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Acknowledgments. The Rocket Piano series was created on behalf of Rock Star Recipes LTD. Author & Music: Asheigh Southam. Edit & Graphic Design: Unica Design LTD Multimedia Content: Rock Star Recipes Studios Publisher: Rock Star Recipes LTD Copyright © 2005 Rock Star Recipes Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Welcome 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, I’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 I’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! I’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!
Ruth
41 Hear a personal message from Ruth!
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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 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
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
Page
01 Every time you see this button, play the relevant video!
01 Every time you see this button, play the relevant track!
Rocket Piano Progress Tracker Lesson 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 ...........
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. .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . .......... . ..........
. ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ................... . ...................
Chapter 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.
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If you want to listen to some great jazz pianists, here are some suggestions. SWING-ERA JAZZ Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson BEBOP JAZZ Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano POST-BEBOP JAZZ McCoy Tyner, George Shearing, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim MODERN JAZZ Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Barron EXPERIMENTAL JAZZ Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor
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Chapter 2. Jazz Rhythm
42
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 (e.) is one and a half times the value of the original note.
q.
q
=
+
e
Dotted quarter notes are used frequently in conjunction with eighth notes ( e ). You will almost always see the combination of dotted quarter notes and eighth notes in jazz melodies. 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 ( e. ) 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.
e.
=
e_ x
Just as dotted quarter notes are often seen in the company of eighth notes, dotted eighth notes are often seen in the company of sixteenth notes. The “tails” of the notes can be connected together so that they look like this:
. . . . Page
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
Swing 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 found on most drum kits.
/
. . .
. . .
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!
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Chapter 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. C major 7th chord (root position)
● ● ● ●
7th 5th 3rd root
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. 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 jazzstyled music.
Page 10
Dominant 7th Chords What happens when you add a minor 7th to the top instead of a major 7th? You get the dominant 7th chord. To get a dominant 7th, you will “flatten” the major 7th chord that you have just looked at. You should recall that when you flatten something, you turn it into its minor version. The way you flatten the major 7th chord is by taking the major 7th note and dropping it a semitone (for example, from B to B b). You may also think of it in terms of taking the interval between the root note and the 7th note (a major 7th interval) and shortening it by a half step, making it a minor 7th interval.
C dominant 7th chord (root position)
b
b7 5 3 1
● The 7th note, B 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, b7 . It looks like a major triad with a minor 7th on top.
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.
Page 11
Minor 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.
C minor 7th chord (root position)
bb
b7 b53 1
43
● The 7th note, B b, is a minor 7th away from C. ● The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C. ● The 3rd note, E b, 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, b3, 5, b7. It looks like a minor triad with a minor 7th on top.
Chord Quality Now that you’ve learned the three most common jazz 7th chords, play through them and listen to the chord quality of each. The quality of a sound can be difficult to describe, but the three chords you’ve learned often have the following descriptions applied to them. ● 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.
Page 12
Exercise: 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. ● Major 7th chord: 1, 3, 5, 7 ● Dominant 7th chord: 1, 3, 5, b7 ● Minor 7th chord: 1, b 3, 5, b7
6
bb
b
bb
b
02
b
bb
Page 13
b
WE’RE JAMMIN’! Jam Track 16 Exercise:
Here is a Jam Track that uses 7th chords you have been learning about, except 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! Allegro
6
4
. . 1 4 1 4 3 2
1
5 3
3
4
5
10
15
16
2
4 2
5
5
2 3
5
3 2 b . b 1
bb
4
. b . 1
3
1 4 1
5
3
. .
5
. .
4
b
continued on the next page..
Page 14
2 20
.
.
. b .
24
b . b
. .
When 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!
Page 15
16x
Chapter 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 or scale.
44
Key of C Major Let’s take an example. Here’s the I, IV, V progression with the 7th chords played in C major. It is in the root position so that it is easy to read.
I major7 5 32 1
C major 7
IV major7
F major 7
V dominant7
G dominant 7
03
Exercise: Play through the above chords several times.
Listen to the major 7th quality of the C and F compared to the dominant quality of the G dominant 7th chord.
Page 16
Key of B b Major
Now, here is the same progression, this time in the key of B b. Notice that the chords all have notes that are found in the key of B major.
b
I major7
b b b b
04
V dominant7
IV major7
Key of G Major Here 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.
05 I major7
IV major
7
V dominant7
Remember that as you play a seventh chord, your right hand position should go: 5 3 2 1
Page 17
Chord Progression in the Minor Keys
Now, let’s add some minor keys. Minor chords are played 1, b3, 5, b7. 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.
