Show Notes
If you’re trying to learn your voicings by playing through lead sheets over and over again, you may be making jazz piano much harder than it needs to be.
In this episode, I break down the practice system I use to move a jazz piano skill from completely controlled practice to spontaneous application.
We’ll move from learning an individual chord, to ii–V–I progressions, isolated chord qualities, organized movements, major scales, completely random chords, and finally applying everything to actual tunes.
I also explain the two variables I use to control the difficulty of almost any exercise, predictability and tempo, including my progression of:
No tempo → 60 → 90 → 120 → 150 → 180 BPM
The goal isn't to become great at exercises. The goal is to practice the mechanics so thoroughly that when you're comping with a group or playing solo piano, you no longer have to consciously think about them.
The chart should test your skills—not teach them to you from scratch.
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