Modern Jazz Line #27 - Everything I Love - Jazz Piano Lesson Exercise Etude

Sheet Music:  Modern-Jazz-Line-27-Everything-I-Love

This week's Modern Jazz Line is based off the opening motif from Aaron Parks' solo on the tune Everything I Love.  You can the find the album available for FREE right here:  Alive in Japan.

The rhythmic motif I used is fairly simple.  It consists of a quarter note followed by four sixteenth notes. For each repetition of the pattern, the opening note is displaced by one eight note.

The first grouping of sixteenth notes uses an arpeggio based off of the Bb Melodic Minor scale.  The selected notes imply an A7b9 sound to the VI chord.  The second set of sixteenth notes is a simple arpeggiation of the 3-5-7 notes of Dm7 that resolves consonantly to the 9th of the chord.  The final grouping of sixteenth notes is a turn based on C Harmonic Major.  The idea is immediately echoed by the left hand.

I hope you enjoy transposing this melody through all twelve keys.  Feel free to substitute any of the written left hand voicings for your own.

You may want to watch my Introduction to Modern Jazz Lines 21-30 before continuing with this lesson.

You can find my complete collection of Modern Jazz Line "How to Improvise" playlists below.  You may want to review these lessons before continuing with the series.  They will give you an excellent introduction to voicing and improvising over the ii-V-I progression.

Modern Jazz Line #1-10 - The "ii-V-I" Progression
Video Jazz Piano Lesson Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (1-10)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #1-10

Modern Jazz Line #11-20 - The Tri-Tone Substitution
Video Jazz Piano Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (11-20)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #11-20

Sheet Music:   Modern-Jazz-Line-27-Everything-I-Love

Video Lesson:

Modern Jazz Line #26 - Mini-Etude - Jazz Piano Improvisation Lesson

Sheet Music:  Modern-Jazz-Line-26-Mini-Etude-Jazz-Piano-Lesson.pdf

It's good to be back after a brief two week hiatus.  This week's modern jazz melody is inspired by Charlie Parker's tune "Chi-Chi," a bebop head written over an Ab blues.  The line starts with an ascending arpeggio of perfect 4ths that immediately resolves to the 5th of Am7.  This is followed by a short Am descending triad that anticipates the 3rd of Dm7 by a half a beat.

Next is a short burst of triplets that imply an E Major Triad over Dm7 (Dhalf-dim) and then outlines notes from a G7(#9,13). The line ends with an interesting circling of the 5th chord tone of CMaj7 followed by a repeated triplet motif.

I hope you enjoy transposing this melody through all twelve keys.  Feel free to substitute any of the written left hand voicings for your own.

You may want to watch my Introduction to Modern Jazz Lines 21-30 before continuing with this lesson.

You can find my complete collection of Modern Jazz Line "How to Improvise" playlists below.  You may want to review these lessons before continuing with the series.  They will give you an excellent introduction to voicing and improvising over the ii-V-I progression.

Modern Jazz Line #1-10 - The "ii-V-I" Progression
Video Jazz Piano Lesson Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (1-10)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #1-10

Modern Jazz Line #11-20 - The Tri-Tone Substitution
Video Jazz Piano Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (11-20)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #11-20

Sheet Music:   Modern-Jazz-Line-26-Mini-Etude-Jazz-Piano-Lesson.pdf

Video Lesson:

Modern Jazz Line #23 - Triplet Intervalic Melody - How to Improvise - Jazz Piano

Sheet Music:  Modern-Jazz-Line-23-Triplet-Intervalic-Melody-How-to-Improvise.pdf

This week's Modern Jazz Line is built on a simple triplet motif I've been working with recently.  Try to focus on the intervalic shape and similar rhythm of the motif as you take the line through all 12 keys.

You may want to watch my Introduction to Modern Jazz Lines 21-30 before continuing with this lesson.

You can find my complete collection of Modern Jazz Line "How to Improvise" playlists below.  You may want to review these lessons before continuing with the series.  They will give you an excellent introduction to voicing and improvising over the ii-V-I progression.

