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.

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:

1. dim7

2. ˚7

3. 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

My secret tip to playing Rootless major II - V - I in all 12 keys - II min 7 (9) - V 7 (flat9) (flat13) - I maj7 (9) in all 12 keys - By Greg Lloyd - free sheet music below

This lesson is for the more advance jazz player. Jazz is full of the II - V - I progression. To be a jazz pianist you really have to be able to play all the 12 major and minor - II - V - I's and be able to produce variations of these II - V - I's in the required key in real time when required. Jazz pianists are always looking for variations with chord voicings so I thought I would share some voicings I use. This lesson is showing you a cool rootless (no root notes) major - II - V - I in all 12 keys with a 9 on the II minor 7 chord, a b9 and b13 on the V dominant 7 chord and a 9 on the I major 7 chord. This is a great major II - V - I and I still use it today.

Notice the semitone movement in the right hand. This will help you play it fluently.

I hope it helps.

Take it easy,

Greg.