As a KeyboardImprov.com member, you'll have access to over 300 lessons in a wide range of styles and levels. The jazz courses are near the top of this page and you'll see the blues, rock, pop, classical, and contemporary worship courses as you scroll down the page. Enjoy!
Learn the basic elements of jazz as you begin to apply them to actual tunes. The course starts right at the beginning with easy jazz improvisation, and then gradually leads you through different chord progressions, shows you how to find which scale to use when soloing on standard tunes, gets you playing walking bass lines (with a surprisingly easy method!), and helps you phrase melodies in your own way. Jazz Blues, Chord Inversions, and Modes are also covered.
Once you know the basics of jazz improv, you're ready to take it to the next level! This course digs deep into Bebop Soloing, Melodic Embellishment and Interpretation, "Charlie Parker Blues," and getting you extremely comfortable improvising over your favorite jazz tunes and chord progressions.
The emphasis in this course is on playing Jazz Ballads with a wonderful degree of rhythmic and textural looseness and flexibility. Your Jazz Ballad playing will quickly sound more professional and you'll enjoy the way you play ballads much more.
This course starts out with the harmonization of the major scale with 7th chords, and then includes a "Rhythm Changes," looking at them from 3 different harmonic levels. You'll also get a good workout with 'A' and 'B' voicings, in a unique series that helps you develop hand independence and rhythmic flexibility as you practice in each key.
Keith Jarrett is one of the greatest improvising pianists in musical history, and in this course I show you many of the specific techniques he uses in his famous solo piano concerts. You'll learn how to improvise over several of his left hand "vamps" as you develop more hand independence along the way. These lessons also cover his gospel-influenced playing, how to construct his beautiful "modal" chords, and how to improvise your own chord progressions in the spirit of musical discovery!
This course starts with how to improvise "linear harmony,' with inner voice motion. You'll learn how to create chord voicings and play counter-melodies using the same methods used by Duke Ellington, Keith Jarrett, and Clare Fischer. After that, we explore melody-based improvisation.
These lessons get you comfortable using the jazz melodic and harmonic vocabulary over funk-inspired grooves and bass lines.
You'll learn to sit down with a fakebook or sheet music of popular standards from the era of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin and instantly create your own piano arrangements. Melodic variation, ballad stylings, arpeggiated LH accompaniments, Stride LH patterns, and full pianistic textures are explored in this series.
Classic Blues and New Orleans styles are the "common ground" between jazz and rock and roll! These lessons go deep into the basic 12-bar blues chord progression in ways that enable you to not only recreate licks you've already learned, but to instantly come up with your own riffs and expand them into full blues improvisations in a variety of styles, from basic to more advanced.
These fully written-out Etudes, or "Studies," take you through the all-important Blues Scale in all 12 keys, in a variety of musical styles including jazz, rock, barrelhouse, and more. I also show you how to improvise using the musical elements of each arrangement.
These are playalong videos where you'll get good practice with the most common Blues Scales as we "jam" together. Have fun!
This course gets you improvising with Blues Scale at the same time that you gradually develop the hand independence necessary to improvise over different left hand patterns. Lots of rock and some pop styles are covered, along with the most popular chord progressions in rock and pop music.
If you're new to improvisation, this sequence of Flowing Water lessons will get you comfortable improvising very quickly, in an easy and effortless way. And if you already do improvise, working through this course will make your improvisations "flow" much better. Even accomplished jazz pianists have found that their playing improved a lot by spending some quality time with Flowing Water!
This course helps you learn chords thoroughly, starting with major and minor triads. The lessons also incorporate bass lines and accompaniment textures along the way so you'll learn how to play songs from chord sheets as you become fluent with the chords themselves!
Improvising is a fun and effective way to really learn your major scales. You'll become fluent using the most common major scales as you "jam" together with me on these playalong videos.
This course teaches you to play piano textures and accompaniments from leadsheets, where you have just the chords and melody. Once you can do this on a few songs, you'll always be able to sit down at a piano and play, wherever you are!
These are fun, creative lessons that will get you improvising with a sense of freshness and spontaneity. Kids love them too!
These lessons teach you how to experience classical music the same way that Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven did; by improvising!
I've always loved improvising on Pachelbel's Canon. This course starts very easily and gradually develops your fluency as you improvise over an Alberti bass pattern.
This course explores many ways you can use improv to bring vitality to your worship services. You'll learn how to play beautiful piano textures from a chord sheet, improvise intros, endings, and Preludes, and play gospel and jazz arrangements of songs.
This course is good for pianists as well as organists. I lead you through improvising on hymns as well as creating your own melodies and arrangements "on the spot." You'll also learn how to improvise simple counterpoint!
For Beginning Pianists and Kids of All Ages!
This course is an excellent introduction to the piano, with note-reading mixed in with beginning improvisation in many musical styles. It's great for beginners of all ages!
This is a developing course which now features a lesson on Billy Strayhorn's "Take The 'A' Train."
Jazz Styles features genres that aren't in the more expansive Jazz Piano University courses, such as Jazz Waltzes. This course will continue to grow.
While all my lessons will help you develop your musical ear, this developing course features an introductory lesson to get you started "playing by ear." Have fun!
