Let's discover, learn, and play II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings. My last two blog posts explored two options for voicing chords (Major, Dominant, Minor, Half Diminished, Diminished) using contemporary shapes built around the interval of a fourth. Today, I'm going to apply these voicings to the classic II-V-I progression. So, let's get after it, time to discover, learn, and play II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings!

​Time to discover II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings. It's worth stating once again, jazz pianists are drawn to chord voicings that comprise of the following characteristics:
​
1. The voicing fits in the hand naturally (like a glove). It's comfortable!
2. The voicing is easy to move around the piano (inside and outside the harmony)
3.  The voicing hints at a harmonic sound (a shell, not too many notes!)

You are going to see all three of these characteristics on full display as we apply these shapes to the II-V-I progression.

Time to learn II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings.  I list below, as a quick reminder, our two options for playing Major, Dominant, and Minor chords. Be sure you conceptually understand the construction of these shapes and can clearly see them within the context of the scale from which they come. Don't be afraid to do some "old school" paper practice to help you mentally digest these voicings; write out the scales and circle the notes of the voicing.

1. Major Voicings: 3-6-9 or 7-3-6 (Lydian Mode)
2. Dominant Voicings: 3-6-9 or 7-3-6 (Mixolydian Mode)
3. Minor Voicings: 1-4-7 or 5-1-4 (Dorian Mode)

Here's how we're going to put the above options together to play contemporary II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings:

I want you to notice the minimal motion I use when moving from chord to chord. This is always the goal when when playing chord progressions - simplicity in motion and smooth sound! We're now ready to play the II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings.

Time to play II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings.  The final step in mastering a jazz piano skill is to practice playing the skill within a musical context placed in time. Hearing and Feeling a skill within a musical context makes all the difference in the world - it expedites your musical development. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you accomplish this task. Watch the video below to see me practicing II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings.

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more II-V-I Jazz Piano Voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should take a serious look at the various courses and lessons I have available through my JazzPianoSkills.store. All of my courses contain invaluable lessons focusing on a specific jazz piano skill. Additionally, each lesson in my jazz piano courses includes interactive multimedia elements to help you learn the jazz piano skill plus numerous videos demonstrating for you how to play the jazz piano skill. Additional support is easily accessible through a private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music (a fantastic way for you and me to personally interact with one another as we discover, learn, and play jazz piano together). Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I ​look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Part Two

Let's discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings (Part 2). Before jumping in and exploring a second set of Contemporary Shell Voicings, I want to share with some exciting news - my online jazz piano store has officially launched, visit JazzPianoSkills.store to check out my courses and lessons (please spread the word!).

As I mentioned in my last blog post, it's so easy to get overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated when studying chord voicings. I believe, learning how to play chords that sound like jazz can be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, challenges for the aspiring jazz pianist. As you already know, there are so many different schools of thought, so many misleading videos easily accessible through the Internet, so many complicated explanations in academic books written for tenure. It's no wonder why so many aspiring jazz pianists are confused about voicing chords. Today, let's continue to discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings (Part 2).

Time to discover Contemporary Shell Voicings. Remember, jazz pianists are drawn to chord voicings that comprise of the following characteristics:

1. The voicing fits in your hand naturally (like a glove). It's comfortable!
2. The voicing is easy to move around the piano (inside and outside the harmony)
3.  The voicing hints at a harmonic sound (a shell, not too many notes!)

Like the first set of Contemporary Shell Voicings that we explored in my last blog post, the Contemporary Shell Voicings that we are going to learn today contain all three of the characteristics listed above. This is precisely why they are so popular with professional jazz pianists.

