I love how Amy is the ONLY teacher on RU-vid who instead of putting up a second virtual keyboard she actually shows clear CLOSE UPS of her hands , both explaining and slowing down the fingering which is still a mystery to many of us.. Well done, Amy.. How come no one else ever thought of this?
Do I play roots in my chord voicings BECAUSE I’m too broke to hire a bass player? Or am I too broke to hire a bass player BECAUSE I play roots in my chord voicings?
I dropped out of the music major program in college cause while I could perform well, the theory got to the point where it was overwhelming. I took the easy way out and went pre-med instead. Now 17 years later, I've discovered this treasure of videos you've produced and I am SO excited about theory again. There's no better way to learn it than through jazz!
There's something _TERRIBLY_ wrong with the way theory is taught at University. It's nonsensical and difficult to apply to real life the way it is taught. PS. Sorry for replying to you 4 years later 😅. I'm in Uni right now, so I am feeling the pain personally.
Now I understand why you're so good at playing/singing/teaching, etc.: You're a freaking Tasmanian non-stop workaholic!! The fact that you keep churning out tons of videos, day in and day out (and all of it great stuff!), week after week, says a lot about what kind of drive you have. I try watching all this stuff, but at the rate you produce all of it, I can never quite keep up-lol! I need to take a month off from work (and all other life responsibilities), and go hole up in a remote cabin somewhere-one with Wifi, of course, and basically go through all of your tutorials-one at a time, until I'm up to date with the latest (of course, by that time, you will have gone and released another 40+)! You must be slugging back some kind of ancient high-caffeine protein shake every morning before you go to work. Anyway, however you manage to do it all, gotta offer my thanks and gratitude for all the great knowledge you share here-cheers!
Michael Paull no caffeine for me, but just a solid hour or two a day! Since September. 143 videos in 172 days. I counted last night! Let me know how the cabin idea works out for you! lol thank you.
I whole heartedly agree. I am currently studying music at my university, yet I feel as though I am gleaning so much more knowledge from her videos that are helpful. Ha, I should just watch videos from now on. :)
This is great thanks, I didn't have a die so I wrote all 12 keys on blank business cards and shuffled them into a random order. They now live in my wallet so I can practise and compound the learning away from the piano. I have the key on one side and the ii v i and the notes for the rootless voicings on the back so I can test myself whenever I get a minute!
That's a very, very helpful video! The patience you had to explain the II-V-I parts in a more mechanical way was especially interesting to put more focus on practicing the scale itself. It's actually very fun, thanks a lot for this!
Today I bought a 6'4 Knabe grand. Bringing it home here in about 3-4 weeks. Looking forward to working at it again with your videos, after a 40 year lay off from piano. You are an inspiration.
I learned music theory in French,which is my second language.I really love the way you teach,because after years of hearing do,re,mi, tone,pause I get things mixed up just a little bit sometimes using the Alphabet.In addition to that,you make it really fun.I can watch you for hours without realizing that ❤❤❤❤🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
I recently stumbled across one of your videos and was suitably impressed with your teaching method. This is now the second video of yours that I have watched and I am fascinated, if not enthralled, how well you explain everything. My number one instrument has always been piano, but I gave it up many years ago. I keep returning to it though, looking for ways to improve and be able to play something with a certain amount of accomplishment. Those close up shots of how the left hand plays the chords and the right hand the scale is really very good for beginners like myself, and of course along with it, the explanation of the fifths and sevenths. Thank you so much...
Great explamation. I'm a guitarist, so inversions work in a whole different way, but it's still a nice way to look at the theoretical perspective of the ii- V-I. Now that we're at this, we might as well continue doing this exercise for the whole circle of fourths, just to explore the whole key. But not just that, there's also a good deal of jazz standards where the progression is basically the circle of fourths, like Autumn Leaves, Fly Me to the Moon, Beautiful Love, etc.
That's a really fun way to introduce a scale. I'm going to 'steal' it to teach to one of my young piano students who is starting jazz. before we started some jazz, they felt piano was becoming a real chore, now its a joy! So thanks for your wealth of information I can adapt for beginner lessons as well as my own playing :D
I've just read through all the comments below and your replies are so very helpful. You're such a good egg, Aimee, and I love it that your children have been given the names of the Jazz greats. No Oscar though....or Bill!
