Jazz Piano Skills 101 

Day 1 - F Blues

Welcome to Day 1 of Jazz Piano Skills 101!

Today we’re going to take a look at 3 voicings that are so fundamental, I use them at some point on almost every gig. They are voicings for the dominant 9th, the dominant 13th, and altered chords. 

These are extensions of the fundamental dominant 7th chord, but by adding the extra color tones these chords become instantly recognizable as classic jazz voicings.  

First master the voicings on the “F Blues Reference” sheet out-of-time, and then once your hands are familiar with them, move onto the “F Blues (Version 1)” and “F Blues (Version 2)” exercises to play them in-time using a metronome. 

There are two versions so you get practice playing multiple voicings over the same measures. Tomorrow we’ll take these concepts and apply them to a blues in Bb, so get practicing!

Kevin

 

F Blues Reference Sheet

Practice this for 15-20 minutes before moving on to Version 1.

Download F Reference Sheet PDF
 
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F Blues (Version 1) - 60 BPM

Now that you have an understanding of the voicings we'll use, practice this for 20 minutes at various tempos before moving on to Version 2. The first video is at 60BPM.

Download F Blues (Version 1) PDF
 
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F Blues (Version 1) - 100BPM

 

F Blues (Version 1) - 140BPM

 

F Blues (Version 2) - 60BPM

In Version 2, you'll start with the F9 voicing instead of the F13 voicing. Practice this for 20 minutes at various tempos. The first video is at 60BPM.

Download F Blues (Version 2) PDF
 
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F Blues (Version 2) - 100BPM

 

F Blues (Version 2) - 140BPM