I think it’s a great idea to move onto some new tunes and expand your repertoire.
For “What Is This Thing Called Love”, here are a couple of tutorials you may find helpful:
Harmony, Form & Bassline:
Improvising With Triads Over The Changes:
Of course it’s also important to listen to many versions and transcribe things you like such as the phrasing of the melody, melodic decoration and fills, improvised solos, comping etc…
Have fun working on that tune. It’s a useful one to have in our repertoire.
Hey @Hayden, ty for you great suggestions, i have a question, knowing that i’m gonna start 3 new standards, if i decide to practice jazz repertoire for an 1 hour lets say, should i split my hour in 3 parts of 20m for each standard, or 1 hour on the same standard, and move onto another 1 of the list the next day ?
I’d say definitely split your hour into 3 chunks where you focus on each jazz standard.
20 minutes per standard per day is a good amount of time. Within the space of a few weeks you will feel much more confident with each tune.
It could also be nice to break each 20 minutes into smaller chunks, here’s some ideas:
Spend 5 or 10 minutes just focusing on the ‘head’, ie, the main melody. From listening throughout the day, you will have made note of little things you like and so you can transcribe these during your practice time. This could be melodic phrasing, ornamentation, little fills etc…
Spend 5 or 10 minutes just focusing on improvisation. You could set the iRealPro to 20+ repeats and cycle around and around developing ideas. Try to state a motif or melodic idea, and then develop it to its fullest potential.
Perhaps lay off on improvisation for a few choruses and practice comping with the iRealPro. Then come back in with your improvisation. This is why it’s nice to set the iRealPro to 20+ repeats so you can practice the different roles of the pianist in an ensemble setting.
Spend 5 or 10 minutes transcribing from the solos of your favourite recordings. The key here is to be consistent with your practice. You may not feel like much progress is made within the 5 or 10 minutes, but when you come back to it the next day, you will feel more comfortable playing along with the record. Transcribing is a gradual process and it requires patience.
Ultimately find a routine that you enjoy and one that also gives you a sense of improvement and progression.
Remember to also utilise you time away from the piano, for example listening to the tunes during breakfast or whilst commuting. Or perhaps quizzing yourself on the chord changes whilst away from the piano. If you can sit at the piano and not need the lead sheet in front of you, then you can fully immerse yourself in emulating your favourite recordings.
Hey @Hayden, i’ve watched the triads tutorial improv video mutiple times, but i don’t really understand what Jovino says by seeing chords as triads, and use them as triads in improvisation. For a simple Cmaj7 chord for exemple, i can see it as a Cmaj triad, but what else ?
The core premise is that scales are linear, and triads are non-linear.
When we see the chord Cmaj7, one option is to play the C major scale.
However, this approach could make us think in a ‘linear fashion’ and the temptation is to just run up and down the scale which can sometimes sound robotic and not very creative.
However, if we take a triad from the C Major Scale, let’s take the G major triad for example, it contains the 5th, 7th, and 9th of C major.
Using the 3 notes of that G triad, we can create melodic ideas and phrases which are non-linear, ie, not just series of half and whole steps like the C Major Scale. Instead, the triad and its inversions contains 3rd and 4th intervals which can be used to create more interesting melodic contours in our improvisation.
Of course we could combine the G Triad with the essential chord tones of C Major (3rd and 7th) and perhaps also some scalar material, but the idea is that we are using the G triad as the basis of our melodic creativity, instead of just using the C Major scale as the basis of our melodic creativity.
A specific triad can also bring out specific colours over a chord. For example, if we play a D Major Triad over a Cmaj7 chord, we are outlining the chord tones 9, #11, and 13, which gives us Cmaj13#11. But all we are thinking is Dmaj/C. It’s effectively a shortcut.
Tuomo made a similar lesson on triad pairs here:
Check that lesson out, and any further questions let us know
I’ve watched this lesson, and i’m glad i already starting play with alterations in my 251’s on the dominant chord, i already feel really familiar with alterations and i also did start to incorporate US triads on my extended voicing plan so that’s awesome , as Steve Job said “you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards”
@Hayden I have another question concerning improvisation, well it concerne the left hand, what types of voicings should i do when improvising with the right ? I’ve thought about inversions, maybe add some extensions ?
The type of voicings we can use in our left hand when improvising largely depends on the context.
In A Solo Piano Context:
When performing solo jazz piano, we should be establishing the basis of the harmony by playing the root for most of the chords in the progression.
We could play ‘left hand shell voicings’ such as root and 7ths, and root and 3rds.
Another nice option could be a ‘left hand stride style’ where we play the root way down in the lower registers and then bring our left hand up to play a rootless voicing.
That’s 2 options for solo piano performance. You could also combine both of these styles.
