You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Jazz Piano: Day 1 (who ordered a full plate of the blues?)

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

New to jazz piano? Adam & Peter break down an easy pathway to get started (or as a refresher).Check out the Jazz Piano for Beginners course hereHave a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeSupport the pod by spreading the word with the link youllhearit.com Learn more about Open Studio Pro: openstudiojazz.com/proInterested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. Yes. So I have a problem. Okay. I've been playing piano my whole life. But some days it feels like day one. Like I'm a beginner all over again. Any advice?

I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Can you repeat all that again? Oh, my God. Madam Anas. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear podcast. Music advice and inspiration coming at you. You know what I like about you, Peter, is that you're always very present.

You feel like you're only, when Peter Martin's in the room, you feel like you're the only person in the room with him. him. I literally am. You feel like you're the only person because I'm not responding like in an understanding. Because he's not there. I mean, I'm here, but I'm like, hello. Sorry, I zone out sometimes. You get a lead way, man.

You just got back from New York. He was just playing a week at the Vanguard. It was a big week. We're going to give you a pass. You just got back. I got to get back to Terra Fermi. Yeah, yeah. Time to get back into CEO mode.

Okay. Less into Village Vanguard mode, more into podcaster mode. That's right. That's right. Well, I'm really excited to be back here with you. How are you doing that? I'm doing okay, man. I got some coffee.

in me? Shout out to Grace Note coffee. That's right. Well, then this is a little bit might be indicating why I was drifting off. I noticed you have a coffee in your hand, but I do not have a coffee. Bro, I asked you if you want a coffee and you said, no. I wasn't accusing. Why? Why so defensive? Because I asked.

And then you're throwing shade on the show. I'm not throwing shade. I'm actually questioning my choice with that because maybe I'd be a little bit more on my A game like you are. I'm going to fix that for you right now. Harry's going to get you some coffee. I was like, oh, great, you're going to fix it as we do that. But no, but could you repeat what you asked in the beginning?

So, no, well, we're talking today about the name of the episode is Jazz Piano Day 1. Because we wanted to talk about what do you do if you want to play jazz piano? I know we have a lot of jazz pianists that listen to this podcast. We have a lot of musicians that listen to this podcast. And we probably have a lot of people, I assume, that don't play jazz piano, but it might want to. And I thought we could maybe talk about some strategies for day one. No, that's great. And I mean, I think that, you know, learning to play.

I mean, there's so many different things we can learn. So many different instruments. So many different styles. Like, that are super exciting. Like if we, if time was not an issue, I mean, think about how many things we would learn next year, this year, this month. But the thing I like about jazz piano is like that's something that's very, it's achievable. It's attainable. It's interesting.

It's potentially satisfying relatively soon. Completely. You know, it's like, like, what if you said, I want to play? play, you know, classical harmonica. Well, there's not, I mean, yeah, you can do that, but I don't think there's a lot of repertoire. And there's not, like, a lot of, like, easy pathways to get there. You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. Or even something like, I want to learn how to play the harp. Oh, my gosh. Great instrument. But, like, just the approach to that thing. I mean, you got to get a harp, first of all. It's like a physically difficult endeavor. And so the thing about jazz piano is, like, most people have a kind of understanding of what

that is. They may or may not want to do it, but it's like, and they may have a little different view of what that means, but it's like you've kind of heard it, you've thought about, it's like, I want to be an NFL player. So you kind of get around, you wrap your head around the fact that you're likely going to be getting hit, you're going to have pads on. That's right. Yeah, that's right. But you might have a little fun. You might have a little fun. And, you know, full disclosure here too, this was on my mind because we just redid our most popular course here at Open Studio, which is jazz piano for beginners for obvious reasons. That's where most people

are coming in, too. We had a course on that all the way back in 2016, one of our very first Open Studio courses, we just redid it. You and I just redid the thing and released it last week. And it's a big hit already, the new version here, V2. And we encourage people to check that out. But I was thinking about, you know, if you were day one, where do you start in that course? You start with, I think, the brilliant move, which wasn't where I started day one, but I wish I would have, which is on a blues. Yes.

A C blues. Yep. And I was wondering, like, when you came up with that idea all the way back in 2016. a simple blues with a simple melody. Why choose that? Why choose that form? Why choose that melody, which is like a little... Why that?

Well, so I thought... Well, first of all, I did start kind of on a blues as my first jazz tune I was learning. Really? But it was not in C. It was in B flat. So that was... That's a little trickier.

