Acknowledgments.

The Rocket Piano series was created on behalf of Rock Star Recipes LTD.
Author & Music: Asheigh Southam.
Edit & Graphic Design: Unica Design LTD
Multimedia Content: Rock Star Recipes Studios
Publisher: Rock Star Recipes LTD
Copyright 2005 Rock Star Recipes Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Welcome to Rocket Pianos Introduction to Jazz Piano!

A Personal Message from Me
Do you want to learn to play jazz? Jazz is difficult to play, but very rewarding. By teaching
yourself jazz, you are in good company! The earliest jazz musicians were almost all self
taught.
If you are a beginner, you should master the concepts in the Rocket Piano guide to
playing the piano before you start. For this book youll need to understand intervals,
major and minor chords, and chord progressions.
In this book, Ill give you a very simple explanation of how jazz songs work and are
played. Youll learn to play jazz melody, jazz harmony, and jazz rhythm. Youll also get
the opportunity to play along with the Rocket Live Band using the new Jazz Edition Jam
Tracks!
Using just two tunes Ill show you how to break down a song into aspects like phrasing,
feel, and syncopation. Youll learn exactly what makes a jazz tune, and the techniques to
play a piece in a jazz style.
Something to ponder: Wynton Marsalis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American
composer, once said that jazz was the hardest music to play that I know of. He played
a mean jazz trumpet.
Playing jazz at an introductory level is not easy, so take your time and most importantly,
have fun!
Ive also included the Rocket Piano Progress Tracker so that you have a checklist of all
the techniques you can expect to learn in the course. Once you have mastered a lesson
or skill tick it off on the Progress Tracker, and move on to the next lesson! Commit yourself
to ticking off the skills you learn as you go and see your improvement instantly!

Ruth

41
Hear a personal message
from Ruth!

Page 

Table Of Contents
Welcome.................................................................. 3
Table of Contents..................................................... 4
Rocket Piano Progress Tracker............................... 5
Chapter 1. A Brief History of Jazz....................... 6
Chapter 2. Jazz Rhythm....................................... 8
The Dotted Eighth Note........................................... 8
Swing Time.............................................................. 9
Chapter 3. Seventh Chords............................... 10
Major 7th Chords................................................... 10
Dominant 7th Chords..............................................11
Minor 7th Chords................................................... 12
Chord Quality......................................................... 12
Jam Track 16......................................................... 14

Chapter 6. Playing Chord Progressions........... 23

Syncopation........................................................... 23
Chord Displacement.............................................. 24
iii, vi, ii, V, I Chord Progression.............................. 24
Jam Track 17......................................................... 26
Chapter 7. Melody............................................... 28
Syncopation in the Melody.................................... 29
Passing Notes....................................................... 30
Review................................................................... 31
Chromatic Notes.................................................... 32
Chapter 8. Real Jazz........................................... 33
Conclusion............................................................. 36

Chapter 4. Chord Progressions........................ 16

Key of C Major....................................................... 16
Key of B Major....................................................... 17
Key of G Major....................................................... 17
Chord Progression in the Minor Keys.................... 18
Key of A Minor....................................................... 18
Key of D Minor....................................................... 18
Key of E Minor....................................................... 19
Chapter 5. Building onto What You Know........ 20
Minor 7 Flat 5 Chords............................................ 20
Recap of 7th Chords.............................................. 20
Chord Progressions Revisited............................... 21
Iv, iii, V, I Chord Progression.................................. 22

Page 

01
Every time you see this
button, play the relevant
video!

01
Every time you see
this button, play the
relevant track!

Rocket Piano Progress Tracker

Lesson or Skill

Page # Date Signature

Jazz rhythm: dotted notes

...........
The dotted 8th notes
...........
Swing time
...........
Major 7th chords
...........
Dominant 7th chords
...........
Minor 7th chords
...........
Chord quality
...........
7th chord progressions
...........
C major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
...........
Bb major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
...........
G major: Imaj7, IVmaj7, Vdom7
...........
Chord progression in minor keys:
...........
Aminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
...........
Dminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
...........
Eminor: Imaj7, ivmin7, Vdom7
...........
Minor 7 flat 5 chords
...........
v, iii, V, I progression
...........
Syncopation in chords
...........
Chord displacement: Anticipation, delay ...........
iii, vi, ii, V, I progression
...........
Syncopation in melody
...........
Passing notes
...........
Chromatic passing notes
...........

