Thankās Hayden! I really appreciate your recommendations. The āNearness Of Youā arrangement is beautiful - with a lot of information packed into the lesson. Also, compliments on the visual layout (double keyboard). Itās a great feature for a Jazz piano beginner like me.
Cheers,
Ole
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Welcome on board have a nice journey !!
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Lovely playing! Very Nice.
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Thank you! Iām enjoying the journey so far !
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Welcome! @jevin @sam3 and @ole
Yay! looking forward to witnessing your Jazz Piano Journey here on PianoGroove 
Please keep us posted!
Hi community
Iām a 25 year old from London who works in the financial services but undergoing motion designer bachelors so that I can change careers. Currently I have two private lessons a month with a Jazz teacher & have two with a classical composer who teaches me classical composition, Schoenberg school of Harmony & Counterpoint. The two forms of music are so illustrious that being taught both was just something I had to make room for.
A listener of all music and aim to compose music for the motion video essays I create ( usually short documentaries & animation) and also compose in various styles from classical baroque rock jazz blues gospel pop funk soul fusion dance rnb and hip hop and film orchestral scores for visual screenplays & short animated movies.
In terms Of Jazz, an ex colleague of mine took me to Ronnie Scottās in Soho. It was a Wednesday so it wasnāt any heavy acts but this Sax player played this 7 minute masterpiece called Almost blue. I didnāt know what the hell it was but ever since then Iāve been obsessed with the complexity and colour jazz has with its compositions and arrangements plus its overlap and cross over with blues and soul and gospel. I then heard Spartacus Love theme / Nardis and said this is what I need to learn. Iām less attracted to jazz as a genre, but more as a means to create the most interesting harmonic voicings within my compositions and its endless options it gives you via improvising that ultimately will be my fuel for any compositions i create. The language and colour of Jazz is the entry to the most interesting music for me.
So Bill Evans is my concrete inspiration because he represents the ideology of compositions and arranging and voicing I admire. Shades of Bach, shades of Chopin, shades Of the impressionist era shades of Debussy, he really has a worldly palette of expressionism.
And that same expressionism is why Bill Evans is one many pianists I adore with others like Lonnie Listen Smith, R.D Burnam, Thom Yorke, Stevie Wonder, Alan Mion, Claude Debussy, Quincy Jones, Vivaldi, Charles Stepney, Wilson Das Neves, John Williams & Ryo Fukui all inspiring me through there solos/ piano compositions, harmony, keyboard arrangements & general exceptional musicianship. They give me ideas to create fusion
Iām an internet baby so Piano groove, like open studio jazz, EarMaster are some of the few excellent resources Iāve been able to find through YouTube but nothing beats piano groove for the wealth of knowledge training lessons and jazz topics.
Seriously; no site or community comes close. Iām fortunate to have two teachers who I can show anything Iām working on etc but this is the perfect site to have my jazz learning thoroughly covered and more, so happy to be here and here from you all and share my progression and be inspired by this community of music aficionados!
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Been a member here for the better part of a year but havenāt introduced myself. Iām 60 and have wanted for decades to learn to play piano. I have all kinds of books bought over the decades to prove it. But I never really went anywhere until I started discovering the right Youtube channels, and Pianogroove was one of the best. I was hesitant about joining until I did it, when I realized, man I should have done this a while ago. (One thing motivating me to finally do it was the thought that if I waited another five years, when Iām retired, and then joined, Iād be kicking myself like the mule I am.)
I am getting to the point that I can play major, minor and dominant chords in A and B forms (as Haydn calls them), rooted and rootless, with either left hand or right, almost on autopilot. I can play 251ās rootless, with 13th instead of dom7 chords. I reached a point this summer where all of those chord shapes emerged from the mist like a stately sailing ship. Now Iām beginning to learn to improvise and this site has been great for that too. Along with various spread voicings. A long ways to go, but a lot of progress made. The me of three years ago would be astonished by what the me of today can do. I can hardly wait to see what Me 2024 can do.
You kids today with your internet have no idea how great you have it! I really wish Iād had this site when I was 20, but late is a lot better than never.
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@dan2 ,
Welcome! You made a great choice when you signed up for PianoGroove. From what youāve said about your progress so far, it seems that youāre well on track. Iāve been studying here for over two years, and I learn something new nearly every day. I agree with you when you say ālate is a lot better than never.ā Iām 69 and have kept at it, though there were times when I was frustrated and thought of hanging it up. Lately, things have started coming together for meāthough, like you, Iāve got a very long way to go. Have fun! 
A warm welcome Dan! Scott and I are happy to have someone join our age group! 
