Chord Lessons
Don’t Explain – Solo Jazz Piano Video Performance
Hey everybody! I wanted to share a quick video performance I just made of the great jazz standard ‘Don’t Explain’. This tune was written and made famous by the late great Billie Holiday. In my opinion she is an extremely underrated songwriter and should absolutely be in the same conversation with other great jazz writers.…
Read MoreMinor 7 Flat 5 Piano Chords Video Tutorial
In today’s free piano lesson we’re going to learn how to play the minor 7 (flat 5) chords in a fun and interesting way. After teaching piano lessons for over 15 years now I’ve noticed an overwhelming trend in regards to this chord. Many people who are learning piano either… a) Don’t know how to…
Read MoreHow To Make Your Jazz Song Endings Sound Cooler
In today’s lesson we’re going to learn a technique you can use to make the endings to your jazz arrangements and songs much more interesting. Most jazz songs tend to end with the typical II-V-I chord progression (2-5-1). We’re going to mess with this! 🙂 (Video piano lesson, tips, and music notation below). Now, I…
Read MoreJazz Masters Method Special Video Blog Thank You
Hey everybody! Today’s post is going to be short but sweet. I’m truly humbled right now. I’d like to thank everybody who’s ordered the Jazz Masters Method DVD so far during this launch week. The response has been simply been AMAZING. I am truly blessed! Thank you!! I prepared a quick little video blog as I…
Read MoreLearn 7 Sweet Piano Chords
Hey everybody! To celebrate the launch of my jazz instructional DVD “The Jazz Masters Method” (on Monday, October 8th 2012). I wanted to share a quick free piano lesson with you guys before the release. 🙂 (Update: The DVD has been released!! You can get access to the 9 jazz masters right here The Jazz Masters Method DVD ) The…
Read MoreStride Piano Lesson: Free Video and Tips
Want some stride piano tips? Would you like to learn more interesting ways of playing your favorite jazz standards and chord progressions on piano? In today’s jazz piano lesson, we’re going to study a classic rhythmic way of doing this called stride piano. (Video lesson, notation, and tips below.) This particular style was made famous…
Read MoreBill Evans So What Jazz Piano Chords Lesson
Hey friends! Hope you’re having a fantastic day today. Ready to learn some new jazz piano chords? Cool! Let’s get started. In this jazz piano chord lesson we’re going to learn 2 of the most famous piano chords in jazz music. These are the chords that Bill Evans played on the classic Miles Davis tune…
Read MoreHow To Play 4 Different Major Jazz Piano Chords
Are you sick and tired of playing generic piano chords? Do you find yourself playing chords the same old way whenever they come up in a chord chart? If so, then this jazz piano lesson was designed for you! In today’s lesson we’re going to take a look at 4 unique ways of playing major…
Read More4 Different Ways To Play Minor Jazz Piano Chords
In today’s free jazz piano lesson we’re going to take a look at 4 different ways of playing minor chords. Once you learn these sweet chords you’ll have the ability to play a lot more interesting sounds every time you see minor chords written in a chord chart. Start by watching the video lesson first. Then…
Read MoreTritone Substitution – The Ultimate Guide
Check out this cool tritone substitution tutorial: In this video I’m going to teach you how to play a tritone substitution. We all know how important the II-V-I chord progression is to jazz music. It’s used in thousands of jazz standards. Now, it a beautiful sounding chord progression but sometimes in order to not sound…
Read MoreHow To Play Here’s That Rainy Day-Reharmonization Lesson
We all want to learn more about jazz chords don’t we? We love the way (fill in your favorite jazz musician here) plays but for some reason we can’t seem to figure out what they’re doing. Great jazz musicians tend to play so much more than what’s on a plain old chord chart. So, how can…
Read MoreHow To Apply 10 New Piano Chords To The Autumn Leaves
This jazz piano lesson is going to be a monster one! Not only are we going to learn 10 new jazz chords but we’ll also learn how to apply them to the tune Autumn Leaves. These powerful chords I’m going to teach you are known as “rootless 2 handed piano voicings”. These piano chords are…
Read MoreHow To Play A II-V-I-VI Chord Progression With Jazz Chords
