37 Jazz Piano Questions Answered by Julian Bradley

Equipment & Setup

1) "What equipment do I need to learn jazz piano?"

The only essential equipment you will need is a piano and a Real Book.

2) "What is a 'Real Book'?"

A Real Book is a collection of sheet music to popular jazz songs. The songs are notated minimally - with a melody line and chord symbols above it (giving you freedom to arrange and voice the song as you like).

3) "Which Real Book do you recommend?"

I use and recommend the following Real Books:

Each of these books has 400 songs.To decide which one is best for you, just look at the songs listed in each, and then get whichever book has the most songs you like.

Note: Make sure you get a Real Book that is 'in C' - which means 'in the key of C’.

4) "What musical skills do I need before I learn jazz piano?"

You will need two things:

  1. To be able to read music (treble clef only) to an okay level. This is so that you can play jazz songs from a Real Book. Most jazz melodies are notated simply and are easy to read (half- notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes).

  2. I recommend having taken basic piano lessons for 5 years - so that you are confident at playing notes on the piano, chords, left hand and right hand, and holding down the pedal. This will allow you to focus on learning jazz theory, rather than trying to learn piano technique and jazz at the same time.

5) "Do I need big hands to play jazz?"

No - not at all. Almost every chord voicing that I play only requires a 7th stretch in each hand, and occasionally an octave. There's only one chord voicing I use quite often that requires a 9th stretch - which is the Kenny Barron voicing
(C minor 11 = C G D / Eb Bb F).

If you can't stretch this, you can always play C minor 11 using this voicing instead:

C C / G Bb D F

Chord Symbols

6) "Why do chord symbols look different from one song to the next?"

There are multiple ways to write chords in jazz. Each arranger has their own preference...

For example, a 'C minor 7' chord can be written as 'C min 7', or as 'Cm7', or as 'C-7' - and the same goes for most other chords. You can expect to see slight variations in how the chords are written, depending on which arranger / publisher your sheet music is from.

7) "What does a triangle mean in a chord symbol? e.g. ‘C∆’”

In jazz notation, the triangle means 'major 7 chord'. So 'C∆’ would mean C major 7 (C E G B), or 'F∆' would mean F major 7 (F A C E).

There's one other 7th chord that uses the same triangle symbol (much less common) - which is the 'minor-major 7 chord'. So 'C min ∆’ or ‘C-∆’ would mean 'C minor with a major 7th' (C Eb G B).

8) "What does 'ø' mean in a chord symbol?

The ø symbol means 'half-diminished chord'. So 'Cø' means 'C half-diminished' (C Eb Gb Bb).This is the same chord as a 'C minor 7 flat 5'. Some arrangers write 'Cø', while others prefer to write 'C min 7 b5'. They're both the exact same chord, just notated differently.

9) "What are 'Chord Extensions'?"

In jazz, chords are built upwards from the root in 3rds - 1 3 5 7 9 11 13...
'Chord Extensions' are the higher notes in the chord - specifically the 9th, 11th, and 13th...
The lower 4 notes are called 'Chord Tones' - 1 3 5 7 - because they are the notes of the chord (whereas the extensions just get added on top of these to add color).

10) "When can I add chord extensions to a chord?"

You can add chord extensions to any chord - whether it's written in your real book, or not. You don't have to wait for your real book to tell you 'C7#11' to add a sharp 11. As a jazz pianist, you get to add chord extensions to every chord.
Most chords in your real book will be written simply as 7th chords - 'C min 7' - 'F7' - 'Bb maj 7',etc
This is so that you can read the chords quickly and easily.
It would slow you down if you had to process 'C min 11' - 'F7 #9 b13' - 'Bb maj 7 #4'.
So usually arrangers only specify chord extensions for really special chords - where a specific chord extension is really needed.

