Product Description

JAZZ PIANO HANDBOOK

Essential Jazz Piano Skills

for All Musicians

If you’re a jazz singer, instrumentalist or teacher and don’t already have basic skills in jazz piano: now is the time! Piano skills are the gateway to understanding chords and progressions, checking lead seets for accuracy, learning new tunes, arranging, writing your own tunes, becoming a better improviser and so on. This book outlines and easy step-by-step process for learning basic jazz piano.
See sample pages from Jazz Piano Handbook.

Section I,
“The Essentials,” is the study and practice of basic voicings and their application to songs.

Section II,
“Above and Beyond,” will expand your skills and knowledge with the addition of more sophisticated
voicings, color notes, a more pianistic style of playing, and skills to harmonize a melody.

Here’s what you will learn:

Open any fake book or sheet music with chord symbols and be able to play a tune
Teach your student how to play a tune by demonstrating it at the piano
Accompany yourself or another singer or instrumentalist on any type of tune – swing,
ballad, Latin, or other
Get a solo piano/vocal gig
Use the piano as a helpful tool to practice vocal improvisation
Analyze the chord changes to a song and understand the function of each chord within the progression
Double-check published lead sheets for accuracy, or creatively embellish your own
Improve your composition skills by being able to play and hear the tunes you write
Become a better-educated singer, instrumentalist or teacher of jazz, with a thorough understanding of the
music and the confidence that goes along with it

The CD that comes with the book provides a model for how the exercises should sound when played correctly, musically and with good piano technique. Also included in the book is 14 jazz piano etudes, a catalog of chord symbols and color notes, and a glossary.