I've known some cool classical players, in my life, please let's not stereotype. I'm enjoying watching your jazz tutorials, and I'm even a subscriber. I also happen to enjoy playing lots of classical, because that's what my dad from NYC who sang opera focused on. He sold records in NYC from the late 40's to the late 50's but he knew guys like Randy Weston and Cecil Taylor, because they worked with him at the same record store in Manhattan, Dynamic Records. Anyways, I think what you're doing is great, along with all the other great music teachers on RU-vid. We live in a great time where people can share their work for the benefit of others and spread the knowledge. As a Classical player, it's tough enough as it is to connect with an audience who's not familiar with the compositions or composers that are out there, thanks to lack of education, lack of airtime, distribution of the genre, etc. People should be proud of their European roots too! The best of both worlds! Spread the love for all Great music, please don't put down people who study classical as not being 'cool enough', it sends the wrong message to our youth who could be the future of a whole new hybrid genre of music that receives inspirations from All directions! How Cool is That? Help Open their ears to a World of Great Sounds. Good Job Aimee!
I see you are a generous teacher by the way you are so cristal and clear to explain with the honest philosopy to make understand and learn. Compliments! Hi from Italy.
Great video! I don't play dice, so this explanation was better for me. Everyone's asking great questions. I love the Q & A' s as well. Great daily classes. I look forward to them.
Just sharing a nice personal experience of this video--by doing this bebop scale exercise, I find myself "hearing" so many more things that I can really feel and play (and sing--see the Point & Sing video!). Somehow that opening triplet lick into the descending chord over the 2-5-1 has opened up my ears to hearing stuff I didn't before--so cool thanks!
I can't believe I haven't seen your videos before, Aimee! This is great stuff! Thank you! Now I can really start learning how to play jazz. No more roots for me! :)
Fantastic. Emphasizing 'fun' is perhaps the most overlooked music fundamental of all. Or as I like to say, "Fun is 3/11'ths of Fundamental!" (Okay. I just made that stupid saying up... I was having FUN.) I have to watch ALL your videos now.
The second of your videos I have run across. This is so refreshing as conservatory pianists often can not think this way. In fact, many brilliant professors with whom I have worked stay at the top due to the classical approach. Just as a chess player will play classical lines long before they play "hyper-modern" lines. In music, often you have enough classical theory to say modern theory is for the lesser. Implying that they are your betters. Have dealt with this for decades.If I am not mistaken, what you call a bebop scale, is what many great musicians call an 8 note dom. scale (with both seventh degrees). As you correctly point out, the use of this scale in the ascending/descending manner makes so much difference. I love listening to a pianist point these things out.Generally I have to listen to Chick Corea and the like to feel this. I hope that I am not bothering you. I am blown away listening to a keyboardists' mind work this way. All the best! Philip
Fantastic. Thank you. I am continuing to watch your videos, hearing things from you that I have only learned working with the best. I have played with the Miles Davis band, Frank Gambale (Chick's guitarist), Harold Blanchard (CBS "New Earth Sonata"), Quincy Jones, Hubert Laws, etc. It is SO impressive that you understand, no "understand" is not the correct word, master (better) these concepts as a pianist. I feel sure you are just as brilliant as a classical player. It is obvious that you have drawn so many to you, as reflected by all comments.I am nothing special, but you have rekindled the thinking/explaining to a musician such as me. You have made my week in just two days. Thank you.p.s. Hearing you speak of C. Parker etc, is just awesome!!
Aimee, I've been "binge watching" your channel. I'm learning a lot. You make the supposed "difficult" appear relatively easy....or at least approachable. This is definitely a journey. By the way, I checked out Rob Araujo like you suggested...and YES...He is a BADDDDD Boy!!!! Thanks for the recommendation!
We don't play the root cos we're jazz players! Gotta have the correct attitude right from the start, huh!!! I like that! Very informative tutorial, thank you.
Very interesting lesson. I'm glad you're teaching me to play inversions. I learned to play all chords in root position, so my left hand is flying all over the keyboard.