Page 

. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........
. ..........

. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................
. ...................

Chapter 1. A Brief History of Jazz

Before we plunge in, heres a brief history of jazz. Did you know that some consider
jazz to be the first original art form developed in America? Early jazz piano evolved from
ragtime music popular in the last decade of the 19th century. Ragtime was fast, and one
of its masters was pianist Jelly Roll Morton.
Morton (1890 - 1941) lived in New Orleans. He was the leader of a band called Jelly Roll
Morton & His Red Hot Peppers. Surrounded by African-American, Creole, Latin, and
French influences, he was a key figure in the development of jazz. In fact, many consider
him to be the first jazz composer. By the 1920s, Morton and his band were creating jazz
albums that were considered classics of their kind. Morton even carried a business card
identifying himself as Creator of Jazz and Swing.
Jazz fused ragtime with the blues, and its end result was a style of music characterized
by syncopation, improvisation, and blue notes (or flattened 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths). From
New Orleans, the new style spread to California, then to Chicago, where it was officially
christened jass. By the time jass made its way to New York in 1910, the word was
respelled to become jazz. (Supposedly, this was because posters advertising jass bands
were being modified by passers-by who scratched the j off ... creating advertisements
for ass bands.)
Although the 1920s was the official Age of Jazz, jazz as a musical style is still popular
today. Celebrities like Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, and Dudley Moore all play the
jazz piano. Jazz pianists/singers like Nat King Cole, Harry Connick, Jr., Norah Jones, and
Diana Krall sell millions of albums. The great jazz pianist Ray Charles was even the toast
of Hollywood when an Oscar-winning movie about him, called Ray, was made.

Page 

If you want to listen to some great jazz pianists, here are some suggestions.
SWING-ERA JAZZ
Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, Errol Garner, Oscar
Peterson
BEBOP JAZZ
Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano
POST-BEBOP JAZZ
McCoy Tyner, George Shearing, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim
MODERN JAZZ
Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Barron
EXPERIMENTAL JAZZ
Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor

Page 

Chapter 2. Jazz Rhythm

42

Lets start out by looking at the distinctive rhythms used in jazz music.
Youll find many dotted notes in jazz music. If you recall, a dotted quarter note (e.) is one
and a half times the value of the original note.

q.

Dotted quarter notes are used frequently in conjunction with eighth notes ( e ). You
will almost always see the combination of dotted quarter notes and eighth notes in jazz
melodies.
Dotted notes are important to describe the jazz feel in musical notation. Feel refers to
the underlying quality of the rhythmic movement of a piece. The feel of a piece results
from how the notes are played in terms of timing, dynamics or placement. A piece of
music may have a blues feel, a swing feel, a rock feel, and many more.
The musical notation of the rhythm is important to describe the feel of a jazz piece. For
example, swing feel is played using dotted notes. For this book, youll be playing a jazz
swing feel.

The Dotted Eighth Note

You should be quite comfortable with the dotted quarter note, but you may not have
played the dotted eighth note ( e. ) before. This note is important for a jazz swing feel.
A dotted eighth note, like all dotted notes, is one and a half times its original value. You
may find it helpful to envision it as an eighth note tied to a sixteenth note.

e.

e_ x

Just as dotted quarter notes are often seen in the company of eighth notes, dotted eighth
notes are often seen in the company of sixteenth notes. The tails of the notes can be
connected together so that they look like this:

.
. . .
Page 

Exercise: Familiarize yourself with the rhythm of dotted notes by counting aloud the

rhythm below. You may also want to try clapping the rhythm while counting aloud the
beats.

1 a and a 2 a and a 3 a and a 4 a and a

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

. . . . .

01

Swing Time

If you found that exercise difficult, you may find an audio example useful. Listen to Track
01. It is an example of swing time played using a ride symbol. The ride symbol ( / ) is
found on most drum kits.

. . .

. . .

Did you notice that it is the same phrase as above? This type of phrase played on the ride
symbol is a common feature of keeping time in jazz.
(A phrase is a passage of rhythmic or melodic notes in music. It usually means a few
bars.)

