If you're wondering where to start with jazz piano, learning chords is ground zero. A great way to develop your chord vocabulary chops is to learn the major and minor triads in all 12 keys and in every inversion. It's what I did at the beginning of my jazz journey, and whenever I got stuck or confused, I went back to basics. If that's where you're at, this free guide will help. I've written out the major and minor triads in all 12 keys with inversions for you so you'll have them all in one place as a handy reference. This guide and video give you a fast track to learning chord vocabulary because I show you a cool and easy way to work your way through all the keys and inversions. Watch the video where I play the triads and inversions in all 12 keys with both the right and left hands, and grab your FREE cheat sheet above!
The top #3 steps you need to know to play an F blues with a band or bass player
The top #4 steps you need to know to play an F Blues (solo piano)
5 "Awesome" C Altered Licks
10 Top Tips to Make Progress with Your Piano Practice Routine
I’ve been teaching piano now for nearly 30 years at various music school and universities around the world and I get ask quite often by many a student if: `I only had one hour, half an hour or even 20 mins to practice a day what should I practice? How should I structure my practice to get the best results?
The video above will give you my insights on what a great practice session should be. Check it out.
Triads - Inversions - 4 Chord Patterns - How to Play Songs with Chords
This lesson will give you a rounded foundation on triads with their inversions. Then it will show you how to use these triads to play some songs. It's an old video, and excuse the little whiteboard I am using! LOL! :) But the information is still gold.
How to Play and Write Songs with Triads (chords) on the Piano
In this lesson, you will learn how to play some more common chord progressions and for the creative, it will give you a few pointers on how to write a song of your own in the key on C.
Want a cool chromatic piano exercise to play like Mc Coy Tyner?
I wish I knew these 3 jazz piano scales when I started playing
The first 2 steps to playing solo jazz piano you can't miss
10 - II - V - I - Licks in C for Piano - free guide
Play jazz piano now with - Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Arranged by Greg Lloyd just for you. Get the sheet music FREE below
PRESS PLAY TO WATCH & LISTEN to Greg’s solo piano arrangement of this ‘awesome’ tune. Then DOWNLOAD the FREE sheet music below and play all the notes yourself…it’s all written out for you ready to go!
Chromatic Walking Bass Line for Piano on a C Jazz Blues for you - By Greg Lloyd
I’ve been getting lots of great questions from you, so I’m doing a new series of videos called #askgregmusic to answer these for you.
I’ll pick one of your questions and do a video to answer it.
I’ll continue to answer as many as I can by email to so keep sending me all your questions.
Sara was asking: How do I make my left-hand bass lines sound more “jazzy” ?
Find out my answer below in the free video lesson and grab the FREE sheet music below!
Already SUBSCRIBED ? Then click here to get your FREE PDF
Play These Cool Rootless Piano Voicings with Your Band - By Greg Lloyd
I’ve been getting lots of great questions from you, so I’m doing a new series of videos called #askgregmusic to answer these for you.
I’ll pick one of your questions and do a video to answer it.
I’ll continue to answer as many as I can by email to so keep sending me all your questions.
Mark was asking: 1. Which voicings should I use, when playing in a band with a bass player?
2. What should I play in each hand?
Find out my answer below in the free video lesson and grab the FREE sheet music!
#askgregmusic @classicaltojazzpiano
Got a question for Greg on music, blues or jazz?
Leave a question below in comment area or email greg at: greg@classicaltojazzpiano.com
Start playing jazz piano today with "Monk's Mood" By Thelonious Monk - Arrangement by Greg Lloyd
Hi Folks,
I was playing around with "Monk's Mood" the other day and came up with this (out of time) solo piano arrangement, my own take on this wonderful tune by Thelonious Monk.
Grab your full PDF of this arrangement in the video above now!
Thelonious has been a huge inspiration to me over the years, one of the most influential composers and players of all time. He never gets boring to listen to, always full of musical surprises. I hope you enjoy this arrangement.
LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.
Take it easy,
Greg.
Play jazz today with - Improvisations on 'Flamenco Sketches' - by Evans/Davis - Improvisations played by Greg Lloyd - Get the free sheet music below
I have had many people email and comment asking me if I have the music notation (a transcription) for this improvisation above in the video...well I do now ! - CLICK ABOVE - to get it!
All the notes in the video above are written out for you as sheet music. Then watch the video over and over to help you learn it.
To CHECK OUT - page one - SCROLL down to bottom of this page.
All I ask is that you LIKE it, SUBSCRIBE, leave a COMMENT BELOW and enjoy the beauty of the music.
I do not own the copyright for this song. © 1959 Jazz Horn - Sony/ATV - I am improvising on five chords and modes in the style of this awesome tune.
I have always loved this tune. I wanted to try to capture the space the tune represents in my improvisation and share it with you all. It was a weird experience transcribing yourself playing. I took the time out over Covid-19 to venture into this improvisation/piece I recorded a few years back for a week.
I would like to point out that this is my version of 'Flamenco Sketches' by Bill Evans/Miles Davis. I have changed the 2nd chord to Eb-7 instead of Ab7sus as I like the root movement and sound of Eb Dorian a little better.
Wikipedia says: "Flamenco Sketches" is a jazz composition written by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Bill Evans. It is the fifth track on Davis's 1959 album Kind of Blue and an innovative experiment in modal jazz. The track features Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb and Bill Evans. The piece has no written melody, but is rather defined by a set of chord changes that are improvised over using various modes. Each musician separately chose the number of bars for each of the modal passages in his solo. Davis gets credit for the song form, but Evans is credited with the opening 4-bar vamp over Cmaj7 and G9sus4, which is the opening theme to his ballad improvisation "Peace Piece". Because of the presence of this vamp, "Flamenco Sketches" is usually played as a ballad.