Left hand accompaniment styles vary based on personal taste. When listening to my favourite solo jazz pianists - Bill Evans, Kieth Jarrett, Barry Harris, Red Garland, Hank Jones - this is what I hear them doing.
My best advice would be to listen and transcribe from the players you want to sound like.
When A Bass Player Is Present:
If we are playing with a bass player or the iRealPro app, then the bassline/foundation of the harmony is being covered.
This frees up our left hand to drop the root and explore rootless harmony. We can experiment with interesting inversions, extensions, & alterations such as the voicings we cover in our rootless voicings course:
I hope this helps and remember that there is no ‘set-in-stone’ way to accompany our improvisations.
The key is listening to many different players and find a style that you like the best, and that you would like to sound like. Then study it and transcribe it . That’s my biggest tip!
Hi all, this is time to get back on the journey, i’ve already started to play a lot again last week, but with Emma’s log, i feel i have to keep posting, so for this week (from 16 to 23 of september) i will be doing:
-learn the bridge of Autumn Leaves and What is this called love, finishing to learn the chord of Summertime, i’ve been focusing on playing melody + shell vocings, my goal was to learn the chord in the first hand.
-Im also practicing chord tones soloing on that tunes (with going up, then going down, then random chord tones in quavers for now) so i wanna keep that going.
-Practicing approach pattern on the blues, i’ve been working a lot on double enclosures, even if double enclosures on the second chord in a single bar still feels hard ( for exemple the F7 right after C-7)
Also i would like to know more about practicing on 2 and 4 with a metronome, should i put my voicings on these beats, and does it works for all tunes ? I’ve watched the lesson on that with Autumn Leaves.
–Guillaume–
PS: Hmm… @Hayden maybe you didn’t see my question above
Im gonna focus on playing triplets on the blues for this week, then obmit the 2nd triplet, swing feel focus, because my improvisations sounds flat ! So i really need to improve and focus on that area, and explore maybe playing chords on 2 & 4 on the standards im currently learning
Great thread you have here Guillaume. I see you have a good plan about your practices - and short term or long term goals - how’s everything going? All the best. btw nice song pick, I also love Autumn Leaves though I haven’t learned it yet
Hello everyone… after such a long time, i’m very happy to be back here, i’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time !
Since i haven’t touch a piano key in years, i’m gonna start over from the beginning. I’ve been thinking of where i would to take my playing to, and how can i make that efficient.
My goals are clear:
On the short term, i want to build a routine of ATLEAST 30 minutes a day of playing, divided between technique and learning standards piano improv.
Focus on solo piano playing, since i will not have many opportunities to play with a band before a very long time.
So i will need your help to build my routine, how to divide my time to make the most of it !
On the long term:
-I’ve always been fascinated with Bill Evans playing, he brought me into jazz, and i can never get tired of listening to him over and over again, so i would like to make my playing to go towards his style !
So happy to be back here, and i’m listening for your recommandations !
This should answer all of your questions on how to structure your practice time, and also the main theory milestones ahead for beginner/early-intermediate jazz piano study.
If you have any further questions after watching the seminar, you can post in the comments section of the seminar page and I’ll be happy to assist.
You might like to check out the “Novice” category of jazz piano lessons. These lessons are the most accessible jazz standard tutorials on the website and so I’d recommend to start here to build out your repertoire of tunes as quickly as possible.
These lessons focus on the essentials of arranging for solo piano performance.
Work through these lessons and once comfortable with the basic arrangements, you can find more advanced lessons on the same tunes by using the website search function.
Please see the search results here for “Bill Evans”:
The 5 pages of search results include lessons and seminars which cover his voicing techniques, analyses of his recordings/arrangements, and also jazz standards arranged in his style.
Some tunes that might interest to you are “Emily” and “Waltz For Debby” that you can find in the search results. Above anything else, choose the tunes and theory topics that interest you the most and work from there.
Likewise pleasure to have you back with us!
Spend a few days going over my recommendations above, and don’t hesitate to ask more questions if something isn’t clear.
So after some days of reflection, thanks to @Hayden , this is what i’ve decided:
For the technique block, i want to do 3 blocks of major scales first, to get some technique back, and build more, then for the second, simply practice my triads and the inversions, and for the last, the major 251’s.
Now onto standard section, i want to start with “moon river” as in “Novice” category Hayden suggested, i want to build some repertoire but take the time to really internalize the standard, so one standard a month should be ok in my opinion
Later i will of course apply Bill Evans style, but Piano is more like a marathon rather than a sprint, so i have time to get back to it (and Bill is not going anywhere LOL).
A question is popping into my head tho, @Hayden what is your process to really make a standard “your own” ?