I mean, not necessarily like technically, but like conceptually, I think it's just easier to learn very foundational things in the... C. A lot of people like to learn in C. Yeah. And so that was my first thing. It's like, okay, we're going to do it in C. And then I was thinking about C. Jam Blues. And I know a lot of people, we're always looking for like really good, simple repertoire to learn at the beginner level. And so C jam blues by Duke Allington was sort of an obvious choice. But the thing about it is that too is kind of tricky, actually kind of tricky. And to make it is kind of tricky. And to make it feel good. And to make it feel good. But once you're a more intermediate or advanced player, it's very simple and easy. But because of the timing of it, it's actually kind of tricky. And to make it feel good. And to make it feel good. But. But you know, but. But you're Just even like the, because there's so much repetition there, I find that, and you're not going to understand this, Adam, because your head is in the clouds. You're so advanced, man. All this stuff is so easy.

But the spacing of that and the repetition is kind of tricky, you know. So I said, well, let me come up with something that has a little bit of a flare to it, hopefully, gives a little bit of syncopation because I think that you have to learn feel and groove and swing from the very beginning. Like, you can't just be about, I want to learn the blues form. And I want to learn the theory behind it. I want to learn the blue scale, but the most foundational and important thing to making it sound good, you're skipping over. So it had to be something that was simple enough to be able to be learned and kind of force you into doing some imitation of swinging, playing in a groove, but still sort of achievable

at that beginner level. So I mentioned that I wish that I would have started on that blues. I was very self-taught for a long time. And then when I was, I think, 14, I started lessons with the great Carol Beth True. Legendary jazz piano teacher here in St. Louis. Yes. And I think Carol Beth had more faith in me than I deserved because I walked home from my very first lesson with her with a copy of a real book chart on Easy to Love. Do you know that tune? Yeah.

Easy to love. Yeah. Oh, Carol Beth loved, easy to love. But it's not. It's not easy to play. It's not easy to understand. Like, it's in C. Like, just that.

Yeah, it's got a lot of journeys. Right. That's C, right? That's the first four bars, the two and then the five minor. Like, it's almost like it's making the two the time. Yeah. So I started there just completely confused about like, is this what jazz piano is? I'm just loads of confusion.

I think if I would have started with the blues and taking nothing away from Carol Beth, it worked out great. And she probably knew what she was doing more than me. But if I would have started with the blues, I think I would have felt it a lot easier those first few weeks. Right, right. Well, I think, too, the blues has the advantage of, you know, we talk about really kind of listening and conceptualizing. music, any type of music really, first and foremost, from how it sounds, how it feels, as opposed to how it looks on the page or what the theory is behind it. And so with the blues, we have the advantage of most people already know and can feel

and have heard the blues form and the blues sound before they even realize potentially what it is, certainly before how to play it. So you've got a little bit of a head start by, yeah, this little blues that I wrote is sort of specific to this course and being able to learn. It could be other things. But the blues as a form, everybody kind of know. Not everybody, but most people already know it. And certainly, like, if you're already a pianist and say, you know,

we've gotten so many, we've had so many students that are like really good pianists, but they don't really play jazz, but they've been listening to it. Yep. They're interested in it. And so, like, you're going to hear, you know, C-Jam Blues and Straight No Chaser and Winton Kelly Sol and Freddie Free. Like, you make all these connections. plus, then there's all the like rock and roll and then soul R&B and gospel that has blues influences

in it. So this is all kind of, you know, percolating in our consciousness. Totally. It gives you such an advantage to already have that form in your ears and in your mind. Now, in that PM blues on from the, from the jazz piano beginners for beginners course, the melody is another interesting thing where you start the beginner because, and I love this. And I think it's so brilliant. I don't even know if I'm not, and I'm not trying to blow smoke.

I don't even know if you knew what you were doing here. must have a little bit. But the fact that your melody, so you have C blues, obviously, you have this E flat, E natural. Yeah. And happening over that scene. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're starting from the jump, you're starting with this major, third, minor, third situation here, including both the minor major third. Yeah. Well, I think it's just, yeah, it's so important to get that sound because that's kind of, you know, unique to or particular, I should say, to the blues.

you know, the duality of major and minor. And so the quicker you sort of understand that, because especially if you're coming from like classical music or any kind of theory background classical, you know, it's a little bit like what? Yeah. But that's like a big part. It's not the only part of what the blues is.