The five modes used in "Flamenco Sketches" are as follows:
C Ionian (natural major scale)
A♭ Mixolydian (Major with a minor 7th)
B♭ Ionian
G Harmonic Minor over D Phrygian Dominant (alternates over bass notes D and E♭)
G Dorian
This version by Greg Lloyd is a Live solo piano improvisation on the tune "Flamenco Sketches" written by Bill Evans & Miles Davis from the album 'A Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis. I have always loved this tune.
For more information about me please check out: greglloydmusic.com.
Hope you enjoy it.
Take it easy,
Greg.
Learn all Three 4 - Note Chords in Root Position (Major 7, Minor 7, Dominant 7) Ascending and Descending Chromatically - By Greg Lloyd - FREE sheet music below
Are you having trouble learning the Three 4-note chords: Major7, Minor 7 and Dominant 7 in all 12 keys? Maybe you are looking for a “chop” burner to workout those fingers?
Playing chromatically is key when playing jazz piano. The lesson above moves up and down the three 4-note chords chromatically.
This is a great exercise to get the three x basic 4-note chords down and into your brain, plus it is a great "chops burner” or workout for the fingers. I still do this exercise today… it's a great warm up!
Never start “burning” right away. Playing slow and focusing on clean precise notes between the two hands is key. I still do this exercise today. It’s part of my warm up.
Take it easy,
Greg.
P.S. Join the conversation by leaving a comment or question below? Or email me at: greg@classicaltojazzpiano.com
Play all 12 Diminished 7 Chords as Broken Chords and Chords on the Piano (2 hands - 2 Octaves ) By Greg Lloyd - FREE Sheet Music below
For me this exercise is a great “chops” builder, I still do it today. It is also a great way to learn what the 12 diminished 7th chords are while working on your technique at the same time.
So what is a diminished 7? A diminished 7 is a interval produced by narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone which is en-harmonically equivalent to a major sixth.
A good way to look at the diminished 7 chord is to think of it as all minor thirds. For example the C˚7 (Cdim7) chord the C to Eb is a minor 3rd, then Eb to Gb is a minor third and Gb to A is another minor third. The diminished 7th is a 6th.
Sometimes you see the diminished chord written with the double flat (bb) on the b7th note shown below:
I like to make the - double flat - a 6th instead to make it easier to read and that is what is in this exercise below.
Both ways of looking at it are of course correct as you get the same result.
The diminished 7th chord is a special chord as it can be more than one chord depending which note you start on within the chord. So C˚7 could be - C˚7, Eb°7, Gb°7 and A°7 as all these chords are made of the same notes! Db˚7, E˚7, G˚7 and Bb˚7 are all made from the same notes PLUS - D˚7, F˚7, Ab˚7 and B˚7 are…yes! You guessed it, all made up from the same notes!
So this exercise in the FREE PDF moves through these inversions/chords of the 3 diminished chords using C˚7, Db˚7 and D˚7 as a starting point. Have a look below…
If you move the above exercise up a half step (semi-tone) to Db you will get 4 more diminished chords.
Then do the same exercise again up another half step to D and you will get the last 4 diminished chords.
Above are all 12 Diminished 7 chords as broken chords.
If you play the 4-notes under the diminished chord together you will get the Diminished 7 chord. How cool is that!
One last thing is that I have seen this chord written a few ways on chord charts:
dim7
˚7
sometimes only with the ˚
Later in future videos I am going to deep dive more into this topic and show you how to use these exercises in your playing on the piano so stay-tuned for that!
So for now check out the full exercise BELOW and GRAB all three C-Db-D diminished exercises on the FREE sheet music above now!
Grab this exercise in C - Db and D diminished above in FREE PDF.
Take it easy,
Greg.
P.S. If you have a question or a topic you would like me to cover leave a comment below or email me at: greg@classicaltojazzpiano.com
52 "Awesome" Blues/Jazz Licks for Piano - By Greg Lloyd - FREE sheet music - Scroll Down to get it
SCROLL DOWN
To get your FREE 52 Blues/Jazz Licks for Piano and watch some videos!
SCROLL DOWN to watch a few video examples of the 52 Licks...
… then DOWNLOAD your FREE PDF ABOVE and CLICK BELOw Watch all 52 licks with videos on the “You Tube” Channel now!
Play all Scale-tone 7ths from the Major Scale in all 12 Keys for Piano - (one octave-two hands) - FREE Sheet Music Below
My first Jazz piano teacher gave me this lesson on the "Scale-tone 7ths” many a moon ago in Sydney back in the 90’s. It’s an exercise I still do today on the piano so I thought I would make a video on it.
The Scale-tones 7ths for me are a great way to do two things at once on the piano. They are a great way to work on your technique on the piano while learning the 4-note chords in all the keys all at the same time. I still do this exercise today as I find it helps maintain my “chops” technique.
I recommend that you start off slowly and build your speed up gradually when it feels right. Also I really suggest that you say aloud which chord you are playing when you are playing it to help you reinforce your knowledge with chords ( I know I am not doing that here in the video but I have been doing this exercise now for over 20 years so I think I can miss that part now)
I would also like to say that the way most jazz musicians write the minor 7 chord is with a (-7). I know I have (m7) on the PDF. I had to do this as Sibelius 6 does not let me do (-7) for the minor 7 chord.
I hope you enjoy this lesson and please do leave a comment below or email me at: greg@classicaltojazzpiano.com with any questions.
Take it easy,
Greg.
P.S. If you have a topic you would like me to cover in a lesson do let me know!