Time to learn Contemporary Shell Voicings. I use two sets of contemporary shell voicings when I play; today I am going to focus on the second set (we explored the first set in my last blog post). Here is how each Contemporary Shell Voicing is constructed:

1. Major Voicing: 3-6-9 of Major Scale (Lydian)
2. Dominant Voicing: 3-6-9 of Dominant Scale (Mixolydian)
3. Minor Voicing: 1-4-7 of Minor Scale (Dorian)
4. Half Diminished Voicing: 1-4-7 of Half Diminished Scale (Locrian)
5. Diminished Voicing: 3-6-9 of Diminished Scale (7th Mode Harmonic Minor Scale)

Here is what they look like using traditional music notation:

I want you to notice that I construct Contemporary Shell Voicings for all five sounds using only two formats; 3-6-9 and 1-4-7. Once again, the simplicity of thought is a product of much study which makes the physical mastery of a jazz piano skill manageable. Once a jazz piano skill becomes manageable, it then becomes obtainable. We're now ready to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Time to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.  The final step in mastering a jazz piano skill is to practice playing the skill within a musical context placed in time. Hearing and Feeling a skill within a musical context makes all the difference in the world - it expedites your musical development. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you accomplish this task. Watch the video below to see me practicing Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering Contemporary Shell Voicings.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Contemporary Shell Voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should take a serious look at the various courses and lessons I have available through my JazzPianoSkills.store. All of my courses contain invaluable lessons focusing on a specific jazz piano skill. Additionally, each lesson in my jazz piano courses includes interactive multimedia elements to help you learnthe jazz piano skill plus numerous videos demonstrating for you how to play the jazz piano skill. Additional support is easily accessible through a private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music (a fantastic way for you and me to personally interact with one another as we discover, learn, and play jazz piano together). Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Part One

Let's discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings. When studying chord voicings it's so easy to get overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated. In fact, learning how to play chords that sound like jazz can be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, challenges for the aspiring jazz pianist. So many different schools of thought, so many misleading videos easily accessible through the Internet, so many complicated explanations in academic books written for tenure. It's no wonder why so many students are confused about voicing chords. Today, let's make it simple, let's discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Time to discover Contemporary Shell Voicings. Jazz pianists are typically drawn to chord voicings that comprise of the following characteristics:

1. The voicing fits in your hand naturally (like a glove). It's comfortable!
2. The voicing is easy to move around the piano (inside and outside the harmony)
3.  The voicing hints at a harmonic sound (a shell, not too many notes!)

The contemporary shell voicings that we are going to learn today contain all three of these characteristics which are precisely why they are so popular with professional jazz pianists.

Time to learn Contemporary Shell Voicings. I use two sets of contemporary shell voicings when I play; today I am going to focus on the first set (next week we'll explore my second set). Here is how each Contemporary Shell Voicing is constructed:

1. Major Voicing: 7-3-6 of Major Scale (Lydian)
2. Dominant Voicing: 7-3-6 of Dominant Scale (Mixolydian)
3. Minor Voicing: 5-1-4 of Minor Scale (Dorian)
4. Half Diminished Voicing: 5-1-4 of Half Diminished Scale (Locrian)
5. Diminished Voicing: 7-3-6 of Diminished Scale (7th Mode Harmonic Minor Scale)

Here is what they look like using traditional music notation:

I want you to notice that I construct Contemporary Shell Voicings for all five sounds using only two formats; 7-3-6 and 5-1-4. The simplicity of thought is a product of much study which makes the physical mastery of a jazz piano skill manageable. Once a jazz piano skill becomes manageable, it then becomes obtainable. We're now ready to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Time to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.  The final step in mastering a jazz piano skill is to practice playing the skill within a musical context placed in time. Hearing and Feeling a skill within a musical context makes all the difference in the world - it expedites your musical development. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you accomplish this task. Watch the video below to see me practicing Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering Contemporary Shell Voicings.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Contemporary Shell Voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should take a serious look at the various courses and lessons I have available through my JazzPianoSkills.store. All of my courses contain invaluable lessons focusing on a specific jazz piano skill. Additionally, each lesson in my jazz piano courses includes interactive multimedia elements to help you learn the jazz piano skill plus numerous videos demonstrating for you how to play the jazz piano skill. Additional support is easily accessible through a private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music (a fantastic way for you and me to personally interact with one another as we discover, learn, and play jazz piano together). Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

 I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Let's discover, learn, and play Half Step Approachments. What about music excites us? What makes music emotionally intriguing? What makes music interesting? Well, the answer to all three of these questions, as well as many other questions we can ask about the thrill of music, is the "Half Step." Yes, it's true, without the half step, we would lose our greatest approach for creating tension and resolution in the music we create. No tension, no resolution, no tension/resolution relationship, equals very dull music! So, let's take time today to discover, learn, and play Half Step Approachments.