11) "How do you find a chord extension correctly?” (9, 11, 13)

You have to be precise when adding chord extensions above a chord.To find the 9th, 11th or 13th and add it to a chord - just imagine a major scale starting from the chord's root note, and take your extension notes from that scale...

So over a 'C major 7' chord - you would build chord extensions from the notes of C major scale:

The 9th is the same note as the 2nd - which in C major scale would be D. 


The 11th is the same note as the 4th - which in C major scale would be F. 


And the 13th is the same note as the 6th - which in C major scale would be A.
The chord extensions are always built from the major scale - regardless of what type of chord it is.
So whether you have a C minor 7, C7, or C major 7 chord - the 9th, 11th and 13th will always be taken from the notes of C major scale (and not C minor scale, or any other scale).

It's very simple - as long as you understand this. 
The same applies when adding 2nd, 4ths and 6ths to a chord.

These numbers are sometimes used instead of 9, 11 and 13 - but once again, you will find them by counting up the notes of the major scale. 


12) "What about 'altered chord extensions'? (b9, #9, #11, b13)" 


Chord extensions can be altered too - which means 'sharpened' or 'flattened'.

To add a sharp 11th above a chord, just find the natural 11th first (by counting up to the 4th note 
of the major scale), and then sharpen it.

So the #11 above a C chord would be F#...

Or to add a flat 13 above a chord - you would find the natural 13th first (count up to the 6th note of the major scale), and then flatten it. So the b13 above a C chord would be Ab...

Altered chord extensions are usually found over V7 chords ('dominant 7 chords') - rather than major 7 and minor 7 chords.

They are added to change up the scale in the middle of a ii-V-I chord progression, over the V7 chord.

That's where you'll usually see 'flat 9', 'sharp 9', 'sharp 11' and 'flat 13'.

13) "What does a slash sign mean '/' in the middle of a chord symbol?"

Sometimes an arranger will put a slash (/) in the middle of two note names: e.g. 'Bb / C', or 'Gm7 / C'...

These are called 'slash chords', and they're used to specify an unusual bass note for you to play below the chord (i.e. not the root):

The letters before the slash tells you which chord to play in your right hand (e.g. 'G min 7'), and the letter after the slash tells you the bass note you should play in your left hand:

So 'Gm7 / C' would mean to play a G minor 7 chord in your right hand (G Bb D F) over C in the bass...

Or'Bbmaj7 / C' would meant to playa Bb major 7 chord in your right hand (Bb D F A) over C in the bass...

Or 'C / D' would mean to play a C major triad in your right hand (C E G - because 'C' is shorthand for 'C major chord') over D in the bass.

Free Resource: Download my 'Jazz Piano Chord Voicing Guide' (11 pages).

Song Form:

14) "What does 'A section' and 'B section' mean?"

Most jazz songs follow the same form (more or less) which is A A B A:

First there is an 'A section' - which means the song's verse or starting melody (usually 8 bars long)...

Then this A section usually repeats (with a slightly different ‘second-time ending’ to the first time)...

Then there is a 'B section' which is a new section of music.

The B section is considerably different to the A section - it creates contrast with the A section. The B section is usually played louder than the A section, and is a bit more dramatic...

After the B section - most jazz songs return to the A section and play it one more time to end (8 bars).

To hear this A A B A song form in action, listen to songs like:

15) "What does it mean when I see chords that are in brackets?"

Look through the songs in your real book and you'll see that most songs end with 2 or 3 chords that are in brackets in the final 1-2 bars - for example 'Eb maj 7 (C7 - Fm7 - Bb7)'...

This is called a 'turnaround' - you only play these chords if you're going to repeat the song another time.

Whereas if you're ready to end the song - simply play the final chord and ignore the chords that are in brackets.

16) "How many times should I repeat a song when I perform?"

You can repeat a song as many times as you like. If you're playing with a jazz trio or ensemble - it's normal to repeat the song two or more times.

For example - the first time you'll play the original melody.

The second time you might play an embellished version of the melody (with some melodic variation).