Yeah. But it's a big part of what that is. And I think successful playing, be it B-Bop kind of blues or, you know, more modern stuff or funk or groove 16-b-bore. I mean, so many different ways to approach the blues. But that's always an element that's part of it. And a lot of people come in thinking, like, is it a major blues or a minor blues? It's like, no, no, no, it's the blues.

It encompasses both of those. That's right. The other cool thing about that melody is the turnaround, the five and the four chord. Yeah. bars nine and ten. This is a G7 and an F7. And you simply outline the core. Yeah, very foundational.

Sounds great, man. I love that line, actually. It's great. Yeah. It's totally like from the get-go, you're dealing with legit stuff, not corny stuff. Like that's how you play the blues. That's what I was trying to do. It's like, you know, when you're boxed in with really wanted to be,

I wanted this to be something that, you know, depending on just the piano skills that you bring to the table, even if you've never played jazz, that if you listen to this and really committed to just imitating it, that within really a few hours, you could be able to kind of get through this and play something that is fun and sounds good to you. That's right.

And maybe more importantly sounds good to your spouse. or your kids or anyone that's in the house hearing you practice this, that you would be like, wow, okay, I don't sound like, I don't like these to learn anything where there's no reward into your weeks into it, because it can just be, especially with like online learning where you're kind of on your own for a lot of it. You've got to be able to do something satisfying and gratifying to you and your loved ones or it's going to be very hard to stay motivated.

Would that be something you might be interested in? Yes. You've been waiting on that one. I like it. Yeah, yeah. No, you know what? I'm so glad you mentioned the listening. and imitating thing because that, I think, when I think about day one,

especially for a lot of the students that I take on here at Open Studio are coming from like a more classical background or just a more sheet music, written music background, whatever it is, you know, whether that's Broadway or just being sort of a beginner piano and you're learning from a book and or sheet music. And the first thing you really want to do if you want to get into jazz piano is just start putting your eyes off of the page and listening and imitating. seeing if you can use your ear in that way. Right.

The faster you develop that, the ability to hear something and then just repeat it back, right, to be a good mimic, the better you're going to get, the faster you're going to progress because that's what this is all about. Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, exactly. And it forces you to start to train your ear and learn how to train your ear and get in the habit of that and start to build up that muscle. And then it also, you know, just puts you in hopefully a little bit more of a confident

mindset where you're like, whoa. Because that's part of the exciting thing of playing jazz is when you start to, it's almost like the reverse of being able to improvise. It's very hard to teach someone to just improvise from the beginning. But if you teach them to start to learn at least parts of it by ear, that unlocks the confidence. And then at the same time is developing your ear training in a way so that you're actually going to be able to at least play some of the things that you're hearing,

you know. So you have to go through a process of doing that. If it's only coming from the page, you're never going to learn how to improvise. Totally true. Now, it doesn't mean like that you're not going to be reading chords or understanding them and then be able to improvise within that framework. You will. And then, of course, we get into all that.

But it's like, listen and imitate. How quickly can we get you to that moment where you're like, whoa, I'm playing jazz. And so that was part of my thing with the, it's almost like root positiony kind of five. But I was like, well, how do we make that sound good? Because, of course, we'd love to teach them. No, we did. No, we don't. You know, some kind of slick line like that, but no, that's not where you're going to start.

But this was like a shape that I said, you know what? People can see that. They can feel that. Yeah. They might even know that. And it kind of can give them the confidence to be like, wow, I need to rely more on the feel. And how do I fit into that groove? Because, you know, otherwise, if you're just...

This is why people that come to us that come from a background of learning by ear or being a church, musician where you primarily play by ear or some other musical background where you're not dealing with reading music. They usually progress really fast at first because they're used to learning by ear. And so it's a skill that they already kind of have. And I really recommend if you're new to jazz piano, if you want to get better at it fast, just do away with anything written for as long as you possibly can. Here's the caveat to this.

It's going to suck. It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard. You're going to feel like, oh, if I could just see it. It's going to be slower. It's going to be slower at first. feel like it's slower. It's not, though.

It's not actually. You're actually getting better a lot faster. Yeah, you are. It's just that it takes a while for your ears and your mind and your fingers and everything to get acclimated and to start to make those connections. But it's really the best way to organically connect with the music and learn something that is a language, you know. And it's just like nobody ever expects, you know, even if the advertising says, you know, learn French in three days. Become fluent in three days. Really?

