You should be quite comfortable with the dotted quarter note, but you may not have played the dotted eighth note ( ) before. This note is important for a jazz swing fe[r]
Trang 2The Rocket Piano series was created on behalf of Rock Star Recipes LTD.
Author & Music: Asheigh Southam
Co-Author & Additional Music: Ruth Searle
Multimedia Content: Rock Star Recipes Studios
Cover & Photography: Simon Waterhouse
Edit & Graphic Design: Rock Star Recipes LTD
Publisher: Rock Star Recipes LTD
By purchasing The Rocket Piano series - you agree to the following:
You will use The Rocket Piano series, Chordinator, Keycelerator, Perfect Your Pitch Pro, Jayde Musica, Advanced Learning Techniques for Piano and other Rock Star Recipes Ltd products and services for your personal and private use only.
The Rocket Piano series, Chordinator, Jayde Musica, Advanced Learning Techniques for Piano remain the property of Rock Star Recipes Ltd and may not be resold, repackaged or otherwise transferred.
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Copyright, © 2004-2010 Rock Star Recipes Ltd.
Trang 3Welcome to Rocket Piano’s Introduction to Jazz Piano!
A Personal Message from Me
Do you want to learn to play jazz? Jazz is difficult to play, but very rewarding By teaching yourself jazz, you are in good company! The earliest jazz musicians were almost all self taught
If you are a beginner, you should master the concepts in the Rocket Piano guide to
playing the piano before you start For this book you’ll need to understand intervals, major and minor chords, and chord progressions
In this book, we’ll give you a very simple explanation of how jazz songs work and are played You’ll learn to play jazz melody, jazz harmony, and jazz rhythm You’ll also get the opportunity to play along with the Rocket Live Band using the new Jazz Edition Jam Tracks!
Using just two tunes we’ll show you how to break down a song into aspects like phrasing, feel, and syncopation You’ll learn exactly what makes a jazz tune, and the techniques to play a piece in a jazz style
Something to ponder: Wynton Marsalis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American composer, once said that jazz was “the hardest music to play that I know of.” He played
a mean jazz trumpet
Playing jazz at an introductory level is not easy, so take your time and most importantly, have fun!
We’ve also included the Rocket Piano Progress Tracker so that you have a checklist of all the techniques you can expect to learn in the course Once you have mastered a lesson
or skill tick it off on the Progress Tracker, and move on to the next lesson! Commit yourself
to ticking off the skills you learn as you go and see your improvement instantly!
The Rocket Piano Team
Trang 4Every time you see this button, play the relevant track!
01
01
Every time you see this button, play the relevant video!
Table Of Contents
Welcome 3
Table.of.Contents 4
Rocket.Piano.Progress.Tracker 5
Chapter 1 A Brief History of Jazz 6
Chapter 2 Jazz Rhythm 8
The.Dotted.Eighth.Note 8
Swing.Time 9
Chapter 3 Seventh Chords 10
Major.7th.Chords 10
Dominant.7th.Chords 11
Minor.7th.Chords 12
Chord.Quality 12
Jam.Track.16 14
Chapter 4 Chord Progressions 16
Key.of.C.Major 16
Key.of.B.Major 17
Key.of.G.Major 17
Chord.Progression.in.the.Minor.Keys 18
Key.of.A.Minor 18
Key.of.D.Minor 18
Key.of.E.Minor 19
Chapter 5 Building onto What You Know 20
Minor.7.Flat.5.Chords 20
Recap.of.7th.Chords 20
Chord.Progressions.Revisited 21
Iv,.iii,.V,.I.Chord.Progression 22
Chapter 6 Playing Chord Progressions 23
Syncopation 23
Chord.Displacement 24
iii,.vi,.ii,.V,.I.Chord.Progression 24
Jam.Track.17 26
Chapter 7 Melody 28
Syncopation.in.the.Melody 29
Passing.Notes 30
Review 31
Chromatic.Notes 32
Chapter 8 Real Jazz 33
Conclusion 36
Trang 5Lesson or Skill Page # Date Signature
Jazz rhythm: dotted notes
The dotted 8th notes
Swing time
Major 7th chords
Dominant 7th chords
Minor 7th chords
Chord quality
7th chord progressions
C major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
Bb major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
G major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
Chord progression in minor keys:
Aminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
Dminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
Eminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
Minor 7 flat 5 chords
v, iii, V, I progression
Syncopation in chords
Chord displacement: Anticipation, delay
iii, vi, ii, V, I progression
Syncopation in melody
Passing notes
Chromatic passing notes
Rocket Piano Progress Tracker
Trang 6Chapter 1 A Brief History of Jazz
Before we plunge in, here’s a brief history of jazz Did you know that some consider jazz to be the first original art form developed in America? Early jazz piano evolved from ragtime music popular in the last decade of the 19th century Ragtime was fast, and one
of its masters was pianist “Jelly Roll” Morton
Morton (1890 - 1941) lived in New Orleans He was the leader of a band called “Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers.” Surrounded by African-American, Creole, Latin, and French influences, he was a key figure in the development of jazz In fact, many consider him to be the first jazz composer By the 1920s, Morton and his band were creating jazz albums that were considered classics of their kind Morton even carried a business card identifying himself as “Creator of Jazz and Swing.”