This is precisely how I was taught how to do it as a freshman in high school in 1982. I'm 49, gigging with a variety of different musicians, and this is exactly what my "default" chording is..except on my Maj 7 chord......I voice it 3,5,7,9 instead of with the 6th. When I was drilled about the 2,5,1 scale excercize, I started on D-, but in the right hand, I started on D, and went up an octave and back down, rhythmically, but it was always in the key of your I (traingle) chord was
Aimee you're awesome! Thanks so much for these videos... I really love your approach. I'm always trying to get the sounds of these devices internalised so I can get away from the heady space of theory when I improvise and just blow! I just watched your vid on Bill Evans rootless voicings too and it's just beautiful stuff. Your enthusiasm and passion just shine through.... All best from Nottingham, England. X
Ha ha that's right Aimee... you're beaming Jazz education into Robin Hood country... the wonders of the global 21st Century hey?! ;0) Wow... you have so many vids on concepts I'm exploring... hard to know where to start! I'm also very interested in your video on "How To Get Your Kids Started In Music" as I have 3 littluns (3 year old boy and 8 month old twins boy & girl. Actually our youngest Son is named Thelonious...). Don't wanna put 'em off. Oh also as well as being a Jazzhead I'm a 39 year old Skateboarder so I thoroughly enjoyed the selfie stick while riding on your deck! Brilliant. Anyway keep up the great work... Cheers me duck (friendly Nottingham slang...) ;0)
TheBlavid I think I am going to add cheers me duck into my every day conversations. Good luck with all those little ones! Your life is crazy right now! So many hugs and kisses though. That's awesome. And Thelonious? Brave and again, awesome.
wow .. .as a drummer, i always wanted to understand how jazz/bebop scales were made ..... nobody could explain to me .... thank you for understandable video
Thanks for this tutorial. I just want to make sure I understand it correctly. You are using the dominant Bebop scale of the 5th of the key over a II,V,I progression. So for the key of C major I will use the G dominant Bebop scale, not. the C Bebop scale?
Love this lesson, thinking about related and relative intervals under your fingers rather than wholesale chord shape movement. This works on guitar as well and makes managing melodic/harmonic movement so much easier... Thank You. (I'm in on the jacket...!). 😎
this is funny: while copying the pizza box chart in a piece of paper (I paused the video at 2:04) I even copied the mistaken chords at line 8... so now my chart also has the mistakes and scribbles! :-)) I will try to play the dice game, let's see how it helps! Again thanks for explaining all this in such a simple way! Cheers!
+Fernando Grau oh my gosh, that's so funny. I'm sorry! Hey, if you go to my website, under "shop quote, there is a beautiful chart that you can print out. Much better than a pizza box!
I've been enjoying your videos quite a bit, thanks for posting this one! One thing that eludes me forever, it seems, is in identifying the chord progressions. When you start inverting chords and all the various fingerings to keep the progression in one area of the keyboard, I simply can't hear the scale degrees in the chord progression. I am used to music where the progression is only ever *just* one note (15 years of 8bit chiptunes), and tends to be fairly linear sounding as a result. So naturally, chords tend to blur together for me from a theoretical standpoint because I can't quite tell what the root of the chord is supposed to be. For example, when I hum along, I tend to hum the wrong note as the root of the chord, usually only for inverted chords. I can jam over it modally no problem, usually. Everything is modal for me. I just can't tell what degrees the progression is using by ear, without pausing every chord and jamming modally over it to see what mode matches. A very rigid process, which often sees me confusing modes that share some notes. Anyone have any suggested reading for something I need to study, specifically? Like, I almost exclusively hear dorian as aeolian when I try to jam over it. It really isn't unless that one dorian note is super prominent that I can correctly pin it this way, so obviously this is not the way, hehe. But then what is?!
I'm sorry but I'm hearing the root chords FMAJ7/FMAJ7b5/E7sus4 in the first progression. More study on my part will probably get my head in the proper 2-5-1 thought process. Very cool study you put together here.
+Marc Halikas check out some of my rootless voicing videos, Marc. It will start to become clear. We leave off the bass note so the bass player can play it. So F is not the root. D is the first root, then G and then C
If you are confused about an Fmaj7 be called rootless D min9. It is because I guess she is just assuming there is going to be a bass playing that missing D note. and if it isn't, Fmaj7 will serve the same harmonic function as the Dm9. But if there is no bass you should just call it Fmaj7. sometimes musicians have this kind of shortcuts that do work but are hard to understand why are they calling it something else.