Key of A Minor Here is the A minor i, iv, V progression with 7th chords and the bass notes in the left hand.
i minor7
06
V dominant7 7 iv minor
Key of D Minor Here is the D minor i, iv, V progression with 7th chords and the bass notes in the left hand.
i minor7
Piano
5
b
b
b
07
V dominant7 7 iv minor
Page 18
Key of E Minor Here is the last i, iv, V progression we’ve looked at: E minor progression with the bass notes played by the left hand.
i minor7
08
V dominant
7
iv major7
Good job! Now you can play and recognise three different types of 7th chords. Go on to the next chapter and learn about the last new 7th chord for this book- Minor 7 flat 5!
Page 19
Chapter 5. Building on What You Know In this chapter, you’ll learn about one more kind of 7th chord. You’ll also add a new chord onto the I, IV, V chord progression you already know.
45
Minor 7 Flat 5 Chords
This is the last 7th chord you’ll learn in this book. With the addition of this chord, you’ll have the vocabulary you need to cover the 7th chords in any major key.
Minor 7 flat 5 chords are written minor 7 b 5 for short. To create one of these chords, all you have to do is take the existing minor 7 chord (1,b 3, 5, b7) and flatten the 5th. In other words, it will look like this: 1, b 3,b 5, b 7
These chords sound quite unusual, and it may take a while to get used to how they sound. Here is an example. This is a C minor 7 b5 chord in the root position. C minor 7 flat 5 (root position)
bbb
b7 b5 b3 1
● The 7th note, B b, is a minor 7th away from C. ● The 5th note is now flattened from G to G b. This note gives the chord its unique sound. ● The 3rd note, E b, is a minor 3rd away from C. This gives the chord its minor quality. ● The root note is C.
b b b
Relative to the root note, a minor 7 flat 5 chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7. It looks like a regular minor 7 chord with a flattened 5th note.
Recap of 7th Chords Here’s a brief recap of the chords you have learned to play so far: ● ● ● ●
Major 7th chord: Dominant 7th chord: Minor 7th chord: Minor 7 b5 chord:
1, 3, 5, 7 1, 3, 5, b7 1, b3, 5, b7 1, b3, b5, b7 Page 20
Chord Progressions Revisited So much of jazz revolves around chord progressions. You should be quite familiar with the I, IV, V chord progression by now. This is one of the most popular progressions in music across all genres. However, there are other progressions in jazz that are also very common. As an introduction to those chord progressions, let’s expand on what you already know about the I, IV, V progression. For every note in a scale or key, there is a corresponding chord to go with it. The chords are named by a Roman numeral (upper case for a major chord, lower case for a minor chord) corresponding to the position of the note in the scale. For example: ● The 1st note in a major scale is the root of the I chord. ● The 4th note in a major scale is the root of the IV chord. ● The 5th note of a major scale is the root of the V chord. Similarly, you can build a chord on EVERY note of the scale, as long as you just use notes from that scale. You’ve already learned the rules for constructing any of four kinds of 7th chords, as long as you know the root note. Take a look at all the 7th chords in the C major scale. Each chord is built up from a note in the scale and only uses notes from the C major scale. Study the order of the chords and notice how every chord corresponds to its location in the scale.
I major
7
1 C major7
ii minor7
2
D minor7
iii minor
7
3 E minor7
IV major7
4
F major7
V dominant
7
5 G dominant7
vi minor7
vii minor
6
7 B minor7b5
A minor7
7b5
I major7
1 C major7
You have probably already seen most of these chords before. Now that you can identify them correctly, you can make more interesting chord progressions. This is an important feature of jazz music!
46 Page 21
Iv, iii, V, I Chord Progression Now that you know so many new chords, let’s apply them to chord progressions! Let’s start by adding one of the new chords to the I, IV, V chord progression that you already know. A common progression is a IV, iii, V, I progression. In C major, the progression played as 7th chords looks like this:
IV major7 iii minor7 V dominant7 I major7
IV, iii, V, I progression in C major
F major7 E minor7
09
G dominant7 C major7
The left hand will play the root notes of the chord progression as bass notes. You can create this same progression for any of the other major keys we’ve looked at. Just use the rules that you know about which chord number goes with which note in the scale. You also know how to create any of the 7th chords that you may need to use in the progressions. These guidelines may seem complicated, but they are an essential part of your learning to become an awesome jazz player!
Usually, when you play chord progressions, they get looped in a cycle.
10
Exercise: Try playing the same chord progression as you looked at above, just repeated or looped to extend over four bars. IV
iii
V
I
IV
Page 22
iii
V
I
Chapter 6. Playing Chord Progressions In this chapter, you’ll learn more about how to play chord progressions, including syncopation. In the last example, the chord progression only went for a few bars. Chord progressions can sometimes be quite long, and often the length of the progression will change. Here’s the same IV, iii, V, I progression that you just saw, except this time each chord lasts for one bar.
