Introduce Yourself To The PianoGroove Community! šŸŒŽ

General Discussion
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great site thks for sharing it.

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Hello to the wonderful community of pianogroove! I just decided to learn jazz piano yesterday and i stumbled upon this great site and gave it a try.

I grew up listening & singing to jazz because my dadā€™s a jazz musician. But i didnt get to learn to play because i thought singing it was enough until i got this itch to make music that i really enjoy listening to (which is obv. Jazz lol) but dont know where to start coz i cant play an instrument.

I love listening to michael franks, antonio jobim, elis regina, etta james, bill evans, spyro gyra, etc.

Im 28 and thought im too old learn something new, but when you really want something, you become unstoppable!

Hope everything is well with everyone here!!! Cant wait to groove with yall!

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Welcome NoƩ
where are you from your first name sound like french ? :slight_smile: just curious
to find another french like i am.

28 years !! you r pretty young ā€¦ really lot of us begin much later ā€¦ and you have your background as singer, and even more have listening lot of jazz because your Dad. And he will be the happiest to hear you come to play another instrument in jazzā€¦ he is lucky :slight_smile: and he will help you growing in this jazz. world ā€¦ The best musicians i know around me, have this background of growing in a musical environment , where music is a real languageā€¦You have all with you , i am pretty sure you will learn quick ā€¦ have a nice journey !!

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welcome noe, tons of FUN learning opportunity here;
start with a few of the beginner lessons - donā€™t expect to ā€œget itā€ all at once, its a process of never ending development and many good things come with time; above all ENJOY

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Im from the :philippines: but currently based in Illinois. Oh how i wish im french!!! I adore your culture and language!!

Thank you for the warm welcome! I really appreciate it!

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Yeah i was kinda overwhelmed at first but the exercises makes it easy to retain!! Im enjoying it so far and im excited for my progress! Thank you Lori!!! :heart:

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Welcome, Noe! always is a joy checking in on Pianogroove - seeing new members! Looking forward to witnessing your jazz piano journey! :blush:

439

Great find Scott! Thank you for sharing :purple_heart:

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Hi everyone! Iā€™m Jevin from Ottawa, Canada. Iā€™m a busy dad with 3 young kids. I started with piano when I was 3-8 then trumpet, then guitar until I was 25. I havenā€™t really touched an instrument in the past 18 years despite listening to music for 5+ hours most days.

I really enjoy listening to jazz, especially the slow stuff. I thought learning it would be fun since the improvisational side is so foreign to me. I just bought the Jazz Piano Foundations course to start down this road but my two main challenges are:

  1. Energy - I donā€™t have much energy left in the tank at the end of the day. Is it realistic to make progress with 15 minutes every two days or so?
  2. Do I need a teacher to help me work through this stuff?

Looking forward to it!
Jevin

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Hi Jevin :wave:

Welcome to the community area!

To answer your questions and provide some useful links and resources:

I would recommend at least an hour a day.

2 hours would be even better and that way you will see rapid improvement in the space of just a few months.

Our practice planners are split into 1 hour slots, here is the practice planner for the foundations course:

Foundations_Practice_Guide.pdf (1.1 MB)

Here is the lesson where we walk through the practice plan:

This course teaches the foundations of jazz harmony which is scales, triads, 7th chords, and the 251 progression.

In the practice plan PDF and lesson, you will see the importance of splitting practice time into small chunks to cover these different theory areas.

I recommend that students spend 30 minutes on 6 theory drills (5 mins on each drill) and then spend 30 minutes playing the recommended jazz standards. The latter is the more enjoyable side and also where we apply the theory in context of our favourite songs and tunes.

With just 15 minutes every other day, my view is that it would be a challenge to dedicate enough time to these drills.

If time is really a stretch for you, my recommendation would be to do 30 mins on theory drills in the morning when the brain is fresh, and then 30 minutes learning the jazz standard arrangements in the evening which is a more laid back and relaxing exercise.

