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 âbig voicingâ 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 Iâd recommend to start with our âLead Sheet Fundamentalsâ 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 âLead Sheet Fundamentalsâ learning path.
If you have any questions, you can post in the âCommentsâ 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 - thatâs 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 5â6), mostly classical and some âjazzyâ 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 pianistâand, most importantly of all, to enjoy the journey!
Welcome to PianoGroove and thanks for sharing your background. Itâs great to hear about your journey so far.
The ABRSM Grade 5â6 repertoire will give you a solid technical and reading foundation, which Iâm 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 itâs 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 youâd like any additional guidance or recommendations donât hesitate to post your questions here in the forum, or in the âCommentsâ section of the lesson pages, and that will ping me a notification.
Enjoy the lessons and talk soon!
Hayden