Chord Voicings for Jazz Piano (rootless, left-hand, Type B)

Published on October 7, 2019October 8, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

“Type B” Rootless Chord Voicings for Piano

“Rootless voicings” on piano (especially for left-hand support) are great for handling big jazz chords that normally can’t be covered by one hand alone. This video tutorial shows you how to play a rich sounding II-V-I in the left hand, while allowing the bass player (or you, on another beat) to cover the root.

This is Part Two of a pair of lessons, covering “Type B” voicings. The first lesson, covering “Type A” shows another way of executing the same idea, only with the notes in a different arrangement.

VIDEO

Continue reading “Chord Voicings for Jazz Piano (rootless, left-hand, Type B)” →

Learn all 12 Minor & Minor 7th Chords – Today!

Published on October 4, 2019October 6, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Hello Friends,

Today I’m happy to present the next lesson in my ongoing course, Chords 108.

Kent

Class Audience: Any musician who’s struggling to memorize the individual notes to all those dang chords on piano or keyboards, and looking for a solution.

Today: Learn how to immediately call up the notes to any of the twelve minor chords on a keyboard — without having to rely on rote memory. This lesson applies to all twelve minor seventh chords as well.

Coming next: Dominant seventh chords.

*This series is currently FREE to the public, but will soon be a premium members-only course. Our members keep this site alive, and 100% ad-free. Thanks to all!

Piano Chord Catalog – a reference for my “Chords 108” series

Published on September 22, 2019November 9, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Dear Members,

Here’s a downloadable piano chord catalog, which I recently put together as a reference for my ‘Piano Chords 108’ series.

The objective of Chords 108 is for you to learn how to memorize all the standard chords.

Therefore, this catalog should be relied upon only to check your understanding — not as a place to look up chords without learning the simple patterns that define how chords are constructed.

Of course, one could use the catalog that way (as a “crutch”), but that would defeat the entire purpose of this course!

THE BOOK

Chords are listed alphabetically. Each chord is spelled out by using a simple image (consisting of dots on a keyboard, indicating which keys/notes make up the chord in question).

Important: This book can be useful to any musician, not just to those who are studying ‘Chords 108.’

In a nutshell, all the standard three and four-note chords are illustrated.

LIST OF ALL CHORD TYPEs PICTURED IN THIS BOOK

Major triads (all)

Minor triads (all)

Major 7th chords (all)

Minor 7th chords (all)

Dominant 7th chords (all)

Diminished triads (all)

Diminished 7th chords (all)

Half-diminished 7th chords (‘Minor-7 flat-5’) (all)

Augmented triads (all) Continue reading “Piano Chord Catalog – a reference for my “Chords 108” series” →

Music Theory “Trivia” Time

Published on September 1, 2019November 15, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Which interval is pictured above?

(a) Diminished Seventh.

(b) Minor Sixth.

(c) Augmented Fifth.

(d) Both A and C are correct, with name depending on the implied key center. They sound the same, by either name.

(e) Both B and C are correct, with name depending on the implied key center. They sound the same, by either name.

(f) The famous “Lost Interval of Egypt.”

THE CORRECT ANSWER is….

Continue reading “Music Theory “Trivia” Time” →

Learn all 12 DOMINANT-7th Chords Today

Published on May 2, 2019September 26, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Hello Friends,

Today I’m happy to present the next lesson in my ongoing course, Chords 108.

Class Audience: Any musician who’s struggling to memorize the individual notes to all those dang chords on piano or keyboards, and looking for a solution.

Today: Learn how to immediately call up the notes to any of the twelve DOMINANT-7th chords on a keyboard — without having to rely on rote memory.

Coming next: Diminished chords.

*This lesson is part of the premium ALL-ACCESS series called Chords 108. Our all-access members keep this site alive, and 100% ad-free.

Thanks to all!

THE VIDEO (non-public)

Continue reading “Learn all 12 DOMINANT-7th Chords Today” →

Learn all 12 Major & all 12 Maj7 Chords by Pattern (not by rote)

Published on March 1, 2019September 26, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Today I’m happy to present the next lesson in my ongoing series, Piano Chords 108.

Class Audience: Any musician who’s struggling to memorize the individual notes to all those dang chords on piano or keyboards, and looking for a solution.

Lesson Description: Learn how to immediately call up the notes to any of the twelve major chords — without having to rely on rote memory. This lesson applies to all twelve major seventh chords as well.

Coming next: The minor and minor seventh chords.

Continue reading “Learn all 12 Major & all 12 Maj7 Chords by Pattern (not by rote)” →

Announcing “Piano Chords 108: Lose That Chord Catalog”

Published on November 16, 2018May 14, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

I’m excited to announce a new online lesson series, in progress here at Piano With Kent, called Piano Chords 108.

Since my site is blog-like, this course will be published in installments. (That’s also how we did things this summer with “The Blues Piano Crash Course” and “A Study in Blues Piano.”)

Piano Chords 108 (the series introduction is further below)

Here’s the first few lessons I’ve posted for Piano Chords 108. As with all full courses on this site, most of this material is premium content (accessible only to supporting members).

Half-Step, Whole-Steps, and Thirds on the Piano

Learn all 12 Major and Major Seventh Chords Together (24 chords)

Learn all 12 Minor and Minor Seventh Chords Together (24 more chords)

Learn all 12 Dominant Seventh Chords Together (12 more chords)

COURSE INTRODUCTION:

Continue reading “Announcing “Piano Chords 108: Lose That Chord Catalog”” →

How to Read and Play “Slash Chords” in Sheet Music

Published on October 1, 2018September 25, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

Slash chords in sheet music look like this:

G7/F

F#m/C#

etc.

Here’s a detailed tutorial on how to interpret slash chords on piano. This lesson includes insights into several ways that slash chords are used, such as indicating an inversion, implying a descending bass line, or a simply notating a fresh chordal sound.

Composers and songwriters can use the “slash chord idea” in their creative thinking. That is, the effect of playing any given chord over bass notes that are not the actual root of the chord opens up endless possibilities. Some of the thinking behind these possibilities is discussed in this lesson.

Blues Piano Crash Course, #7: Walking Bass Line & more coordination

Published on September 22, 2018November 15, 2019 by Kent of Piano With KentLeave a comment

from The Blues Piano Crash Course

Lesson #7 (video)

Rhythm is never to be neglected in the Blues, even in performances that are so slow and sultry that it feels like we’re all just breathing, no real beat, just waves…oh sorry, I spaced! Ha. Thing is, even a very slow blues is going to rely heavily on rhythm to give us another undeniable take on real life. We all know how “slow” can sometimes be more alive than “fast” anyway. It all depends right?

I’m saying that about rhythm here because this is the third lesson in a row where we’ve been practicing two-handed coordination on the piano. And I think I’d better explain myself, before you get too bored or too frustrated or both.

First, the more fun work (fun work? yep) picks up again after this third lesson on coordination. I swear. Also, you will learn how to do a walking bass line in this one.

Finally, this maybe-less-than-fun stuff is truly important, this coordination work on piano, because if your hands aren’t “of one mind” — coordinated — then the exalted Rhythm Itself will suffer. And we can’t have that in the blues, not on my watch, dig? If you want to sound great, instead of just good or worse, then quite often it’s just a matter of fixing up that rhythm. Something that can mystify us sometimes — that frustrating sense of “it just doesn’t sound right” — can often be traced back to one thing: The Lack of a Solid Groove. Rhythm is King!