For a piano player, knowing how to voice chords is an essential skill, not only forcomping (accompanying or laying the chord progression for others player toimprovise over), but also to use those voicings as an improvisational aid. Allpiano players get many melodic ideas or lines from their voicings. There are many ways of practicing and... Continue Reading →
Introduction The harmonic minor is one of the three main source scales in music. This is a seven note minor scale with a b3, a b6 and a natural 7th. The related modes group from this scale offer quite a few interesting textures, sometimes overlooked by many jazz beginners. Here's a taste of what this group... Continue Reading →
Let me show how to analyze the jazz standard Recorda-Me. You can find the final analysis, along with 1300+ other jazz standards fully analyzed in The Jazz Standards Progressions Book by mDecks Music I'll show you the process we go through when we create an analysis of a jazz standard. https://youtu.be/1-1rfLAufvI The harmonic progression in... Continue Reading →
Let's look at the A theme in Beethoven's first symphony. https://youtu.be/fMTXsD5-e9I We've already talked about his incredible opening, and how he used a secondary dominant in the subdominant region, breaking with all of the norms. https://youtu.be/09Kx9rGpJDM Harmony of Beethoven. Beethoven’s Killer Opening in Symphony No.1 in C Major Tonal harmony & harmony functions The A theme... Continue Reading →
I want to talk about a very interesting video by Victor Wooten called: Music theory is Simple! https://youtu.be/HJCXPUx5_Tw In the video Wooten asks the audience this: "…okay, how many keys are there? I say it's 12. Good answer, but wrong. How many how many keys you're about to say? 12 right? that was my answer.... Continue Reading →
Introduction Drop 2 and 4 voicings are very effective and consistent, and ideal for beginners to start grasping what each chord in a jazz standard is made of. Let's take a look at Afternoon In Paris chord by chord and learn how to play the chord progression using drop 2 and 4 voicings. We actually... Continue Reading →
How did Beethoven write the opening for this first symphony in C major? Learn Beethoven's harmony and how tonality works.
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