You should do that video over again I enjoy your tutorial let everybody see the full keyboard do the 251 chord progression along with the be-bop scale 🎹 I think once I discovered the target tones on my 251 chord progression I think I would have Jazz lick with the be-bop scale thank you 😊
Hi Aimee yes I understand why you don't like exercises . But I gotta say at least 50% of the sound of a post bop harmonic approach is I suspect hidden away in the modes of the melodic minor scale like plug in G super locrian and make it a G7alt Abersold calls it diminished whole tone many folks call it the alt scale . That's melodic minor from the 7th degree. But that's the most bop conventional usage . There are 6 other very sonically compelling starting points all with functional and modal implications. I am 100% your fan here I hope you don't get me wrong here.
Oh by the way, wood shedding some tough classical piano for a while helps develop some serious chops, trust me. Having those chops just means you get to have that much more fun, right?
Hey Aimee, I am loving your videos, your method of teaching is very clear! As I am completely new to jazz piano though, could you please explain the voicing of the dominant chord (the 5 in 251)? Why do we add a 10th and a 13th to the 9th chord (unless I am completely reading it wrong, I am assuming this is a fourth inversion but with a 13th?)? Also, on the major chord (the 1 of 251) which I see as a second inversion, we also seem to have a 13th instead of the 5th? Is that just a jazzy thing to do or is there a reason for it? Hope that makes sense and thank you!
You need to watch some of my other videos about voicings. Try the one in my series about how to accompany yourself. I think it’s the third or fourth video.
A bit of a challengingly posed question here. Is the bebop scale that much of a commodity since the beboppers themselves didn’t know what it was? Old school bebop gurus like Barry Harris say it shouldn’t even be acknowledged and developed what he considered to be the more useful 6th Diminished system. Have you ever looked at his method and evaluated it’s worth and application? Also, what would you consider the most practical way to approach the bebop language to obtain the most comprehensive view? I’m stuck in the listening and transcribing purgatory and am wondering if Barry’s method may have some value in terms of distilling the language in a way that may empower people toward creating new and interesting lines and ideas.
Just discovered your videos and think they're really cool. As a Jazz student, I'm always on the lookout for great resources and so appreciate finding you. One comment on this one, though. I'm assuming you don't introduce rootless voicings until the student is well grounded in the rooted version. That way their ears are ready to infer the missing root. It's kind of funny 'cause I happened upon your videos while looking for the so-called A and B forms that John Mehegan talks about in vol 4. of his Jazz series, which are rootless.
OMG...I just saw what a fan you are of Bill Evans...forgive me I am just discovering the myriad wonders of Aimee. I cry everytime I hear him play My Foolish Heart and also Bernstein's Some Other Time.
Aimee,I have a question about this great exercise. First let me say I LOVE the way you explain this stuff. You’re jazz, but can I just say you ‘rock?’ You say it much like I think it when I’m trying to work something out. It’s almost like hearing my own thoughts! Way cool. As you do the be-bop scale at around the 9:36 mark in this video, you say you’re in the key of C. But are you doing a G major be-bop scale in the right hand? It sounds great to be sure, but are you playing a downward be-bop scale in the key of G maj. against a ii, V, I left hand key-of C pattern. Because up until now, when I see something like that, to me the note “G” is the 5 position of a C major scale (where no F# should exist naturally)…and not the 1 of a G maj scale. Or to put it another way, is it that the left hand plays in the C mode, while the right hand is a perfect 5th up starting its scale with G as 1? (i.e. F# is a maj 7th vs. a raised 4th if it was in C). I hope my question makes sense, and an answer would be really appreciated. Thanks for all your wonderful work here.
+ShempBob hi Bob! You are the first one to ask this question. Make sure and scroll down. I have answered it. :-) I'm so glad you liked the video! Happy practicing!
Hi Aimee...very nice of you to respond so promptly. Unfortunately I scrolled down quite a bit and couldn't find your answer (??) In the meantime, I thought of another way to articulate my wonder here. "Modally" speaking (did I just make up a word? LOL), in the key of C, a chord with G as the root would be V or Mixolydian (I guess), right? So a G scale with an F# in it makes it 'i' or Ionian. I'm a little foggy on this. Can you help?
Passion for your music and I am always amazed at the voicing jazz piano players like YOU! Come up with so beautiful alterations! Maybe you can hit on altering in another Video! Thanks UR Great at what U do!
Richard Rodriguez thank you, Richard. Have you listened to my video about upper extensions? That might be kind of what you are looking for. I think I talk about alterations in almost all of my piano videos however. Maybe I need to make a more focused one.
