I feel totally lost in where exactly to go with my practise. Right now I have just been going over the 2-5-1s, scales, and then working on Autumn Leaves right now (just playing the melody and chords with spread voicings)…the thing is, my dream is to play jazz like the pros (thelonious, bill evans, oscar…) as in, I really wanna be able to improvise as well as know like when I am playing the head of a tune what to play in both hands…
what should I do to focus on getting to a point where I can play solo jazz piano as well as be able to play in a band with other people? How can I start practising improvising? Or am I too much in the beginner stage for that and should I just focus on my spread voicings and learning the general basic tune for a bunch of standards?
That sounds like a good routine if you are just starting out with jazz piano.
What is your experience with jazz piano? ie. how long have you been studying for?
Learning 251s and spread voicing technique is the first milestone in beginner jazz piano studies, so if you are new to jazz piano it sounds like you are on the right path.
That’s great that you have players that you admire and want to sound like.
It’s important to mention that great players like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Thelonious Monk spent decades developing their craft. Jazz is a lifelong pursuit, and there’s an enormous amount to learn.
But… that’s not to say you shouldn’t get started with improvisation!
I’d recommend to take a look at this improvisation course on Autumn Leaves:
After watching the first lesson - which covers rootless left hand voicings - you should get a good idea whether you are familiar and comfortable with the underlying theory.
To understand these chord voicings, it’s important to understand the following theory topics:
Jazz Foundations (scales, triads, 7th chords, 3-note 251 progresisons)
Chord Extensions (9ths, 11ths, 13ths, and the extended 251 progression)
Rootless Voicings (rootless harmony is quite a big area of study)
I have the impression that you might need to work on the theory areas in the Essential Jazz Harmony Learning Path first.
That’s not to say that you can’t just copy the voicing shapes and start the improvisation drills that are covered in the course - that’s fine, but it’s also important to understand the underlying theory.
So the above recommendations should give you:
Direction on what to focus on from a theory standpoint (Essential Jazz Harmony Learning Path)
A glimpse into what up-tempo improvisation entails, and how to get started building those skills (Autumn Leaves Improv Course).
Yes it’s important for beginners to first learn 3-note spread voicings and also build a repertoire of jazz standards.
I’d recommend to learn all 10 as we cover these tunes throughout the PianoGroove courses and seminars, and so when you learn new theory, you can apply it to these tunes.
I hope that helps James - please check over the links and let me know if you have any follow up questions.
Thanks for the response, Hayden. I’ve been playing piano for like 4 solid months I would say? I have a background in other instruments, so it’s not like my musical knowledge is starting totally from scratch but I also never became advanced at those instruments either.
This is a good starting place, I just needed to send this question out as I feel so overwhelmed as where to even start and how to make my practise time efficient. I will keep expanding the standards that I know by going through all 10 that you have on here.
My theory knowledge isn’t totally beginner, I’ve been familiar with 7th chords as well as extensions but I couldn’t, say, tell you immediately the 9th of every chord or the 11th etc… if asked. I’m glad you mentioned the masterclass as I want to look into that as soon as I can.
Like I said, right now my practise routine consists of running through major scales (I can pretty much run through all of them at a steady tempo now)… And then I do the 2-5-1 exercise you showed where you do a 2-5-1 with the root third and seventh, and then the 1 chord turns into the 2 chord of the next 2-5-1… And then I’ll go through the songs I know (I’m just working on the last section of autumn leaves but I have most of it pretty solid and a general understanding of what chord is what in relation to the key and noticing the 2-5-1s)…
I don’t have any improv as a part of the routine or anything else incorporated right now but hopefully the masterclass will help me with that.
For someone who’s only been playing piano for 4 months, it sounds like you’re making excellent progress! Particularly that you’re comfortable playing major scales in all 12 keys and you’re already working through 251 progressions. I’m sure your background in other instruments have helped to make that possible.
Definitely continue with the scale and 251 exercises that you outline, perhaps just 15 to 30 minutes per day, depending on how long you have to practice.
I’d recommend to spend half of your daily practice time learning new jazz standards as that’s where we put the 251s into practice. It’s important to have a small repertoire of tunes so that we have actual songs where we can apply new theory in context to understand the practical application.
The 10 jazz standards in the Lead Sheet Fundamentals learning path would be my first recommendation - but you could be even more selective and just pick 5 of these to start. Try to choose tunes in different keys so that you are exposed to a wider variety of harmony.
The Lead Sheet Fundamentals learning path also includes the chord extensions course, and so you can start to further develop and solidify your understanding and recognition of chord extensions. I can see that you already know what chord extensions are, and so you already understand some of the theory which is great. I’d quickly review the theory lessons and get started on those drills asap.
Here’s the PDF for that learning path which lists the courses and some practice guidance:
The contents of those 2 PDFs are in my opinion the bulk of beginner/early-intermediate jazz theory, and once you understand those areas you will be equipped with all of the theory knowledge needed to play pretty sophisticated solo jazz piano, and also understand your role as the piano player in an ensemble setting (rootless voicings and rootless harmony).
As mentioned, by all means check out the Autumn Leaves Improv Course - as I think it’s a great motivator to see the ‘end result’ of working on the theory areas in the learning paths above.
If you need further guidance don’t hesitate to get in touch and keep us posted on your progress.
