Hi guys - first time I have ventured into the Jazz forum. Have been thinking for a while that I would like to learn piano, and just assumed that I would learn in a typical classical style. However, I have been drawn to the idea of learning Jazz piano lately, but just wanted to run a few things by......... would you consider it OK to learn jazz piano without having played classically (I know my way round a piano and can read both clefs etc, just never had any lessons). Also, how to go about finding a teacher. I know plenty of people who could teach classical pf but I guess this is a bit of a specialist area? I am in the SE. Yours gratefully, MC

Hi MelloCello

I started jazz piano as well back in April, but I already had experience of classical piano up to Grade 3. I will be taking my Grade 1 exam in a couple of weeks time. If you want to do it, why not give it a go. To see the Grade 1 jazz piano syllabus, click here.

The scales are quite easy because all of the scales and arpeggios use the white notes. The b3 pentatonic scale on G is the only one which uses a black note (Bb).

The pieces I chose were Bedford Square Blues, Jean Pierre and Blue Autumn. All the pieces in the Grade 1 exam book involve improvising. You will be given a left hand melody and you have to improvise the right-hand melody.

The mark schemes are the same as classical piano: 30 for each piece, 21 for the scales, 21 for the quick study and 18 for the aural*.

*Maximum marks possible

To find a teacher, try these options:

• www.musicteach.org.uk
• www.musicteachers.co.uk
• Go to your local library/music shop; they may have a list of teachers
• Try the ISM

Hope that helps
Car Expert

Hmmmm? I would think learning jazz would not be instrument specific, so find a teacher who can teach jazz in your area, does'nt have to be a piano teacher. My main instrument is the trombone but i have loads of non trombone students (e.g sax, trumpet, guitar, clarinet and so on) they come primarily for instruction on jazz then instrument knowledge. Of course i do understand all instruments in my field but the main thing here is developing your personal artistry. You must listen to recordings, check out jazz gigs and read. Get a feel and love for the genre. Good luck!

I kind of agree with this, and I can definitely see that a horn player could learn a lot from a specialist jazz pianist, I'm not sure it would work quite so well the other way but that may just be because I know next to nothing about playing piano. However, given that MelloCello hasn't had any piano lessons at all I think it would probably be best to learn from a piano teacher.

The "Do I need to learn classical before I learn jazz?" question comes up quite often and I've given it a bit of thought. My feeling is that whether you want to play jazz or classical you have to start with the same good technical grounding and that when you start learning an instrument the simple tunes you play aren't "jazz" or "classical" - they're just musical exercises to facilitate your learning. The same as scales aren't jazz or classical, they're musical building blocks relevant to both and if you play a wind instrument you need to learn good breathing/embouchure etc whatever style you play. I don't see why a jazz piano teacher can't start you off learning the right way, and as you gain in competence develop your jazz playing rather than classical.

I definitely agree with TenorClef about the need to listen to recordings, go to gigs etc to absorb the style and feel of the music. There are quite a lot of people who say "I want to play jazz" because it sounds kind of cool but when you talk to them they don't really know anything about the music which makes you wonder why they think they want to play it.

With the disclaimer I'm not much of a jazzer nor much of a pianist, I think that a good decent technique has to come from *somewhere", so either piano lessons alongside the jazz, OR an actual jazz piano teacher, would be necessary for someone who's not had lessons... IMO.

I was trained classically in piano but when I got interested in jazz i found all the classical stuff i learned was pretty much irrelevant. You can start from scratch as long as you know the name of every note on the keyboard and you have somewhat nimble fingers. Reading notes is not necessary- that's what fakebooks are for! <--While this may seem like jazz piano is "easy," it's not, but that's all you really need to begin. Look at a lot of famous jazz musicians- they just picked up an instrument and figured it out themselves, and that is where their unique sound comes from.

Katherine i think you've very much nailed it on the head here, take for example the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, from a classical stance his technique was terrible however from a musical point of view simply awesome. Jazz musicans explore possibilities which are just not found within the context of the classical discipline. With my students improvisation is introduced from lesson one regardless of their initial limitations, adults are a little overwhelmed by this, kids love it, both finally get it, some become better at improvisation than others but they can all do it, infact any one can but it depends on a persons resistance to the concept of tapping into their personal creative side. Jazz is fun, many of my students were at a dance we performed at yesterday as a 10 piece and at least half of them took improvised solos. I consider that a success.

Brilliant - thanks everyone. I shall get my thinking (& listening!) cap on now and decide where to go next!

yeah... have fun! keep in mind, if your budget has to stretch for lessons, just don't take them. you might get a little closer to the piano if you just sit there and try to figure things out for an hour at a time.