Listen to as much jazz as

possible. Listening to jazz is the
best way of learning jazz!

Page 

Chapter 3. Seventh Chords

Now that you know a little bit about the type of rhythms found in jazz, you need to know
about the type of harmonic structures youll find in jazz music. In other words, you need
to know the most commonly used chords.
Jazz depends on 7th chords. In this chapter, youll learn about three kinds: major 7ths,
minor 7ths, and dominant 7ths. First of all, though, you need to know what a 7th chord
is!
You already know that youre playing a chord any time you play two or more notes
simultaneously. You know that youre playing a triad when you play three notes
simultaneously. Quite simply, a 7th is when you add one more note to an already existing
triad so that you play four notes simultaneously.

Major 7th Chords

A triad is composed of a root note, the 3rd note above the root, and the 5th note above
the root. In a 7th chord, the 7th note above the root is added to the triad. For example,
look at the C major chord below.
C major 7th chord
(root position)

7th
5th
3rd
root

The 7th note, B, is a major 7th away from C.

The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
The 3rd note, E, is a major 3rd away from C.
The root note is C.

So, relative to the root note, the C major 7th chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7. It looks like a C major
triad on the bottom with a major 7 note added to the top.
There are so many different chords available to jazz musicians.
There isnt room in this book for them all! Still, with the three
chords that Im going to show you, you can play A LOT of jazzstyled music.

Page 10

Dominant 7th Chords

What happens when you add a minor 7th to the top instead of a major 7th? You get the
dominant 7th chord.
To get a dominant 7th, you will flatten the major 7th chord that you have just looked at.
You should recall that when you flatten something, you turn it into its minor version. The
way you flatten the major 7th chord is by taking the major 7th note and dropping it a semitone (for example, from B to B b). You may also think of it in terms of taking the interval
between the root note and the 7th note (a major 7th interval) and shortening it by a half
step, making it a minor 7th interval.

C dominant 7th chord

(root position)

b7
5
3
1

The 7th note, B b, is a minor 7th away from C. This gives the chord its dominant
quality.
The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
The 3rd note, E, is a major 3rd away from C.
The root note is C.
The second aspect that gives the dominant 7th chord its quality is the major 3rd in it. In
all dominant 7th chords, the 3rd in the chord is always a major 3rd.

So, lets review. Relative to the root note, a dominant 7th chord goes 1, 3, 5, b7 . It looks
like a major triad with a minor 7th on top.

The fingering for playing 7th chords on the right hand goes 1, 2, 3, 5 OR 1,
2, 4, 5, whichever is most comfortable for you. The fingering for playing 7th
chords on the left hand goes 5, 3, 2, 1 OR 5, 4, 2, 1, again whichever is most
comfortable for you.

Page 11

Minor 7th Chords

Minor 7th chords are a snap once you understand dominant 7th chords. Basically, a
minor 7th chord is a dominant 7th chord with a flattened 3rd note.
To get a minor 7th chord, take the major 7th chord. Flatten the 7th note (which makes it
a dominant 7th). Then, flatten the 3rd note. Look at the example below.

C minor 7th chord

(root position)

bb

b7
b53
1

43

The 7th note, B b, is a minor 7th away from C.

The 5th note, G, is a perfect 5th away from C.
The 3rd note, E b, is a minor 3rd away from C. This gives the chord its minor
quality.
The root note is C.
Relative to the root note, a dominant 7th chord goes 1, b3, 5, b7. It looks like a minor triad
with a minor 7th on top.

Chord Quality
Now that youve learned the three most common jazz 7th chords, play through them and
listen to the chord quality of each.
The quality of a sound can be difficult to describe, but the three chords youve learned
often have the following descriptions applied to them.
The major 7th chord can be described in many ways, but in general it has a happy
or romantic sound. It is also a quite complex sound, due to the extra 7th note that
adds interest and color.
The dominant 7th chord has a certain movement to it. In other words, it feels
slightly unstable, as if the I chord should be played after it.
The minor 7th chord has a sad feeling to it. Most minor chords, whether a 7th or
a triad, have this sad quality.