Beginner Jazz Q&A Session:

I would highly recommend checking out our beginner Jazz Q&A Session where I discuss and answer many questions submitted by our students:

The session is 1.5 hours long, but you can navigate the content via the chapters. The contents of the first 6 chapters are particularly relevant for any beginner student starting their journey in jazz piano.

Jazz Standard Lessons

I mention above the importance of splitting practice time in between theory drills and jazz standard studies. Bookmark the following 3 beginner jazz standard lessons and learn these arrangements in combination with studying the 6 foundations practice plan drills:

One can never replace the value of face-to-face instruction whilst sat at the piano and so I always recommend this to students. Many students find that a combination of in-person study, and self guided online study to be an effective combination.

Personally, I spent around 2 years learning the basics of jazz harmony before having my first in-person jazz piano lesson. I had studied classical piano with a teacher throughout my youth, so I was no stranger to the instrument, and from your post it seems like you are in a similar position with your experience with the piano, trumpet, and guitar.

The following topics are what I would consider as the basics of jazz harmony:

  • The 12 major scales and learning them numerically
  • Major and minor triads
  • Major 7th chords, minor 7th chords, dominant 7th chords, minor7b5 chords
  • The 251 progression using 3 note voicings in both Type A and Type B

I had also learnt my rootless major 251s in most keys before starting with a teacher.

It takes time and patience to master the above topics, but I believe this can be completed easily via online study. My view is that once the above has been learnt and assimilated, you will get much more mileage and value from any in-person lessons that you wish to pursue.

I hope that helps Jevin, and be sure to check out the Beginner Jazz Q&A Session for more useful pointers, tips, and advice.

Good luck starting out on this new music journey into the world of jazz!

Cheers,
Hayden

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Hi Celia,

Iā€™m not certain but I believe I received a note of encouragement from you. Presuming you are the correct person, I would like to thank you for the time as well as the beautiful words.

I have a weird personal journey. I played some piano as a kid, but oddly never felt a grudge towards my mom and piano teacher. This was the ā€˜60ā€™s and there were only so many stickball games I needed to play.

Fast forward 45 years. My kids played music (my son met his now wife at choir practice), and my daughter followed her brotherā€™s lead. Not the marriage part thankfully. I would hear them practice on the weekends but during the week it was business travel.

Now that I retired or semi retired (depends on how much my wife likes me to stay home), Iā€™ve tried various items on the bucket list including a journey into the chaotic world of stand up comedy in New York. I realized early on that you needed to be funny, and since I lacked any humor I looked elsewhere. And behold, there was that old piano in my house.

I fell in love with jazz, the music, culture, history. So for the past year Iā€™ve been going in many directions. Iā€™ve studied jazz history at Rutgers University, I am in the second semester of deep jazz theory, and most of all take courses at Lincoln Center (virtually). Through all of this I feel that my love for jazz is only deeper, and I found a new community to spend time withā€¦

So now I have multiple directions, and I want to take care of performing. I realize you take out only what youā€™ve given it. When I study and talk to jazz virtuosos, it seems I should fit in musically. So thatā€™s where I am. I am gratified by your advice and look forward to telling you of my progress.

As a PS, Iā€™ve become fascinated about jazz theory and history. My overriding question was how did jazz become so popular in eras when racial segregation prevailed. I have my own theories. Rather than bore you with my opinions Iā€™ve realized that in NYC there are tremendous resources. From JLCO to the Jazz Museum in Harlem it is truly a great opportunity to sleuth. Heck Iā€™ve taken classes with Wynton Marsalis, am on email terms with the Brubeck family. You should really check out the on line courses plus other nooks like Barry Harrisā€™s classes to the Louis Armstrong house in Queens.

To totally go off topic, in the 18 months since Iā€™ve retired I am noticing a huge parallel with the popularity of jazz and Comic Books. In particular the artists who contributed to the Silver Age (1960ā€™s) Marvel books. Like jazz, comics reached their zenith in the Silver Age much like the ā€˜50ā€™s where you could go to a jazz club and hear bebop, swing, cool jazz, etc.