Time to discover Half Step Approachments. As with any jazz piano skill, we need to understand it first intellectually before we rush off to attempt practicing it on our instrument. A robust conceptual command of the jazz piano skill is a must if we hope to have our hands one day successfully perform the skill. With this in mind, let's take a moment to think about and establish relationships for Half Step Approachments. Relationships are meaningful and help us see the jazz piano skill in a musical context; absolutely necessary for constructing a successful way to learn and play the jazz piano skill. The relationships we're going to establish today for Half Step Approachments center around the primary target notes of any sound - the root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th. Let's learn these relationships so we can create exciting tension/resolution Half Step Approachments.

Time to learn Half Step Approachments. Today we'll use the Major, Dominant, Minor, Half Diminished, and Diminished sounds for "C" to explore Half Step Approachments. Let's take a quick look at the primary target notes for each sound:
​

1. C Major: C E G B D (1 3 5 7 9)
2. C Dominant: C E G Bb D (1 3 5 b7 9)
3. C Minor: C Eb G Bb D (1 b3 5 b7 9)
4. C Half Diminished: C Eb Gb Bb Db (1 b3 b5 b7 b9)
5. C Diminished: C Eb Gb Bbb Db (1 b3 b5 bb7 b9)

Using the primary notes of each sound, we can create a pattern of Half Step Approachments for practicing. Take a look at the Half Step Approachments exercise I use for solidifying these new and exciting relationships. I always use these relationships when performing and improvising.

Now that we have determined and established relationships for practicing Half Step Approachments, it's time to play Half Step Approachments!

Time to play Half Step Approachments. ​In my video below I demonstrate how to play the Half Step Approachments by placing them into a musical context. In the video I play at a tempo of 75; however, I can not stress enough how important it is to play a tempo that allows you to perform Half Step Approachments comfortably. After you have a command of the shapes and sounds of the Half Step Approachments, you can begin to challenge yourself with faster tempos.

Once you play Half Step Approachments for each of the "C" sounds, put a plan in place to play the Half Step Approachments for the remaining eleven chord families. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you play Half Step Approachments and all jazz piano skills you set out to discover, learn, and play.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Half Step Approachments and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz courses and lessons which contain invaluable interactive exercises and videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, you can establish your own private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music, which will allow you and me to personally interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Let's discover, learn, and play Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios. Students often ask me, "what can I do with my left-hand voicing while I'm playing a melody or improvising?" It's an excellent question, one that needs to be explored. When listening to accomplished jazz pianists, one quickly notices that their left hand is not static, it's not merely functioning in a low-profile accompaniment role - it's roaming around! So, today, let's discover, learn, and play some left-hand shapes that we can move around under melodic lines. Let's create Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios.

Time to discover Harmonic Motion with Arpeggios. Before we get too excited and rush off to begin trying to create harmonic motion with our left hand, we need to stop and determine what types of shapes are suitable for sliding around the keyboard. When beginning the discovery process, one quickly realizes that traditional chord voicings built around the major and minor third intervals are not conducive to easy mobility. Therefore, it's best to turn our attention to harmonic structures built around the interval of a fourth. They are incredibly comfy under our hands, much easier to slide around and give us a contemporary jazz sound. Let's learn some fourth-voicings that we can use to create Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios.