The third time you might play an improvised solo. And at some point, you'll end by playing the original melody one last time...

However, if you're playing solo piano, then playing the song once through, or possibly twice through is usually appropriate.

17) "How do I start a song - do I need to add my own intro?"

I like to add intros to all of my songs in my repertoires. The simplest way to add an intro is to play the 'turnaround', which is usually the last 2 bars of the song.

The turnaround chords (chords in brackets) are designed to lead back around into the A section.

18) "How do I end a jazz song - what do I do?"

The ending of a jazz song is up to you - the performer - and I encourage you to first practice composing your own ending ideas and write down your best ideas.

Do this for major songs, and minor songs - most of which end with a ii-V-I in the major scale, or the minor scale.

Personally, I like to end most jazz songs the same way - I will hold down the pedal and run up the keyboard playing notes from the final chord and the scale that goes with it.

If the song is a major song (i.e. it ends on some type of major chord - e.g. 'C maj 7' or 'C maj 6') then I will run up notes from the lydian scale (C lydian scale = C D E F# GA B), in some fashion.

If the song is a minor song (i.e. it ends on some type of minor chord - e.g. 'C min 7', 'C min 6', or 'C min-maj 7') then I will run up notes from the melodic minor scale (C melodic minor = C D Eb F GA B), in some fashion.

When running up the keyboard, I usually start with the chord's root and 5th in the bass (to give a strong foundation before I add any colorful notes above).

Then in the mid-range I'll play mostly chord tones (1 3 5 7 of the chord).

And as I get to the high-range, I can play up the notes of the scale in any combination (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) and it won't sound muddy.

Or a simple ending you can use for any major song is to play 1 5 3 7 of the chord (e.g. C G E B if the ending chord is 'C major 7') - and then to repeat the '3 7' up an octave, and then again '3 7' up another octave', and again one more time:

C G E B / E B / E B / E B.

Free Resource: Download my '30 Beginner Jazz Songs' list.

Jazz Harmony

19) "How do I know what key a song is in?"

The short answer is this:

Look at the starting chord (the first chord of the song's A section), as well as the ending chord
(the last chord in the music - ignoring any chords that are in brackets).

In most cases, a song will start and end on 'the I chord' ('the one chord') of the key that it's in:

A song that starts and ends on 'Eb major 7' is most likely in the key of Eb major...

And a song that starts and ends on 'F minor 7' is most likely in the key of F minor, and so on...

Now bear in mind - virtually every jazz song changes key (or 'modulates') multiple times throughout the music.

So when we talk about the key of a song, we're just identifying 'the home key' - which means the key that the music starts and ends in.

20) "I don't understand Roman Numerals - how do they work?"

In music theory, chords are often written using Roman Numerals (like 'I - IV - V - ii - vi - vii', etc).

This is useful because the numbers tell you where the chord belongs within its scale...

So the 'I chord' tells you that it's the first chord of the scale.

Or the 'ii chord' is the 2nd chord of the scale.The 'iii chord' is the 3rd chord of the scale, and so on.

It's more useful to understand where a chord belongs within the scale - than to simply say 'D major', which could be in many different keys.

Important: Roman Numerals that are written in UPPER CASE means that the chord is major (e.g. 'I - IV - V')....

Whereas lower case Roman Numerals are used to specify minor chords (e.g. 'ii - vi - vii').

21) "What does 'ii-V-I' mean?"

'ii-V-I' is Roman Numerals for '2-5-1'. The '2-5-1' is the most common chord progression found in jazz...

The '2-5-1' is a three-chord progression, which is most often built from the major scale. Here's the 2-5-1 within C major scale:

D minor 7 (D F A C) - G7(G B D F) - Cmaj7 (C E G B)

All three chords are played as 7th chords - they have a root, 3rd, 5th and 7th - since that's normal in jazz.

