Piano Improvisation - Basic Jazz Rhythm

This video clip is for my existing jazz students who are just starting off and have difficulty in remembering the rhythm of typical jazz songs.

So we’re talking a very simple progression here which is C major or C 6 or C major 7, A minor 7, D minor 7 followed by G 7. So it’s a one, six, two, five progression which goes from C to A to D to G and it suckles back around to C. So, the rhythm goes like this. So you'll notice that I'm pushing only that last G chord. So the first three chords, the C, the A minor, the D minor are even. A one, two, a three, four, a one, two push. A one, two, a three, four, a one, two push. And that’s the most basic way to start off with the jazz rhythm. You might notice that my sequel wasn’t played at the same time. Sometimes I can lag the right hand. Sometimes I can play the chord twice. But in each case I'm pushing the G7 at the end of the chord—progression.

Now I'm not saying that this is the only way to play jazz, definitely no. This is just the very, very tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg but it gives you an idea of how to start off with some jazz rhythms. The other thing to note also for those of you who are my students is that, my D minor for example isn’t a plain D minor seven. I said it’s going to be D minor 7 but I put an A at the top. These are just some basic modifications of jazz chords. So this is D minor 9 and my G 7 is not a real, literal G 7 which is G 7. It’s G 13—F-A-B-E. I call this is the F-A-B-E chord which is really cool. Dm 9 flows into the F-A-D-E chord to a nice C 6.

Note how all the chord voicing are kept around the same area so I'm not jumping my head about—well I can if I wanted to I could play it a different versions and I can try it in different versions but the aim of this little clip is just to remind my students of the feel and the style of the rhythm of basic jazz songs.

I hope it helps!


Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services