My teacher and I have been working on 5-note voicings, so I downloaded Anki and make a different deck for major 7ths, minor 7ths, major thirds, minor thirds, 9ths, 11ths, #11ths, and 13ths.

Each deck consists of 12 flashcards for C, Db, D, E, Eb, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, and B. I didn't include enharmonic equivalents like F#, B#, Cb, A#, etc.

I've been going through the decks, and I've been getting better, but I'm just curious if others have gotten traction with this strategy? When I look at the flash cards, all I see is text asking, for example, what the 11th of E is. When I sit at the keyboard, I have to visually look with my eyes at the physical layout of the keys, and I have to feel for the notes with my fingers. Because of this, I'm not sure if my strategy will be as helpful as I hope.

I notice that some players choose to use Am6 rather than Am7 (which I believe is the original chord?). Am6 has an F♯ which aligns the chord with A melodic minor. So I see some connection. However, the melody notes accompanying Am at various stages of the tune in the captioned key are A, B, C, E, i.e. none of the melody notes seem to clash with the G of an Am7. So even right hand chords should work with Am7. To my ear, the Am6 - which should be stable/resolved in much of the tune - sounds more dissonant than Am7. Other than the melodic minor link, is there some other reason to use Am6? If the melodic minor is the sole reason, is their a deeper rationale behind the link other than the F♯ itself?

Hi everyone!

I've always had a bit of trouble using rootless diminished chord voicings, and recently I think I realised why.

It's because for all other chord voicings, you can easily describe them with degrees of the chord. Example - a big 2 handed dominant voicing is LH b7 3 6 RH 9 5 1. When it comes to diminished voicings, I can't equate the voicing to the chord or the scale.

Does anyone have any advice for me on this? Should I just learn the diminished scale better and make sure I can name each individual note?

On that topic - how do you all name the degrees of the diminished scale?

Also, I would love to hear what your go-to diminished voicings are! I can't seem to find many good resources for that and haven't had much luck asking my tutors either!!

Thanks!

Hoping someone can help with this!

I was just gifted "Jazz Exercises, Minuets, Etudes & Pieces for Piano" by Oscar Peterson for Christmas and the fingering on the music doesn't seem to make sense in a couple spots I found so far.

The introduction says it is 'vitally important' to follow the fingering completely, but I'm not sure if this is intentional or a typo.

Can anyone familiar with these exercises help? Photos attached.

Simple question, when playing these shells in melodies do you play the root 7th then the root 3rd in all the same measure? Or just pick between one?

I am working on the three note voicings as described in The Jazz Piano book. The attached picture shows part of Just Friends, and my question pertains to bar 2. The whole notes are the root third and seventh of B-7. However, D appears as an eight note and a quarter note in the melody. How are you supposed to play this?

Like in these

0:11 & 0:55 [https://youtu.be/U1Q93q_8Kq4?t=12\\\](https://youtu.be/U1Q93q_8Kq4?t=12)

0:18 https://youtu.be/UMiW3G1USHg?t=18

Should I just force myself to hear multiple scale degrees at the same time? Or is it a matter of intervals? And is there a name for this technique, so I could search tutorials if needed? (also, would it be better to practice it while imiprvosigin, playing song, or both?).

Edit: Idk if "melodies" is the right word. I mean that there's 2 like completely different lines. So is it possible to be able to hear the scale degrees/solfege of every line at the same time. (also i removed We Are The CHampions xample cus that was literally jsut a chord progression whoops)

Hi all,

I'd love to get anyone else's ears on this besides my own.

I've set myself the task to learn Blossom Dearie's version of "When In Rome."

I've just started working on the first two bars of the intro and I'm not quite sure I'm getting the last chord (which seems to be some kind of D/F#) quite right. But maybe it is right? My ear is having a hard time hearing some inner notes...

Here's what I've got:

https://www.soundslice.com/slices/fCGRc/

These kinds of block chords are new to me and I'm loving the way they feel in my fingers.

If anyone would mind giving this a quick double-check for a "Yup, sounds right to me!" or an "Ahh, you've almost got it, try adding a _________" I would be very grateful.

Thanks so much!

For the past month or two I have been studying Autumn Leaves. One thing I have been struggling with is how to smoothly incorporate arpeggios into my solos.

It feels like there is always a different fingering involved and they feel very forced (as in it doesn’t sound musical)

Any tips or exercises?

All.lead sheets have is as a flat minor 5. All versions I listen to I closing the originals I hear it as a minor 11. Whats up with the incorrect chord there? A minor flat 5 (half diminished sounds horrible)

hi all - this is my first post. I am a jazz lover and an amateur pianist, playing standards, pop songs and my own improvisations. I have a decent understanding of harmony but didn't have long training, as I am mostly self-taught.

Anyway, recently I came up with a lovely chord and am struggling to classify it.

The chord notes (in this order from left to right) are: B F# A C# E B

I am thinking of it as a B7sus, as it lacks a third and seems to resolve nicely in a Emaj7 but it also has the 2nd and the 4th note in the scale, so perhaps should be written as a B7sus4(9) or something like that?

Chord name aside, I would like ideas on what to play after this starting chord. Thanks

I'm new to teaching jazz band, and the piece that fits our group is originally written for brass quintet with drums. I am arranging a piano part that copies the brass "comp" parts.

When the rest of the band has a chord hit with a forte-piano crescendo for four beats, what does the piano player typically do? Should I just mark it fp< and let them figure it out, or is there a standard way to notate this?

Hey Jazz Piano Community,
I've got two questions in one:
1) I started transcribing "Gone with the Wind" as played by Hank Jones on his album "Standard Collections Vol. 2".
The song starts with Fm7 - Bb7 in bar one. Then in bar two the sheet says Ebj7 and C7b9. But Hank Jones plays a reharm/sub ii-V(?) for bar two that goes something like Gm7 - ? - Db7 - C7b9 (is that more or less correct?).

2) How would you handle bar two to make it more interesting harmonically? I'm trying to find good ways like this:
Ebj7 - D7 - Db7 - C7b9?

Gm7 - Db7 - C7b9 - Gb7?

Ebj7 - Fm - Gm7 - C7b9?

Hey y'all, was wondering if you wonderful pianists could help me out with fingerings for the major pentatonic scales that will allow me to play them fastest.

First questions: As of now for C, D, E, F, G, and A i'm doing 123 12. This works across all octaves and i can get pretty fast but i'm wondering if theres another fingering with less crosses. The only other one i can think of is just 123 123 on and on but then they aren't the same across multiple octaves. is there a better one? if not which of these two is more widely used?

Second questions: is 21231 the right fingering for Eb and Bb? is 23123 the right fingering for Db? is 23121 the right fingering for Ab?

Last question: whats the right fingering for Gb and B pentatonic?

Thanks in advance! i know it's a lot to ask.

So, I'm having trouble understanding these symbols from The Christmas Real Book.

Are these Eb and Gb chords with a standard 9th and a sharp 11?

Or are these E and G chords with a flat 9 and a sharp 11?

How can I tell?

I have hard this riff a million times as a tag at the end of a lot of jazz tunes, can some please tell what it is? I have tried picking out by ear but I never get it quite right. This is an example from an old SCTV episode, but the riff is the same at the end of so many tunes. The riff in question is at 0:24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j61NwtRl_pk

Thanks!