i was wondering what you all do about intro's. do you have certain standard things you do? like progressions that lead into the i chord...?
for example modulating through the cylce of fifths through a series of ii-v's. or do you use i vi ii v etc...  

speak up! :)
There are 6 comments, leave a comment.
one common approach is to use the last few bars of one of the sections. especially a little progression that leads into the top of the verse.

whether or not you want to include the melody of that section is optional. often it's enough just to use the progression itself with some noodles on top to get the tune started.
you may want to listen to count basie. i've learned several intros off of him.
yep, the last 4 or 8 bars of a tune often forms the intro.  i also sometimes like to use a i-vi-ii-v progression over a dominant pedal for a change.
oh, and of course, some tunes have famous intros that people play a lot.  examples are 'take the a train', charlie parker's intro to 'all the things you are' and red garland's intro to 'bye bye blackbird'.

bossa novas are often introduced with a simple vamp on the i chord. for other tunes, you can just vamp round part of the progression for an intro.  this often works well with with minor ii-v-i's in.  softly as in a morning sunrise and yesterdays are examples of tunes you could do that on.
i have used ii-v-i's in chromatic descending keys: if the i is in c then:

fm7 bb7 | em7 a7 | ebm7 ab7 | dm7 g7 as a 4 bar intro

sort of like circle of fifths but not
i have been using the approach described by 7 for leading into standards (solo piano). i find by playing the chords (with noodles) the tune begins to unfold. you get to refresh the chords before adding melody as well.
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 has picked up over decades of playing on stage.

Being a pro jazz pianist requires good ears, experience, and a bag of tricks that create the kinds of sounds people expect to hear from a jazz pianist. The entries in this book will give you some of those tricks.

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, and books like this help connect what you're hearing to what you want to play.

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.

Tim has a new book out Beginning Jazz Piano (Pts 1 and 2)

Many of Tim's books now come with free access to interactive sheet music ONLINE, which permits slowing down of the backing and performance tracks, as well as the option to loop passages for practice purposes.

Tim now also has online VIDEO courses for his books, including Beginning Jazz Piano, Improvising Blues Piano and Exploring Jazz Piano Vol 1:

buy pdf version Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Notebook Volume 3 -

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 57,198 logins
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2026 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only