Learn Basic Bossa Nova Comping Styles, with Piano Transcription of 7notemode on The Dolphin 7notemode did a wonderful youtube clip on this bossa nova tune, The Dolphin. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV2Q78zgcqI] Here is the piano transcription of the head: piano transcription of the dolphin by 7notemode (PDF) The basic bossa nova pattern looks something like this   Of course if you are playing solo piano, you would need to cover the bass part too. Notice the emphasis of the piano comping is on the 2nd downbeat, and 3rd upbeat of each bar. 7notemode started the song with this nice piano riff Observe how ...

Learn Gospel Blues Piano Style of Ray Charles, with Video. Scott "The Piano Guy" Houston, together with guest pianist Milton Ruffin, did a nice analysis on the gospel piano style of Ray Charles. Milton explained how Ray Charles applied the 1 and 2 technique in his playing, a way of switching between the inversion of two chords. Here's the video [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWy0txK2ME] Milton demonstrated a few nice licks which he didn't really elaborate on. The first lick is at 01m48s of the clip, this was what he played. The main chord was Ab7 The lick is basically a switching between ...

Transcription and Video of Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder   Stevie Wonder, a very talented singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist, wrote this beautiful song titled "Overjoyed". Here's the video clip. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edxYCXaQLaw] And here's the transcription of Stevie Wonder's Overjoyed in PDF format: Overjoyed-Stevie-Wonder-Transcription A simple song with some nice harmony and beautiful modulations. Do keep in mind that the melody in the transcription is meant to be only a guide. Have fun and enjoy.. :D Check out also this transcription of funky tune "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder in this post: Learn "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder

Forward Motion Application on Jazz Bebop Au Privave Solo Improvisation, with video and analysis. Check out this video of my solo improvisation over popular jazz bebop tune "Au Privave" [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXgd3hh76oQ] This is the solo line at 00m16s of the video Improvising a string of eight notes connected over a few bars, would be a difficult task without the a guide of some sort. This is where target tones come in. Here are the target tones for each chord. These target tones are basically chosen from one of the chord tones.   Observe how these target tones at "1" ...

Superimposition with Diminished 7th chord in Jazz Improvisation, with video and thorough analysis.  Check out this video of me improvising over the changes of popular jazz bebop tune "Au Privave" [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXgd3hh76oQ] Observe 1m21s of the video, what I was doing there is this: THE TRICK - Superimpose a Diminished 7th chord half step above the dominant 7th chord of the key. In this case, the turnaround is basically in the key of F. Thus the dominant 7th chord would be C7. The diminished 7th chord a half step up from it would be the Dbdim7 ...

According to Hal Galper and his book, Forward Motion, one of the secrets of all those great jazz masters when improvising over fast bebop chord changes, is to count in half time. Here's an example of the first few bars of popular jazz bebop tune Donna Lee, notated in its usual form. Here's another example of the same few bars, notated in half time. Notice that both examples above sound the same to the listener (note the tempo marking) But for the musician playing it in half time, the speed of the song is ...

An Article on Inner Target Note/Guide Tone Application in Jazz Solo Improvisation "If you can't, you must. If you must, you can. " A quote from the great motivation guru, Anthony Robbins. Here's another paragraph from the true story of how Ear Training Guru, David Lucas Burge, first acquire his perfect pitch ability, "Once I stopped straining my ear, I started to listen NATURALLY. Then the simple secret to Perfect Pitch jumped right into my lap." Two contradicting quotes show how different mastering music is, compared to acquiring other skills in life. Simply because music ...

Nightbird, a very catchy tune from the Brit Jazz scene. With a very melodious piano solo, that's just begging for a transcription. Check out this video of Shakatak playing their Nightbird [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upkpZjnckAc&feature=related] Here's the transcription of the piano solo on Nightbird: Shakatak-Nightbird-piano-solo-transcription Again, we see the application of Forward Motion theory in this solo transcription. According to Hal Galper and his Forward Motion theory, "A chord is spelled out by synchronizing the strong beats (the "on" beats) of the bar with the strong tones (chord tones) of a chord scale, and the weak beats (the "off" beats) ...

Much has been discussed on Pianologist about the tension and release beat of a bar. This knowledge is crucial when it comes to applying Forward Motion Concept in jazz improvisation.  Most music students have been taught to differentiate the strong and weak beat of a bar, but just to make sure no one is left out, here's a useful diagram: it is shown here, that:  All the "&" beats are the weakest beat in a bar  The "one" and "three" are stronger compared to the "two" and "four" The "one" being the strongest of all According by ...

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??!!" One of the most asked questions among any jazz students, seeing how jazz masters effortlessly improvise beautiful jazzy solo lines even through complicated chord changes. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDfdIf7Yi8M] Notice how Bud Powell's lines melodically weave through the chord changes of Anthropology with ease. You can even hear the changes listening to the solo lines alone, with resolution on strong chord tones, resolving every phrase. In search of an answer to this question, I, for one, have invested quite an amount on any jazz materials I can grab. Not a single one of ...