Why BLUES is the best foundation for Jazz Piano

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When first getting into and learning Jazz, many people ask “What tunes/jazz standards should I start with?” or, “Where do I start?!”


Depending on who or where you ask, the results vary widely. You may see very common suggestions such as “Autumn Leaves”, “All of Me”, “Fly Me to the Moon”, “Blue Bossa” and “All the Things You Are”, among other standards.


For the novice who doesn’t know any better, they might be thinking, “Okay, sure.”

But not long after starting one or two of those tunes, they quickly find out they’re a LOT more difficult than they thought!


They’ll find themselves struggling with all the chord changes, unable to figure out how and what to play over them, what to do with their left hand, right hand or both.


And what’s worse: It’s far too easy to end up biting off way more than they can chew. It all results in mass confusion and frustration.


As mentioned in my other blog articles and published works, you want to start with the 12 bar Blues and Blues-based tunes!


But WHY is starting with the Blues so important before diving into jazz standards?


The Blues is the easiest form to learn and improvise over. It teaches and develops many fundamental techniques, skills and fundamentals that will prepare you before taking on the complexities of Jazz.


Here’s many crucial reasons:


  • Developing strong Swing Feel. Nothing exposes how you sound more than playing a Blues.
  • Develops excellent time, rhythm, feel and groove. It’s so easy to get lost in the Harmony and Theory of Jazz, when really it’s ALL about the RHYTHM.
  • Strong soloing and phrasing skills.
  • Rhythmic touch, articulation, accenting.
  • Compositional techniques that are incredibly effective for improvisation in general: Motifs, Motivic Development, Repetition and Variation for effective soloing that can be applied and used on any other tune.
  • Common rhythms for soloing: Straight 8th notes with accenting, Swing 8th notes, 8th note triplet, quarter note triplet, 16th notes.
  • Knowing and internalizing common tune forms.
  • Ear training.
  • Hand independence.
  • Thinking in Key Centers and connecting Scales/Arpeggios and vice versa.
  • How to build solos/architecture of creating meaningful solos.
  • Left hand bass lines and root motion, fundamental Left Hand techniques applicable to other tunes.
  • It’s a place to try lots of different techniques out that is manageable and doesn’t have a million complex chord changes.
  • Common Dominant chord voicings that are crucial for playing jazz: Dominant 9 and Dominant 13 chords. These are the two most important voicings in Jazz piano.
  • How voice leading works with Dominant chords and the Shells moving in half steps, good voice leading with left hand voicings.
  • Learning to solo using the Blues and Pentatonic scales, which are widely used in all kinds of Jazz and many other music genres: Pop, Rock, Gospel, Neo Soul, Country, Contemporary styles.
  • Blues tunes make up at least a quarter of Jazz repertoire and are commonly called at jam sessions and on gigs. At jam sessions, it’s traditional for the house band to start the evening with a Blues tune.
  • Many Blues tunes incorporate a few 2–5 progressions into the form, which is a great training ground before moving into complex Jazz standards. Getting a handle on the Blues with 2–5s thrown in will greatly prepare you for more complex Jazz standards.