Are you really? I mean, I don't care if you're like the biggest genius ever. Yeah. No. but you can in three days with the right program or even one day learn how to say a phrase. But the whole thing is like it's not about learn how to read a phrase. No. In French or understand grammar.

Could you imagine that? That's not going to happen ever, maybe. It's not going to help you get around Paris. Right. I mean, we've been speaking you and I, I believe, all our lives English, right? Or were you introduced some form of it. I don't know if it's correctly English. Like if we were to take a quiz on grammar about not even grammar, just about like,

function of yeah I mean of grammar and like past participles and you know yeah all that's I probably couldn't do I could probably do it better I think that's biology buddy so I mean but we can speak it might be the greatest prognate you know we're we're no Jason Moran of the of the English language certainly are not no but we can communicate with it and so that's like the same thing with this is like how quickly can you get to that aha moment of like wow I'm speaking jazz I'm talking in this language. And that's something that I feel like needed to be demystified. And like this whole thing of like you have to understand what a C-7, C-13,

sharp 11, flat 9 is before you can play it and all that crap. I just don't, it's not even that I don't believe it. It's just not true. One other element that we've added to this new version of jazz piano for beginners. And we'll go ahead and put a link here in the show notes if you want to check it out. Yeah, might as well. But is these guided practice sessions that I recorded? And because we wanted to talk about how do you learn how to practice?

If you're a beginner, you might not know how to practice. One of the most common things that I see from beginner practisers, like a mistake that is really keeping people stuck in the mud, spinning their wheels, is they only play things they're already good at. Like they only play things they already know. They don't spend enough time practicing out of their comfort zone. New things that they suck at because it doesn't feel very good to play things that you're not great at. But unfortunately, that's really the only.

the only way you get better is to practice like that. I mean, listen, we're talking about practice. That's exactly what we're talking about AI. Well, and I think that, you know, that's one advantage, actually, that the beginner, the true beginner, has, and you really want to be able to harness it and take advantage of it. And that is that... You don't know anything?

You don't know anything. Exactly. So everything that you're learning, because a lot of times people will be like, oh, you can only learn a language or an instrument. Like, it's so much faster that when you learn it when you're younger, when you're a kid, I always hear this. And I'm like, I used to believe that, but I don't think that that's true. When you're young in general, you're like a sponge, people say.

But that's because you're ignorant because like you're learning stuff for the first time. You're just hearing it. You're not, you're thinking in general as an educated, potentially educated person hasn't evolved yet. And so I think that if we take the mindset of a child as we learn something new, say jazz piano and don't overanalyze it. I mean, what little kid is like sitting there like, mama? I mean, and like they're hungry and they don't know how to say it. And then you're like, oh, are you hungry? And then you're putting a cookie in from hungry.

You know, they have some motivation. But they're not thinking about, okay, what letter does the word hungry start with? Like they're thinking about that cookie. Yeah. You know, and they're like, what do I have to do to get that? I need that cookie. Yeah, yeah. And so it's not that they're more of a sponge.

It's just that as we get older, we adopt sometimes this kind of a mindset of like, let me, well, why am I learning this and how am I doing this? and how do I write it down? And like, am I counting this correctly? What do people think of me? A little kid doesn't care. He wants the damn cookie. Yeah.

And so, like, if we act like getting the damn cookie with learning the little PM blues and stuff, it can be super effective, super effective. So that's kind of how we try to set it out. Yeah, it's very interesting. That's right. I think the guided practice sessions are great because it gives you the things to repeat. It's like, take the concept and then like, what are you going to actual practice? Now you've kind of got it.

You understand it. But how do you not get stuck in the overanalysis of it? How do you just lock it in? How do you do the sets and reps necessary so that you're ready to go on to the next stage? Totally. Totally. Well, thanks, Peter. And, you know, that's how you approach day one.

Stick with something simple like a blues. Well, hold up. I was about to talk about day two to day 100, man. We're stopping a day one. We've got a whole podcast here. We could keep going on that forever. But for now, we're just stick with day one. Simple blues, simple melody.

Listen and imitate and practice things you're not good at. That's right. Four things, and you're going to be good. Those are Adam's golden rules for a happy life. That was going to get you right where you need to be. No strife. Happy life. Thank you, everybody.

Until next time, you'll hear it.