Thanks much. I have already jumped in. Today I an learning so what voicing in all 12 keys and applying to a few songs. Day 1 - not bad!
Michael
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Brilliant, glad your finding your way around Michael!
Thank you Hayden,
Iāve tinkered with piano since I first listened to Keith Jarrettās live solo albums in the mid 70ās and was hooked. I took maybe 1-2 years of piano was I was nine and played trumpet in the high school band. Iām a 66 yo retired physician who started studying jazz for the first time at the age of 62. Iāve worked with 2 teachers. AS you suggested, each entirely different from each other . I found your free lessons to be reassuring that iāve learned a lot more than I thought, but humbling in that iāve so much more to learn.
I too would like to find like minded , intermediate(+) players to collaborate with.
My favorite pianists include keith, kenny barron,
I also listen to a lot to
chet baker and miles. Of course the sax giants as well.
I love the stangetz kenny barron quartet.
biggest challnge for me is comping and that part of your course really appealed to me. Iām anxious to see what it contains.
I also play guitar, played in college bands and am transitioning from acoustic to electric primarily to play Blues, funk,
Is this the type of info your interested in?
thanks,
Phil
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Hello, my name is Terry,
I am very much a beginner aged 51 and only really started learning piano about 4 months ago, I have a background in network security and decided that I needed something to help me relax and switch off when I got home. I was in the local music shop and without thinking purchased a piano, not sure what the wife would say but she was surprised as well as glad. I was watching some tv show and heard some music being played and was instantly drawn to the smoothness and relaxing nature of this jazz music. I then decided that I wanted to learn this style, I had one lesson and it really didnāt work for me, so I decided that I was determined to learn and came across this site, and the rest is historyā¦ had a chat with Hayden and found out we worked at the same place, how cool is that. Looking forward to a structured way that I can develop and learn how to play jazz to a good standard.
Regards
Terry
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Welcome aboard Philip!
Thatās great, from the sounds of it you have a good amount of jazz piano under your belt - 4 years is a good amount of time to understand all of the basics, feel confident all the common chords, common progressions, and Iād imagine you can play a good number of tunes.
Studying jazz is truly a lifelong pursuit as there is always more to learn which is what I find fascinating about the subject.
Itās also great that you have studied with multiple teachers. Itās always good to get multiple perspectives and approaches.
Thatās great. You might have seen that this year the focus has been on our peopleā¦ in particular our teachers to complement the existing materials and lesson offerings.
Some recent news is Jovino our new Latin teacher: Check Out Our New Brazilian Music Teacher
and also Steve our new boogie woogie teacher: Boogie Woogie Lessons Have Arrived šŗ
I have a lot of community-based initiative coming soon, so there will be lots of opportunity to collaborate. Iām very excited about this.
Brilliantā¦ one very important thing Philip, especially to help you with improvisation and comping, is regular listening and transcribing.
Effectively, comping is just improvising but with chords.
The rhythmic element is paramount.
Whilst itās effective to teach theory via lessons. To truly feel your improvisations and comping, you must listen and emulate the masters.
Check out this course on playing in a jazz band: How To Play In A Jazz Band | PianoGroove.com
In particular, lessons 3 & 4 should give you some additional insight.
Above anything else, you must listen to the masters of compingā¦ Wynton Kelly, Sonny Clark, Mulgrew Miller ā¦ they are all giants at comping and simply from listening to their albums you will gain a tonne of insights.
The next step is to play along and transcribe. The top note of their comping voicing is the most important for you to hearā¦ this is also known as the āchord melodyā which is subtle but effective.
I am currently working on a selection of downloadable PDF practice schedules and one of which is focused on comping and will give you direction.
I will post an update here for you shortly.
Yes, itās perfect Philip, it allows me to gauge where youāre at so I can give you direction on which material will be most beneficial to you and your objectives.
Hopefully, other students can benefit from the insights too!
If you have any further questions just let me know and Iām happy to assist.
Cheers!
Hayden 
Hey Terry!
Welcome to the PianoGroove community.
Yes, what a coincidence we used to work at the same place. A great company and lots of fantastic people there from whom I learnt many skills which helped me launch and manage the PianoGroove platform.
Anyhow, letās get onto some guidance for youā¦
You may have already seen the Beginner Syllabusā¦ here is a link in case you missed it:
My comments to Tim further up in this thread will all be relevant to you: Introduce Yourself To The PianoGroove Community! š - #49 by Hayden
Also the comments to Jonathan here: Introduce Yourself To The PianoGroove Community! š - #55 by Hayden
@Tim_Harrison & @jonathan259007 , you might also find the below helpfulā¦
Iām happy you have found PianoGroove.
