Category: piano

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Jazz voicings (Dan Haerle)
    • Major ii — V — I, format 2 (skill 41 both pages) — 80bpm (30m)
    • Major ii — V — I, format 1 (recap) — 80bpm (30m)
  • Modes (40m)
    • Harmonising Mixolydian scale with 7th chords (all keys through the cycle of 4ths, starting on C)
    • Harmonising Lydian scale with 7th chords (all keys through the cycle of 4ths, starting on C)
  • Improvisation (20m)
    • Shell voicings over walking bass line (Shine by Dabney-Mack-Brown)

Piano day (1h 20m)

  • Major ii — V — I, format 2 (Dan Haerle, skill 41 both pages) — without click, slowly several times (50m)
  • Shell voicings (7-3-5, 3-7-9) + inversions over walking bass line & drums for Autumn Leaves in Bb- (30m)

Observations

Shell voicings (chord inversions with some intervals removed or added) are probably the best thing I’ve learned during my jazz piano practice. They are fun to play (make you sound jazzy immediately) and at the same time they are an endless source of excercises! Like, you thing you’re cool playing all chords in 3-7-9 through the cycle? Then play ii — V — I based on each chord! Easy? Voice them as b6-3-b7, 7-3-5 and 3-7-11! Cool? How about playing chords instead of roots with the left hand and make your ii — V — I polychordal? Mastered that? Play the jazz standard now and feel like shit again! LOL. It’s so much fun and I can’t thank Mr. Haerle and Mr. Aebersold enough.

Piano day (1h 20m)

  • Harmonising Lydian scale with 7th chords — 30m
    • All keys starting on C around the cycle of 4ths
  • ii — V — I’s in major keys in shell voicings through the full cycle of 4th  (Dan Haerle, skill 40, both pages at 80bpm) — 30m
  • Minor to dominant cycle progressions (two skills recap from Dan Haerle book) — 20m

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • Harmonising Lydian scale with 7th chords — 40m
    • All keys starting on F around the circle of 5ths (pattern: I▵7 — II7, I▵7 — iii7, I▵7 — #ivº7, etc.) at 70bpm
    • All keys starting on C around the cycle of 4ths (same pattern, same speed)
  • ii — V — I’s in major keys in shell voicings through the full cycle of 4th  (Dan Haerle, skills 40 both pages) — 30m
  • Shell voicings recap (3-6-9 major, 3-6-9 minor, 3-7-9 major and minor) at 100bpm without stopping around the cycle (skills 7-9 from Haerle book)

Observations

That’s pretty cool! I didn’t realise that I’ve actually got better at playing rootless chords in the right hand. When I first started Dan Haerle’s “Jazz Piano Voicing Skills”, it was really uncomfortable to play voicings like 7-3-5 or 3-6-9 or 4-6-9 because I was so used to block chords, but after intentionally switching to some heavy stuff (like polychordal progressions and ii — V — I’s in different keys) from the same book where author kind of assumed that you’re already familiar with voicings, I sort of internalised them along the way, although it felt really tough. Bottom line: playing hard stuff that assumes that you’ve already got the basics actually helps to solidify them basics 😄).

Piano day (1h 30m)

  • ii — V — I’s in major keys in shell voicings (7-3-5 — 3-7-9 — 7-3-5) through the cycle of 4th  (Dan Haerle, skill 40) — 45m
    • With click at 80bpm quarters
  • Blues pentatonic scale + soloing — 45m
    • 12-bar blues in LH (7th chords), scale runs & patterns in RH — C-, F-, A#-, D#-, G#-, C#-
    • Just scale with both hands — C- — D#-