Interested in learning jazz? Try your hand at some of these easy jazz piano songs!
Jul 03, 2019 Easy To Love Tutorial - Cole Porter's Easy To Love is a great jazz piano lesson for beginners. Written in the key of C major, the chords are easy to navigate and the form contains many common 25 and 251 progressions.
If you’re used to playing classical piano styles, we recommend starting with these tips for transitioning to the jazz style.
Jazz Piano Lessons. Each of the below Jazz Piano Lessons introduces a particular concept found in Jazz. As well as explaining the underlying idea, I give examples of how the theory applies in practice. The lessons are further subdivided into modules covering specific aspects of Jazz. Jazz Piano Sheet Music Print free, industry-leading quality, and featured premium piano sheet music arrangements by popularity, or browse by composer or category with the drop-down menu. Popular Beginner Piano Tutorials Easy MMF Originals Lesson Books Classical Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes Christian Beethoven Mozart Bach Tchaikovsky Brahms.
Next, you’ll want to review jazz piano chords, and then try out some of these helpful exercises.
Beyond that, keep the following tips in mind while attempting to play the following jazz piano songs:
- Play eighth notes unevenly, so that four of them sound like this: “long – short – long – short”. This is called a swing pattern.
- Play any accents lightly, not heavily as in a lot of other piano music.
- Play in a slightly detached and clear tone, as if you were playing a Bach piece. Think of little bells!
9 Easy Jazz Piano Songs to Try
Now that you know some of the basics, here are a few tunes to listen to and try your hand at.
Of course, if you’re serious about playing jazz, you’ll want to work with a piano teacher who can show you the ropes – but these easy songs will certainly get you started!
1. “Summertime”
Easy Jazz Piano Sheet Music
This celebrated jazz classic is actually the gem of the acclaimed opera “Porgy and Bess”. Take it slow – it is a lullaby, after all.
Simply play the chords in the left hand in a very steady rhythm, and play the melody in a very off-beat way. The word for this is syncopation, which means unexpected rhythmic patterns.
Don’t think too much about it – just be creative. Watch the video a few times, then start playing along!
2. “When the Saints Go Marching In”
If you can play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, then you can play “When the Saints Go Marching In”. And because this song’s melody is so simple, it’s the perfect song to help you learn how to improvise!
It’s often included in beginner piano books, and the following tutorial will teach you the melody. This song is really easy and the video takes it very slowly.
Once you learn the melody, you can play it in an even jazzier way by changing the rhythm of when and how you play the left-hand chords.
For instance, you can play the same block chords in eighth notes instead of quarter notes (in other words, twice as fast).
3. “Fly Me to the Moon”
Classic crooner Frank Sinatra made this song famous, and now you can make it your own! First, though, watch the tutorial below.
The keys highlighted in blue are played by the right hand; the keys highlighted in yellow are played by the left hand.
Play along with the video a few times with only your right hand, and then again with only your left hand, before playing with hands together.
4. “Autumn Leaves”
“Autumn Leaves” is another one of the best, easy jazz piano songs for beginners because it introduces us to jazz harmony and the popular chord progression ii – V – I – IV.
Unfamiliar with these symbols? It means that if you’re playing in the key of C, this chord progression would be D minor, then G, then C, and finally F. The tutorial below goes a little fast, so watch it a few times before you begin to play along.
5. “Misty”
This tutorial is easy to follow, taking the right hand first, one note at a time. The second time through, the player shows us the left-hand three-note chords, or triads.
Feel free to play the left hand alone, ignoring the right hand the first few times through, since the left-hand chords will become the steady “time-keeper” of your playing. Then, add the right-hand melody later after the left hand becomes almost automatic.
6. “Someone to Watch Over Me”
George and Ira Gershwin wrote a musical in 1943 called “Oh, Kay!” and this song is perhaps its most famous. Lots of singers have covered it, and lots of pianists love to play it!
This arrangement is a little different, in that it has the left hand playing the melody, and the right hand playing chords. If it seems a little too difficult, it’s okay to simplify the rhythm. As always, take your time and practice hands separately at first.