To give you a bit of background on the early part of my journey learning jazzā¦
I had played classical piano for many years, but jazz was new to me.
Whilst I could read music at a high level, and play some fairly advanced classical repertoire, my understanding of chord progressions, and āhow music worksā, was still pretty poor.
Before I even took an in-person jazz lesson, I had already learnt scales and most major and minor 251 progressions, just from sources on the internet.
Progress is slow to begin with, and so the cost of in-person lessons can quickly mount up.
In my opinion, utilizing an online resource like PianoGroove is a much more time and cost effective way to learn the basics, then you can always take in person lessons once you understand more about the music.
Hereās what Iād recommend to you Terry:
First the major scales are essential. Learn these numerically, so instead of thining of the note names, you see each scale as 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
This makes all keys equal. For example, if you like the sound of a particular chord, you must memorise it in terms of scale degrees, using the So What Chord as an example, itās built using the following scale degrees of any major scaleā¦ Root(1) and the 4 in the left hand, and then the b7, b3 and 5 in the right hand. Once you have that memorised, take it around all 12 keys.
A ākeyā is effectively a āscaleā - for example, if a song is written in the key of C Major, it means that most of the notes and chords in the song will be from the C Major scale.
Now jazz music is a little different because the ākeyā changes often within a single song. You can move between the keys to access different chords. This is also known as āmodulatingā and itās one of the things that makes jazz music sound so interesting and dynamic.
Then the first steps with learning jazz chords and voicings is the following topics that are all within the āFoundation Courseā: Jazz Piano Foundations Course | PianoGroove.com
-
Triads - these are the most basic ābuilding blocksā for chords and contain 1-3-5 of the scale.
-
7th chords - these are triads with an additional noteā¦ the 7th note, so now you have 1-3-5-7
-
Then you should learn the Major 251 Progression which is the most common progression in jazz musicā¦ virtually every jazz tune will contain a 251 in some form, and so this is a very important step to understanding jazz harmony.
-
At this point, you will be ready to learn your first jazz standard. Start with āTune Upā where we also examine the format of the lead sheet, and how to read and interpret this information.
Consult the Beginner Syllabus/Roadmap for more information here:
At this point Terry, it wouldnāt harm to āget your toes wetā in some of the more advanced beginner lessons - the chord extensions course will introduce some ājazzierā sounding material - even if you donāt understand the theory, just copy the notes that Iām playing and keep looking at them and analysing them. It will certainly make sense with time.
When I first started with Jazz, I was playing a lot of things that I didnāt understand fully, I just liked the sound of it. This is a good way to progress, it keeps it interesting and also rewarding, and with time and focused practice, it will all come together.
I hope this helps to give you some direction Terry, and any further questions just let me know 
Hayden.
24 days ago! Wow, time flies. Still cranking away every dayā¦
Keep at it Tim!
Iām launching some practice schedules shortly and I will notify you when they land.
They should help to give new students more direction and structure in their development.
Hi my name is Ivan and i m an argentinian living in brazil.I have 23 years old and started playing piano since age 7 with a clĆ”ssical backgroundā¦With 19 years old i met a guy who now is my friendā¦he is a professional jazz pianist the same age as me who introduced me to jazzā¦sĆ³ i switched to learning jazz and started to play at jam nights ā¦but never fully grasped itā¦i m very happy to have found this website because i feel that now i can continue my journey to become a well rounded jazz pianistā¦My ultimate goal is to be able to arrange songs myself and be able to be a well rounded jazz pianist in general.Thanks 
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Hi Ivan!
Thanks for the introduction and welcome to the community.
Many of our students come from a classical background which provides a nice foundation for learning jazz piano with the PianoGroove method.
My main recommendation here is to play as many of the jazz standards lessons as possible.
You will quickly discover many similarities, and lots of things that can be applied in many situations.
Simply put, the more jazz standards you can play, the better you will be at arranging jazz standards.
I think you will find this post very helpful:
I outline a 6 step process that for creating your own arrangements.
This is a not a quick process, follow it over many months, just for 1 song, and let me know how you get on with
ps. Thanks for all of your fantastic questions on various lesson pages. If you ever have a question of any kind, please do not hesitate to ask and I will always reply in detail.