Notice the upper case / lower case letters I use when I write 'ii-V-I'.
The last two chords are written in UPPER CASE ('V' and 'I') - because they are major chords (or at least, the bottom 3 notes of each chord form a major triad), whereas the ii chord is written in lower case because it's a minor chord.

22) "What about the minor ii-V-i?"

The major ii-V-I is most common in jazz (90% of ii-V-Is in your Real Book will be the major ii-V-Is, built from the major scale)...

However there's also a minor ii-V-i progression - which builds its three chords from the harmonic minor scale (C harmonic minor scale = C D Eb F GAb B ...think 'minor scale with a major 7th').

So a minor ii-V-I in C minor looks like this:

Dø (D F Ab C) - G7(G B D F) - Cmin - maj7 (C Eb G B)

The three chords above are a 'true' minor ii-V-i. However, it's quite common for jazz musicians to change the i chord to a regular minor 7 chord (instead of the minor-major 7 chord) since the minor 7 chord sounds more casual within a song - like this:

Dø (D F Ab C) - G7(G B D F) - C minor 7 ( C Eb G Bb)

The minor-major 7 chord can sound a bit dramatic, and is best played on minor song endings. However within the song's A section or B section, playing a simple minor 7 chord is usually preferred.

Again, notice my upper case / lower case roman numerals when I write 'ii-V-i'.

For the minor ii-V-i I write both the ii chord and the i chord in lower case - because these are minor chords, or diminished chords (both should be written using lower case numerals).While theV chord still remains in UPPER CASE because it is major (the bottom 3 notes form a major triad).

Rhythm Questions:

23) "What is the difference between 'swing time' and 'straight time'?"

A jazz song can either be in 'swing time' or 'straight time'.

These are two different rhythmic feels:

To be more specific - to play a song in Swing Time you have to divide each quarter note into a set of three equal-length eighth notes - which are called 'triplets'.

Say the following out loud to hear how this triplet feel sounds:

'1 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 2 - 3 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 2 - 3'.

Every note that's on a downbeat (a.k.a. ‘on-beat’) is played exactly as written - on the downbeat.

But every off-beat note in the sheet music needs to be nudged backwards and played on the third note of the triplet...

Why is this done?

It looks much simpler to notate a swing song in 4/4 time - and to simply write a series of eighth notes in a row - rather than to notate a swing song in 12/8 time, which looks very complicated and confusing.

24) "How do I know if a song is in swing time or straight time?"

In most Real Books the arranger will specify 'swing time' or 'straight time' in the upper left corner of the song's lead sheet. So before you start playing a new song, always look to see if it says 'swing time / swing feel' or similar, or if it says 'straight time'.

This tells you how to play your 8th notes - either with a swing feel, or a straight feel.

There's several terms that can be written for 'swing time' - these include 'swing', 'swing feel', 'bebop', 'blues'...
And there's several terms that can be written for 'straight time' - these include 'straight', 'ballad', 'latin', 'fusion', 'funk'...

Bear in mind - the following types of song are usually played in straight time:

Ballads (like Misty,Tenderly, Cry Me A River, etc) 


Latin songs (including Bossa Nova, Salsa, Mambo) 


Fusion / Funk influenced songs. 
Any song that doesn't fall into the above categories is most likely to be played swing - including Blues music, bebop, and most traditional mid-tempo jazz songs. 


Jazz Terminology: 


25) "What is 'Reharmonization'?"

'Reharmonization' means to change a song's chords. It's quite common for jazz musicians to change one or two chords when they play a song, based on personal preference. Rarely does a jazz musician change more than two or three chords in any song. 


Reharmonization can be as simple as changing one note in a chord - e.g. to change a 'C minor 7' chord (C Eb G Bb) into a 'C minor-major 7' chord (C Eb G B)... 
Or to change 'C major 7' into 'C7'... 


