5 Easy Jazz Piano Songs

The best way to learn jazz piano is to pick some easy jazz piano songs to work with.

You might be wondering what some of those tunes might be. Most of them are part of your standard jazz canon or the Great American Songbook.

They’re easier than you might think so let’s get started.

1. C Jam Blues: The Fastest Jazz Tune To Learn

If you want to establish getting the feel of jazz as well as learn a jazz tune really fasrt, then C Jam Blues is right up your alley.

It’s a tune that’s so easy that you only need to know two notes to memorize the melody:

C Jam Blues is structured as a typical 12-bar blues tune as you can see above.

Start learning the head (a.k.a. the melody) of the tune. Given how simple the melody is, this is the fastest melody you can learn.

Next, learn the chord progression. It’s really just your usual 1-4-5 chord progression with a 2-5-1 thrown in at the end of the chorus.

The chord progression can go as simple as just your staple 1-4-5 12-bar blues:

|C7|F7|C7|C7|F7|F7|C7|C7|G7|F7|C7|G7|

To get it to sound jazzier, we just need to substitute some of the chords so we have some 2-5-1s and a nice 1-6-2-5 turnaround:

|C7|F7|C7|C7|F7|F7|C7|A7|Dm7|G7|C7-A7-|Dm-G7-|

The great thing about this blues tune is that it can become a great avenue for improvising extended solos. Because of this, it is one of those easy jazz piano songs that you can easily incorporate into your own live set list.

Check out this performance example by the Oscar Peterson trio:

Let check out another blues tune from the list. It’s from another jazz legend so read on.

2. Blue Monk: Essential Tune From a Jazz Legend

A lot of what we do in jazz is very much informed by the blues. This is why we’re featuring another blues tune that definitely belongs in the jazz canon.

Blue Monk is one of those standout easy jazz piano songs you can learn.

There are many things about this tune that can help you learn authentic jazz piano playing including:

1. The 12-bar blues form.
2. Jazz swing and feel.
3. The use of harmony and chromaticism in melody lines.

Another great thing about Blue Monk is that it’s a jazz standard that you can easily pick up and start playing jam sessions with others.

Here’s an example of a performance of the tune by Thelonious Monk himself:

Sounds good, right? Guess what: You can easily learn this tune and other great jazz standards inside Zero To Jazz Piano Hero.

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Now let’s go from the blues and towards the ever-famous 2-5-1 in jazz.

3. Autumn Leaves: Can’t Learn Jazz Without It

If you’d like to unlock the secret towards learning any jazz tune the fastest way possible, you need to understand how jazz is built.

One of the best tunes for this purpose is none other than Autumn Leaves.

This tune is so familiar that it makes the list of essential easy jazz songs for beginning jazz pianists.

The great benefit of learning Autumn Leaves is that it contains the 2-5-1 chord progression in both its major and minor versions.

Because this song is such an important contribution to the canon of jazz standards, you can learn this song inside our 7-Day Autumn Leaves Challenge.

As you can see, Autumn Leaves is easy enough that you can learn the entire tune in as little as 7 days.

Inside the “Learn Autumn Leaves in 7 Days” Challenge, you’ll discover:

• The essential major and minor chord progression in jazz so you’ll never get stuck learning your favorite jazz tunes.
• Cool rhythmic tricks that will give your playing that authentic jazz groove.
• How to learn jazz theory in the most practical manner by playing through Autumn Leaves.

Take the “Learn Autumn Leaves in 7 Days” Challenge here.

4. Footprints: Another Blues Tune With Elements of Cool

Another 12-bar blues inspired tune is Wayne Shorter’s Footprints.

This amazing tune also helps you learn how to manage chord progressions in a more modal fashion.

Other than that, the melody is easy enough to learn in a short time. This makes it a great platform for jamming, especially in settings like piano trios.

In fact, once you get a hang of the tune, you can easily expand it into something a lot more complex.

Here’s an example of a performance by no less than Herbie Hancock:

Footprints is one of the tunes that David Garfield uses to help you learn jazz improvisation.

Inside the Jazz Improvisation Super System, you’ll learn how to play Footprints using David Garfield’s approach as well as:

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Now that we have our blues and our swing, I think that a list like this wouldn’t be complete without something Latin influenced so let’s continue.

5. Blue Bossa: No Easy Jazz Songs List Should Exist Without A Latin Piece

A huge part of jazz is the influence of Latin music. One of the best songs to get started with is Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa.

The great thing about Blue Bossa is that not only does it get you to groove to Latin rhythms, but it also allows you to practice your 2-5-1s in both major and minor keys. The key change towards the end of the tune also adds sophistication.

Despite the fancy, sophisticated harmonies of the tune, Blue Bossa has a nice, catchy melody that can be learned quickly.

Like all of the other tunes in this article, it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

Here’s an example of an exhilarating version of Blue Bossa by Michel Camillo:

Now that you know how to get started playing jazz piano with 5 easy jazz songs, what’s next?

How To Discover The Secret Sauce Of Jazz Legends

If you’re just starting out or have been playing for a while, you might wonder how any of those jazz piano masters learn how to sound the way they do.

I understand that it can be difficult. I mean, simply just reading off the pages of your fake books and learning everything note for note produces results that leave to be desired.

I’ve been there so I know how frustrating it could be.

And so I did my work, transcribing what I can from the legends themselves coupled with years of listening to records and practicing on the piano.

The good thing nowadays is that you don’t have to go through all that guesswork that I did.

In fact you can learn everything from easy jazz songs to the most sophisticated solo jazz piano pieces from award-winning players themselves inside our Jazz Inner Circle.

Inside the Jazz Inner Circle, you’ll discover:

• “The Jazz Piano Mastery Program” (Over $25,000 worth of jazz piano training resources, tools, practice templates, improv strategies, & tons more.)
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A Few Final Words

I hope you found this piece helpful in your own jazz piano journey.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for a new lesson, feel free to leave a comment below.

Happy practicing!