Time to learn Harmonic Motion with Arpeggios. There are four common fourth-voicing shapes that jazz pianists like to use when playing minor chords. Here they are:
​

1. 1 - 4 - 7
2. 2 - 5 - 1
3. 5 - 1 - 4
4. 6 - 2 - 5

Notice that each voicing contains three notes that are each a fourth apart. Also, it's important to mention that each voicing is built using the C minor Dorian mode/scale (C D Eb F G A Bb). Here is what they look like using music notation.

Now that we have determined the voicings (shapes) we're going to use to create Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios,  we're ready to play Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios!

Time to play Harmonic Motion with Arpeggios. We have already determined the voicings we're going to use for this exercise so let's take a moment and do the same for the arpeggio. When practicing arpeggios I like to play the entire sound from the root to the 13th. A C minor arpeggio (built using the Dorian mode/scale) looks like this:

• C Eb G Bb D F A

So, we're going to use all seven notes of the sound with our right hand, while creating harmonic motion with our left hand using our four voicings/shapes explored above. Here is what it looks like using music notation:

Now, watch my video to hear how Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios sounds.

Spend time studying the formulas for constructing minor voicings using the interval of a fourth. Likewise, spend time practicing minor arpeggios from the root to the 13th. When comfortable, put the two together as illustrated in the music above and as I demonstrated in my video. As always, put a plan in place to discover, learn, and play Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios for all 12 keys.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Harmonic Motion with Minor Arpeggios and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz courses and lessons which contain invaluable interactive exercises and videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, you can establish your own private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music, which will allow you and me to personally interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Let's discover, learn, and play Polychord Voicings. The word polychord can sound intimidating when we first hear the term, but it is actually a simple way to approach learning altered dominant sounds. When looking at a standard jazz lead sheet for a song, it is more than likely to contain some "fancy chords" like C7#11, or C7b9#5. Of course when seeing these "fancy chords," one typically asks the obvious question, "How in the world do I play that chord?". Today, we are going to explore various Polychord Voicings to demystify the playing of "fancy chords," so let's get to it and discover, learn, and play Polychord Voicings. ​

Time to discover Polychord Voicings. The stacking of one chord on top of another chord to produce a specific sound is a standard technique used by professional jazz pianists. So, for example, if you play C Dominant 7 in your left hand while at the same time you play the D Major Triad in your right hand you have a Polychord Voicing; you would be playing a C7#11 sound.  Polychord Voicings are used primarily to handle the altered dominant sounds that are so frequently used in jazz and society standards. You have probably come across many of these chords in the music you play - b9#5, #9b5, b9b5, #9#5, #11, b9, b13. Let's take a look at some Polychord Voicings used by jazz pianists to handle these ordinary (and  "fancy") chords.

Time to learn Polychord Voicings. Take a look at the music below that illustrates the most common Polychord Voicings used in standard jazz repertoire. Here are the formulas for each of the Polychord Voicings illustrated:
​

• #11 = "II Major Triad" over "I Dominant 7"
• b9#5 = "#I Minor Triad" over "I Dominant 7"
• #9b5 = "bIII Minor Triad" over "I Dominant 7"
• b9b5 = "bV Major Triad" over "I Dominant 7"
• #9#5 = "bVI Major Triad" over "I Dominant 7"
• b9 = "VI Major Triad" over I Dominant 7"
• ​b13 = "I Augmented Triad" over "I Dominant 7"

Spend time studying the formulas and how they are notated in the illustration. When comfortable, try applying the formulas to the other 11 dominant chords. Time to hear how these Polychord Voicings sound, time to play!

Time to play Polychord Voicings. ​In my video below I demonstrate how to play the Polychord Voicings by placing them into a musical context. In the video I play at a tempo of 85; however, I can not stress enough how important it is to play a tempo that allows you to perform each of the Polychord Voicings comfortably. After you have a command of the shapes and sounds of these Polychord Voicings, you can begin to challenge yourself with faster tempos.

