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Practice Routine?

hey all. what's a good hour and a half practice routine for the jazz rookie? i've got the new real book and the world's greatest fake book for lead sheets.

by Lump on 05/31/2006, 23:05

There are 8 comments, leave a comment.

spend 10 minuts throwing the fake books away(laughs), and then spend the rest of the time transcribing jazzpianist and transposing the transcribed parts to all keys.
it's good to start out with pianists like red garland, count basie and ahmad jamal as the play pretty simple stuff. it's not difficult to hear what they are doing and it's not that demanding tecnically however it still sounds great.
sincerly
nihonjni

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by nihonjin on 06/01/2006, 03:44

i think it really depends on how much of a rookie you are.  i don't think transcribing is that useful until you are comfortable with scales, since part of the value of transcribing is to know which scales people use, how they play notes outside the scale etc.

i would recommend you practice playing the melody with simple left hand voicings and improvise with a few scales (blues, bebop and dorian). start out with pieces that work well slow so you can just play a left hand voicing at the beginning of each chord and keep the tempo pretty free with your right hand.

the most important thing, however, is to play what you like.  what do you like? what style do you want to play?

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by marksdg on 06/01/2006, 08:55

i agree with marksdg. i both played from the real book, and at the
same time listened to a number of artists do the same tunes.
that is when an individual's style becomes apparent. start with stuff like autumn leaves, and how high the moon, or really any tune that you like but that will not bog you down technically.

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by jmkarns on 06/01/2006, 12:35

learn all your 2-5-1's in all keys. memorize them so they are automatic. learn 3/7 voicings in all keys and play them as ii-v-i and blues i-iv-ii-v-i in all keys. learn to do a bass pattern in your left hand while doing chords in your right hand. learn how to do chords in your left hand while doing melodies on your right hand.

and start improvising.

then do everything above at increasing tempos.

obviously don't do all this at one time. do some of these at each practice session.

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by rc on 06/02/2006, 00:23

read "forward motion" by hal galper if you want to get a strong insight into how to improvise using scales. you cant just pick a few scales and be expected to fiddle around with them and improvise. you need structure and you need to develop strong harmonic lines in the right hand that will spell out the harmony. "forward motion" teaches you how to do just that....ew

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by elwapo on 06/09/2006, 04:34

the first thing i recommend is learn tunes. it will be what shapes your future direction in learning the other important aspects of jazz.
why learn tunes first? well, what type of tunes you like will inspire you to work on the theory, techniques, and improvisation. learning the great american songbook is important to many jazz musicians, but you may not be to interested in the older songs. so, if you like pat metheny, herbie hancock or prince, then learn thoses tunes and then apply yourself.

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by MoJazz on 06/09/2006, 06:02

since elwapo brought up "forward motion" by hal galper, what does everybody think of it? i checked out his website and he pretty much says it will revolutionise your playing; is it worth buying? is it really that radically different to other theories on building melody lines based on chords? thanks.

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by on 06/11/2006, 16:25

i recommend it. it's easy to read it quickly and think you've gotten everything from it. it is actually complicated to apply as some posts here can attest. it takes a lot of re-reading. in any case, there isn't a good book on 'phrasing' that i've found other than this. there's more to be said about jazz phrasing than is in this book but i've found no other book to use. i think this book will supply you with many things to think about for a long time.

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by rc on 06/11/2006, 18:03

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Practice Routine?

There are 8 comments, leave a comment.

by nihonjin on 06/01/2006, 03:44

by marksdg on 06/01/2006, 08:55

by jmkarns on 06/01/2006, 12:35

by rc on 06/02/2006, 00:23

by elwapo on 06/09/2006, 04:34

by MoJazz on 06/09/2006, 06:02

by on 06/11/2006, 16:25

by rc on 06/11/2006, 18:03

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Practice Routine?

There are 8 comments, leave a comment.

by nihonjin on 06/01/2006, 03:44

by marksdg on 06/01/2006, 08:55

by jmkarns on 06/01/2006, 12:35

by rc on 06/02/2006, 00:23

by elwapo on 06/09/2006, 04:34

by MoJazz on 06/09/2006, 06:02

by on 06/11/2006, 16:25

by rc on 06/11/2006, 18:03

Reply to Thread

Jazz Piano Notebook Series

"Latinesque"

LJP Jazz Piano Blogs

Most Recent Discussions

Articles

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazz piano education is cool.

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In