My goal is to encourage conversation and discussion around the lessons and so your insightful questions are much appreciated.
Thks for the reply ā¦i feel that my brain has been injected with jazz steroids for the past couple days lol .sĆ³ much valuable info infront of my eyes and entering my ears lolā¦TĆ“ Tell you a bit more about me i studied jazz with absolutly 0 knowledge about jazz with this friend of mine whoes name GĆ³es by Axel introini, He is the same age as me but the difference is that He works for disney and travels de world lolā¦ ā¦his personal style is more about neo soulā¦think of DAngelo,Robert glasper,ericka badu,jill scott etc sĆ³ He transmited that music to me sĆ³ It hĆ”s become one of my strongest influences.it would be cool to see some neo soul progressions and voicings lessons in the futureā¦ so i studied with this Guy for 1 year(you can look axel introini on youtube)ā¦He introduced me the basic foundations of jazz and helped me at jazz jam nights and funk Jam nights tooā¦but at that time i was going with some personal problems and i was experimenting some type of minor depression sĆ³ i didnt maximized his teachings at that time frameā¦thankfully i overcame my problems and turned my life around sĆ³ i m a Lot more focused than before.And as a side noteā¦If you are looking for a good tango pianist with jazz foundations you should reach Ćlvaro torresā¦i tooked some lessons from him but It was expensive sĆ³ It didnt last longā¦He is a well known jazz pianist in buenos Airesā¦and He hĆ”s a story o lof playing tango at Big cruise ships. Here is a video of him. https://youtu.be/INOs0E_PBMk. And here is a. Video of my friend/ex teached playing 2 years ago https://youtu.be/dez1ZSQMmoY
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Good morning Ivan 
Yes you have asked a lot of questions which is s good thing. You will always get a full answer to your questions here at PianoGroove.
Yes I agree that NeoSoul a cool style.
I like how the jazz-influenced chords/harmonies blend into more modern styles such as hip-hop, rap, R&B etc.
Our core focus is on jazz standards/classic Broadway tunes, and so we must stay true to this. But sure we can expand into any genre of improvised music in the future.
Sounds like a good guy to know! 
Great to hear that you recovered Ivan, and Iām happy that you have found PianoGroove. I have always found music, and more specifically, the piano, to be a good source of relief during hard times.
Itās almost like meditating because it frees my mind completely, and makes me completely present in the moment.
Awesome, thanks for the recommendation.
I will check out the video links now.
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Hi everybody - thanks for the check-in Hayden, and thanks for creating this marvelous resource for us.
So I just attended my 50th high school reunion earlier this summer and figure the bio for that would be sufficient here for a recap, save me some time. Then Iāll add some commentary about music after.
"Iām the owner of LifeCoaching.com and I maintain a thriving practice providing professional organizations, teams and individuals with an evidence-based methodology to develop emotional intelligence and emotional self-management skills through coaching and training. Over the last twenty years Iāve coached hundreds of clients - from single moms to CEOs, from combat-veteran Marines to teenagers to professional artists, writers and musicians - as well as worked with clients within organizations such as Apple, Google, Raytheon, NASA, IBM, Onsemi, General Atomics, The Gina Din Group, The Washington Post, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and many others. I was the co-developer - in collaboration with Pam Leo - of the āMeeting the Needs of Childrenā parenting workshops, which in 1995 were published as Pamās seminal book, āConnection Parenting.ā
Since high school and college Iāve traveled extensively throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Africa and Japan, and lived in northern India. I live with my novelist partner (Jennifer Rose) and a sleepy old cat in an 1834 New England farmhouse on 26 acres of rolling fields and woods in central Maine. I still noodle around on guitar, though Iāve retired from public performance. I chop wood, carry water, make tea, keep a canoe down by the river, and I freely admit to knowing nothing at all about zen.
I consider population overshoot and abrupt climate change to be the most pressing issues of all that faces humanity, and see soil regeneration, permaculture, holistic management, community building and parenting education as significant and comprehensive solutions to the dangers of anthropogenic global warming."
Ok. so musicā¦
I started guitar at 13 - had a crush on a girl whose dad played banjo in a bluegrass band. Of course she taught me to tune my guitar, but I didnāt realize that her dadās guitar was in an altered tuning - open G. I was totally in the closet as a player so I played for 4 to 6 hours a day for 4 years, completely baffled as to why every time I went to a show and watched other guitar players, wrote their chords down in my little notebook, and got them home to play them they wouldnāt work. Never even crossed my mind at the time that you could tune a guitar in multiple ways. I play in dozens of tunings now of course, but then it was an infuriating mystery.