Or it can be as drastic as to change a chord to a completely unrelated chord - e.g. to change 'C minor 7' to 'Ab7#11'...
NOTE: When you change any chord in a song, you also change the scale that should be played over it.This sometimes requires you to adjust the melody notes (sharpen or flatten) to fit with the new scale of the new chord you added.

26) "What is 'Tritone Substitution'?"

'Tritone Substitution' is a type of reharmonization that is used often by jazz musicians. It is applied to V7 chords ('dominant 7 chords', like 'C7'):

Anytime you see a dominant 7 chord in a jazz song (e.g. 'C7'), you can transpose it up a tritone (up a diminished 5th) - and play Gb7 instead...

Both dominant 7 chords are similar (C7 and Gb7) - they have two notes the same, which are E and Bb...

But they also have two notes different: C and G changes to Gb and Db...

The scales you would play over each of these two chords are also different:

So instead of playing C mixolydian scale (C D E F G A Bb) over the song's original C7 chord, it will sound much more exotic and sophisticated if you play Gb lydian-dominant scale (Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb E) over a Gb7 chord instead.

You can apply Tritone Substitution to a ii-V-I in C major:

Instead of playing: D min 7 - G7 - C maj 7 (a regular ii-V-I)... you would play D min 7- Db7 - C maj 7 instead.

Notice the lovely chromatic descending bass line you get when you apply Tritone Substitution to the ii-V-I:

D - Db - C are your left hand's bass notes.

27) "What does 'chromatic' mean?"

'Chromatic' refers to any sections of music that move by half- step (or 'semitone')...

So the 'chromatic scale' from C is: C C# D D# E F F# G G#A A# B C - it's all 12 notes on the keyboard played up or down...
Any melodic phrase that moves in half-steps can be called 'chromatic' - e.g. Bb - A - Ab - G.

28) "What is 'chord inversion'?"

Most chords in jazz are played in 'root position', which means that the root is at the bottom of the chord, and then the 3rd, 5th, and 7th are played above - like this: C E G B...

However you can rearrange the notes of a chord and play them in a different order. This is called 'chord inversion'. You can play a 7th chord in 'root position', '1st inversion', '2nd inversion', '3rd inversion'...

Here are the inversions you can play C major 7 in:

C E G B = 'root position' (no inversion). 


E G B C = '1st inversion'. 


G B C E = '2nd inversion'. 


B C E G = '3rd inversion'. 


Chord inversion can be applied to any chord - whether it has three notes (a 'triad'), four notes (a 7th chord), or a 9th chord, 11th chord, or 13th chord (although this is very rarely done in jazz)...

The most common use of chord inversion in jazz piano is when playing a ii-V-I in your left hand only.

It's common to play the V7 chord in 2nd inversion - in order to create smooth voice leading, and to keep your hand in the same space:

D min 7(D F A C) - G7(2nd inversion: D F G B) - C maj 7 (C E G B)

Jazz Scales

29) "How do I know what scale to play over a chord?"

In jazz, you always have a choice of scales you can play over any given chord.There is never just one scale you can play (except possibly the diminished 7 chord)...

A good rule of thumb is this:

Start by putting the chord's chord tones in your scale - that's the 1, 3, 5 7...

Next, add a whole-step above each of these notes: 1 (add a whole-step) - 3 (add a whole-step) - 5 (add a whole-step).

This is a good rule of thumb to get you started.

30) "What are 'Modes'?"

Instead of starting a scale from its root (e.g. C D E F G A B), you can rearrange the notes to start from the scale's 2nd note (D E F G A B C).. Or its 3rd note (E F G A B C D)... Or its 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th note...

Chord
three notes (a 'triad'), four notes (a 7th chord), or a 9th chord, 11th chord, or 13th chord (although this is very rarely done in jazz)...