Page 12

Exercise: To train your ear to recognize the difference between major, dominant, and
minor 7th chords, play through the following chords. They arent grouped in any particular
order: theyre just examples to play and listen to. Think about the harmonic quality of
each chord. Then, try to identify whether each chord is a major, dominant, or minor 7th.
Major 7th chord:
1, 3, 5, 7
Dominant 7th chord: 1, 3, 5, b7
Minor 7th chord:
1, b 3, 5, b7

bb

bb

02

bb

Page 13

WERE JAMMIN!
Jam Track 16
Exercise:

Here is a Jam Track that uses 7th chords you have been learning about, except they are using three note 7th chords and inversions so they are disguised. To learn
more about three note 7th chords refer to the Advanced book. Practice through your
piano part a few times, before jamming it out with the band!
Allegro

.
.

1 4 1 4 3 2

5
3

10

15

16

4
2

2
3

3
2

b
.

bb

.
b

.
1

1 4 1

.
.

.
.

continued on the next page..

Page 14

2
20

b

.

24

b
.
b

When you can play this piece

confidently by yourself, you are
ready to jam! This track has no piano
on it so its just you and the band!

Page 15

16x

Chapter 4. Chord Progressions

Now that you understand the three kinds of 7th chords, youre ready to apply it to the I,
IV, V chord progression.
Remember that when there is a progression in I, IV, V, the notes in the chords can only
be taken from the notes in the particular key that the progression is in. (You will know
what key it is in by the key signature.) For example, in the key of C major, the I, IV, V
progression chords can only contain notes that already exist in the C major scale.
If you know your scales, youll find that this little tip will help you enormously to create your
chords! You know that the kinds of notes found in your chord will be limited to the kinds of
notes you find in the scale. Once you know that, you can see whether those notes (1, 3,
5, and 7) are natural or flattened according to the notes that appear in the key signature
or scale.

44

Key of C Major
Lets take an example. Heres the I, IV, V progression with the 7th chords played in C
major. It is in the root position so that it is easy to read.

I major7
5
32
1

C major 7

IV major7

F major 7

V dominant7

G dominant 7

03

Exercise: Play through the above chords several times.

Listen to the major 7th quality of

the C and F compared to the dominant quality of the G dominant 7th chord.

Page 16

Key of B b Major

Now, here is the same progression, this time in the key of B b. Notice that the chords all
have notes that are found in the key of B major.

I major7

b
b
b
b

04

V dominant7

IV major7

Key of G Major
Here is the I, IV, V chord progression in G major. This time, the IV and V chords are
played in their second inversion. The second inversion makes the progression easier to
play, because there is less jumping around the keyboard.

05
I major7

IV major

V dominant7

Remember that as you play a

seventh chord, your right hand
position should go: 5
3
2
1

Page 17

Chord Progression in the Minor Keys

Now, lets add some minor keys. Minor chords are played 1, b3, 5, b7.
The root notes should be played with the left hand. This gives the chords more stability
and makes them clearer. When the root notes are played with the left hand, it is said that
the left hand is playing the bass notes of the chord progression.

Key of A Minor
Here is the A minor i, iv, V progression with 7th chords and the bass notes in the left
hand.

i minor7

06

V dominant7
7
iv minor

Key of D Minor
Here is the D minor i, iv, V progression with 7th chords and the bass notes in the left
hand.

i minor7

Piano

07

V dominant7
7
iv minor

Page 18

Key of E Minor
Here is the last i, iv, V progression weve looked at: E minor progression with the bass
notes played by the left hand.

i minor7

08

V dominant

iv major7

Good job! Now you can play and

recognise three different types of 7th
chords. Go on to the next chapter and
learn about the last new 7th chord for
this book- Minor 7 flat 5!

Page 19

Chapter 5. Building on What You Know

In this chapter, youll learn about one more kind of 7th chord. Youll also add a new chord
onto the I, IV, V chord progression you already know.

45

Minor 7 Flat 5 Chords

This is the last 7th chord youll learn in this book. With the addition of this chord, youll
have the vocabulary you need to cover the 7th chords in any major key.

Minor 7 flat 5 chords are written minor 7 b 5 for short. To create one of these chords, all
you have to do is take the existing minor 7 chord (1,b 3, 5, b7) and flatten the 5th. In other
words, it will look like this:
1, b 3,b 5, b 7

These chords sound quite unusual, and it may take a while to get used to how they
sound.
Here is an example. This is a C minor 7 b5 chord in the root position.
C minor 7 flat 5
(root position)

bbb

b7
b5
b3
1

The 7th note, B b, is a minor 7th away from C.

