OK everyone here is my attempt at the 251 drill, type a. If Iâm being honest, I really get crossed up when Iâm reading music. I actually love the lead sheets, but I feel myself getting lost when I try to read it. For example, I do so much better when I just feel where Iâm going. Does that make any sense to anyone? I know I need to learn to read and I will. I worked on this for more than an hour today. I just couldnât stop.
Let me know if you have problems viewing the video. Thanks, everyone!
Thanks for sharing the video and nicely done with the exercise!
The 3-note 251 progression is one of the most foundational jazz piano exercises and so all time spent here is time well spent!
Yes thatâs a very good point. When playing a jazz standard from a lead sheet, if we have memorised the melody and the harmony, it allows us to fully immerse ourselves in what we are playing which in turn allows us to play more creatively and spontaneously.
In addition, when playing the whole step 251 drill as in your video, itâs important that we are visualising each chord on the piano, and visualising the 7ths falling to 3rds in each 251 progression.
If we only complete the exercise by sight-reading the notes from PDF download, it can be problematic for really memorising and internalising the chords, and the movement in each progression. By all means use the notation as âa crutchâ to start with, but avoid become reliant on it.
I think a nice step for you next would be to move onto the first module of this course where we apply these voicings in the context of a jazz standard. Here is the first lesson:
In the first 3 lessons of the course, we stick exclusively to the basic chord tones (R-3-5-7) and we play through the entire form of the tune âThe Nearness Of Youâ. This will be nice for you to see how the exercise that you played above is applied in the context of a tune.
The goal of these lessons is to help students to memorise and internalise the harmony of the tune and remove the reliance on the lead sheet.
After taking the cocktail jazz and bluesy stride piano courses, Iâve been working on getting the two standards demonstrated as âunder my fingersâ as possible in order to play them comfortably and variably using most or all the concepts shown. Iâve also been working on having multiple licks and lines to incorporate them into my improvisation. Overall, these two courses have been great in setting a foundation for working on various jazz standards where I can apply many of the concepts presented.
Including a recording of Misty where I play the head-solo-head format. I donât have a set way of playing the song and much of it was âon the spotâ so excuse the mistakes and pauses every now and then, oh and the background noise.
Iâll hopefully have a recording of Georgia using most of the same concepts soon but this do in the meantime. Happy holidays!
You keep a constant flow of music which is the most important thing.
Iâve mentioned in my seminars that if we feel that we make a âmistakeâ and stop playing; thatâs the worst thing we can do. If we just continue playing the listener/audience will most likely not notice as the music moves by so fast.
As I mentioned on the Misty post, Iâve also been working on a solo piano version for Georgia based on the bluesy stride piano course, however I implemented many of the topics covered on the improvisation portion of the Cocktail piano course. Hereâs a recording of a run I decided to do today for the tune. Similar to the Misty recording, this was on the spot as well so there may be some short pauses during the solo section while I came up with something to play
I learned âTune Upâ today. Still a work in progress, but Iâm getting there. Those Kenny Barron voicings will present an issue for me because my hands are so small. But thankfully thereâs a work around for people who canât reach as far as others with longer fingers.
Sorry for the late reply here and nice job with âTune Upâ.
Youâve nailed the chord changes and I see that youâre not looking at the lead sheet or transcription whilst playing - which is great and a very good habit to get into.
As a new jazz piano student itâs important that we are always visualising the chord tones, and in particular visualising the 7ths falling to 3rds in the 251s. This movement is the foundation of jazz harmony and as you learn more tunes this will become more natural.
Iâd say youâre ready to start learning your next jazz standards, here are a few recommendations:
The above 3 links are jazz standard courses with multiple lessons on the same tune. Pick the one that interests you most or even work on them all simultaneously.
Also remember that we can always come back and revisit the jazz standards that we have studied previously. For now, definitely focus on expanding your repertoire and exposing yourself to 251s in different keys and different harmonic situations.
p.s. when sharing a video file here in the forum, try to keep the file size as small as possible - as the forum is not designed to handle large files which results in the video freezing.
We can reduce the size of our videos by searching âvideo compressorâ on Google and many sites allow you to upload the video, they compress it into a smaller size, and then you download it again.
Alternatively we can upload audio files which are generally much smaller than videos in terms of file size.
Anyhow, thanks again for sharing and keep up the pace with learning new tunes!
Great to be part of this community and I look forward to learning more over the coming years. Please check out my latest recording of The Nearness of You as taught by Hayden in the beginner courses. I would gladly welcome your feedback and advice please. I have been playing piano since June of last year but have only really been learning Jazz theory and standards since November.
Thanks for sharing this - Iâve created a short video with some feedback and suggestions:
Related Lessons
A related lesson is the arpeggio technique that I demonstrate, you can find a dedicated lesson on that here:
This is lesson 4.1 in the course on "Nearness Of You - Ballad Voicings, Fills & Runs " which you can find here:
This course is mixed level and so you will definitely find it challenging from module 3 onwards. It will expose you to lots of new theory areas from our other beginner/intermediate courses. I recommend to try to avoid using the transcriptions where possible and instead focus on visualising the chord tones, extensions, alterations etc⊠on the piano.
Nearness Of You Playlist
Hereâs a playlist that I compiled of my favourite recordings of âThe Nearness Of Youâ:
If youâre a Spotify user you can save the playlist to your account, rearrange/remove the songs based on your taste, add new songs to that playlist that you discover etcâŠ
Try to spend as much time as possible listening to the recordings and trying to pick little things out and apply them to your arrangements. Start simple with melodic decorations and embellishments and gradually expand your field of curiosity.
Upper Structure Triads
Finally, I recommend that you study Upper Structure Triad theory and I think this will add some nice colours, textures, and tensions to your playing. I touch upon this in the video above. Here are a few lessons on Upper Structure Triads:
Thank you so much for taking the time to create such a personalised reply and for the feedback. Itâs really unexpected to have this level of service and support. The information shared is incredibly valuable and I will be sure to work with the resources you have shared to enhance my playing and then will re-record a new version .
Thank you so much again - itâs really appreciated!
Hi All! Here is my attempt of Haydenâs reharmonisation of Happy Birthday recently shared in the community forums. This was take #121 so itâs still a way off being perfect - I hope you enjoy.
âWhy did I choose youâ was my ear training exercise for the past three weeks. I like this tune very much as played by George Shearing and Neil Swainson. I didnÂŽt download any transcription. It was an attempt on my own to find the right notes, chords and tempo. Playing in a small band with this beautiful bass player as a sideman was some kind of a struggle at the beginning. After many repetitions I
Thanks for sharing this @cornelius.moser and great job emulating the phrasing and feel of George Shearingâs melodies.
Are you using the stemroller app to isolate the bass? Your playing fits beautifully with the bass player⊠it sounds like you are both in the studio together! Very nicely played
This is exactly the kind of ear training/transcription work that will take your improvisation skills to the next level. Congratulations on completing this project and thanks for sharing it with the community - Iâm sure it will be an inspiration to others!
Yes indeed I used the stemroller app to isolate the bass. I really recommend to use this app if the original is of good quality like the one of George Shearing. It would probably not work with recordings of Bill Evans playing in a club with backround noise and low volume of the bass. The app has only one command which leads one result. Any editing is not possible. That helps to take it easy. Importing the stems into âtranscribe appâ offers adjustments like pitch and tempo for transcription. Stemroller is open source and free.
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