When it comes to ballads, the important thing is the melody. Don't just play your usual songs. Hear how the professionals do it. Slow, lyrical melodies can sound great on the piano.
Once you feel good with the scale, try to improve some lines with the scale. Remember that a line has a starting point and an end point, so leave small spaces between your “musical phrases”. To dive deeper into how to create beautiful lines in the style of jazz ballads, check out the Jazz Ballad Solo Challenge. I highly recommend that you practice this up and down scale on the piano, because this is the scale you'll use to improvise Cocktail Jazz Piano.
I have spent the last 3 years recording a complete collection of step-by-step lessons, in which I teach you jazz piano from start to finish. Once you have all these elements, you can start creating beautiful improvisations for Cocktail Jazz piano. Fast forward to today, I now have a master's degree in music and have been playing the jazz piano for more than 15 years. My own journey has taken me to Carnegie Hall, to Broadway shows such as Smokey Joe's Cafe and Swinging On A Star, and to the Blue Note jazz club in New York, and now I share this experience with piano students from all over the world.
You'll also have access to my JAZZ PIANO RESOURCE VAULT with your membership, which includes HUNDREDS of pages of printable scores and learning resources. After a short period of following my teacher's step-by-step lessons, I achieved my jazz piano goals and was prepared for life. The first step in improvising a cocktail piano (also called jazz ballad style) is to use a repetitive progression, so there is no need to memorize the chords of a Brazilian. After performing at Carnegie Hall, in Broadway shows and at the Blue Note jazz club in New York, I now dedicate myself to teaching piano students around the world how to improvise with a new sense of joy and fluidity.
This exercise prepares beginning piano students to play jazz standards by mastering 2-5-1 progressions using chord shells on all 12 keys. 10-lesson jazz ballad solo challenge Blues challenge Bossa Nova solo challenge Over a solo change of direction from funky blues to solo Latin jazz. Now, you can delve into the Turnaround Progression here, but today I want to show you a very simple way to play it on a cocktail-style jazz piano or in the style of a jazz ballad.