Once you play the Polychord Voicings for "C7", put a plan in place to play the Polychord Voicings for the remaining eleven dominant chords. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you play Polychord Voicings and all jazz piano skills you set out to discover, learn, and play.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Polychord Voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz courses and lessons which contain invaluable interactive exercises and videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, you can establish your own private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music, which will allow you and me to personally interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Let's discover, learn, and play Half Diminished Arpeggios. It's a reality that arpeggio study and practice is rarely discussed and explored for half-diminished sounds (chords). I'm not sure why this is the case but surmise that because of its rare occurrence in music, when compared to the major, dominant, and minor sounds, the half-diminished sound is merely overlooked. The neglect of the half-diminished sound is unfortunate because it is gorgeous -  especially when expressed from the root through the 13th. So, today we resist the temptation to overlook the half-diminished sound and instead set out to discover, learn, and play Half Diminished Arpeggios from the root to the 13th. 

Let's discover Half Diminished Arpeggios. As with any musical sound we need to understand its origin in order to determine an appropriate scale and arpeggio; the half diminished sound originates from the major scale. When arranging the notes of any major scale into modes we discover the half diminished scale in the 7th mode. Let's take a look at the Eb major scale and its modes:

1. Eb F G Ab Bb C D (Ionian)
2. F G Ab Bb C D Eb (Dorian)
3. G Ab Bb C D Eb F (Phrygian)
4. Ab Bb C Db Eb F G (Lydian)
5. Bb C D Eb F G Ab (Mixolydian)
6. C D Eb F G Ab Bb (Aeolian)
7. D Eb F G Ab Bb C (Locrian)

Mode VII gives us the notes D F Ab C which is the D half diminished sound (chord). We know this because of our understanding of interval relationships, especially the 3rd, that formulates the all the harmonic structures/sounds of music. Knowing a major 3rd equals four half steps and a minor third equals three half steps, we discover the following combinations when exploring the modes of a major scale:

• Maj 3rd + Min 3rd + Maj 3rd = Major Sound
• Min 3rd + Maj 3rd + Min 3rd = Minor Sound
• Maj 3rd +  Min 3rd + Min 3rd = Dominant Sound
• Min 3rd + Min 3rd + Maj 3rd = Half Diminished Sound
• Min 3rd + Min 3rd + Min 3rd = Diminished Sound

DO NOT PANIC! Modes and interval study is a ton of math to sort out which I present in this blog only as a way of illustrating the legitimacy of determining the origins of a musical sound like the half diminished. You do not need to fully grasp this theory at this point to learn Half Diminished Arpeggios.

Let's learn Half Diminished Arpeggios. Today we're going use the D Half Diminished Arpeggios to learn how to approach and explore the half diminished sound. As illustrated above, the D half diminished sound comes from the Eb major scale. So, let's begin by formatting the seventh mode of the Eb major scale as an arpeggio:

• 7th Mode of Eb Major Scale
  • D F Ab C Eb G Bb

Now that we have our D half diminished sound in an arpeggio format starting on root (D) and going to the 13th (Bb), we can establish four "D" Half Diminished Arpeggios with each having a different destination point:

• Half Diminished Arpeggios
  • Arpeggio 1: D F Ab C (Root to 7th)
  • Arpeggio 2: D F Ab C Eb (Root to 9th)
  • Arpeggios 3: D F Ab C Eb G (Root to 11th)
  • Arpeggio 4: D F Ab C Eb G Bb (Root to 13th)

Using this approach is not only great for your technique development, it is phenomenal ear-training. Here are what the "D" Half Diminished Arpeggios look like using traditional music notation:

Now that you now have an organized way to learn Half Diminished Arpeggios, it's "paper-practice" time. Create the above illustrations for each half diminished sound (C, F, Bb, Eb, etc.). ​The more "paper practice" the better when you're trying to learn a jazz piano skill.

