I think a lot of people assume that jazz is all about instinct. The truth is that there are things you have to learn<\/em> to play jazz. Improvising is an art in any genre. But before you can improvise, there are things to be learned. Like learning a language, you may learn it as a native speaker or as a second language, but learning is still involved.<\/p>\n I\u2019d encourage anyone interested in learning jazz to get a book from the library or store, such as The Jazz Theory Book<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Mark Levine. The learn about modes if you take AP musicianship in high school, but learning to play jazz you find out what they are useful for. Jazz moves chromatically, and so one can\u2019t really improvise in a single key. One has to think of each chord as having its own corresponding scale. And that\u2019s where the modes come in, as well as scales such as the melodic minor. To improvise over the aforementioned Eb-b13 chord, one has to improvise in the Bb melodic minor scale. This and F Maj 7 are the two chords in the first two measures after the introduction in \u201cChristmastime is Here\u201d and on the latter you would improvise around F pentatonic or F Lydian<\/a> (which is identical to C Major,\u00a0but can also be thought of as\u00a0the F Major scale with a raised 4th, and thus a mode<\/em>).<\/p>\n Learning the theory is crucial. But so is listening (there\u2019s a lot of great jazz to simply listen to on YouTube) and having the chance to see exactly what is going on. And so tutorial videos in which the person slows down and comments on what they did, or which feature a second display of the keyboard or music staff with the notes being played, can be very helpful.<\/p>\n Below are a few examples of the kinds of useful videos that are on YouTube for help with learning jazz piano.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7bIHDL141g0?fs=1<\/a>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HoDJl3vcpgo?fs=1<\/a>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mvB1P7_aGZA?fs=1<\/a>\n For a long time, I\u2019ve wanted to learn to play jazz. I had a friend in high school who would play things like \u201cAin\u2019t No Need To Worry\u201d by the Winans with cool jazzy\u00a0chord progressions, and a piano\/organ player at a church I attended in the UK who would add jazzy interludes in songs. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1883217040\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-858245539191783830?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")