We are never too old to learn. PianoGroove is the best learning platform for piano. I am amazed at how much I have learned in the past (nearly) three years. Like Scottā¦I still have a long way to go and know it will be a lifetime commitment that will continue to bring me joy. Enjoy your journey!
Hello, Pianogroove community. Iām Kirk Krekeler and looking forward to improving my piano skills. While Iāve played all my life, Iāve never been able to play songs fluently without mistakes or without stopping and starting. My wife says listening to me gives her a headache. I took jazz piano lessons about 20 years ago for a while and read lots of jazz books, but just couldnāt wrap my head around it. Plus, I was too busy working to practice enough. Now, at 66, Iām devoting most of my time to learning and practicing. My goal is to memorize as many standards as I can, play them using Haydenās advanced voicings (and some of my own), and learn how to improvise over chords. I also would like to play piano without making my wife ill.
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Welcome aboard Kirk! I joined 18 months ago with much the same musical history. I solved the issue of driving my music critic crazy by buying an electronic keyboard and now have a music studio in the basement, where I can practice II-V-I s to my hearts content with headphones on. I do my serious practice downstairs and play on the piano when Iām going through the finished pieces. It cost me a bedroom renovation and a set of drapes but it was worth it! See you on the forum.
Aye,
George
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Welcome! @MichaelOkorodudu , @dan2 and @kirk2
Wow - so awesome to see new passionate jazz players in the community! 
I feel SO lucky to be a part of it!
Welcome Kirk. Itās great to have you here!
Iāll second Georgeās suggestion. Get a good digital keyboard and a set of headphones. Youāll find a discussion about keyboards here:
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Hi everyone,
Joining Pianogroove out of the Netherlands. I discovered this platform one week ago and Iām positively surprised on all the good things here, both in the lessons and in this community. I have a background in classical organ playing. As Iām new to jazz piano I decided to start with the foundational course, just to be sure I donāt miss important elements from a jazz perspective. So far it has been fun to follow the courses - glad Iāve found this and looking forward to the things to come.
Cheers, Edwin
Welcome to the community area @edwin3
Yes itās a good idea to work through the foundations course even if you have a background in piano. The 2 most important things to take from that course are:
-
Learning scales numerically instead of the note names. When we can see each scale as 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 it āmakes all scales equalā and it makes it much easier to transpose voicings, progressions, and improvised phrases and fills into all 12 keys. All common progressions are numerical based too, think of 251 for example, and so by learning the scales numerically we also set the foundations to build harmony in the keys.
-
Learning and memorising the 3-note 251 progression in all 12 keys. We find 25s and 251s in virtually all jazz standards, and so mastering this progression allows us to read lead sheet efficiently and we also become comfortable with the most basic building block of jazz harmony which sets strong foundations for further harmonic study.
Study Multiple Courses At Once
I recommend that all new students study the following 2 courses together with the Foundations course as much of the theory is interrelated.
It will give you a great sense of progression as you see how the foundational concepts are applied and developed in the course on extended chords:
You might also like this course which gives insight into more intermediate/advanced topics presented in an accessible way:
Whole Step 251 Drills
Finally, here is a new course which I m currently compiling. It is a nice way to drill 251 progressions around all 12 keys. Start with lesson 1 and when you feel comfortable move onto the next lessons in the course. If any of the theory doesnāt make sense, it is covered in the upcoming courses or referenced in the āRelated Lessonsā section of each page:
Any questions just let us know.
Cheers,
Hayden
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Hi @dan2 
Thanks for the introduction.
Congratulations on this!
In my opinion, this is one of the most challenging aspects of beginner/intermediate jazz harmony for a beginner.
Being able to visualise dominant chords as 3-b7-9-13 or b7-9-3-13 in all 12 keys is really tricky when we have been used to visualising chords always in their root position.
Itās just a matter of patience and perseverance and once those shapes are engrained in your muscle memory, as you say there are, they are there for life.
Again congrats 
Tuomoās Improvisation Classroom
For working on improvisation, you should definitely join Tuomoās improvisation classroom, you can do so here:
https://community.pianogroove.com/g/ImprovClassroom
Once you click ājoinā you will then see all of the associated threads and exercises here:
https://community.pianogroove.com/c/classroom/improv-class/39
This classroom has already been running for a few weeks but you can read the past posts to get up to speed.
We are still working out the finer details with the classrooms and how they will operate, but the current plan is to run a new improvisation classroom every 6 to 8 weeks and it will focus on a different tune each time.
I would like to host a similar recurring classroom but more with an arrangement focus where we pick a tune to focus on in a group setting for a set period of say 4 or 6 weeks.