7. “Take the A Train”
Kent Hewitt leads this fun video about Duke Ellington’s classic, “Take the A Train”. He may sound like he’s playing something really complicated in the left hand, but remember, he’s only playing the chords of the song in different ways.
For example, instead of playing a D chord in a root position block, he’ll play the D way down low, and then the F# and A up in the middle of the keyboard. In this video he guides you all the way through his own version. Have fun!
8. “Satin Doll”
“Satin Doll” may be one of the most famous jazz songs of all time.
This tutorial will teach you the famous introduction and explain the importance of triplets in swing music, and more importantly, how to play them!
9. “So What”
Again, this version has the melody in the left hand and the chords in the right. For most of us, the left hand is just not as dextrous as the right. In other words, it’s not as easy to stretch and move.
If you have a favorite exercise set, (like Hanon) practicing it daily will help you get ready to play this song.
Be warned: the piano player in the video below talks about some advanced stuff, like modes and modulations. But don’t feel intimidated! You can still play the song – just stay patient, and take your time.
Jingle Bells Easy Jazz Piano
This list of easy jazz piano songs is only the beginning. Jazz music is a gold mine of timeless standards and classic pieces to add to your repertoire!
Just remember, online tutorials are wonderful tools, but they’ll only take you so far. Progressing in this genre really takes two steps: listening to a lot of jazz piano music, and finding a great teacher!
Heather L. teaches piano in St. Augustine, FL, as well as through online lessons. She is a graduate of the prestigious Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and has a wide variety of performance experience. Learn more about Heather here!
Photo by Bruno Bollaert
Without a doubt, jazz music is one of the great American art forms. Jazz music has changed and informed the world’s musical landscape in subtle and seismic ways. For beginning piano students, taking on the task of learning how to play jazz might seem like a monumental task. After all, jazz music contains some of music’s most sophisticated approaches to chord and rhythm structures. But beginning jazz piano doesn’t have to be intimidating. Today we’re going to walk you through some jazz piano basics to help get you started, but first let’s talk about what jazz music is and the impact it’s had on music today.
Jazz Origins
The history of jazz is as vast, complicated, and sprawling as the music itself. During the turn of the 20th century, African American folk songs began to intertwine with traditional European music in cities like New Orleans, St Louis, and Chicago. The result became jazz music. Early jazz is often said to be the combination of complex African rhythms and western European harmonies, but it in reality both cultures contributed much more to the art form than that. African music brought hugely-impactful ideas to American jazz music like call and response phrasing and the unique harmonic influence of African spirituals that later became hymns. Western European music contributed what would become the blueprints for modern song as well as hundreds of years of harmonic influence and complex instrumentation.
Before there was jazz there was blues, and before there was blues there was ragtime. Ragtime was developed by black musicians playing in bars, brothels, and clubs in the early 1900’s. Ragtime composers like Scott Joplin began incorporating sophisticated chord voicings into their work, and this paved the way for blues and then jazz.
Getting Started with Beginning Jazz Piano
To get started with beginning jazz piano, you’ll need a keyboard and a sheet of paper. We’re going to cover some basic music theory terms, so be sure to check out our article on music theory for musicians if you need some extra information. Many great jazz musicians learned how to play the piano without a trace of music theory training, but we’re going to explain the music theory behind jazz to give you a better understanding of things.
Easy Jazz Piano Tutorial Youtube
Basic Chords
If you want to learn how to play the complex chords in jazz music, you’ll need to start with basic chords. Like most elements in music theory, chords are built off of simple formulas. There are three categories of basic chords: Major, Minor, and Diminished. We’ll start with how to build Major chords. Chords, by the way, are defined as two or more notes being played at the same time.
Major chords are simple chords that can be built from any key on the piano. On your keyboard, move your right thumb to the Middle C. Middle C is the C key located directly in the middle of the keyboard. We’re going to call this C note the root of the chord. From the Middle C, press down the E above with your middle finger. This E is an interval of a Major 3rd away. A major 3rd is the distance of four half steps away from the root (C-C#-D-D#-E). Keeping your thumb and middle finger on C and E, place your pinky finger on the G above. This G is an interval of a Perfect 5th above C. A perfect 5th is located seven half steps above the root of the chord (C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G). Once you know how to play the C Major chord, try the formula out on other chords around the piano using the same fingers.