Let's play Half Diminished Arpeggios. In my video below I demonstrate how to play "D" Half Diminished Arpeggios by placing them into a musical context. In the video I play at a tempo of 110; however, I can not stress enough of how important it is to play a tempo that allows you to comfortably perform each of the Half Diminished Arpeggios. After you have a command of the notes, fingerings, and articulations you can begin to challenge yourself with faster tempos.

Once you play the Half Diminished Arpeggios for "D", put a plan in place to play the Half Diminished Arpeggios for the remaining eleven keys. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you play Half DIminished Arpeggios and all jazz piano skills.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Half Diminished Arpeggios and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, your own private Mavenlink Support Portal is established, hosted, and maintained by The Dallas School of Music allowing you and me to easily interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Let's discover, learn, and play the II-V-I Progression. When studying chords, I encourage students to explore them from four perspectives. The four views are:

1. Family ( C Major, C Dominant, C Minor, etc.)
2. Type/Quality ( C Major, Db Major, D Major, etc.)
3. Scale/Key (C Major, D Minor, E Minor, etc.)
4. Progressions (II-V-I, I-VI-II-V-I, II-bII-I, etc.)

Each perspective reinforces one's understanding and mastery of the sounds and shapes of jazz. Today we're going to look at chords by progression. So, let's discover, learn, and play the most common jazz chord progression of them all, the II-V-I Progression.

​Time to discover the II-V-I Progression. Each key (or scale) of music consists of seven notes. Let's use the key of C Major as an example.

• C D E F G A B

Once we have the correct seven notes of a key (scale), we arrange those seven notes into modes. Modes are created by starting the scale on each of the seven notes.

1. C D E F G A B (Ionian Mode)
2. D E F G A B C (Dorian Mode)
3. E F G A B C D (Phrygian Mode)
4. F G A B C D E (Lydian Mode)
5. G A B C D E F (Mixolydian Mode)
6. A B C D E F G (Aeolian Mode)
7. B C D E F G A (Locrian Mode)

Once we have the scale organized into modes we can construct the seven chords of the key (scale) by selecting every other note of the mode.

1. C D E F G A B (C Major 7)
2. D E F G A B C (D Minor 7)
3. E F G A B C D (E Minor 7)
4. F G A B C D E (F Major 7)
5. G A B C D E F (G Dominant 7)
6. A B C D E F G (A Minor 7)
7. B C D E F G A (B Half Diminished 7)

Once we have our chords built we can discover, identify, and isolate the II-V-I Progression. 
​

• II Chord = D F A C (D Minor 7th)
• V Chord = G B D F (G Dominant 7th)
• I Chord = C E G B (C Major 7th)

​Once we discover the II-V-I Progression we can begin to learn the II-V-I Progression.

Time to learn the II-V-I Progression. As we just discovered, it's essential that you know all 12 major scales before attempting to construct and determine the II-V-I Progression for each key. To save you a little time, here they are:

1. C Major = C D E F G A B
2. F Major = F G A Bb C D E
3. Bb Major = Bb C D Eb F G A
4. Eb Major = Eb F G Ab Bb C D
5. Ab Major = Ab Bb C Db Eb F G
6. Db Major = Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C
7. Gb Major = Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F
8. B Major = B C# D# E F# G# A#
9. E Major = E F# G# A B C# D#
10. A Major = A B C# D E F# G#
11. D Major = D E F# G A B C#
12. G Major = G A B C D E F#

Now that we have established the correct spelling for each of the 12 major scales, you can begin to construct the II-V-I Progression for each key. Start with the second note of each scale and grab every other note to build the II chord (four notes). Then start with the fifth note of the scale and grab every other note (four notes). Finally, start with the first note of the scale and grab every other note (four notes). The II-V-I Progression diagram for the key of C Major in our discover section above should now make more sense. Here is what the II-V-I Progression for the key of C Major looks like using traditional music notation.

To truly learn the II-V-I Progression you need to produce the above information for each of the major keys. Spend time spelling each of the chords of the II-V-I Progression for each of the keys. If you're really ambitious, construct each II-V-I Progression using traditional music notation as well. The more "paper practice" the better when you're trying to learn a jazz piano skill.