11 IV
iii
I
V
IV
iii
V
I
Syncopation Often, the change in placement of the chord will change within the bar. In other words, a chord in the progression may come in at an irregular place with respect to where the other chords may be played. Here is an example of the same IV, iii, V, I progression with the chords occuring at irregular time intervals. IV
. ... .
iii
V
... . .
12
I
As you can see, this is a pretty complicated rhythmical pattern! This sort of thing occurs a lot in jazz. It is called syncopation. Syncopation is a shift in the rhythmical placement or accent of notes or chords.
Page 23
47
Chord Displacement
Any variety of placement can be used, usually at the musician’s discretion. Here is an example of how the IV, iii, V, I progression might go with various displacements of the chords with respect to their position in the bar.
13
. ...
.
.. ..
.
... .
.
.
... .
The tune above also has a bit of the type of rhythm that is used in playing jazz chords. Some chords are played only once, while some are played several time for effect. As you can see, playing a chord progression is NOT always strict in jazz. A lot of jazz gives the musician the ability to decide what to play when, using the guidelines of the given chord progression as a reference point. Such improvisation is a very important and fun quality of jazz music.
iii, vi, ii, V, I Chord Progression The iii, vi, ii, V, I progression is a very popular chord progression in jazz. You’ll encounter it in many different jazz tunes. Right now, we’ll look at it in the key of C major, since it is the simplest key. It is a good idea to practice these progressions in every key you know. Playing the progressions in every key will get you familiar with the sounds and movement of the progression. It is also a very good way of learning all the chords in each key. Here are the 7th chords of C major again to remind you.
I major
7
1 C major7
ii minor7
2
D minor7
iii minor
7
3 E minor7
IV major7
4
F major7
V dominant
7
5 G dominant7
Page 24
vi minor7
vii minor7b5
6
7 B minor7b5
A minor7
I major7
1
C major7
In the key of C major, the iii, vi, ii, V, I progression goes:
E minor 7, D minor 7, A minor 7, G dominant 7, C major 7 iii
vi
ii
V
14
I
Play through the progression and listen to it closely. You may notice that it has a sense of movement about it. Then, when it lands on the I chord (the C major 7), it feels resolved. Take time to study and practice this progression. Again, it is one of the most used progressions in jazz, so it is important to be familiar with it. Like the other progressions, you can loop or repeat it. You can also apply some of the inversions and techniques for playing 7th chords that you have learned to these new progressions. For example, here is the iii, vi, ii, V, I progression in C major with inversions and left hand bass notes.
15 iii
vi
ii
V
I
iii
vi
ii
V
I
If you can understand and remember the rules about how to build the four types of 7th chords, as well as locate the name and number of a chord in a progression relative to its key signature, you should congratulate yourself! These concepts are the foundation of jazz playing!
Page 25
WE’RE JAMMIN’! Jam Track 17 Exercise:
This next Jam Track uses alot of syncopation in the right hand. You have just been learning about syncopation in this chapter, try to identify where it occurs in the song. Practice through your piano part a few times, before playing along with the Rocket band!
17 Swing
.
5
.
.
.
10
1.
.
2.
.
continued on the next page..
Page 26
2
. .
.
15
21
.
24
.
. . .
When you can play this piece confidently by yourself, you are ready to jam!
Page 27
17x
Chapter 7. Melody Melody in jazz is a combination of all the things we’ve been looking at so far. The rhythm comes from dotted notes such as the dotted quarter and dotted eighth notes, while the actual melodic notes come from the chordal notes. A lot of the melodic notes in a jazz tune will actually be taken from the notes that would be played in the chord. Let’s take as an example the chord progression I, IV, V in C major. The melodic notes in the first bar (in which the C major 7 chord is being played) will be comprised of the chordal notes of C major 7. Each melodic note here is a chordal note. In other words, every note here is found in the C major 7 chord.
I
IV
V
I
Now, here’s the same progression with a few more melodic notes. Notice that each note from the melody comes from a chordal tone of the corresponding chord played by the left hand. I
IV
V
Exercise: Play through the progression.
I
16
This is a common feature of jazz piano: the left hand plays the chord progression while the right hand is free to play the melody.
Page 28
48
Syncopation in the Melody
Now that you know what notes get played in the melody, you need to know what timing to use. In jazz music, the notes become syncopated. Remember that syncopation is a shift of the rhythmical placement or accent of notes. To do this, you’ll use dotted notes, such as the dotted eighth note and dotted quarter note. This will give the melody a swing feel, which is a key characteristic of jazz. It is easy to give a jazz feel to a melody. For example, take the melody that you just played. All that you need to do is use the rhythmical phrasing of dotting the notes to make them “swing” and sound like jazz music. I
IV
V
I
. . . . . . . . . . . Now we have two contrasting rhythmical phrases.