More to be announced on all this in the coming week once our new forum design is published which will make the classroom section easier to find and the whole forum interface more intuitive.
Agreed! 
Welcome @kirk2
Thatās a great goal to set.
Personally I found the jazz standards to be the vehicle which allowed me to understand and retain the jazz theory that I was learning.
As you highlight, itās very important to always try to add your own touches to the arrangements that I present in my lessons. This is just one of a potentially infinite number of ways that we can interpret and arrange a tune so always keep that in mind.
Set a goal to learn 20 or so of the arrangements, and make note of the ones that you personally like. Itās natural that you will like some more than others and add these to your āshortlistā of favourite tunes.
Itās good to focus on breadth of repertoire to expose ourselves to different harmonies, but also laser focusing on our favourite tunes and ālearning them inside outā is equally as important.
There is a similar discussion thread here which I would recommend reading as it has tips and insights from many of our community members:
Cheers and enjoy the lessons!
Hi My name is Micael Svensson (nickname Micke). I was born in 1967 in Sweden. I have played guitar for about 20 years I guess and learned it from youtube and by listening. And I play mostly fingerstyle guitar old blues tunes from early 1900. Things like Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy and such. Plus I have tried learn some jazztunes as well like Misty for example. And playing the melody for jazztunes with backingtrack is one thing. Chord melodies another=harderā¦Anyway 2021 I purchased an electrical piano from Yamaha and thought I might use the pandemic times to learn something newā¦like pianoā¦So I also signed up at Pianote to learn some thingsā¦Sadly I have not been the best of students so Im still an early beginnerā¦
Anyway Ive always loved jazz and especially the more ābare bonesā versions of songsā¦And I stumbled over this site wich seem to learn more of the things I really would love being able to playā¦First thing I learned this week was playing āMistyā root notes+melody and it even sound rather okā¦So very happy about thatā¦So I will stay on here for a while and see what I can learn. Hoping Im not to old to learn some thingsā¦
As long as one is curious one is more alive I thinkā¦And I would really love being able to play some jazztunes in a good wayā¦
So I guess thats my goal and target as wellā¦To spend time with jazz and my piano and the foundation I need (well I dont like tat as much as learning songs but realize the need)
My musical taste has varied over the years from pop and rock to heavy metal and countryā¦However when I started the guitar 15 years ago I started listening to jazz alotā¦Mainly jazz guitar like Joe Pass, Kenny Burell, Jim Hall, Joe Puma, Johnny Smith,Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery + many othersā¦
Other artists I love is for example Paul Desmond (a real heroā¦), Stan Getz,Jobim, Monk, Herbie Mann (check out his album āTodayā from 1966ā¦brilliant) and moreā¦I think jazz is stained in my soul when it comes to my listening habits these daysā¦
If you want to see me struggling with guitar and also two vids from my first attempts on the piano you can go hereā¦Take Care Cheers Micke from Swedenā¦
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Welcome @Micke and thanks for sharing all of this.
You might like to check out my Beginner Jazz Q&A Session where I covered around 25 questions submitted by students. You can find the recording here:
It contains some useful information on learning jazz standards and also guidance for new students who are just starting out.
On a similar topic I am hosting a live seminar tomorrow evening European time. Itās a listening and transcription session on the jazz pianist Beegie Adair. Find the link below:
Tomorrowās session will cover some intermediate level jazz concepts such as stride and rootless voicings. If youāre interested in playing solo jazz piano then I think you will find the session interesting and insightful.
Hope to see you there!
This is my introduction to the PianoGroove group. I joined the group yesterday. My background is that I am a 71 year old male. I have spent most of my life in South London, in the United Kingdom. In 2005 I sold up in London and moved to the Dominican Republic. I am now a retired person.
I had a career in London as a Public Health official.
I have a strong musical background in Home Studio Recording. Having said that I have hardly done any for the past 18 years. I only restarted this year.
My ambitions now, and for the last 15 years is to learn jazz piano, so I am able to write songs in the style of the Great American Songbook. Because I live in the countryside in the Dominican Republic there is not a large Jazz community. Even if there was it would sing in Spanish and prefer Latin Jazz. Because of that I have to do everything myself. That is write the songs, sing snd play them with my piano skills, and record them.
I have a Casio digital piano, and use a MacBook Pro and Logic Audio to record the songs. I have been studying voice and jazz piano with various online tuition organisations. I feel that Piano Groove caters for my needs more than the other groups.I intend to learn all I can about singing and accompanying a singer, in the jazz style, on piano.
I would be keen to talk to anyone who is doing the same thing and wants to do a collaboration.
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