The Bill Withers classic song “Ain’t No Sunshine” is a funky R&B standard that has also found a home in jazz circles. This is probably because the song has many traditional elements of jazz present in the song. For example, the song is based on an 8-bar modal cycle that features a minor blues-type of…
I’ve been lucky enough to have some nice pianos in my life. My old studio piano was a 1925 Kanabe 6′ grand piano. My Kanabe and I have had some great memories together. In fact I wrote and rehearsed the songs for both of my albums on that piano. Now my Kanabe lives in my…
The hardest part of practicing the piano is finding the time. In our busy world, it is not always easy to set aside 30 minutes a day to practice the piano. In addition, the fact that the piano is often practiced solo (not in a group setting) only exacerbates the situation. I’ve learned over the…
One of the first overwhelming concepts you encounter when you begin studying jazz piano is the number of chords and chord progressions. There are a lot. A real lot. But when you really break it down there are actually a finite number of chords. And to be perfectly honest with you, the VAST majority of…
In this article, our third in the “Rhythm Exercises” series, we’ll be looking at some advanced and challenging rhythmic exercises. These are really meant to test your rhythmic understanding and execution, so if they’re too difficult, don’t worry. Start off with our Part 1 and Part 2 rhythmic exercises, master those, and then build up…
In this article we are going to demystify secondary dominant chords and the confusion that often accompanies this music theory topic. Even if you’ve never heard the term “secondary dominant chords” before, you’ve probably encountered them regardless of what kind of music you like to play. That’s because secondary dominant chords are present in all…
In this article we’re featuring our top 10 picks for jazz-rock tunes. This list will feature 5 older classics as well as 5 newer (and perhaps more obscure) tunes played and written by some of the brightest and youngest stars in jazz-rock today. Now before anyone gets upset, we’re using the term “jazz-rock” a bit…
In this article we’ll take a look at some of the most requested cocktail piano tunes. Here at Cocktail Piano Lessons, we’ve spent a lot of time reviewing, practicing, teaching, and PLAYING cocktail piano tunes. So we’re very familiar with which tunes are the most popular among players and audiences. This is important information for…
This jazz improvisation tutorial features one of the all-time most requested and recorded jazz standards – “Autumn Leaves” written by Joseph Kosma way back in 1945. The song continues to be a favorite among jazz players and audiences today. In this article we’ll take a closer look at the chords of the ‘A’ section and…
In a Sentimental Mood is a jazz composition by the great Duke Ellington. It has been played and recorded by many jazz artists since it was written in 1935 and has become a popular jazz standard as a result. In this article we’re going to examine certain aspects of this tune in a jazz masterclass…
Building an arrangement and knowing how to incorporate various harmonic devices is a major part of developing your cocktail piano repertoire. It’s also an essential skill that can be practiced at an easy, intermediate, and advanced level. In this article we’ll take a very popular cocktail piano piece – George Gershwin’s “Summertime” – and show…
Reharmonization. It’s kind of a funny word when you first encounter it. It means exactly what it sounds like. To reharmonize something is to alter the harmony, and when we talk about harmony we’re really talking about chords. So to put it plainly, to reharmonize something is to change the chords. Why would a musician…
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