17
Exercise: Play through the previous exercise and the tune above.
Listen to the changes that occur in the rhythmical pattern. (Some extra notes have been added in the modified phrase to fill in the bar.) Now that you understand melodic patterns and the swing rhythms used in them, you can put it together with your understanding of irregular time intervals in chords. You’re going to get music that sounds even more like jazz! Here is the I, IV, V, I progression with the jazz melody, jazz harmony, and jazz rhythm all put together. It is a very difficult phrase to play, so if you cannot play it at first, that’s okay. Just listen to Track 18 and notice the jazz phrasing.
18
1
5
. . . .... 12 3 5
1
. . . . . . Page 29
Passing Notes Before going any further, you need to know that the rule you just learned - melodic notes come from chordal notes - isn’t always followed strictly. To make the melody notes more interesting, there can be notes that do not occur in the chords. These notes are called passing notes. They act as a link between one chordal note and another. In other words, they are passing through from one chordal note to the next. These passing notes are generally not as important in the melody phrase as the chordal notes, so they usually do not fall on the beat or last for very long. Let’s look at an example. Here is the I, IV, V progression in a swing feel, with passing notes in the melody.
19
non-chordal notes of C major 7 (passing notes)
non-chordal notes of F major 7 (passing notes)
non-chordal notes of G dominant 7 (passing notes)
. . . . . . . . . . .
non-chordal notes of C major 7 (passing notes)
. . .
To make this phrase “swing” more, every note that falls on the off beat is accented. The combination of dotted notes and accenting the off beat notes makes the phrase swing, so that it sounds a lot more like a jazz phrase! accented
. . . . . . . . . . .
Exercise: Try playing both phrases and notice the difference.
. . .
It may be very slight, but it is integral to making the phrase swing. You should practice this technique. It will be very difficult to learn at first, but it is a very important aspect of jazz playing!
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Review At this point, we’ve covered the three main types of playing: ● Jazz Melody
◊ chordal notes ◊ dotted notes ● Jazz Harmony
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
major 7ths dominant 7ths minor 7ths minor 7 5
b
● Jazz Rhythm
◊ dotted notes ◊ syncopation of the chord progression
Exercise: Now, let’s put all three aspects together and practice a iii, vi, ii, V, I progression using all three techniques. Use the fingering position 1 for all left hand chords. 2 3 5
iii
1
. 3
ii
20
vi
.
3
.
1
.
. . . ... V
.
1 . . . . . . . . .... 1
3
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3
. I
Chromatic Notes The last aspect of jazz music that you’ll learn in this book is chromatic notes. Chromatic notes are fairly common in jazz. They appear in the melody and are also considered passing notes. Like passing notes, they usually do not fall on the beat and are brief in length. They are more unusual than passing notes, because not only do they not appear in the chord, they also do not appear in the scale or key that the progression is in! Let’s take the melody that you looked at earlier using the passing notes.
. . . . . . . . . . .
. .
non-chordal passing note
chromatic chromatic passing note passing note
non-chordal passing notes
non-chordal passing note
chromatic passing note
non-chordal passing note
chromatic passing note
non-chordal passing note
. . .b . .b. .b . . . .
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21
Now, let’s add chromatic notes as well as passing notes.
chromatic passing note
.
non-chordal passing note
. b. .
Chapter 8. Real Jazz You’re ready for playing real jazz now! This introductory book has been short and sweet, but you should now know just enough to give you a taste for jazz piano. The last two pages of this book are an original jazz tune, composed by me! The following tune is quite complicated to play, so if you don’t get it right away, that’s perfectly okay. Playing jazz, even at an introductory level, is not easy!
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Swing feel
22
q = 96
.
.
. . . . .
5
. . . . . .. ..
. b. . . . ... .
.
. ..
9
. . . . . . b . . . . . . . ....
13
.
. b. . . . . . . . .. . .
.
17
. ..
. ... .
. . .
21
. . b . . . . . ....
. . . ... .
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. .
. . . .
25
29
.
.
.
b. .
. . . . .
.
31
.
.
. .
. . . . . . . . . .
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Conclusion You’ve done it! You have completed the Rocket Piano Introduction to Jazz. Just think of everything you can do now that you couldn’t before. You now understand so much more about the fundamentals of jazz: Jazz rhythm, harmony and melody! You’re on your way to becoming a great musician ... all you need is more practice! If you haven’t already, now is an opportune time to get stuck in to the Gospel, Spirituals & Hymns book!
Ruth
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