Hi all,
Having just recently retired (a young pensioner 
), I finally decided to learn the piano after many years of humming and hahing and generally finding work as an excuse to delay it.
I like music of all sorts, but feel that the piano just calls out to have relaxing jazz standards played on it.
I love the sounds of the ‘big voicing’ chords, and look forward to achieving the same with my own 2 hands.
Hi @markgrant 
Welcome to the PianoGroove community!
As a new piano player I’d recommend to start with our “Lead Sheet Fundamentals” learning path:
This learning path covers 9 beginner jazz standards which will help to build out your repertoire of songs.
We cover these 9 tunes throughout the PianoGroove courses and so learning the basic arrangement provides strong foundations upon which we can add more advanced theory and jazz harmonisation techniques.
I also recommend the theory lessons in our Jazz Piano Foundations course:
This theory takes time to learn (scales, triads, 7th chords, 251 progressions) and so spend 50% of your practice time on the theory lessons, and 50% on the jazz standard studies highlighted above.
You mention that you love the sound of big chord voicings, so here are some late-beginner/early-intermediate jazz piano lessons which I think will be of interest to you:
In these lessons I explain when and where these voicings can be applied - and so try to apply them to the beginner jazz standard lessons that I outlined in the “Lead Sheet Fundamentals” learning path.
If you have any questions, you can post in the “Comments” section of the lesson pages and that pings me a notification.
Click the link below for example and it will show you the Comment section which you will find on every lesson page on the website:
If you have a question specific to a lesson - that’s the best place to post it. You will also see the questions from other students and my answers which often contain useful information.
I hope that helps Mark.
Enjoy the lessons and talk soon!
Hayden
Hi!
I started my piano journey six years ago, when I retired at 60. I now play intermediate-level pieces from sheet music (ABRSM Grades 5–6), mostly classical and some “jazzy” arrangements. I have an excellent private teacher, and I feel that I am progressing at a slow but steady pace.
I also love jazz, pop, rock, bossa nova, and other styles. My goal with PianoGroove is to learn jazz and piano accompaniment, and to be able to play more freely.
My long-term aim is to become an advanced amateur pianist—and, most importantly of all, to enjoy the journey!
Welcome to PianoGroove and thanks for sharing your background. It’s great to hear about your journey so far.
The ABRSM Grade 5–6 repertoire will give you a solid technical and reading foundation, which I’m sure will serve you very well as you start exploring jazz and other styles of improvised music.
You mention wanting to play more freely which is exactly what we focus on here at PianoGroove. The transition from reading full sheet music to interpreting lead sheets can feel like a big shift at first, but it’s all about building a few key skills:
I suggest new jazz piano students to start with the Lead Sheet Fundamentals Learning Path:
You can also find an index of songs that we teach here:
Choose the tunes/jazz standards that interest you most.
I recommend students to spend roughly half of their practice time working on jazz standards and repertoire, and the other half on theory studies and theory drills.
If there are any topics or styles that you are particularly interested in, you can use the search box in the header of the website to find relevant lessons and seminars.
If you’d like any additional guidance or recommendations don’t hesitate to post your questions here in the forum, or in the “Comments” section of the lesson pages, and that will ping me a notification.
Enjoy the lessons and talk soon!
Hayden
Hello dear community and Instructor Team, my name is José and I registered as a Pro Member at Pianogroove on May 3rd, 2026. I’m currently trying to orient myself on the site. Now my question to you, I’m absolutely new to jazz. Am I correct that I start under “syllabus” > Resources > Learning Paths > Leadsheets Fundamentals and then work through the courses in the given order??? Thank you for your feedback. Best wishes. Jose
Hi @Jose
Welcome to PianoGroove!
Yes indeed I recommend new jazz piano students to start with the “Lead Sheet Fundamentals Learning Path” which you can find here:
The lessons in this learning path will teach you how to read and interpret lead sheets.
This learning path contains 9 beginner jazz standards studies which are simple but beautiful arrangements. The goal is to build out your repertoire of jazz standards which is very important as you start your jazz piano journey.
You will also see that the learning path contains the Jazz Piano Foundation Course:
This course is much more theory-focused. We cover major and minor scales, triads, 7th chords, and the 251 progression. This theory takes time to learn, and so make sure that you are also working on the jazz standard lessons which is the more enjoyable side of beginner jazz piano studies.
Here’s how I recommend to split your practice time:
50% of your time on the theory lessons and drills in the Jazz Piano Foundations Course
50% of your time on the jazz standard studies in the Lead Sheet Fundamentals Path
I hope that helps Jose, if you need any further guidance don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Cheers,
Hayden