The 5th note is now flattened from G to G b. This note gives the chord its unique
sound.
The 3rd note, E b, is a minor 3rd away from C. This gives the chord its minor
quality.
The root note is C.

b b b

Relative to the root note, a minor 7 flat 5 chord goes 1, 3, 5, 7. It looks like a regular
minor 7 chord with a flattened 5th note.

Recap of 7th Chords

Heres a brief recap of the chords you have learned to play so far:

Major 7th chord:

Dominant 7th chord:
Minor 7th chord:
Minor 7 b5 chord:

1, 3, 5, 7
1, 3, 5, b7
1, b3, 5, b7
1, b3, b5, b7
Page 20

Chord Progressions Revisited

So much of jazz revolves around chord progressions. You should be quite familiar with
the I, IV, V chord progression by now. This is one of the most popular progressions in
music across all genres.
However, there are other progressions in jazz that are also very common. As an
introduction to those chord progressions, lets expand on what you already know about
the I, IV, V progression.
For every note in a scale or key, there is a corresponding chord to go with it. The chords
are named by a Roman numeral (upper case for a major chord, lower case for a minor
chord) corresponding to the position of the note in the scale. For example:
The 1st note in a major scale is the root of the I chord.
The 4th note in a major scale is the root of the IV chord.
The 5th note of a major scale is the root of the V chord.
Similarly, you can build a chord on EVERY note of the scale, as long as you just use notes
from that scale.
Youve already learned the rules for constructing any of four kinds of 7th chords, as long
as you know the root note.
Take a look at all the 7th chords in the C major scale. Each chord is built up from a note
in the scale and only uses notes from the C major scale. Study the order of the chords
and notice how every chord corresponds to its location in the scale.

I major

1
C major7

ii minor7

D minor7

iii minor

3
E minor7

IV major7

F major7

V dominant

5
G dominant7

vi minor7

vii minor

7
B minor7b5

A minor7

7b5

I major7

1
C major7

You have probably already seen most of these chords before. Now that you can identify
them correctly, you can make more interesting chord progressions. This is an important
feature of jazz music!

46
Page 21

Iv, iii, V, I Chord Progression

Now that you know so many new chords, lets apply them to chord progressions!
Lets start by adding one of the new chords to the I, IV, V chord progression that you already
know. A common progression is a IV, iii, V, I progression. In C major, the progression
played as 7th chords looks like this:

IV major7 iii minor7 V dominant7 I major7

IV, iii, V, I progression

in C major

F major7 E minor7

09

G dominant7 C major7

The left hand will play the root notes of the chord progression as bass notes.
You can create this same progression for any of the other major keys weve looked at.
Just use the rules that you know about which chord number goes with which note in the
scale. You also know how to create any of the 7th chords that you may need to use in
the progressions.
These guidelines may seem complicated, but they
are an essential part of your learning to become an
awesome jazz player!

Usually, when you play chord progressions, they get looped in a cycle.

10

Exercise: Try playing the same chord progression as you looked at above, just repeated
or looped to extend over four bars.
IV

iii

IV

Page 22

iii

Chapter 6. Playing Chord Progressions

In this chapter, youll learn more about how to play chord progressions, including
syncopation.
In the last example, the chord progression only went for a few bars. Chord progressions
can sometimes be quite long, and often the length of the progression will change.
Heres the same IV, iii, V, I progression that you just saw, except this time each chord
lasts for one bar.

11
IV

iii

IV

iii

Syncopation
Often, the change in placement of the chord will change within the bar. In other words, a
chord in the progression may come in at an irregular place with respect to where the other
chords may be played.
Here is an example of the same IV, iii, V, I progression with the chords occuring at irregular
time intervals.
IV

.
...

iii

...
.
.

12

As you can see, this is a pretty complicated rhythmical pattern! This sort of thing occurs
a lot in jazz. It is called syncopation. Syncopation is a shift in the rhythmical placement
or accent of notes or chords.

Page 23

47

Chord Displacement

Any variety of placement can be used, usually at the musicians discretion. Here is an
example of how the IV, iii, V, I progression might go with various displacements of the
chords with respect to their position in the bar.

