r/JazzPiano

Hi!! I just started piano recently. I’ve loved it since I was a kid but never had the opportunity to play. I enjoy a lot of video game music and most recently the persona (five) soundtrack which is loosely jazz inspired.

I’ve started with a teacher and she’s teaching me jazz piano but I can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed. A lot of improvisation just feels like I’m doing anything and not retaining what i’m doing with it.

I live in New Orleans, jazz surrounds me daily! I enjoy it a lot but on the learning end I feel dizzy. I’m unsure if I should keep with it. I’ve only been playing piano now for a few weeks.

Hi, I've been playing the piano for two years but I don't see any improvements, if there are it's just remembering chords, or getting used to the layout of the piano, I haven't finished learning a full song on the piano yet, because I get really bored even if its one of my favourite songs. Any idea or tips to help me get out of this situation?

Hoping to find ppl to jam with. Sydney Au

I started playing piano at 7 in a classical music school and studied there for several years. At 14, I left and joined preparatory jazz courses for a college program, but I struggled a lot and eventually quit at 15. After that, I kept playing and composing on my own for years.

Now at 19, I decided I really wanted to return to jazz piano seriously. For the last half year, I’ve been practicing on my own very consistently and trying to rebuild my approach from scratch. My plan was to apply for university next year for jazz piano after finishing high school.

Recently, I met a university jazz professor and played for him. His feedback was very harsh, he said I “don’t sound like anything yet,” that I don’t have control over the piano touch, and that I don’t really hear the harmony properly.
After that, I talked to my father (who is a professional jazz saxophonist), and he told me that my lack of early motivation might be the reason, and suggested I reconsider my direction for university entirely.

Right now I feel pretty lost. I’ve always identified strongly with music and piano, and this feedback made me question whether I should continue pursuing jazz at all or if I’m just not suited for it.
I would really appreciate honest opinions, especially from pianists or musicians who’ve gone through something similar. Is this something that can realistically be fixed with training, or is it a sign that I should change direction?

I made a video over on YouTube showing a few harmony moves from Cory Henry. Check it out if you dig. These moves are great for creating movement on major 7 and minor 9 chords.

One technique I like to use is to play some improv in either a unison octave or (better) unison two octaves. This is especially good when playing blues (solo piano).

My only problem with these is sometimes I fail to play the same notes in the two hands. I'm guessing the best way to practice this is to do it a lot, but do you have any other tips? Octave scales, for example?

Thanks.

Beginner pianist here! I'm a 19 years old jazz guitarist/singer currently studying in jazz music school, at the beginning of his jazz piano journey.

I played classical piano three years when i was 10-12 years old, so i got the tecnique base.

I know harmony and theory quite well, and my right hand is pretty solid (for reference, i can play the first half of petrucciani's solo on brazilian like (live) from "both world").

however i really need to work on my left hand, chords/rhythm/comping and hand independence. i find open studio lesson really good, especially their guided practice session. i currently already have (and working on) the jazz piano for beginners and the 27 jazz etudes. with the offer, i wanted to purchase a course about chords, and i was inspired by the "Genius chords warmups". however, i don't know of it's the right choice or i should start with the "jazz chords for beginners". keep in mind that I know how to "create" chords, how to play them, im simply not fluent and don't have the "muscle memory" to play chords workout thinking about where the 3rd or the 7th is.

p.s. i'm aware that the best method to learn jazz is probably to transcribe solos and train the ear (at least in my experience it was), but now i would like to strenghten my foundations outside of "melodic soloing" (the only thing im kinda good at playing and transcrbiing)

to sum up, the question is: should I pay for the "Genius chords warmup" or should I start with the "jazz chords for beginners"?

I’m a student in school for music performance and a couple weeks ago I remember feeling absolutely amazing about my playing. All my ideas came out clear, I was playing all this cool pentatonic stuff, sight reading changes felt light, and I don’t know when it left but it did. I don’t hate my playing right now, but I stutter more, I feel like I’m playing sloppier, and I feel like I’m not playing very interesting stuff anymore. Can anyone relate and tell me how I get back to that level and ideally how to stay there? Much love, peace.

I've only been playing classical piano for 2 years (with teacher) and have very basic music theory knowledge but I'm interested in learning jazz with the Barry Harris method.

How can I best approach this? Can I just dive in or would it be a better idea to improve my music theory knowledge first? Most jazz theory books like Mark Levine's tend to be very modal jazz oriented though. Terefenko's Jazz Theory is an exception.

Hi guys, as a person who just started playing piano(about 4 years) I really want to start playing jazz on the piano but it really hard for me. I tried to play autumn leaves but it was too hard and complicated, so I would like to know if there is an easier piece to start with or what can I do to improve my piano playing so that I can play jazz. And also i can’t sight read so it makes it way harder:(
So if you have any tips I would be grateful, thanks 🙏

I know that being able to recover from mistakes when performing is more important than playing perfectly, but I can rarely play a tune perfectly.

I realize that one reason is that I might have great muscle memory for a tune, but I've long forgotten the actual notes in my head. Thus as soon as my thoughts get involved ("What's the next note here?"), I'm liable to play the wrong note.

To fix that, I've gone back and rememorized, intellectually, songs.

For those of you who do a better job of playing with few mistakes, any tips?

Thanks.