The most common use of chord inversion in jazz piano is when playing a ii-V-I in your left hand only. It's common to play the V7 chord in 2nd inversion - in order to create smooth voice leading, and to keep your hand in the same space:

D min 7 (D FA C) - G7 (2nd inversion: D F G B) - C maj 7 (C E G B)

Recommended Lesson

'Jazz Improvisation Explained in 18 Minutes'

These are the most-used improvisation techniques that you need to know about:


Free Resource: Download my '29 Jazz Piano Licks' sheet music.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

31) "How many things should I practice at a time?"

One thing at a time. Always. Focus on one skill per week - or longer - and work at that one thing until you reach mastery.
Avoid the temptation to switch between practicing different things. Remember, 'man who chases two rabbits catches none!' So focus on one thing until you reach mastery, and then move on to the next thing and focus on that.

32) "How do I know when I've reached 'mastery'?"

My definition of 'mastery' is when you can play something three times in a row, note-perfectly...

I use this to gauge my own performance (without needing a teacher to tell me).When I can play the ii-V-I through all keys, note-perfectly, three times in a row - then I know I've 'mastered' the ii-V-I...
If I can't play three perfect runs - then it's something I need to work at.
This works for anything you might be practicing: the ii-V-I through all 12 keys, building a specific jazz scale from all 12 notes, practicing upper structures from all 12 notes, and so on).

33) "How do I know what I should practice?"

To know what you should practice - you must identify the weakest area in your playing.That is the thing that is stopping you from progressing, and you need to work on that skill the most.

To find your 'weak link', ask yourself: 'If I were to play this jazz song twice as fast as what's written - what would be the first thing that would 'break'?

Would your left hand be the first to go? Would finding your fingers to the chord voicings be the hardest part? Or something else?

You can actually try playing a song from your repertoire much faster than normal, and see what problems arise first. Then target those in your practice going forward.

34) "How long should I practice for?"

I like to practice in short sessions (5 minutes) multiple times scattered through the day...
(It's better to practice 'little and often' like this, than to practice for a whole hour one day a week).
Sometimes these short sessions turn into something longer. Sometimes they remain short.
I like to have a challenging exercise that I keep coming back to all week.

That could be:

Playing the ii-V-I through all 12 keys note-perfectly. 


Building a new chord voicing from all 12 notes note- 
perfectly. 


Practicing a technically challenging section or sometimes it's learning a new song.

Whatever the one thing I'm practicing - I want to master it. I want to be able to sit down, without warming up, and to be able to play it at a moment's notice. 


35) "Sometimes I lack motivation to practice. What should I do?" 


First, make your piano as easy to access as possible. Move it to a place that you walk past many times a day. Open the lid so that it's ready. Remove every barrier that could get in the way of you sitting down and playing.

Secondly, always have a challenging exercise you're working on. One good exercise can last you a full week, or two weeks, or sometimes a whole month of practice (when I was learning to count intervals for the first time, it took me a full 6-8 weeks to learn all of the intervals added to each of the 12 notes... or when I learned rootless voicings for the ii-V-I it took me a full month to master through the 12 keys)...

36) "What should my practice routine look like?"

Practice one thing per session (not many things). Practice the most challenging thing (the 'weakest link' in your playing).
Avoid playing repertoire when you practice (playing songs you already know is not practice - you have to practice things that are outside your comfort zone in order to improve).

Aim to isolate one tricky thing per session, and loop it - again and again - until you master it.

In addition to your regular piano practice - I also recommend setting one day a week to play through your repertoire, to make sure you always have at least 3 songs ready to perform.

Make sure you can play these songs from memory without sheet music. That way, if a friend asks you to play, you will be ready.

37) "What are some things you recommend your students practice?"

If your weakest link is counting intervals (which almost every student I've taught has needed to improve) then revisit the 'Interval Arithmetic' course.

If your weakest link is playing jazz scales - go through the practice exercises in your 'Complete Jazz Scales Method' course.

If your weakest link is playing the ii-V-I through all 12 keys - go through the practice exercises in your 'Chord Voicing Intensive' course.

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