And then in the ā€˜70ā€™s those two art styles fragmented and their popularity as cultural icons faded. Sadly only two people from the iconic Great Day in Harlem photograph are still with us The masters of jazz and comic book art are largely gone so it is essential that we keep that spirit alive.

By the way, in response to some comments, believe me, I researched dozens of on line piano courses and PianoGroove is by far the best. I would be happy to share my research with anyone but suffice to say that Hayden really gives a damn.

Now I will embark on a years long effort to play Giant Steps. And finally of all the jazz albums Iā€™ve listened to, by far the best is an interview between Bill Evans and Marianne MacPartlin. Just google it and be prepared to be amazed.

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Hi Sam,

What an interesting background! It sounds like you already have a solid foundation in theory! Like you, I took lessons as a child in the 60ā€™s am and now semi retired so can finally dedicate time for my passion to learn and play music.

I will definitely check out some of the sites that you mentioned. Thanks for providing some of your background and thoughts!

And yes, you certainly chose the best online learning platform with Piano Groove!

Celia

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Hi, Iā€™m Ole - a 50 year old Dane, living with my wife & kids here in Germany. I took piano lessons when I was a kid (aged 9-15), after which I had a long (as in 30 years) break. A few years ago, we got ourselves a piano and I really enjoyed starting to play again. Since then, Iā€™ve been trying to figure out the basics behind chords and chord progression and this has opened my eyes to cocktail / jazz piano, the sound of which I love.
So, I would like to have a more systematic approach to learning cocktail / jazz piano. I would also like to be able to improvise more, without being so tied to sheet music.
Anyway, I look forward to being part of this community.
Cheers, Ole

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Hi Ole!
Itā€™s great that you found Pianogroove. If you took piano for 6 years your fingers will remember the scales and hand-positions for triads so your already good to go. Many people take years of music and in adulthood canā€™t use the skills that are hidden in their memory because they were never taught the theory behind what they were playing. This is a great site and the teachers are excellent. Youā€™ll get a lot out of it.
Aye,
George

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Hi Ole

Welcome on boardā€¦Iā€™m in m 60ā€™s an also like you, after learning in my younger years, I als0 returned to the piano and was lucky enough to find Pianogrooveā€¦its fantastic and the community here is extremely helpful (including the teachersā€™).

:smiley: Enjoy!!!

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Hi George,
Thankā€™s for your encouraging words! Not having learned the theory behind what Iā€™m playing definitely applies to meā€¦So there is a lot to discover for me - which is great!
Cheers,
Ole

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Thankā€™s Paul! I also feel lucky that I stumbled upon this great website. Looking forward to getting to know it more.
Cheers,
Ole

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Welcome Ole! There are a number of us that have returned to the piano later in life. You are going to love your journey. Like youā€¦I lean towards cocktail/jazz. Haydenā€™s arrangements are perfect for this style of music. You get to learn beautiful arrangements, along with the theory behind them that you can apply to other songs. It is a win win!!!

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Thank you Celia! I look forward to the time when I can start to look at Haydenā€™s arrangements. The jazz foundations lessons Iā€™m following now are great!

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Welcome @ole :wave:

In addition to studying the Jazz Piano Foundations course I would recommend diving straight into the lessons in our Beginner Jazz Arrangements course:

Also I recommend that new students study the theory lessons in the Foundations course and the Chord Extensions course in tandem, here is the chord extensions course:

Much of the theory is interrelated and it will allow you to see how the information in the Foundations course is further developed.

Also check out our live seminars

The following 2 archived seminars are great for new students:

and next week I am teaching a jazz piano basics practice guide where we discuss the best way to structure our practice time for learning and mastering the foundations of jazz harmony. You can add that to your calendar here:

https://www.pianogroove.com/live-seminars/jazz-piano-basics-seminar/

Donā€™t worry if you canā€™t attend the session as the full recording is available immediately afterwards with chapters and slow down controls.

I hope that helps Ole and here to help if you have any questions.

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