The Most Important Improv Exercise for Jazz Piano 

00:36 Connecting scales exercise 00:50 Turnaround progression 01:23 Beginner: chord shell approach 02:45 Play with backing track 03:05 Intermediate: rootless voicings 04:28 Play with backing track 04:46 Tip: quick 5-1 05:10 3 essential scales 05:36 Scale 1: C Major 06:09 Scale 2: C# diminished 07:30 Scale 3: B diminished 08:32 Beginner: connecting scales 10:48 Play with backing track 11:05 Creating melody lines 12:05 Play with backing track 12:47 Intermediate: connecting scales 15:10 Ideal tempo 15:33 Play with backing track 15:37 Creating melody lines 16:41 Play with backing track 17:18 Conclusion

..."let's do another line together".... You tryin to get me hooked??? lol... Great lesson...

I am already 84 and still studying. I wish with your help one day play jazz as I' d like. Sorry for my English, I am brasilian so I speak portuguese

top player and professor abd person on youtube al in one..... love from italy .... jonny is the best forever !!!

You're a great teacher where student can easily understood the extention you explained. And I'm satisfied to subscribed on your channel to catch you on your next lesson.

Jonny, you can do something what others can't: Being informative, challenging and make me still not feel like I am learning for a hated subject in school.

so easy to process. having that sheet music one click away to print is also a very nice touch, thank you

Your Lessons are the most understandable Lessons on RU-vid. Thanks a Lot for everything!

Great lesson! I Wish the other piano teachers I had would have taught me this when I was talking Jazz piano. They didn't even show this type of simple approach. Thanks to you Jonny I am getting back into Jazz piano again!

Another excellent subject to cover. Would love to see more on this subject. You did a great job

Maybe the best piano lesson I ever found in RU-vid. It made sat some hours on the piano. You're a fantastic teacher. Thank you a lot from Barcelona, Spain

Your pedagogy is amazing. I'm hooked. Will definitely give this a go! :) Thanks!!!

Thanks for all the lessons over the years. So glad to see you closing in on 100K subs!

Thank you so much Jonny, this was one of the best classes for jazz piano that I have seen on you tube.

Such a great explanation for all levels, congrats, very accurate and clear, also engaging!

i have been trying to learn jazz since forever...your videos gave me hope that i can actually do it...your tutorials are amazing thank you sir !

Thank you sir. You're the most understandable jazz teacher in YT.

You are an amazing teacher. You can make it all perfectly clear and understandable!!! Great Job !!!

Wow. Not only are u a mind blowing musician, but also a great teacher. That's a rare combination. U make it so easy to follow! Thank you!!

My Gosh!!! Clear and concise but genius approach to demystify jazz piano! Well done sir! 👌🙏🧡

Thank you, sir. You're the most understandable teacher in youtube.

I've been watching your videos over and over again and you are slowly teaching me jazz via the internet... Thank you my friend, this is evidence that the internet can be used to spread the goodness of jazz!

An excellent and simple lesson! You are a very good teacher. Congratulations.

What a great lesson, What a great teacher, thank you Jonny

LOVED this vid! made me want to start playing again, getting inspired to step up a notch with these essential tools you just provided. thank you! i look forward to checking out more vids and possibly signing up.

un millon de gracias Jonny, a pesar de que no se mucho inglés logro entenderlo todo porque eres muy claro para explicar, me ayuda, entretiene, y refresca mucho mi formación "clásica y cuadrada" de pianista, al parece la música es un lenguaje universal. Abrazos

One of my favourite lessons so far. Thanks Johnny! From Perú

Great piano exercise there! Keep up the great work and keep the awesome content coming 👍🎹🎶😄

Some teachers shun improvising with scales but you make them interesting by forming phrases out of them that sound like any jazz language. One can do away with copying other musicians by developing this technique. It's amazing!!! Thanks.

Thanks for this. Just yesterday while practicing I wondered how i could put chord and scale practice together.

I have played classical music all my life while I use to enjoy listening to Jazz. But this is the first time I understand how Jazz solos are created or is there any other way?. Jonny your tutorials are very detailed. Thank you so much.

Awesome lesson. Thanks for sharing, Johnny!

You are the best Johnny ! Thank you a lot

Thank you for all of your videos!

Jonny this is a gorgeous lesson, i love you brother you're so unselfishly fantastic. You really make me happy. Thank you. I've only had a piano 4 weeks and i'm already AMAZING - :D

This is my next practice woo.. thanks for the resource!

