Fred Hughes-- The Jazz Pianist: Left-Hand Voicings on LearnJazzPiano.com

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Fred Hughes-- The Jazz Pianist: Left-Hand Voicings

i'm your average beginner/intermediate level pianist who loves jazz piano. it's my passionate hobby and i am basically self-taught, but also play trombone and bass. i've got a big stack of "how to" jazz piano books, including several of the famous ones listed on your site. i've also looked at many of the online instructional sites like the great doug mckenzie's. after plunking and bumbling and stumbling my way along for a couple of years, i have to say that without a doubt---my vote for the best book i have found for the beginner/intermediate is the one by fred hughes. no other book i have tried (and i've gone through a big stack) focuses on basic foundations like this one. if you master it all, you definitely will have the tools to go on to another level. i think fred's approach is brilliant. he totally avoids long-winded academic discussion of complex jazz theory, and starts right off with basic left-hand voicings. he then builds progressively through the complete advanced spectrum of jazz chords, in every key through the cycle of fifths. the greatest thing about his method for the beginner/intermediate is that his left-hand voicings are designed to introduce basic comping skills and chord harmony in a progressive way (with cd acompaniment)---without pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth and existential "angst"!! all the other books like mark levine's, etc. are great--- but the beginner/intermediate would be be far better to start off with fred hughes---then explore other advanced methods. however, it's not easy---- the progressive lessons get more and more challenging, and if you can get through them all you will really have learned a lot. if anyone finds that understanding all the different chords is often incredibly confusing and frustrating, this book is a breath of fresh air. fred hughes should be commended. i honestly have never seen another book with a such an intelligent, understandable, simple approach to playing every chord through the cycle of fifths. any beginner who can eventually work up to playing the basic arrangements of "body and soul" and "all the things you are" from this book will have achieved a huge amount.

by Trombonehead on 07/26/2009, 21:53

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Fred Hughes-- The Jazz Pianist: Left-Hand Voicings

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Fred Hughes-- The Jazz Pianist: Left-Hand Voicings

There are no comments, leave a comment.

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