune follows a standard 32 bar AABA form and there is also a 24 bar introduction which we are going to include in the arrangement.
In part 2 of this tutorial on “Embraceable You”, we focus on the second half of the form. We create bigger voicings to add a sense of climax and finale.
Widely quoted as one of Gershwin’s finest compositions, the harmony and melody is challenging with unusual changes and large leaps in the melody.
Welcome to part 2 of this lesson on the tune Stardust. In part 1 we explored the 16 bar introduction and now we’re going to move into the main tune.
“Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael is 48 bars long including the 16 bar introduction. From bar 17 onwards, the tune then follows a standard ABAC form.
Spend some time to work these chords and progressions, and once you feel comfortable you can move onto the main 32 bar form of the tune.