Your videos are so helpful. Just what I needed.

Súper good video! Guitar is my instrument , but I’m gonna try this and see what happen in 1 years, at least it’s gonna be good brain training. I have to divide my training time whit guitar and piano. Great video! Thanks!

Excelente video, he visto mucho y muchos videos y me impresiona que puedan enseñar tanto de la forma mas basica y entendible para todo musico sin importar la habilidad. Eres increible :D Saludo.

Excellent ! Maestro thank you!

Thank you jonny..greatful

thank you... you're really good at getting us to understand!!!!

Awesome! Nice explanation ... thanks for this content! Greetings from Chile

Thanks for the cool tutorial!

You are awesome Jonny.

The best way to understand jazz scales !

Wonderful Jonny✌🏼

GREAT explanation, THANK YOU !!

Thank you, it helps me a lot, very useful. Thank you.

Very tasty lines you create. I'm gonna try to learn them.

Incredible tip! Thx, Jonny!

Super cool video bro! Big hugs from a Latin man Jazz lover ✨😎👌

Wonderful. JOHNNY!

Excellent lesson!

Very helpful exercise, thanks.

So cool. Thanks 😊

Another great video. Thank you.

Awesome player and teacher.

Thanks Jonny! 😊👍🏻

thank you, you teach the best things

Great video Johnny. I like to think of the c#dim scale as the A half diminished scale and the B diminished scale here as the G half diminished scale. This is easier to me as they are the same letter as the chord but your way is a cool way as they are both right next to the door key. Very cool concept. Just to clarify for the watchers, your c# scale here is a whole diminished scale and your B scale is a whole diminished scale. Interesting point about diminished scales is while most scales have 5, 6 or 7 notes, diminished scales have 8. Also the half diminished is called the dominant scale because it contains all notes of the dominant chord. Another interesting thing that you mentioned is every note can be involved with a minor third and thus a minor 6th as well. It has interesting relationship with the tri tone as well which makes the tt very substitutable with the same half diminished scale.

Awesome tutorials!

Beautiful

you are amazing, thank you

You are the best Jonny

Thank you Jonni.

Great lesson as always Jonny. Don't know if it's of any interest to anyone, but I prefer to think of playing the diminished scale that starts a semitone above the root, so over A7 that would be Bb diminished. Same as C# diminished, obviously. For me this ties in better with the altered scale, which is effectively a melodic minor ascending that starts a semitone above the root. So over A7(alt) you can play Bb diminished or Bb melodic minor ascending. Only difference is the dim scale has an E and F#, whereas the altered scale has an F natural. If you're swapping between the two to create different tensions, this difference is interesting to focus on.

I love your videos, very helpful !

Great course

Just discovering these lessons. This man is a national treasure.

Great course.

A fantastic lesson. Jonny! How about calling those second and third scales "octatonic" for us, and offering us some fingerings for multiple rising and descending octave practice? Thank you so much! Your friend, Truman Bullard.

This is the perfect lesson for where I am right now in my jazz piano career. Question: Why do you name the two diminished scales after the third of the chords. Why not the root of each chord and do half-step / whole-step?

Nice rhythm motiv in right hand.

Brilliant

This was awesome

Muito obrigado ❤

Sensacional! Thanks for this!!!

my modal I respect you for your jazz music training

Very nice 👍

Very helpful

gracias muy bueno

Súper buena clase, solo que mas cortita y despacito si? Felicidades y gracias!!

I agree with with the comments below, your lessons are understandable and transferable. Please keep making youtube videos

This is great. One question: Why the diminished scale as opposed to something else?

great johny

Excelent!

Cool!

Very nice 😍😍😍😍😘

One of the best piano lessons I've ever had! Thank you so much! Where can I find all this exercises in PDF?

This is the best jazz piano tutorial I’ve ever see . So helpful!!

Very lovely

Great exercise from a great teacher. It's important to also jam on each chord scale, to find licks and varied directions, not limiting to ascend/descending scales. But I find this a brilliant way to start getting from chord to the next. Thanks Jonny!!

Nice

Great lesson Jonny!This is how I have been trying to get my ideas to sound!.

man-this so cool Mr.Jonny-where did you get your training?

hey, one question: are you keeping the pedal down? And if, when?

Спасибо! Всё понял! Уже делаю🙂

Great lesson, I appreciate it. Thank you! What keyboard are you using for your lesson here?

What kind of piano are you using Jonny? I need a new one.. thanks!