13

.
...

..
..

...
.

...
.

The tune above also has a bit of the type of rhythm that is used in playing jazz chords.
Some chords are played only once, while some are played several time for effect.
As you can see, playing a chord progression is NOT always strict in jazz. A lot of jazz
gives the musician the ability to decide what to play when, using the guidelines of the
given chord progression as a reference point. Such improvisation is a very important
and fun quality of jazz music.

iii, vi, ii, V, I Chord Progression

The iii, vi, ii, V, I progression is a very popular chord progression in jazz. Youll encounter
it in many different jazz tunes.
Right now, well look at it in the key of C major, since it is the simplest key. It is a good idea
to practice these progressions in every key you know. Playing the progressions in every
key will get you familiar with the sounds and movement of the progression. It is also a
very good way of learning all the chords in each key.
Here are the 7th chords of C major again to remind you.

I major

1
C major7

ii minor7

D minor7

iii minor

3
E minor7

IV major7

F major7

V dominant

5
G dominant7

Page 24

vi minor7

vii minor7b5

7
B minor7b5

A minor7

I major7

C major7

In the key of C major, the iii, vi, ii, V, I progression goes:

E minor 7, D minor 7, A minor 7, G dominant 7, C major 7

iii

vi

ii

14

Play through the progression and listen to it closely. You may notice that it has a sense of
movement about it. Then, when it lands on the I chord (the C major 7), it feels resolved.
Take time to study and practice this progression. Again, it is one of the most used
progressions in jazz, so it is important to be familiar with it. Like the other progressions,
you can loop or repeat it.
You can also apply some of the inversions and techniques for playing 7th chords that you
have learned to these new progressions. For example, here is the iii, vi, ii, V, I progression
in C major with inversions and left hand bass notes.

15
iii

vi

ii

iii

vi

ii

If you can understand and remember the rules about how to build the four
types of 7th chords, as well as locate the name and number of a chord in a
progression relative to its key signature, you should congratulate yourself!
These concepts are the foundation of jazz playing!

Page 25

WERE JAMMIN!
Jam Track 17
Exercise:

This next Jam Track uses alot of syncopation in the right hand. You have
just been learning about syncopation in this chapter, try to identify where it occurs in
the song. Practice through your piano part a few times, before playing along with the
Rocket band!

17
Swing

10

1.

2.

continued on the next page..

Page 26

.
.

15

21

24

.
.

When you can play this piece

confidently by yourself, you are
ready to jam!

Page 27

17x

Chapter 7. Melody
Melody in jazz is a combination of all the things weve been looking at so far. The rhythm
comes from dotted notes such as the dotted quarter and dotted eighth notes, while the
actual melodic notes come from the chordal notes. A lot of the melodic notes in a jazz
tune will actually be taken from the notes that would be played in the chord.
Lets take as an example the chord progression I, IV, V in C major. The melodic notes in
the first bar (in which the C major 7 chord is being played) will be comprised of the chordal
notes of C major 7.
Each melodic note here is a chordal note.
In other words, every note here is found
in the C major 7 chord.

IV

Now, heres the same progression with a few more melodic notes. Notice that each note
from the melody comes from a chordal tone of the corresponding chord played by the left
hand.
I

IV

Exercise: Play through the progression.

16

This is a common feature of jazz piano: the left hand plays the chord progression while
the right hand is free to play the melody.

Page 28

48

Syncopation in the Melody

Now that you know what notes get played in the melody, you need to know what timing
to use.
In jazz music, the notes become syncopated. Remember that syncopation is a shift of
the rhythmical placement or accent of notes. To do this, youll use dotted notes, such as
the dotted eighth note and dotted quarter note. This will give the melody a swing feel,
which is a key characteristic of jazz.
It is easy to give a jazz feel to a melody. For example, take the melody that you just
played. All that you need to do is use the rhythmical phrasing of dotting the notes to make
them swing and sound like jazz music.
I

IV

. . . . . . . . . . .

Now we have two contrasting rhythmical phrases.

17

Exercise: Play through the previous exercise and the tune above.