Now it's time to play the II-V-I Progression. You can indeed begin by performing each of the chords in the II-V-I Progression in root position to help you gain mental, physical, and aural familiarity with the sounds and shapes of the progression. Ultimately, however, you want to utilize minimal motion when moving from chord to chord to produce a smooth transition and musical sound. To accomplish this goal, we use inversions when playing the II-V-I Progression as illustrated below.

In my video below I demonstrate each of the options as illustrated so you can see and hear the smooth transitions from chord to chord. You can also observe and take note of my fingerings which you may find beneficial.

Once you play the II-V- Progression in the key of C Major, put a plan in place to play the II-V-I Progression in the remaining eleven keys. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you play the II-V-I Progression and all jazz piano skills.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more II-V-I Progressions and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, your own private Mavenlink Support Portal is established, hosted, and maintained by The Dallas School of Music allowing you and me to easily interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Last week we took time to discover, learn, and play voicings for a minor chord. This week let's explore improvising the minor sound. Like with many jazz skills, when mentioning improvisation, most people begin to tremble - why? Because their understanding and idea of improvisation are misguided. The most common belief regarding improvisation is that you "make it up" as you go. That your hands actually play sounds and shapes that they have never played before. This belief, my friends, is simply not true and this understanding of improvisation is simply impossible. So, let's dig in and discover, learn, and play (improvise) the minor sound.

As with any jazz skill we need to discover and begin with a snapshot of the sound we are exploring. In other words, we need a clear picture of what we are dealing with before we begin any attempt at developing and mastering the skill. To do this, let's examine the facts:

1. All sounds in music comprise of 7 notes.

• (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti)

2. The 7 notes can be arranged and played using 2 formats

•  (Format 1, Scale Motion)
• (Format 2, Arpeggio Motion)

3. Regardless of format, the sound can only travel 2 directions

• (Up or Down)

There you have it, the facts of music. You will do well to spend time thinking about these three facts and let them truly sink in. I tell all my students, it is your conceptual understanding of music, and improvisation, that determines your practicing success and development as a jazz pianist. If your conceptual understanding is complicated and confusing, then your practicing and playing will be complicated and confusing. It is imperative that your thoughts about music are true and accurate. Then the mental organization of those thoughts must be crystal clear. In short, if you have the facts (the truth), and they're organized, you're going to have success obtaining your goal of becoming an accomplished jazz pianist.

Let's learn the facts for minor improvisation!

The minor sound consists of seven notes and those seven can be illustrated using two formats. Here they are using C minor as an example:

1. Scale Format: C D Eb F G A Bb
2. Arpeggio Format: C Eb G Bb D F A

Notice, both formats utilize the same seven notes. The scale format arranges the notes in sequential order while the arpeggio format uses an every other note order. Here's what it looks like using music notation.

We now have a very clean and tidy snapshot of the "C Minor Sound" using both the scale and arpeggio formats. Your job is to replicate the above illustrations for the remaining 11 minor sounds. Once you have an organizational diagram created for each minor sound you are ready to practice them (over and over again - repetition!).
 
Once you have done a sufficient amount of "grunt" work (paper practice and piano practice) for the "C Minor Sound", you are ready to begin developing your improvisation skills - you're ready to play!

To begin developing improvisation skills for the "C Minor Sound" choose one of the formats (scale or arpeggio) to focus on and explore before trying to utilize both simultaneously (it only makes sense). Likewise, choose one direction (up or down) to travel (again, it makes sense). So, today, I am going to demonstrate improvisation development for "C Minor" using ascending, arpeggio motion. Be sure to notice how I explore the "C Minor Sound" launching from the Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th. In doing so I cover the entire "C Minor Sound" from the 1 (root) to the 13th.

