How To Play Jazz Piano
Lesson One – Swing
One of the most critical aspects of learning to play Jazz is the idea of swing.
The rhythmic swing separates Jazz from other forms of music and gives it its unique feel.
Quavers or eight-notes are where the swing feel happens. These notes are usually played with equal value, but in Jazz, they become closer to a 60:40 ratio making the first quaver (eight-note) longer by about a third.
To illustrate the idea of swing, let’s look at a simple major scale.
Here is the scale played straight with regular length quavers or eight notes.
Notice that the second quaver (eighth-note) has a gentle push to emphasize the swing feel further. This is not notated but implied with most Jazz pieces.
Now, here is the scale played again but with swing quavers.
Let’s apply this to a piece. I’ll now play a part of a piece (Blues For Alice by Charlie Parker), ‘straight quavers,’ then with the ‘swung quavers.’
Can you hear and feel the difference?
Tip – An essential element of learning to play Jazz is listening to notable artists’ recordings from the genre.
This is an effective way to develop your musical ears and pick up on the musical subtleties that are particular to the genre that you can begin to incorporate into your playing.
How to swing can often be confusing but look out for markings that indicate the piece is to be played this way. (See illustration above)
Lesson Two – Syncopation
Following on from our exploration of ‘swing,’ we need to take another look at a critical rhythmic feature of Jazz music.
The beautiful word syncopation describes this.
Syncopation is not a rhythmic device only found in Jazz, but it is at the very heart of its appeal.
The word describes a rhythm that is off the beat.
It is a technique used by composers to place rhythmic accents on weaker beats of the bar and bring a different feel to the piece.
Here is an example of a syncopated rhythm commonly found in Ragtime music from the early 1900s.
Before playing the melody, always slowly clap the rhythm first.
You can approach this bar by bar until you’re confident enough to clap, two together, then three, and so on.
Next, try clapping the rhythm and saying or singing the note names.
Finally, try slowly playing the melody adding a little speed only if you’re sure both rhythm and notes are correct.
Let’s take a brief look at another example of syncopation.
This time from a piece called “Satin Doll” by the famous pianist, composer, and bandleader Duke Ellington.
Lesson Three – Chords
A chord means three or more notes played or sounding simultaneous.
They form the basis for harmony in music and provide the framework for melody.
In Jazz, chords are often extended well beyond the three notes you will most commonly hear in music: the first, third, and fifth notes of any given scale.
What frequently happens in Jazz is that chords have added notes or extensions that bring a richer harmonic color to the music.
Here is an example of how these chords are made.
It’s important to note that not all these notes are played at once, every time in Jazz. Instead, pianists voice the chords using the sound they feel is most suitable.
We’ll look more closely at voicing in a later lesson.
Chord symbols are often written above a melody on ‘lead sheets’ in Jazz.
These symbols, as above, give the pianist an indication of the harmony they are expected to play.
It’s a kind of musical shorthand.
Here is an example of chord symbols used in “Satin Doll.”
Notice that the notes of the chords are ‘grouped’ closely together.
This is for ease of performance as well as the sound.
The little ‘m’ refers to a minor chord instead of a major chord.
Minor chords are made in precisely the same way as major ones.
Let’s finish our look at Jazz chords by considering some more complex options in jazz piano.
These include flattened and sharpened notes added to the chord for harmonic color.
The opening chords to the well-known ballad “Don’t Blame Me” by Mchugh & Fields.
It is perfectly possible to play these chords in a less complex way by omitting the ‘additional’ notes.
For example, Em7(flattened)5th can be played as Em.
Try both out to hear the coloristic difference and make up your mind which best suits the melody.
Lesson Four – The Turnaround
So far, we have explored several key elements of Jazz that are vital to play confidently in the genre.
These include swing, syncopation, and chords. Following our session on chords, this lesson focuses on the idea of the turnaround.
This is a very common feature in Jazz music and an essential tool in the pianist’s armory.
