The jazz chord exercise I WISH my first teacher had shown me.

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LESSON SUMMARY
Are you a beginner piano student wanting to learn jazz? One of the challenges beginners often face in learning jazz piano is finding a point of entry. That's because there is a lot of new data—scales, chords, progressions, rhythms, tunes, techniques and so on. In addition, the inventive spirit of jazz composition requires students to know chords in all 12 keys in order to play jazz tunes. In today's Quick Tip, Jonny explains The Ultimate Beginner Jazz Chord Exercise to help you master the most important jazz piano chords for beginners in all 12 keys.

► Chord Shell & Guide Tone Exercise:

► 2-5-1 7th Chord Exercise:

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - 2-5-1 Progression
02:04 - 2-5-1 Chords
03:28 - Step 1: Simplify
03:57 - Chord Shells
04:13 - Step 2: Invert
05:49 - Step 3: Apply to the 2-5-1
06:00 - Form 1: ABA
07:33 - Form 2: BAB
08:30 - Step 4: The Exercise
09:46 - Apply to Each Key
15:05 - Play with Backing Track
16:38 - Conclusion
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Happy practicing!
Jonny May

[PianoWithJonny]

00:00 - Intro
00:40 - 2-5-1 Progression
02:04 - 2-5-1 Chords
03:28 - Step 1: Simplify
03:57 - Chord Shells
04:13 - Step 2: Invert
05:49 - Step 3: Apply to the 2-5-1
06:00 - Form 1: ABA
07:33 - Form 2: BAB
08:30 - Step 4: The Exercise
09:46 - Apply to Each Key
15:05 - Play with Backing Track
16:38 - Conclusion

[sgringo]

Two comments: 1.) It's worth noting that the exercise traverses through the circle of fifths. 2.) To anyone aspiring to play jazz piano who is new to 2-5-1: if you become proficient at this exercise, IT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR PLAYING. Trust me, I know from experience.

Years ago, I took jazz piano lessons with a teacher who taught me a nearly identical exercise. After I had it under my fingers, he had me embellish it by doing a walking bass line with the left hand (i.e. walking up the scale from the 2 to the 5 and walking down from the 5 to the 1). Finally, he had me learn it with just the left hand, where your hand bounces back and forth between bass notes and the upper chord tones. This last version frees your right hand to play melody or solo over the changes.

Before learning this exercise and its variants, I only used basic root-position chord voicings. Once I had this concept down, my playing sounded like jazz.

Furthermore, it made playing by ear much easier. I was always decent at figuring out song melodies, but getting the chords right was challenging. With the 2-5-1 pattern, I found that even if I didn't have the chords of popular songs exactly right, I could usually play them such that they were not only recognizable but also used jazz interpretation. I went from sounding amateurish to sounding professional enough to gig a few nights per week at a local Chinese restaurant, providing solo piano background music.

For anyone new to jazz piano, this may be the single best video I've seen to date.


I'm not really a YouTuber and I'm nowhere near as accomplished as Jonny, so don't set your expectations too high, LOL. If anything is unclear, please let me know. I'll do my best to clarify, or post a follow-up video, if necessary.

[johnroevekamp]

As a very experienced musician, and claissically trained, I am blown away by the clarity and complexity of information that you pass along here, it is really remarkable to achieve such a level of guidance like this on the internet.

[jasonswitzer]

This guy is honestly my favorite piano tutorial guy on YouTube. Very easy to understand and very practical skills. Thanks for doing what you do, man!

[dkgnew]

This was very easy to follow. Thank you!

[lawrencetaylor]

I started 8 months ago, and probably spent 2 weeks trying to get this information and Johnny spins it out in 16 minutes. I used to practice this regularly, but I've been trying to get through method books since I'm still a beginner. But this was so much fun to play, I think I'll pick it up again.

[tanman]

Thank you for this exercise, I found it very useful. I've already learned many musical pieces from your lessons. I like your arrangements, it is much easier to learn than others. Your lessons are the best, thank you!

[TheBionemesis]

I think we need more exercises about jazz, not only hannon but the esencial like chords progression, passing chords, rithm, the scales, and how to get in and out of the key, Jonny Please share more exercises!! you're the man

[seanonel]

ThanksJohnny. I'm constantly looking for micro adjustments in my voicings, and this is something else that I can play with.

Much appreciated.

[mrdjangofreeman]

Thx Jonny, really really GREAT summary, crystal clear and very useful !

[totaltwit]

The BEST! :) I found face-to-face music teachers just don't teach like this and this is exactly what I want and need! Having now moved to my piano to re-visit this, Jonny I owe you $ for an hours tuition.

[c.brionkidder]

Great instructional video! I kept up just about to the point of practicing all twelve keys. Then I was totally lost at sea, so I think I'll be watching this video many more times after I learn the basics and get ready to absorb the rest.

[massimilianodigrazia]

Very useful exercise perfectly explained

[jonlo]

This sounds good for beginners, thanks and can’t wait to try it when I wake up tomorrow!!

[curtpiazza]

WOW!! Great lesson...very well explained!

[trastosynotas]

This piano channel is simply awesome. All of the videos are always very usefull... Doesn´t matter if you are not a very well formed in chords theory.... I really like the aproach to the piano plying centered in observing the paterns so then you can understand that kind of theory which is normally kind of hard bussines... It is just how to deal with hard info in an very simply way...

[paulvillarreal]

Great lesson!

I grew up studying classical piano, later became a jazz lover via my time as a trumpeter… and eventually spent most of my music making time on acoustic guitar and as a rock singer. 😂

My point being that although I’m a jazz lover, I’ve never attained a level on any instrument to be a competent jazz player. And although I’ve had exposure to everything discussed here, these was a really great lesson on how to drill those changes in an efficient manner.

I look forward to having some fun with this!

[robertmichalscheck]

This is great stuff jonny, kinda shows how songs are constructed, thx.

[azharaz]

Tq Johnny, I am a guitarist, when I first started Jazz by a Berkeley tutor, he taught me this, then he put the Jamey Abersold backing track 2 5 1 in 12 keys play along...this is what being used in Berkeley. There are many good Jazz improvisation stuff with Jamey's material, I would recommend students to check it out ..

[tcbevolver]

I have to admit: I only watched half of this excellent video.

I, a pretty good guitarist who cannot play keyboard🤔, got distracted about half way through. Trying to mentally get the feel of a 2-5-1 chord sequence, I got so vibed up that I paused the video and spent the next few minutes concocting a verse and chorus that are, ahem, pretty damn sick. Think Sultans of Swing meets Another Day of Sun, except COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Thank you!