​Once I am comfy with the ascending/arpeggio approach I can then explore the remaining combination approaches:

1. ascending/arpeggio (demonstrated)
2. descending/arpeggio
3. ascending/scale
4. descending/scale

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering improvising with minor sounds.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more with jazz improvisation and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, your own private Mavenlink Support Portal is established, hosted, and maintained by The Dallas School of Music allowing you and me to easily interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz.
​
I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Minor voicings. Just the mention of the word "voicing" creates immediate confusion and frustration for so many aspiring jazz pianists. Why? Because the skill of "voicing chords" is approached with the belief that the possibilities are endless. So, if you begin with this false premise you believe you're tackling a jazz piano skill that can never be fully explored, understood, or mastered - after all, you're trying to learn "infinity!" (tip: never a good idea or strategy to begin any journey, project, or endeavor with this mindset). So, we are going to take a different approach as we set out to discover, learn, and play minor voicings.

Let's discover minor voicings. Our strategy begins with an understanding that there is a "standard way" or approach to voicing chords that all professional jazz pianists adhere to when playing jazz. To voice chords contrary to the "standard way" would create sounds that are not idiomatic to the jazz genre. In other words, you would not sound like a jazz pianist because you're playing voicings not associated with jazz! So let's take a look at how a jazz pianist approaches minor voicings.

We begin with a numeric understanding of a minor scale:

• 1 2 (9th) b3 4 (11th) 5 6 (13th) b7

Our numeric understanding of the scale allows us to discover minor voicings using a universal notation. This universal notation approach allows us to easily construct our minor minor voicings in any key. Below are minor voicings illustrated using our numeric notation organized into three common categories:

Left Hand Only Minor Voicings (traditional style)

• Option 1: 3-7-9
• Option 2: 7-3-5

Left Hand Only Minor Voicings (contemporary style)

• Option 1: 1-4-7
• Option 2: 5-1-4

Two-Handed Minor Voicings (accompaniment style)

• Option 1: LH, 1-4 | RH, 7-3-5
• Option 2: LH, 5-1 | RH, 4-7-3

Time to learn minor voicings. To successfully learn any skill (in any discipline) you must establish an organized approach that allows and promotes repetition and replication. This is exactly what we created in the discover section above - we established three categories of minor voicings with two voicing options in each (structure!). Additionally, we used numeric notation for construction and transposition ease. So, using "C minor" as an example, our organizational diagram from above now looks like this:

C Minor Scale

• 1 2 (9th) b3 4 (11th) 5 6 (13th) b7  - (C D Eb F G A Bb )

Left Hand Only Minor Voicings (traditional style)

• Option 1: 3-7-9 (Eb-Bb-D)
• Option 2: 7-3-5 (Bb-Eb-G)

Left Hand Only Minor Voicings (contemporary style)

• Option 1: 1-4-7 (C-F-Bb)
• Option 2: 5-1-4 (G-C-F)

Two-Handed Minor Voicings (accompaniment style)

• Option 1: LH, 1-4 |  7-3-5 (C-F | Bb-Eb-G)
• Option 2: LH, 5-1 | RH, 4-7-3 (G-C | F-Bb-Eb)

We now have a very clean and tidy snapshot of "C" minor voicings. Your job is to replicate this model for the remaining 11 minor chords. Once you have an organizational diagram created for each minor chord begin putting your hands on the shapes (over and over again - repetition!). Here are what the shapes look like for "C Minor":

We're now ready to play minor voicings. The final step in mastering a jazz piano skill is to practice playing the skill within a musical context placed in time. Hearing and Feeling a skill within a musical context makes all the difference in the world - it expedites your musical development. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you accomplish this task. Watch the video below to see me practicing our "C" minor voicings.

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering minor voicings.

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more minor voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should join JazzPianoSkills.com. In addition to receiving free professional jazz piano lessons on a regular basis via Email, your membership grants you lifetime access to all of my instructional jazz videos (which you can access and study as often as you wish). Additionally, your own private Mavenlink Support Portal is established, hosted, and maintained by The Dallas School of Music allowing you and me to easily interact with one another as often as needed each and every week. Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz.
​
I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!