The first consequence of altered tunings was that I had to create my own music if I wanted to play whole songs. Second consequence was I never played anyone elseās songs until I pretty much had a great ear, great hands, and a lot of experience finger-dancing on the fretboard and with the right hand. Third consequence was that Joni Mitchell released āSong to a Seagullā in early '68 and within ten minutes of my first listen I realized I already knew all the chords for āMarcieā and within an hour I could play it note for note. That was the first tune by someone else I ever played. Shortly thereafter I discovered the tuning problem and moved on to āAnjiā (Paul Simon and also Bert Jansch but written by Davy Graham, who invented DADGAD), āRockport Sundayā (Tom Rush), āClassical Gasā (Mason Williams), āEmbryonic Journeyā (Jorma Kaukonen) and many others. Other early guitar influences were John Renbourn, Bert of course, John Fahey, Leo Kotke, Muriel Anderson, Alex De Grassi, Pierre Bensusan, and eventually people like Tommy Emmanuel, Michael Hedges, Kaki King, Andy McKee, Don Ross, and all the other modern fingerstyle masters.
My interest in jazz really opened up as a teenager because one of my best friends was the bass player for Lenny Breau, who was a local celebrity. I actually had no idea who he was until my friend Dan took me to one of their gigs one night at a dinner club in Lewiston. Lenny was dripping liquid arpeggios in harmonics faster than I could do those notes as actual notes on the frets. He was the first person to introduce me to harmonics on the guitar, and also to jazz. I would sit rapt for hours being astonished by what he could do. If you donāt know who he is, check out his double album āLive On Bourbon Streetā with Dave Young on bass. Chet Atkins called Lenny the āmost important guitarist in North America.ā Indeed he was that. Also, back in 1971 when I was in college, Bola Sete (of Black Orpheus fame) did a week long workshop for the music department on Brazilian jazz. Of course that introduced me to Vince Guaraldi and real live honest to gawd Bossa Nova above and beyond what the Girl From Ipanema brought to us.
Favorite musicians? On top would have to be Bill Evans (My Manās Gone Now has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever played) - the colors he gets in those chords - wow. Vince Guaraldi, Art Tatum, Liz Story (saw her with Michael Hedges here at the Bates Chapel a few months before he died) her tune - Without You - again, wow. All the other greats, Mcoy Tyner, Ellington, Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, Stan Getz, JoĆ£o Gilberto, Donald Fagan, Cole Porter, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Michel Legrande, of course Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, Diana Krall, Brubeck, Bob James, Joe Sample, Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Fats Waller, Marian McPartland, Stevie Wonder, and Iād have to add in Joni Mitchell near the top of my list as her songwriting is so remarkable, she has been such a strong influence to me personally, and because of her work with such jazz notables as Lyle Mays, Pat Methany and Jaco Pastorius, as well as her end-of-life collaboration with Mingus. Kenny Kirkland, who I saw with Sting on the Dream of the Blue Turtles tour, that was a great band. Omar Hakim, Darryl Jones, Branford Marsalis. Neil Larsen - master of the wonderful snarly-growly Hammond B3.
I like a lot of different kinds of music and that list only brushes in some broad strokes. thereās really way more - the list goes on.
So my situation is much like a number of other folks here. My hands on piano may as well be those of a 7 year old snot-nosed boy in terms of physical capability and muscle memory. My brain is far more advanced. Iāve listened to some of your intermediate videos (Blue In Green Improv lesson for instance) and I understand nearly all of what you said and did, but Iāll be damned if I could say it back to you out loud. Itās kind of like living in India and having a decent understanding of Punjabi or Urdu, but not being able to speak it because you only have about 20 words. Thatās actually kind of encouraging because I really get it what you are up to here.
Iām also going to have to start with relearning to sight-read music (staves, notes, symbols and all that) right from scratch (do you have any videos on that?) and start to develop beginnerās muscle memory for scales and triads so I can get it into my hands the same way I did with guitar when I was a kid. I get the chords on the top no sweat, but those melody lines are a reach. Meanwhile I will probably keep watching the intermediate and advanced courses because they are fun and interesting, useful and informative, not to mention just to keep my crazy jumping-jack mind from going to sleep. Unfortunately when I see a chord symbol in a chart for Dm7flat5 my hand effortlessly wants to make the fretboard shape. On the piano Iāll have to count keys. I know where C and F are at a glance, so thatās a start. Hah! Part of the good news is that my right and left hands have decades of doing very complex and very different kinds of movements, so it seems to me that part of my brain is already well developed and just needs to adapt to these new shapes and movements.
