This is great! I teach big band in HS and struggle with delivering solid piano comping lessons to help my students grow, I shared this video with them and it's helped a great deal, for me AND them!!! Thank You!
Excellent lesson, as always. Might I add...1) If the notes are written out, the piano part is really a condensed score of what was written for the horns. You don't need to play these parts, since all you are doing is duplicating the band's sound. That said, it's worth learning the notes, because the arranger can always teach you a thing or two. 2) If you share the rhythm section with a guitar player, make an agreement beforehand for each tune, which of you is going to comp behind the soloist or vocal. You may even agree that one of you will lay out behind the band. 3) Play Basie's fills. People will recall them, and will be thrilled if you cover them exactly. They are also musical gems. 4) A lot of big band charts in circulation were written by amateurs, and often not by people familiar with rhythm section instruments. Don't be afraid to rewrite these charts. 5) I've been at this for many years, and the more I learn about big band piano, the less I play.
my music theory teacher just asked me yesterday to come play in his big band. Cool and all but rehearsals are in 2 days and I have to learn 8 not so very simple pieces… So thanks! Great video!
Thanks. Good luck with that. In my experience it’s often pressure and little time to prepare sufficient. Also often there is a lot of information in the pianist’s sheets. Unless you are an outstanding reader, you will need to prioritize. Tip: if there’s a lot going on in the rest of the band, you can always skip those parts if the piano is far in the background anyway. Good luck to you! 🎹👏🏻😀
Eres lo mejor que me pudo a pasar. Tenía tiempo de no tomar el piano y gracias a ti mañana comienzo a aplicar tus conceptos. No tengo más que decir que gracias, Dios te bendiga. Desde México
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Great video buddy! I'm sorry to say this but this is going over my head very difficult! So may be I have to learn my basics so will you please suggest me any videos to follow?
Ok so I’m in 6th grade and I have been wanting to play since 2nd, I finally got an opportunity because my old band teacher is starting a jazz band and he will teach us from scratch, I really hope I get in but even if I don t I’m going to try my best to play piano
Surely not an easy task! This is tough !! You SOUND EXCELLENT with this amazing big band recording, aaa this is so good. I have a question about those 11th chords. I don't have a clear answer to this, should they automatically be treated as 9sus chords ? In theory it's a 9 chord with an added 4th right ? Or maybe not and it's really meant to be played as a sus chords. I guess that's why I don't see them often, I do play a sus chord when I see one but what's the point of having it then? Maybe it's for avoiding writing sus all the time. Thank you.
Thanks, Samy! Yes, that is a good way to treat the chords. The most important thing is to avoid playing the third on the 11 chords. You could in most cases add 13, 9 and 7 on 11 chords.
These tips were very helpful! I really appreciate all the hard work you put in your videos. I was wondering if you could make a video about comping with a guitar player. Maybe go into the different styles and the roles of each instrument. How do you communicate with the guitar player. Thanks! And always taking care of my music!
Thanks. Yes, that's a good idea. I'll keep it in my idea-book. Ps: Listen to Oscar Peterson trio with bass + guitar. A lot of interesting things to pick up here.
Good, solid instruction throughout, but the part I like best is how you have the screen set up. You can bet I'll be slowing this down and studying those voicings! This is just the kind of thing classically-trained pianists need to see; jazz is almost a completely different "language" of combining tones in chords (quartal vs triadic, playing w/o root, etc), and there are some very simple facts that you are presenting very well here which will help any pianist play better jazz.
Hello, Can anyone give me some tips, please? I want to practice Fly me to the moon and Autumn leaves at home , where to get or download a background big band sound, so that I can play with a big band at home.
You can support the horns using the melody given on the piano chart in other places besides just the shout chorus. I thought thats why they give the melody notes. In some places the melody note is a rhythmic comp instead of a more complicated figure the horns present. I'd like to have heard a more flushed out comp in unison with the melody instead of the busy noodling. I'd noodle if I hadn't studied the chart enough. It became a messy polyphony instead of clever fills.
I explain this here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EOGcuXEHNb4.html&lc=UgznFmqhZDXNFg9-aBB4AaABAg And here is my method: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BcugT5zIAKI.html&lc=UgwbR60IUhvTZXqWR2x4AaABAg I hope you enjoy ;)