Modern Jazz Line #1-10 - The "ii-V-I" Progression
Video Jazz Piano Lesson Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (1-10)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #1-10

Modern Jazz Line #11-20 - The Tri-Tone Substitution
Video Jazz Piano Playlist (YouTube)
Sheet Music Collection for Jazz Piano Lesson (11-20)
Blog Posts for Modern Jazz Line #11-20

Sheet Music:  Modern-Jazz-Line-23-Triplet-Intervalic-Melody-How-to-Improvise.pdf

Video Lesson:

Modern Jazz Line #20 - Evolution of a Jazz Line

We reached a milestone of 3000+ subscribers at Tjjazzpiano.com this week!  Thank you so much for your shares, favorites, "likes" and everything in between.  Here's to doubling the number in the coming year.  I am so excited to be sharing all of my exercises with you!  Here are 20 Modern Jazz Lines squeezed in to one lesson to say "thanks" for all your support.  Enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed watching the first 10 lessons from my Modern Jazz Line series.  In these jazz lessons I covered how to become a better improvisor using the ii-V-I progression as a guide.  The next Modern Jazz Line videos will cover the tri-tone substitution used in the context of a basic ii-V-I progression (see example below).  If you haven't read or watched my explanation of the tri-tone substitution you may want to check it out before continuing with the lesson below.

Sheet Music for this lesson:  Modern Jazz Line #20.pdf

You can find a complete list of my jazz piano lessons here and watch the playlist for either Modern Jazz Lines #1-10 or Modern Jazz Lines #11-20.

Introduction to the Tri-Tone Substitution: The Tri-Tone Substitution

Modern Jazz Line #20: +19 other lines!

Watch the video lesson here:

Modern Jazz Line #5 (ii-V-I) - How to Improvise - Ear Training

Welcome to my new jazz lesson video series dedicated to becoming a better improvisor.  In these short videos, we'll explore jazz lines I've written out to help myself become a better improvisor.  Over time, dedicated practice of these lines will greatly improve your ability to hear and improvise modern jazz melodies.  Check out the links below after the break for the accompanying sheet music to this lesson.

Sheet Music:  Modern Jazz Line #5

Please feel free to send me a message or leave a comment if you have any questions on this or any other of my jazz piano lessons.  For a complete list of jazz lessons, click here or on the "lessons" tab above.

Personalized signed copies of my new cd are available here "Meditations Vol.1".  Thank you for all the donations and purchases of my sheet music.  I really do appreciate your support.  It goes a long way to help me keep these jazz lessons going.

Jazz Piano Lesson #31: Three-Part Shell Voicing Exercise

In my previous lesson on three-part shell voicings for jazz piano (found here), we took a series of basic voicings through all twelve keys using the circle of fourths.  I've made a couple changes to the lesson to give it a bit more challenge and to "stretch" your understanding of three-part voicings (sorry about that).   The main difference is that the basic sequence of voicings is changed.  The 1-3-7 and 1-7-3 will still alternate but I've started the exercise on the opposite voicing from last time.

Instead of taking the voicings through the circle of fourths, we will now be taking them through a cycle based on minor thirds.  Each completed ii-V-I progression will now transpose up a minor third.  This means there will be four full transpositions by the end of each cycle.  Once a cycle is completed it is transposed up a half step to reach four new key centers.  There are three complete cycles in all.

One other small change is the addition of a Major 6th chord at the end of each ii-V-I.  I believe this gives the exercise a little more forward motion and also adds another option to your voicings arsenal.  Practice using these voicings on your favorite standards to further your understanding of how to incorporate them into your own playing.

As always, I really hope you enjoyed this jazz piano lesson.  If you have any questions on this lesson or previous lessons, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment below.

Video Lesson:  Part 1 Analysis  /  Part 2  Ear-Training and Performance
Scribd:  Click here for you Free .pdf of this lesson.