You might also like to check out the essentials practice guide which covers scales, triads, 7th chords, and the 251 progression.
You can dedicate 15 or 20 minutes per day to this practice plan, starting with as many keys as you can get through, and work up to getting through all 12 keys in 15 minutes.
If you like block chord style then certainly dedicate a daily practice slot to this too. Again 15 minutes is a good amount of time to dedicate to a specific topic if you have an hour practice session for example.
Yes that’s a great place to start.
I recommend to study a few of the novice-level jazz standards simultaneously. Perhaps choose a different key, so you already have “Moon River” in C Major, and I think “My Foolish Heart” in Bb Major would complement your repertoire.
You can also choose a tune from the course: Beginner Standards in Eb - and choose the one that interests you most
Haha yes we are lucky that Bill Evans’ discography is just a click away on YouTube and Spotify!
That’s a good question.
I find that the best way to make a jazz standard my own is to compile a list of recordings of the tune that I admire in some shape or form.
It could be that I like the melodic phrasing, or perhaps a specific fill or a lick, maybe some passing chords, or even the entire song or improvised solo. Whatever piques my interest, I add it into my playlist for further analysis and easy reference/access.
We then have to listen to our chosen recordings everyday, and gradually dissect them and try to emulate our favourite parts and the things that we want our own playing to sound like.
If we then combine our favourite parts from say 5 or 10 recordings, we then have something that is distinctly our own, based on our personal taste.
Here’s a playlist that I created on the song “My Foolish Heart” which I recommended to you above:
On a related note, I’m planning to add a ‘listening/transcription session’ to each song module in the Novice section which covers exactly what you are asking here.
I will record this in live seminar format (but not a live event) and in each video we will listen to a handful of recordings of the tune in question and explore how to pick little ideas and apply them to our playing.
Since you were last studying with us @Guillaume - which I think was a few years ago - we have moved all of the ear training exercises from to forum to the main website.
They are now ordered and housed in 4 sections (Novice/Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced) and also include progress tracking as you progress through each exercise.
Watch the featured video here for more information:
Again spend just 15 minutes per day on these exercises, and in the space of a year, your ability to analyse and transcribe from recordings will be ‘a night and day’ difference.
If you have any questions along the way please don’t hesitate to let me know
So, i’m having a lot of fun with this New routine, and Moon river, but i’m wondering, how should i memorize the chords, should i learn them like the 1maj to 6 min, to the 4maj, etc, my Guess would be this way instead of Cmaj-Am-Fmaj, maybe to able to find alternative harmony, or to be able to transpose, let me know what you think.
Also, as i am very interested in every aspect of Bill Evans playing, i’ve started to look at Drop chords, however i am building back again my foundations, and as i am remembering all my scales, triads, 7th chords, 2-5-1s, this part of his playing seems a bit a daunting task.
So i would like to focus on something else of his playing to work on, that would Ask a bit less mental energy, maybe block chords, thanks in advance !
Yes that’s exactly the correct approach @Guillaume
We start to get the main benefit from this analysis when we see that many jazz standards have the same or very similar harmonic movement.
The harmony moving to the vi chord and to the IV chord being 2 of the most common harmonic patterns found in jazz standards.
We can also group blocks of related harmony together. For example in bar 9 of Moon River we move to A-7, and the 2 proceeding bars are the 2 and 5 chords.
See below we have B-7b5 to E7 which creates a full 251 in A- and so it’s useful to consider this a ‘unit’ or related block or harmony:
So we could think of the the first 9 bars of Moon River as:
1st 4 bars: I to vi to IV to I
Bars 4 to 9: IV to I and then 251 into the vi chord (or some people might say “25 of the 6”)
This can further reduce the amount of information that we need to remember because we are grouping related blocks of harmony (usually 25s, 251s, and 36251s etc…) and this makes it much easier to transpose a jazz standard.
For block chords I would suggest using “Fly Me To The Moon” which is the 2nd jazz standard study in the course you are working on. This is a perfect tune for exploring block chords because the melody of the tune has lots of ‘step-wise’ sequences where the melody is simply walking the notes of the scale.
It’s totally fine to ‘dip your toes’ in more advanced theory - this is how we progress and broaden our horizons - but just be sure not to neglect the foundations.
By dividing your practice time into 15 minute slots, you can make sure that everyday you are spending one slot on the foundations, by following the “essentials practice guide” for example. Then perhaps have one 15 minute slot per day where you explore some more advanced theory and layer this into your basic arrangement.
That way, every day, you are working on building strong foundations whilst also ‘dipping your toes’ in more advanced theory and experimenting with more advanced techniques.
I also recommend to work through all of the Novice level courses to build our your repertoire, there are currently 9 tunes in there split between 4 courses.
, as Steve Job said “you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards” 
