JAZZ PIANO EXPLAINED IN 20 MINUTES with Julian Bradley

minor, a natural fifth, and then we'll get that major seventh, B natural. And here we have another type of seventh chord that we haven't seen yet. (

piano

music) This is called C minor major seven. C minor-major seven. (

piano

music) Now you've heard the minor two-five-one in songs like "Blue Bossa." (

jazz

piano music) So that was a minor two-five-one in our key that we're already in in C minor. D half diminished, G dominant seven, moving to C minor-major seven. (piano music) And sometimes with the minor two-five-one, the one chord is modified. It is not always played as a minor-major seventh chord, sometimes the composer writes it as a minor seventh chord.

Then I could do D half diminished, going to G dominant seven, going to C minor seven. And this is done because it is more of a casual sound. As a composer, you don't always want this kind of intense sound from this minor-major seventh chord. It's a pretty intense chord, and sometimes composers modify it and make it a minor seventh chord. (piano music) And finally for today, let's talk about scales. So, as a

jazz

musician, it is essential that you know which scale to play over any type of chord. This will come in handy if you're ever improvising or composing a melody.

Well, you need to know which scale to play from when you play any chord. So the first key principle is to make sure the scale you use matches the tones of the chord. So, if you have a C major seven chord... (piano music) That means your scale has to have a C, an E, a G, and a B natural. And it won't work if you play an E flat. (out of tune piano music) Or any note that does not agree with these four chord tones. So if it's a major seventh chord, root third, fifth and seventh.

If it's a minor seventh chord, same thing. But set them to this type of chord. And if it's a dominant 7th chord, make sure you have your chord tones. Now, as for the remaining notes, two, four and six. You actually have some freedom here. You can modify them in different ways and it will usually sound in line with the chord. As long as there is no clash with the chord tones. However, I am going to share with you a good principle that you can definitely follow as a beginner or intermediate jazz pianist. And that's the chord tone plus the full step principle.

This is just one method you can use to choose which scale to play over any type of chord. So let's say we have C major seven. You'll start with chord tones. The root, the major third, the fifth and the major seventh. And then we're going to add a full step to the root, third and fifth. So C, one tone higher, gives us D, E, one tone higher, gives us F sharp a four sharp, that's fine. And G, going up a whole step, gives us A natural, a major sixth. (piano music) And we ended up playing what's called the Lydian C scale.

So, over the seven major chords we can use this principle. (piano music) Whatever the chord, it will always work well. If it's a minor seventh chord, C minor seven, same thing. First the chord tones... (piano music) then we'll add a full step to the root, third and fifth. It gives us D natural, E flat up one whole step gives us F natural, and G up one whole step gives us A. (piano music) And that gives us the C Dorian scale. (piano music) So we can play the Dorian scale over seven minor chords. And finally, let's first look at the seven dominant chords, the chordal tones... (piano music).

We have to have them in place so that they sound consonant. Then let's add a full step to the root, third and fifth. (piano music) It gives us D natural, E a whole step gives us F sharp, four sharp, and G a whole step gives us A. (piano music) And we end up playing this very nice and sophisticated scale called the Lydian-dominant scale. This is the C Lydian-Dominant scale. (piano music) Now, one of the most confusing aspects of jazz piano is all the different chord symbols we get. We have seventh chords, ninth chords and eleventh chords.

To help you with this, I've put together a chord symbols reference guide. You can download it for free at the following link. And I just wrote down all the common chord symbols you'll encounter as a jazz pianist. And this will only help you have clarity.