Thank you for considering a donation or purchase of my CD "Meditations Vol.1" to help support this website.

Free Jazz Piano Lesson #17: Open Position Shell Voicings

In this week's free jazz piano lesson, we revisit two-part shell voicings. We'll explore how to take these basic voicings and make them fuller sounding for when you're playing in a solo or duo situation. This style of jazz piano voicing is very commonly used by solo pianists (especially stride pianists of the '20s and '30's). Some great examples of this style of voicing can be found in the solo playing of Bill Evans, Bud Powell and even McCoy Tyner!

I hope you enjoy this lesson. Please leave a comment with any questions or suggestions and feel free to share this lesson with your friends.

Click here to view your free .pdf of this lesson on Scribd.com.

 

Did you like this lesson and want to see more like it?  Please donate to help me keep making videos!

 

Scribd Link:
Lesson #17: Open Position Shell

Lesson #16: But Beautiful Etude

How to practice this lesson:
Turn on the metronome at a slow enough tempo where you can play the exercise effortlessly.
1)  Play each hand as written while concentrating on hearing the melody in your head.
2)  Play the L.H. as written while singing the right hand melody.
2b)  An alternative to this step include pantomiming playing the right hand while singing.  This helps connect the physical action of playing with your aural memory.
3)  Sing the R.H. melody away from your instrument.  


Was that not enough of a challenge for you?  
1)  Consider taking small sections you enjoyed through all 12 keys.
2)  Practice displacing each phrase by half a beat, a full beat, or one and one half beats.
3)  Practice improvising with the melody by altering the rhythms within each phrase.


Enjoy!





Did you like this lesson and want to see more like it?  Please donate to help me keep making videos!

 

Click below to view your free .pdf on Scribd.com.
Lesson #16: But Beautiful

Free Jazz Piano Lesson #15: All the Things You Are Etude

How to practice this lesson:


Turn on the metronome at a slow enough tempo where you can play the exercise effortlessly.


1)  Play each hand as written while concentrating on hearing the melody in your head.


2)  Play the L.H. as written while singing the right hand melody.


2b)  An alternative to this step include pantomiming playing the right hand while singing.  This helps connect the physical action of playing with your aural memory.


3)  Sing the R.H. melody away from your instrument.  


Enjoy!


Check out the previous etude here:
Lesson #14: Confirmation Etude




Click Here for your FREE .pdf copy of this lesson!Lesson #15: All the Things You Are Etude


Did you like this lesson and want to see more like it?  Please donate to help me keep making videos!

 

Lesson #8: 1st Inversion Diminished Pattern with L.H. Voicings

If you have not watched/read Lesson #7, you may have trouble following this lesson. Please click here to do so before continuing.



In this week's lesson we take our pattern from Lesson #7 and invert it to get a completely new pattern. I learned this technique from my college professor. He was all about getting the "total mileage" out of every concept we would work on. This meant exploring all possible inversions, rhythmic variations, modal transpositions and articulations possible for each pattern. The goal of which is to eventually learn how to improvise with each variation on the fly. When you think in these terms, the possibilities are endless!

To invert our original diminished pattern we simply transpose the lowest note of the pattern up an octave. We then have a completely new pattern, which is really simply an intervalic variation (or inversion) of the original. As we learned in last week's lesson, we can transpose the new pattern up and down in minor thirds and all the notes will remain within the same diminished scale.

To created some rhythmic variation, I've added an anticipation to beat one of each pattern. This gives the pattern a better feeling of forward motion through the entire exercise. You may also want to try anticipating by two sixteenths or three. If you're having trouble thinking of this exercise in sixteenths, feel free to try thinking in eighth notes.

Download a free .pdf copy of Lesson #8

Solar Duet w/ Lot2Learn

Recorded this one a couple months ago.  I laid down my track while soloing and comping for a non existent partner.  Then L2L filled in the holes after I sent him my recording.   This is "Solar" by Miles Davis.


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