Are you looking for information on the II-V-I-VI chord progression? Congratulations. You’ve come to the right place! There are tons of free lessons and articles on jazz and piano chords on this site. Make sure you bookmark this site and let’s get to learning! I also recommend you check out several of the other jazz…
Read More4 Bill Evans Jazz Chords You Need To Know
Here’s a free jazz piano lesson featuring the awesome jazz chords of Bill Evans. This particular lesson features a ii-V-i-IV (2-5-1-4) chord progression in a minor key. These beautiful chords are very useful because you can use them in solo jazz piano arrangements and you can also use them to play behind other instrumentalists. They…
Read MoreHow To Play A Jazz Blues Chord Progression
In today’s free jazz blues chords lesson we’re going to take an in depth look at how to mix together some jazz piano chords and some blues piano chords into an incredible chord blend. This combo of jazz and blues piano chords will make your blues sound way more interesting. Players like Oscar Peterson, Wes…
Read MoreBill Evans Jazz Chords Lesson and Video
If you love the sound of rich jazz chords then you’ll love this free jazz piano lesson. So, in today’s video I’m going to be teaching you guys how to play some really sweet Bill Evans chords. (Notation of chords below the video). Bill Evans was truly a harmonic genius. Whenever I want to learn…
Read MoreHow To Play Extensions on Dominant Seventh Chords
Want to spice up your chords and arrangements and make them more jazzy? One of the best ways to do this by adding extensions to your chords. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand how to do this properly. So, you’re probably saying right now, “Steve, How do you play extensions on chords?” “I heard…
Read MoreHow To Play Satin Doll With Spread Voicings
A couple weeks back we learned about a very famous style of jazz chords called spread voicings. (If you missed the lesson and have no idea what spread voicings are make sure you check out the how to play spread voicings lesson). Anyway, since then I received a couple emails from subscribers to the site asking me…
Read MoreHow To Play Spread Voicings on Piano – Great Jazz Piano Chords!
– Are you struggling to find good solo jazz piano voicings? – Do you only feel comfortable when you’re playing in a trio and there’s a bass player laying down the bottom end for you? – How about accompanying vocalists? Do you have trouble finding the right voicings to play behind a singer? If you…
Read MoreMisty Chords & Cool Reharmonization
If you want to learn Misty chords to the jazz standard Misty then you’ve come to the right place! Ok, so as promised I charted out the chords for the jazz piano video lesson I made on reharmonizing Misty. If you haven’t seen the video check it out here: Misty reharmonization lesson. Thanks to Bill Evans…
Read MoreHow To Play Misty – Jazz Piano Reharmonization
Make Your Jazz Standards More Interesting Have you ever noticed that great jazz piano players seem to play so many more chords than are written in your everyday run of the mill fakebook? Why is this? For starters, most of the time the chord changes written in a fakebook are either very bland, boring, or…
Read MoreShell Voicings Lesson – Super Simple Yet Powerful Jazz Chords
Have you ever wondered what shell voicings are? Do you ever wonder what chords people like Bud Powell, Barry Harris, and Al Haig play in their left hand when they’re soloing in their right hand? Well, most of the time they are using a particular type of chord voicing known as shell voicings. Shell voicings are super…
Read MoreJazz Comping Chords – How To Play Two Handed Comping Chords (Rootless)
When I was first learning jazz I searched for a long time trying to find a good book or a method to learn how to comp in a jazz rhythm section. Sadly, there isn’t a ton of information out there on this subject. How To Comp It’s vitally important for everybody to learn how to…
Read MoreRootless Jazz Voicings-Min7th’s
Want to learn some cool left hand jazz chords? In this video I teach you how to use and apply rootless jazz piano voicings. This video specifically focuses on Minor 7th voicings. Rootless voicings are essential for any jazz piano player’s toolkit. Be sure to also check out part 2 in the series where we…
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