Listen to the changes

that occur in the rhythmical pattern. (Some extra notes have been added in the modified
phrase to fill in the bar.)
Now that you understand melodic patterns and the swing rhythms used in them, you can
put it together with your understanding of irregular time intervals in chords. Youre going
to get music that sounds even more like jazz!
Here is the I, IV, V, I progression with the jazz melody, jazz harmony, and jazz rhythm all
put together. It is a very difficult phrase to play, so if you cannot play it at first, thats okay.
Just listen to Track 18 and notice the jazz phrasing.

18

. . .
.... 12

3

. .
. . . .

Page 29

Passing Notes
Before going any further, you need to know that the rule you just learned - melodic notes
come from chordal notes - isnt always followed strictly. To make the melody notes more
interesting, there can be notes that do not occur in the chords.
These notes are called passing notes. They act as a link between one chordal note and
another. In other words, they are passing through from one chordal note to the next.
These passing notes are generally not as important in the melody phrase as the chordal
notes, so they usually do not fall on the beat or last for very long.
Lets look at an example. Here is the I, IV, V progression in a swing feel, with passing
notes in the melody.

19

non-chordal notes
of C major 7
(passing notes)

non-chordal notes
of F major 7
(passing notes)

non-chordal notes
of G dominant 7
(passing notes)

. . . . . . . . . . .

non-chordal notes
of C major 7
(passing notes)

. . .

To make this phrase swing more, every note that falls on the off beat is accented. The
combination of dotted notes and accenting the off beat notes makes the phrase swing, so
that it sounds a lot more like a jazz phrase!
accented

. . . . . . . . . . .

Exercise: Try playing both phrases and notice the difference.

. . .

It may be very slight, but it

is integral to making the phrase swing. You should practice this technique. It will be very
difficult to learn at first, but it is a very important aspect of jazz playing!

Page 30

Review
At this point, weve covered the three main types of playing:
Jazz Melody

chordal notes
dotted notes
Jazz Harmony

major 7ths
dominant 7ths
minor 7ths
minor 7 5

Jazz Rhythm

dotted notes
syncopation of the chord progression

Exercise: Now, lets put all three aspects together and practice a iii, vi, ii, V, I progression
using all three techniques. Use the fingering position 1 for all left hand chords.
2
3
5

iii

.

3

ii

20

vi

.
.
.
...

1
.
. . . . . . .

....

Page 31

Chromatic Notes
The last aspect of jazz music that youll learn in this book is chromatic notes. Chromatic
notes are fairly common in jazz. They appear in the melody and are also considered
passing notes. Like passing notes, they usually do not fall on the beat and are brief in
length.
They are more unusual than passing notes, because not only do they not appear in the
chord, they also do not appear in the scale or key that the progression is in!
Lets take the melody that you looked at earlier using the passing notes.

. . . . . . . . . . .

. .

non-chordal
passing note

chromatic
chromatic
passing note passing note

non-chordal
passing notes

non-chordal
passing note

chromatic
passing note

non-chordal
passing note

chromatic
passing note

non-chordal
passing note

. . .b . .b. .b . . . .

Page 32

21

Now, lets add chromatic notes as well as passing notes.

chromatic
passing note

non-chordal
passing note

. b. .

Chapter 8. Real Jazz

Youre ready for playing real jazz now! This introductory book has been short and sweet,
but you should now know just enough to give you a taste for jazz piano. The last two
pages of this book are an original jazz tune, composed by me!
The following tune is quite complicated to play, so if you dont get it right away, thats
perfectly okay. Playing jazz, even at an introductory level, is not easy!

Page 33

Swing feel

22

q = 96

. . . .
.

. . . . .

..

..

. b. .

.
...

.

.
..

. . . .
. . b . . . . . .

....

13

. b. . . . .

.
.

.

..

17

.
..

.
...
.

. . .

21

. . b .

. . . .

....

. . .
...
.

Page 34

. .

. . . .

25

29

b. .

. . . .
.

31

.
. . . . . . .
.

Page 35

Conclusion
Youve done it! You have completed the Rocket Piano Introduction to Jazz. Just think of
everything you can do now that you couldnt before. You now understand so much more
about the fundamentals of jazz: Jazz rhythm, harmony and melody! Youre on your way
to becoming a great musician ... all you need is more practice!
If you havent already, now is an opportune time to get stuck in to the Gospel, Spirituals
& Hymns book!

Ruth

Page 36