As you might expect, the turnaround is so-called as it often appears at the end of a musical phrase or melody and provides the link back to the start of the melody.
The most commonly used turnaround involves chords II, V, and I. (Note that chords can often be referred to using Roman numerals and chord symbols – Lesson 3).
A valuable part of your practice is to be able to play turnarounds in every key! Let’s start by looking at this in a practical way.
Notice that the chords in the turnaround include added 7ths to give the sound a jazzier edge.
You will also see that the chords in the right hand are ‘voiced’ for ease of playing, but you can practice the progression with the notes of the chords in a different order if you wish.
Now here are two turnaround chord progressions in minor keys.
Notice that there is a flattened 5th (C) in the E minor turnaround.
This is because the chord is formed from the harmonic minor scale, something we’ll look at in more detail in another lesson.
To end the lesson, let’s look at how this works in practice with Satin Doll.
Notice that the turnaround isn’t back to C (the home key) but to D minor, which is the starting chord.
The progression of chords is still II – V – I but in D minor.
Lesson Five – Chord Substitutions (Chords II)
One of the most commonly used features in Jazz playing is chord substitutions.
These take many different forms, but one that is perhaps more frequently used than many is the tri-tone substitution.
This is a handy tool in the piano player’s kit.
It brings a new harmonic color to the piece and supports the melody uniquely and often unexpectedly.
The word tri-tone refers to an interval or gap from one note to another.
For example, an A – B is called a tone or major 2nd, A – C a minor 3rd, and A – D a perfect 4th.
Below is a table of intervals for you to refer to.
One of the most usual places to use a tri-tone substitution would be during a turnaround.
Original chord pattern: C A7 Dm7 G7
With tri-tone substitution: C A7 Dm7 Db7
The interval between the G and the Db is a tri-tone, making this chord alteration a tri-tone substitution.
We can apply this to our Jazz Standard, Satin Doll, to add more harmonic color and greater options for improvisation.
Notice the last three chords have all been altered but ‘work’ as the held G still sounds good with the changes.
Lesson Six – Scales
Scales are an integral part of learning to play Jazz Piano in the same way as chords and rhythms.
They are the final musical element that we need to cover before moving towards the core of Jazz; improvisation.
There are many types of scales used in Jazz; too many to include in this short series of lessons.
They are vitally important to the aspiring Jazz Pianist as they allow for free and fluent right-hand movement both for improvisation and melodic flow.
One of the most valuable scales popular with guitarists the world over is the pentatonic scale.
This is because it ‘fits’ over a huge variety of chords in any given key.
This is how it looks.
The pentatonic ‘avoid’ the notes that might cause a harmonic clash.
These, as you can see from the above example, are the 5th and 7th notes of the scale.
Learning the pentatonic scales in all keys is beneficial for your skill kit.
Next are the major scale and the minor scale.
For this lesson, I will only look at the harmonic minor.
The major scale is always made up of these intervals –
T T ST T T T ST (T = Tone & ST = Semi-tone)
The harmonic minor scale is always made up of these intervals –
T ST T T ST Minor 3rd ST
Playing these scales in all keys is very important to a Jazz Pianist.
One of the most vital scales is a mixture of major and minor and gives Jazz its flavor. This scale is called the Blues Scale.
Here it is in the key of C.
Here you can see that the Blues Scale, a little like the Pentatonic, ‘avoids’ specific scale notes.
It also has the characteristic flattened 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the scale.
This makes the scale incredibly useful when improvising or creating your jazz tunes.
Lesson Seven – Improvisation (An Introduction)
The word improvisation often causes excellent upset to performers.
As a Jazz Pianist, it is a vitally important element of your skills.
It doesn’t mean being able to produce a virtuosic and complex performance.
What it does mean is being able to find your way, melodically, over a chord pattern.
The complexity, or I’d prefer to say sophistication, will arrive with time, patience and practice.
Some guidelines:
- One key aspect of improvising is not to imagine that you have to play all the time. You can, and indeed should, include rests in your improvisation.
