Jazz Piano Lesson: Major Key Tonic Triad Workout

Lesson Goal: To internalize commonly used melodic patterns for the Major Key Tonic Triads in all keys… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…

Table of Contents

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Prerequisites

Basic music reading skills… basic scale, chord, and chord progression theory… basic technique… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.

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Study, Practice, & Performance Tips

1. Never play mindlessly and mechanically. Always aspire to play musically.
2. Your goal is not to merely memorize this, but to study and practice it until you internalize it using all four musical intelligences: ears, intellect, eyes, and muscles.
3. Every time you practice something, you are programming your brain. So always play accurately.
4. Practice with a Click Track or a Rhythm Track. Doing so will give you immediate feedback on any rhythmic misconceptions or places where your timing gets sloppy.
5. Record Yourself. Always. Listen to the playback immediately. And ask yourself: Is that what you intended to play?”
6. If anything feels tense or awkward, stop immediately and experiment with alternative fingerings or choreography.
7. Play this in other keys you expect to play in. By the way, once you see the patterns (which is guaranteed if you know your scales and chords) finding the notes in other keys will be a piece of cake!
8. If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, realize that anything can and will be mastered if you slow things down or break things down to small enough pieces.
9. All of this might sound like a lot of work, but it’s not nearly as much as you think. Because even though it takes time to talk about all these things, in practice they can all be done simultaneously!

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Tonic Triad Chord Tones in C Major

A fundamental jazz improvisation skill is the ability to hear, think, see, and play the chord tones in the I chord in any major key…

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Major Triad Arpeggio

You always sing out loud using Solfege to train your ears, right?

As you play and listen, notice that each chord tone has a particular sound, feeling, and function: Do establishes the key center and is the tone of maximum rest, So is highly consonant with Do, but not quite as settled, and Mi creates the major sound-feeling and is not quite as settled as either So or Do.

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Nearest Chord Tone Up & Down

A simple matter of playing the nearest chord tone up or down as follows…

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Chord Tone Skips

A simple matter of skipping over the nearest chord tone up or down as follows…

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Practice Tracks, All Major Keys

Please let Frank know if you’d like him to produce downloadable MP3 play along files in all keys at a variety of tempos (FYI: Not a single person has asked yet).

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Major Triad Passing Tones

A fundamental jazz improvisation skill is the ability to hear, think, see, and play the passing tones between each of the chord tones in any major triad…

One Diatonic Passing Tone, Quarter Notes

Sing as you play: Do Re Mi, Mi Fa So, So Ti Do! etc…

Notice three important things about the pattern above:

1. The chord tones 1, 3, 5 (Do, Mi, So) fall on the strong beats (1 & 3) and the passing tones that connect the chord tones fall on the weak beats (2 & 4).
2. There are “too many notes in the scale” between So and Do going up and between Do and So going down.
3. It sounds and feels more melodically pleasing to fill the gap between So and Do going up with Ti and to fill the gap between Do and So going down with La. (Hint: Try doing to reverse to see how it sounds and feels).

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One Diatonic Passing Tone, Swing 1/8th Notes

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Two Passing Tones (some chromatic), Triplet 1/8th Notes

Notice that you “run out of notes” between Do and Mi and Mi and So, and so you need to add an extra note to smooth out the melodic line.

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Two Passing Tones (some chromatic), Swing 1/8th Notes

Notice that the last note in each group now falls on an upbeat–an essential element in Jazz swing called syncopation.

Practice Tracks, All Major Keys

Please let Frank know if you’d like him to produce the music score and downloadable MP3 play along files in all keys at a variety of tempos (FYI, nobody has asked yet).

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Major Triad Neighbor Tones

A fundamental jazz improvisation skill is the ability to hear, think, see, and play the neighbor tones for the I chord in any major key…

What is a Neighbor Tone?

A “neighbor tone” is a note that moves stepwise from a chord tone and then back again to the same chord tone. Neighbor tones can be diatonic (within the key) or chromatic (outside the key)… typically played in the following pattern: chord tone on a strong beat, neighbor tone on a weak beat, chord tone on a strong beat. Think of this as a fancier way to play a single chord tone all by itself in order to create more flowing and interesting melodies. 

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Neighbor Tones for the C Major Triad (Straight 1/4 Notes)

Notice the pattern: Primary chord tones (1-3-5) played on the strong beats 1 & 3 and neighbor tones played on weak beat 2…

Notice that the upper neighbor tone is diatonic while the lower neighbor tone (a minor 2nd) may or may not be diatonic (Hint: if not diatonic you will see an accidental). As such the lower neighbor acts like a leading tone which has a stronger harmonic attraction to the nearest note above.

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Neighbor Tones for the C Major Triad (Swing 8th Notes)…

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Neighbor Tones Practice, All Major Keys

Please let Frank know if you’d like him to produce the music score and downloadable MP3 play along files in all keys at a variety of tempos (FYI, nobody has asked yet).

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Major Triad Chord Tone Embellishments

A fundamental jazz improvisation skill is the ability to embellish the three primary chord tones in a major triad…

Here are eight commonly used ways to embellish the primary chord tones 1, 3, 5 (Do, Mi, So) of a C major triad in the key of C Major. Notice that the target notes always fall on the strong beat and that the embellishments always anticipate each target note in swung 1/8th notes, creating a sense of forward motion and anticipation.

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Half-Step Below Approach

Pattern: Approach the target note from a Minor 2nd below, played as a pickup starting on the 4& beat…

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Diatonic Above Approach

Pattern: Approach the target note from the nearest diatonic note above, played as a pickup starting on the 4& beat…

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Diatonic Above + Half-Step Below Approach

Pattern: Nearest diatonic note above + Minor 2nd below, played as a pickup starting on beat 4…

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Half-Step Below + Diatonic Above Approach

Pattern: Minor 2nd below + nearest diatonic note above, played as a pickup starting on beat 4…

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Target + Half-Step Below Approach

Pattern: Target Note + Minor 2nd below played as a pickup starting on beat 4…

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Target + Diatonic Above Approach

Pattern: Target Note + nearest diatonic note above, played as a pickup starting on beat 4…

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Target + Half-Step Below + Target + Diatonic Above Approach

Pattern: Target + Minor 2nd below + Target + nearest diatonic note above, all played as a pickup starting on beat 3…

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Target + Diatonic Above + Target + Half-Step Below Approach

Pattern: Target + nearest diatonic note above + Target + Minor 2nd below, all played as a pickup starting on beat 3…

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Practice Tracks, All Major Keys

Please let Frank know if you’d like him to produce the music score and downloadable MP3 play along files in all keys at a variety of tempos (FYI, nobody has asked yet).