Jazz fused ragtime with the blues, and its end result was a style of music characterized
by syncopation, improvisation, and blue notes (or flattened 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths) From
New Orleans, the new style spread to California, then to Chicago, where it was officially christened “jass.” By the time “jass” made its way to New York in 1910, the word was respelled to become “jazz.” (Supposedly, this was because posters advertising “jass bands” were being modified by passers-by who scratched the “j” off creating advertisements for “ass bands.”)
Although the 1920s was the official Age of Jazz, jazz as a musical style is still popular today Celebrities like Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, and Dudley Moore all play the jazz piano Jazz pianists/singers like Nat King Cole, Harry Connick, Jr., Norah Jones, and Diana Krall sell millions of albums The great jazz pianist Ray Charles was even the toast
of Hollywood when an Oscar-winning movie about him, called “Ray,” was made
Trang 7If you want to listen to some great jazz pianists, here are some suggestions.
Trang 8Chapter 2 Jazz Rhythm
Let’s start out by looking at the distinctive rhythms used in jazz music
You’ll find many dotted notes in jazz music If you recall, a dotted quarter note ( ) is one and a half times the value of the original note
Dotted notes are important to describe the jazz “feel” in musical notation Feel refers to
the underlying quality of the rhythmic movement of a piece The feel of a piece results
from how the notes are played in terms of timing, dynamics or placement A piece of
music may have a blues feel, a swing feel, a rock feel, and many more
The musical notation of the rhythm is important to describe the feel of a jazz piece For
example, swing feel is played using dotted notes For this book, you’ll be playing a jazz swing feel.
The Dotted Eighth Note
You should be quite comfortable with the dotted quarter note, but you may not have played the dotted eighth note ( ) before This note is important for a jazz swing feel
A dotted eighth note, like all dotted notes, is one and a half times its original value You may find it helpful to envision it as an eighth note tied to a sixteenth note
42
e.
Trang 9Swing Time
If you found that exercise difficult, you may find an audio example useful Listen to Track
01 It is an example of swing time played using a ride symbol The ride symbol ( ) is
Did you notice that it is the same phrase as above? This type of phrase played on the ride
symbol is a common feature of keeping time in jazz
(A phrase is a passage of rhythmic or melodic notes in music It usually means a few
bars.)
Listen to as much jazz as possible Listening to jazz is the best way of learning jazz!
Exercise: Familiarize yourself with the rhythm of dotted notes by counting aloud the rhythm below You may also want to try clapping the rhythm while counting aloud the beats
1 a and a 2 a and a 3 a and a 4 a and a 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
1 2 3 4
01
Trang 10Chapter 3 Seventh Chords
Now that you know a little bit about the type of rhythms found in jazz, you need to know about the type of harmonic structures you’ll find in jazz music In other words, you need
to know the most commonly used chords
Jazz depends on 7th chords In this chapter, you’ll learn about three kinds: major 7ths, minor 7ths, and dominant 7ths First of all, though, you need to know what a 7th chord is!
You already know that you’re playing a chord any time you play two or more notes simultaneously You know that you’re playing a triad when you play three notes simultaneously Quite simply, a 7th is when you add one more note to an already existing triad so that you play four notes simultaneously
Major 7th Chords
A triad is composed of a root note, the 3rd note above the root, and the 5th note above the root In a 7th chord, the 7th note above the root is added to the triad For example, look at the C major chord below
There are so many different chords available to jazz musicians
There isn’t room in this book for them all! Still, with the three chords that I’m going to show you, you can play A LOT of jazz- styled music.
