Bass Lines for Piano
This is an excellent exercise to help musicians develop bass lines for piano. It uses the Cycle of Fourths with comping and soloing. It’s not easy, but try it out!…
Category Archives: Swing Groove
Swing Groove Soloing through the Tune 16-7-8
Swing Groove Soloing through the Tune 16-7-8 Steps to play on a tune: Learn all the chords, modes and form of the tune. Think in rhythmic figures. Practice by playing one rhythmic figure through the entire tune. Start slowly. Analyze: “How many ways can I play from any chord (or tonality) to any other chord […]…
Swing Groove Comping w/Modes 16-7-7
Swing Groove Comping w/Modes 16-7-7 Studying the Modes for each chord in the “Jazz Swing Tune”: Take each chord in the “Jazz Swing Tune” and completely learn the scales which work with that chord. For instance: the first chord in the tune is an Em7(b5). You can use either the Locrian Mode (7-7) or the […]…
Swing Groove Continuous Melody Exercise 16-7-5
Swing Groove Continuous Melody Exercise 16-7-5 Developing the Continuous Melody Exercise playing through the “Jazz Swing Tune”: Play through the tune very slowly with Quarter Notes, Eighth Notes, Quarter-note Triplets and Eighth-note Triplets. Always think forward to the first beat of the next measure. Put the metronome on 2 & 4. …
Swing Groove Chord Inversions and Bass Lines 16-7-4
Swing Groove Chord Inversions and Bass Lines 16-7-4 Developing Bass Lines while playing Chord Inversions: Practice playing bass lines slowly through the tune while comping with the chord inversions (bouncing). Play bass lines faster with the metronome on 2 & 4 and comp with the chord inversions. (This will take awhile to master). …
Swing Groove Swing Groove Chord Inversions 16-7-3
Swing Groove Swing Groove Chord Inversions 16-7-3 Learning the “Jazz Swing Tune”: Make a chart. Include the chord changes, chord inversions and scale choices. Study each chord and it’s scale (modes). Play chords in inversions in both the right hand and left hand. Bounce around. (See example and video) …
Swing Groove Bass Lines and Melody 16-7-2
Swing Groove Bass Lines and Melody 16-7-2 Developing Melody over Bass Lines: Practice on melodic rhythmic lick at a time. Clap out one rhythm. Play from chord to chord (over and over). Ask yourself: “How many ways can I play melodic notes over this rhythmic lick”? Play that rhythmic lick slowly around the Cycle of […]…
Swing Groove Cycle of Fourths Bass Lines 16-7-1
Swing Groove Cycle of Fourths Bass Lines 16-7-1 Cycle of Fourths with Bass Lines: It’s very helpful to learn how to play bass lines through tunes. Study how a bass player thinks. Play the Cycle of Fourths with a single note in the left hand and the 3 & b7 in the right hand. Ask […]…