i'm looking for names of good songs to learn.  i like blues and funk alot. if anybody knows medeski martin and wood that would be for me a sort of ideal style. really any favorites you might have that you deem relatively simple from a chord sequence point of view would be awesome.(though a few difficult and unorthodox chords would be ideal. just not too many. i think i'd rather learn 10 songs with one complicated chord each rather than one song with 10 complicated chords in it, i can't even always guess the simple ones right away) and also any of your favorite renditions of them so i could grab the mp3 and check out what the pros are doing with it.


      my current goal is to associate the names of chords with their characteristic sounds as well as how they complement each other in sequence and i guess sometimes on top of each other too. i figure that just learning songs, and the names of the chords they're made with, is probably the best way to do this, but if you have any other tips that can help me do this that would be great. i don't have much of a problem with improvisation of singular notes, though there's always infinite room to improve, but if i want to play a chord i find it a little bit difficult because for me there is a resulting sound of the chord, which i usually associate with one note, for some reason, the others are kind of like filler, i don't know if this makes sense but.. finding all the other parts of the chord can be very difficult because i need to guess the exact location of 3 or more notes and if i'm off then i can forget what i was trying to find or i'll accidentaly find something new that i like and i go off on a tangent and have learned nothing, and when i do find a chord i'm looking for i don't know what's the root and what's what so when i want to play that sound again i have to guess from scratch (and even at that i'm not sure if i'd realize that that was the same sound as a chord i had figured out earlier because the context is different and that sorta changes things for me). plus the way the piano is setup with black and white keys the intervals though always the same do not look the same in pattern form making it even harder.  i figure if i associate the names of chords with their sounds and compostion that will eliminate this problem. i find it difficult to bring myself to doing drills because they are kinda bland and music always beckons and then i give in. though i do practise my muscles by learning licks i heard that i particularly liked and that often requires repitition but with a good immediately observable prize, a sweet lick. so if you know of a good and fun way to learn chord names/sound that would be awesome. and any other suggestions would be amazing as well.


i'm a newbie so i don't know if there is a place like this on this site but i find it would be great to have a list of songs people can add to and give votes on difficulty level out of 10 for example, as well as some names of artists who made renditions of them that people particularly like, which is good for learning and good for listening too.

p.s. sorry if i'm misusing the forums at all i may have posted this in other rooms but i get kinda lost in here at times and i forget what room i was in and whatnot.

thanks for reading this i'm sorry it's long but i just wanted you to know where i was at.
There are no comments, leave a comment.
Please sign in to post.

Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 1 - jazz piano tricks of the trade

Volume 1 of this educational jazz piano book contains 15 jazz piano exercises, tricks, and other interesting jazz piano techniques, voicings, grooves, and ideas Scot Ranney enjoys playing.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version - videos

Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 2 - jazz piano tricks of the trade you can use today
"Latinesque"

Volume 2 has 14 jazz piano exercises and tricks of the trade, and quite a bit of it is Calypso jazz piano related material, including some Monty Alexander and Michel Camilo style grooves. Jazz piano education is through the ears, but books like this can help.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

Volume 3 contains 12 jazz piano exercises and explorations by the acclaimed jazz piano educator, pianist, author, and recording artist Tim Richards.

Tim wrote the well known "Exploring Jazz Piano" and "Improvising Blues Piano" books and has several others to his name.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Jeff Brent's Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

Volume 4 is by Jeff Brent, a jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and author of "Modalogy" and other acclaimed jazz theory and education books. In this book Jeff shares detailed analysis of transcriptions of live performances. He covers everything from the shape of the songs to the tricks and licks he uses in improvised lines to the ideas behind his lush chord voicings.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Most Recent Discussions
Great Resource for Jazz Pianists
Scale in Calderazzo solo
analyzing Someone To Watch Over Me
Site updates
Korg SV-1 vs Nord Electro
Brad Brad Mehldau's independant left hand
more...
Articles

Piano for Adoption Scam
Aprender Jazz en Piano
BEWARE: FREE BABY GRAND PIANO SCAM
Oh Tannenbaum for Jazz Piano
Volume 5 of the "Jazz Piano Notebook Series" is Available!
LearnJazzPiano.com File Downloads News
more...

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazzy Christmas Arrangements
Cocktail Piano
Best Songs Ever, 6th Edition
Christmas Medley
Moana Songbook
Late Night Jazz Piano

Jazz piano education is cool.

be the main character in your own story

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In

privacy policyterms of serviceabout • 50,655 messages 63,069 accounts 57,171 logins
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only