What do I want out of this? Well hereās the thing. Iāve got this thousand-year-old big hairy guy who lives in the pond at the bottom of my brain pan. Every morning when I wake up he rises to the surface, shakes himself off, walks into the woods nearby and starts singing. His songs have no words but that music echoes inside my head every second Iām awake all day every day and often even in dreams. Itās like a shining river of sound and Iām standing in the middle of that flow. My earliest memories are of that endless stream of music in my head. Iād like to be more able to catch more of it as it passes by. Iāve been doing that with guitar for decades but as lovely as it is and as much as I love it, itās never been quite the right fit for me. Iāve known forever I should learn piano but Iāve been occupied by other things, career, family and kids, the wild world outside my door and so on.
I suppose Iām looking to be a more capable composer - and really - I have no interest in putting on airs when I say that. Iām not Gershwin or Bach, and at my age I have no pull towards fame or fortune. Iām just a guy with something to say musically, and Iād like to know more about what that isā¦
So thatās my story and Iām sticking to itā¦ (nudgenudge winkwink say no more)
Warm Regards, and thanks for listening, Wonderful to meet you all.
Carmine Leo
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Ding Ding 
- we have a winner - best introduction Iāve ever read Carmine. Congratulations sir.
Agreed.
That sounds beautiful, Iām intrigued to learn more.
No one here wants to be that Carmine, we are all students - including myself and our teachers - pursuing something we love. So welcome to the family.
Now that is why we are all here - to speak the language of music and express our emotions, feelings, and our personalities using jazz piano as the medium of expression.
Hereās what Iād recommend:
Firstly check out this practice guide for the Foundations Course: Jazz Piano Foundations Practice Guide | PianoGroove.com
That should explain the basics (which Iām sure you will be familiar with), but it will also āget your toes wetā in where the basic knowledge will take you and I show how the basics are an integral part of more advanced concepts.
Nextā¦
I always to speak with all our students personally, and before this forum was launched it was all over email. Itās brilliant now becuase we can chat here and interact together, instead of it being lost in our inboxes.
From chatting with our students, we are a very intellectual bunch of human beings, and we can accomplish great things.
Iāll always have time to chat with you Carmine; guide you, help you, and give you honest & sincere advice to develop at jazz piano. This applies to all our students. Iām here to help.
So please get in touch either here in the forum, or via email - hayden@pianogroove.com
In terms of intermediate coursesā¦
First, check out the forum category on āJazz Theoryā - Jazz Theory Discussion - PianoGroove Community - there are lots of useful theory posts and Q&As that are worth reading. These are the most common questions from students that I received via email over the last few years.
I republished them in the forum and so perhaps you will have similar questions that are already there answered for you.
I have also summarised the syllabus into Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced guides:
If I can be of further assistance Carmine, just let me know.
Thanks Hayden - kind of you to say. Thanks for the pointers - Iām looking forward to whatever is next.
Hi Hayden and all.
I joined a few days ago in hopes of finding some sort of organized way to get back to playing keyboards. From 15 to around 25, I lived and breathed music in every spare moment. I played in a number of one-nighter bands, and in the last few years had gigs two to five nights a week, basically played and paid my way through college. Then I went to grad school in English and never had any time for it. Now 40 years later, Iāve got the bug again. It was painful to realize that I more or less needed to start over again. (Seems like you have quite a few of us 60 somethings here.)
I went through the internet and various YouTube offerings and managed to accumulate most of what you include in the foundations course. But I had no sense of how to organize myself to make any progress. Really, your course is a godsend. So thanks for that!
Iām interested in Hammond organ jazz and blues as well as jazz piano. Recently got a Hammond Sk2 which is perfect for my condo space. Itās only 66 keys in both manuals, so Iām considering a Casio Privia PX-5S. Full 88 keys and surprisingly for a Casio, a piano that is stunning. (Wifeās not too thrilled about the additional keyboard.)
At any rate, thatās where I am.
Thought Iād leave with a few recommendations, which you probably already know about.
