Jazz Piano Improvisation

Ready to improve your jazz improvisation abilities for the piano? More simply, if you're playing a tune that remains in swing time, then you're currently playing to a triplet feel (you're thinking of that each beat is split into three eighth note triplets - and every off-beat you play is delayed and played on the third triplet note (so you're not even playing two equally spaced 8th notes to start with).

So instead of playing two 8 notes straight, which would last one quarter note ('one' - 'and'), you can split that quarter note into three 'eighth note triplet' notes - where each note of the triplet coincides length. The first improvisation strategy is 'chord tone soloing', which suggests to compose tunes using the 4 chord tones of the chord (1 3 5 7).

I normally play all-natural 9ths above most chords - including all 3 chords of the significant ii-V-I. This 'chordal structure' seems best if you play your right hand noisally, and left hand (chord) a bit quieter - to make sure that the listener hears the melody note on the top.

It's great for these units to come out of scale, as long as they end up resolving to the 'target note' - which will generally be one of the chord tones. The 'chord range above' approach - come before any type of chord tone (1 3 5 7) with the note above. In music, a 'triplet' is when you play three uniformly spaced notes in the room of 2.

Currently you can play this 5 note range (the wrong notes) over the very same C minor 7 chord in your left hand. With this method you just play the exact same notes that you're already playing in the chord. Chord scale above - half-step below - target note (e.g. E - C# - D).

Many jazz piano improvisation exercises pdf piano solos include an area where the melody stops, and the pianist plays a collection of chord voicings, to an intriguing rhythm. These consist of chord tone soloing, strategy patterns, triplet rhythms, 'chordal structures', 'playing out' and more.