● The 7th note, B, is a major 7th away from C.
● The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
● The 3rd note, E, is a major 3rd away from C.
● The root note is C.
So, relative to the root note, the C major 7th chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7 It looks like a C major triad on the bottom with a major 7 note added to the top
7th 5th
C major 7th chord (root position)
Trang 11step, making it a minor 7th interval.
b
C dominant 7th chord (root position)
● The 7th note, B , is a minor 7th away from C This gives the chord its dominant
quality
● The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
● The 3rd note, E, is a major 3rd away from C.
● The root note is C.
The second aspect that gives the dominant 7th chord its quality is the major 3rd in it In all dominant 7th chords, the 3rd in the chord is always a major 3rd
So, let’s review Relative to the root note, a dominant 7th chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7 It looks like a major triad with a minor 7th on top
b
b
The fingering for playing 7th chords on the right hand goes 1, 2, 3, 5 OR 1,
2, 4, 5, whichever is most comfortable for you The fingering for playing 7th
chords on the left hand goes 5, 3, 2, 1 OR 5, 4, 2, 1, again whichever is most
comfortable for you.
7 5
b
Trang 12Minor 7th Chords
Minor 7th chords are a snap once you understand dominant 7th chords Basically, a minor 7th chord is a dominant 7th chord with a flattened 3rd note
To get a minor 7th chord, take the major 7th chord Flatten the 7th note (which makes it
a dominant 7th) Then, flatten the 3rd note Look at the example below
1 3
7 5
C minor 7th chord
(root position)
● The 7th note, B , is a minor 7th away from C.
● The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
● The 3rd note, E , is a minor 3rd away from C This gives the chord its minor
quality
● The root note is C.
Relative to the root note, a dominant 7th chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7 It looks like a minor triad
with a minor 7th on top.
● The major 7th chord can be described in many ways, but in general it has a happy
or romantic sound It is also a quite complex sound, due to the extra 7th note that adds interest and color
● The dominant 7th chord has a certain movement to it In other words, it feels
slightly unstable, as if the I chord should be played after it
● The minor 7th chord has a sad feeling to it Most minor chords, whether a 7th or
a triad, have this sad quality
b b
b b
b b
43
Trang 13Exercise: To train your ear to recognize the difference between major, dominant, and minor 7th chords, play through the following chords They aren’t grouped in any particular order: they’re just examples to play and listen to Think about the harmonic quality of each chord Then, try to identify whether each chord is a major, dominant, or minor 7th.
Trang 14WE’RE JAMMIN’!
Jam Track 16
Exercise: Here is a Jam Track that uses 7th chords you have been learning about, cept they are using three note 7th chords and inversions so they are disguised To learn more about three note 7th chords refer to the Advanced book Practice through your piano part a few times, before jamming it out with the band!
Trang 15When you can play this piece confidently by yourself, you are ready to jam! This track has no piano
on it so its just you and the band!
Trang 16Chapter 4 Chord Progressions
Now that you understand the three kinds of 7th chords, you’re ready to apply it to the I,
IV, V chord progression
Remember that when there is a progression in I, IV, V, the notes in the chords can only
be taken from the notes in the particular key that the progression is in (You will know
what key it is in by the key signature.) For example, in the key of C major, the I, IV, V progression chords can only contain notes that already exist in the C major scale
If you know your scales, you’ll find that this little tip will help you enormously to create your chords! You know that the kinds of notes found in your chord will be limited to the kinds of notes you find in the scale Once you know that, you can see whether those notes (1, 3,
5, and 7) are natural or flattened according to the notes that appear in the key signature
Trang 18Here is the I, IV, V chord progression in G major This time, the IV and V chords are
played in their second inversion The second inversion makes the progression easier to play, because there is less jumping around the keyboard
3 2 1
Now, here is the same progression, this time in the key of B Notice that the chords all
have notes that are found in the key of B major. b
b
04
05
Trang 19Page 19
Chord Progression in the Minor Keys
Now, let’s add some minor keys Minor chords are played 1, 3, 5, 7
The root notes should be played with the left hand This gives the chords more stability and makes them clearer When the root notes are played with the left hand, it is said that
the left hand is playing the bass notes of the chord progression.