- As a Chet Baker fan, check out Luciana Souzaās The Book of Chet. Not great for a piano site, but very nice for listening.
- Check out Larry Goldings, piano and Hammond B3. He has a number of albums as both sideman and leader. His latest is Toy Tunes (2018). Of his 2001 As One, a reviewer mentioned 'Larry is Bill Evans on the organ. . . . Itās absolutely sickening that anyone can have such an advanced understanding of harmony and modal interaction. Larry has definitely been listening to Sir. Bill and has been able to take that knowledge and work it in his B-3 style."
Anyway, Iām glad I found your course. Thanks again.
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Firstly welcome to the community Scott!
Thatās awesomeā¦ must have been fun.
I never had that at college/school, none of my housemates were instrumentalists, so I just had an old acoustic in my room and played a lot of classical - particularly Debussy, Chopin, & Ravel. I just always loved playing solo piano.
Yes, I understand how other commitments can detract from practice.
I always found it effective to wake up a couple hours early before I went to work and enjoy the piano. Of course when I got home from work too.
And yes we do have a lot of older students, I love how technology can connect us all and delivery a structured, organised approach to learning this unique art form.
My pleasure Scott, itās taken a lot of work, but has been an extremely rewarding journey.
Check out the practice guide here: Jazz Piano Foundations Practice Guide | PianoGroove.com - it will give you insight into how to practice effectively, and also how these basic concepts relate to the more advanced lessons and courses.
Steve - Learn Boogie Woogie Piano with Steven Flynn | PianoGroove.com - plays Hammond, Iāll speak to him. Iām not sure what the demand is amongst our students. Iād certainly love to learn it.
This is my āweapon of choiceā
I just love the touch and the feel of the keys. Iāve also noticed a lot of other jazz musicians Iāve met use similar Roland models too.
I hear that a lot from our students 
Thanksā¦ I will check that out. We do have a thread for Chet hereā¦ feel free to share any of your favourites:
Awesomeā¦ Iāll check that one out nowā¦ sounds super existing.
Again, we have a Bill Evans thread here so feel free to share your favourite numbers:
https://community.pianogroove.com/c/records-musicians/bill-evans
Likewise scott, if you have any specific questions, please donāt hesitate to ask here, or email me directly.
Hi to all, my name is a Manuel, Spanish, self-taught. Have played the flamenco guitar for many years but was always intrigued about jazz harmony and piano. Started playing piano around 10 years ago by ear, using books and listening to records. I know more theory of what I can actually play because I donāt have any formal piano training. But there has to be something wrong with traditional learning because many of my piano trained friends can only play scores. I just sit and play around using a few chord patterns, extensions and some scales. No purpose, just mere enjoyment exploring sound colors. I however felt I needed a bit of structure in my learning so I join in. So far so good. Looking forward to meeting interesting people here and learning from you all.
Cheers
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Welcome Manuel!
Thatās awesome that you have played the flamenco guitar - Iām sure it will help you with your study of jazz piano.
I think you will enjoy this course:
We talk about alterations and āupper structure triadsāā¦ beautiful colourful voicings with rich textures. I think you will like exploring these sounds.
I would also recommend checking out this course on Chord Substitution:
Enjoy the lessons, and if I can be of further assistance just let me know.
Hi, my name is Charles Hill (no relation although my father is an Old Mancunian and my grandfather was General Manager of Ringway Airport, now Manchester International - so we share some common ancestral roots). I started learning the piano at 8 years old but gave up in my teens as sport took over my life and was far more interesting - at the time! After some further education and diverse activities I joined the Royal Air force and had a full career lasting 31 years. During that time ( in my ,thirties) I was lucky enough to have an overseas posting which meant I was able to rekindle my interest in the piano and reach a reasonable standard playing classical pieces again. Unfortunately I was unable to continue due to other commitments and the piano gathered dust again. On retiring from the RAF in 2011, my wife and I moved to France and began a new life. I now teach English as a foreign language ( part-time) and my wife cleans swimming pools during the summer months. Finally in June this year, after several months of free lessons with Piano Groove, I joined and hope to achieve my ambition of playing jazz piano. At first it was very difficult - I was used to two staves and the strict discipline of classical music. I am really enjoying your course and love the freedom of jazz in choosing certain chords and adapting the melody to suit a particular interpretation. I would like to become an accomplished jazz pianist and would like to thank you for providing an excellent means to achieve this ambition. I am now really āhookedā and wish you and your team every success for the future.
Charles Hill
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