If you are serious about playing jazz piano, learning the Shell chords is something that you probably will consider.
It can be very beneficial to learn the different Shell chords in all the keys systematically.
How To Tune Your Piano
I tune my piano, and I have been doing that for years. In this blog/video, I'll show you how you can do the same.
Also: Why is it important to keep your piano in tune? Can anyone tune their pianos? Why would anyone tune their own pianos?
Let's find out!
The One-Note Trick (Jazz Piano)
Sometimes, we can find quite interesting concepts. The One-Note Trick is one of them.
Once I discovered this way of thinking, I suddenly understood a lot more.
Why I Play The Piano
Why do I play the piano? Do you play the piano? If so, why?
In this article, I reflect on why I play the piano in the first place. The answer might be surprising. At least, it is an honest answer.
By reflecting on why we do what we do, we can get more clarity and more motivation. That's why I created this little lesson. Enjoy.
Autumn LEAVES
We all know the fantastic tune Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma.
There are many ways to play the tune. As jazz pianists, the goal is to apply all of our creativity to the already made tune and chord changes.
In this lesson, you'll learn a concept that you can apply that might help you understand how to build an exciting piano solo.
How To Play Fast Jazz Piano
How do you play fast jazz piano? To me it was a big mystery before I cracked "The Jazz Piano Code".
Now I made a video about what I did and what to take into consideration if you want to be able to master the skill of playing fast.
Pentatonic Tricks for Jazz Piano Lesson
The pentatonic scale is one of the most useful scale I know. You can use the scale on multiple styles. In the following video I will show you eight pentatonic tricks that you can use when you play and improvise as a jazz pianist.
Jazz Piano lesson - Four Hats
As jazz pianists we need to wear four hats. We need to be able to context switch between four roles as we play. These are: 1. The solo jazz pianist. 2. The duo jazz pianist. 3. The band jazz pianist. 4. The trio jazz pianist
This is my video from YouTube on how to wear all the four hats:
How To Play Jazz Piano. The Four Core Elements
Here is my video from YouTube on how to play jazz piano and understanding the four core elements.
Many years ago, I invented a system that I've been using ever since. It is also the system that I teach all of my students. Here is my video from YouTube on how to practice jazz piano:
I hope you enjoy!
I've enjoyed playing jazz waltz since the day my piano teacher showed me how he did it. It was hard at the start, but after some time, I made it. Now I'm happy to share what I know about this subject.
The idea is to see the modes as just diatonic scales and practice all the modes systematically in all keys. This requires you to only practice the 12 diatonic scales, and not 12 x 7 modes.
In this lesson I will show you how to play some funk, and what we can do as piano players when we play this great style of music.
This time we were in studio with my good friend Mikael Chauvet. (I've played with him since we were kids).
I hope you enjoy this little tutorial and that you get something valuable out of it.
As a jazz pianist, I find it very useful to know how to play walking bass lines for several reasons. The main reason is that you actually need to understand how the bass works in a band setting in order to play good walking bass lines yourself.
How can you play open jazz piano chords and make it sound like jazz?
In Europe and Scandinavia, there is a certain way to play jazz piano. Even this way to play jazz is a bit different than the traditional way to play jazz, they are still related to each other.
My first real jazz piano teacher showed me an important jazz piano scale principle for longer lines.
This principle is something that I now call the scale-to-one principle. Many people seem to struggle when it comes to create the long lines in their improvisation. Understandable! I did too. But that was before I learned the scale-to-I principle.
I was fortuned enough to discover the Lounge Jazz Piano style when I was just a little boy.
There was a shopping mall in my hometown Bergen, where a guy was playing this kind of music. He was quite good!
At the time I only had been playing simple chords with simple octaves in my left hand.
When I listened to the lounge jazz piano guy, I thought that what he did was just amazing. First of all: He played chords that I had never ever heard before. I fell in love right away! Still, I found it as a mystery for many years.
When I discovered for the first time the amazing effect of how to play outside when playing jazz piano, I was really blown away!
First of all: To play outside normally means that you change your harmonics and improvisation lines to something “outside” the normal harmony.
The tune is normally played in G, but can be played in any key. Bill Evans starts out in B and there is a modulation in the ending of the tune.
This is especially true when you play in bands that are playing Lounge Jazz. So always if I’m playing in a party (background music) I always play some bossa nova jazz piano.
I would never think that I one day would be teaching some of the runs he was famous for! But, here I am. With a deep respect for the man!
I was mesmerized by the great sound! If you don’t know this, you should.
I personally did not know about it before just a few months ago. Sure, I had heard it many times.