- Use both the rhythmic and melodic ideas in the “head” or melody. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Clap through the rhythms you want to use. Please keep it simple.
- Try to play through the tune’s chords until you ‘feel’ the harmonic structure.
- Repeat your ideas – vary your thoughts.
For this lesson, we’ll take a look at the Ellington tune called “Ring Dem Bells.”
This is usually a very up-tempo number, but remember to take things slowly when learning and practicing.
Here are the first 8 bars of the tune as written with the chords realized below.
And now with a written-out improvisation.
I have made full use of the melody as Ellington provided; melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically.
In other words, I’ve used the melody as a model and filled in the gaps taking into account the chord patterns.
Here is another example of how you might improvise on this melody.
Lesson Eight – The 32 Bar Standard
There are few more common musical forms in Jazz than the 32 Bar Standard. Form refers to how a piece of music is put together.
To expand this further, what this translates to in practice, is a piece of music with an A section, a contrasting B section, then usually a repeat of the A section.
This can also be considered to be a ternary form piece.
Above is a perfect example of the 32 Bar standard, composed by the master, Ellington.
As a Jazz Pianist, understanding the musical shape of a piece, particularly such a common one, is a crucial skill.
It also helps to learn the chord patterns to link them to a structure.
Once you’ve begun to recognize the form, you’ll find it everywhere, and it’ll make learning the Jazz Standards far less daunting.
Other suggestions of 32 Bar Standards to explore could include:
Autumn Leaves (Kosma/Mercer/Prevert)
Bewitched (Rogers & Hart)
Darn That Dream (Van Heusen & De Lange)
It Doesn’t Mean a Thing (Ellington)
Long Ago and Far Away (Gershwin)
Lesson Nine – Jazz Piano Styles
You are probably already aware that there are many different approaches to playing Jazz Piano: too many to consider here.
In this lesson, we’ll take a look at one of the most valuable and popular methods of playing, called stride piano.
Stride piano has its origins in the early part of the 20th Century and was a way of playing that came out of necessity.
It was commonplace to have a piano player working in bars providing background music to all the activities.
It was the cheapest option and avoided having to hire a full band.
This did present the piano player with a challenge.
How to ‘fill in’ all the parts on a piano that the band would usually play? The answer was stride.
This means that the pianist’s right-hand plays the melody (often with chords), while the pianist’s left-hand plays a bass line and the chords. (See example below)
Stride piano can also be found in Rag-time piano playing in the works of Scott Joplin.
These pieces are pretty approachable if learned slowly, with hands separately at first.
Another idea is to work out your own ‘stride’ left hand using a familiar song.
Here is an example of how a stride LH might be realized for Satin Doll.
Notice how I have adopted the style of the stride pianist by adding chords to the melody line.
It could also simplify this by playing the melody as written.
Tip: try not to ‘over pedal’ when playing stride piano.
If you use the pedal, pedal according to each chord change and avoid blurring the sound.
Lesson Ten – Putting it All together
In this final lesson, it’s time to practice all the separate elements of Jazz Piano playing and the theory we have covered.
One key question that is often asked of Jazz Pianists is what do you do with your left hand?
Having worked through lesson 9, stride piano is one option that is particular to early Jazz and Ragtime music but can be extremely useful.
The other less obvious answer is adding the realized chord patterns and rhythmically supporting the melody line in the right hand.
Other options include a walking bass and a rolling boogie-woogie style that Count Basie exemplified.
Like many aspects of Jazz Piano playing, finding your style is key to developing your sound and maintaining interest in your study of Jazz.
Let’s look one last time at our standard Satin Doll.
In this version, I use a ‘lead sheet’ that provides the melody and chords, and I have developed it into a fully-fledged jazz interpretation that uses many of the topics we have covered in the previous lessons.
In the first instance, I’ll play the entire standard and then improvise based on the A section only, returning to the B section and a reprise of the A section to finish.
Below is an extract.
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