Second in Frank’s HUGE collection of killer jazz piano licks to add to your bag… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…
Table of Contents
Special Note about this Lesson
Don’t underestimate the immense value of this seemingly simple study for developing your musicianship. While this lesson may not qualify as a lick per se, such knowledge and skill builds a solid foundation for hearing, reading, feeling, playing, composing, and improvising musical melodies.
Special Note about the Design of these Studies
An extremely effective way to internalize any new lick–by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle–and to simultaneously develop your comping and soloing chops is to play it “in context”: within an established form over a set of standard chord changes.
Jazz Piano Lick 002
The pattern here is simple: Play each of the three Tonic Minor Triad Chord Tones (Do, Me, So) against a Minor 1-6-2-5 (i-viø7-iiø7-V7) turnaround chord progression in an 8 bar form in the key of C Minor (a commonly used jazz key)…
Jazz Piano Lick 002 (Played over Chord Roots)
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…
Ear Training Tips: As you play and sing each Solfege syllable aloud, pay special attention to the unique sound-feeling of each one (Do, Me, So) and ask yourself: Which one sounds and feels most stable and resolved? How does the sound, feeling, and function of each note depend on its location within the meter, within the form, and with respect to the chord that is being played at the time?
Jazz Piano Lick 002 (Played over Block Chords)
Repeated notes played over four-note chords in the middle register, connected using voice-leading. Here’s where knowing your minor scales and chords really pays dividends…
Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 76 beats per minute…
Jazz Piano Lick 002 (Time for You to Improvise)
Use what you know about form, meter, chord voicings, left hand patterns, and rhythm… and see what you discover just by messing around.
Study & Practice Reminders
- You’re singing the Solfege aloud in order to internalize the sound-feelings, right?
- You practice with a metronome or rhythm track in order to instill good time, right?
- You record yourself, listen to the playback immediately, self evaluate, and respond accordingly, right?
The key to getting good isn’t “talent”; it’s the discipline to study and practice the right things the right way.
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