Not that difficult, right? Well, if you have a good grasp on how to build major chords, then Minor and Diminished chords should be a breeze for you. Go back to the C major chord we had you build in the last paragraph. To turn this C Major chord into a C Minor chord, simply move your middle finger from an E down to an Eb. All Minor chords are built off of a formula of the root- a minor 3rd (which is just three half steps away from the root)- and a Perfect 5th. Try building Minor chords at various spots around the keyboard.
Now let’s go through how to build Diminished chords. Go back to Middle C and build a C Minor chord. With your pinky, move down to a Gb. The interval between C and Gb is a Tritone, and it provides the dissonance you hear in diminished chords. All Diminished chords are built off of a formula of the root-minor 3rd-Tritone (which is six half steps away from the root). Try playing Diminished chords at different spots around the piano.
Extended Chords
Once you know how to build basic chords, you’ll need to understand extended chords to be able to play beginning jazz piano material. Extended chords add different notes and colors to basic chords to give them new, distinct characters. For instance, we can add a B to a C Major chord and transform it into a C Major 7 chord (C-E-G-B). Where does the 7 number come from? Good question. To answer that, we’ll need to talk about scales.
A C major scale is built off the notes of C-D-E-F-G-A-B and C. If we assign each note a number, then we’ll get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Basic chords are built off of some version of 1-3-5, and any numbers on top of that extend and alter the chord.
Again using the example of a C Major chord, if we change the last note to a Bb, the chord will become a C7 chord, which is also known as a C Dominant chord. Any chord can be flattened or sharped, so be sure to account that in your beginning jazz piano playing.
If you come across chords with numbers added like 9, 11, or 13, you’ll need to know the key and scale of the chord to be able to add in the correct interval.
To help you get started, here’s an easy, yet iconic, jazz standard with some simple extended chords. You can play the melody with your right hand or sing along if you know the tune.
Bm Em7
The falling leaves
A7 Dmaj7
Drift by my window
Gmaj7 C#dim
The falling leaves
F#7 Bm
Of red and gold
[Verse 2]
Easy Jazz Piano Licks
Bm Em7
I see your lips
A7 Dmaj7
The summer kisses
Gmaj7 C#dim
The sunburned hands
F#7 Bm
I used to hold
Easy Jazz Piano Chords
[Chorus]
Bm C#dim
Since you went away
F#7 Bm
The days grow long
Bm Em7
And soon I’ll hear
A7 Dmaj7
Old winter’s song
Dmaj7 C#dim
But I miss you
C#dim F#7
Most of all
F#7 Bm
My Darling
Bm C#dim
When autumn leaves
F#7 Bm
Begin to fall
Approach To Rhythm
In many beginning jazz piano pieces, the rhythms are swung rather than played straight. Swinging a rhythm means that precision and feel of the tempo is dictated by the performers involved. Eighth notes are typically played with a shuffled interpretation which is driven by a “long, short, long” feel. Before you focus too much on playing a swung rhythm, make sure you master playing simple chord progressions along to the slow beat of a metronome. Add in extended chords and swung rhythms when you feel comfortable. Don’t overthink swinging rhythms. The distinct sound of a swung rhythm can be found all over popular music.
Lead Sheets
Lead sheets, which are also called fake sheets, are sheets of chord symbols and melodies that jazz musicians use to play off of. Most of these sheets are condensed down to be one page and they don’t often contain lyrics. The “Autumn Leaves” example we went through is not a typical lead sheet. To get down to the length of one page, lead sheets often make use of repeat signs and directions like “”da Capo al Coda,” which means to repeat the music again from the beginning.
Here’s an example of a lead sheet. Notice that the chord symbols sit directly above the corresponding measures of music. The “-” signs next to chord symbols indicate that the chord is Minor. All other chords are assumed Major. Any measure without a chord symbol should be interpreted as a rest. Save for the time signature, there are no specific rhythm directions for the piano accompaniment, so feel free to get creative.
Playing With Other Musicians
Learning to play with other musicians can be a rewarding but often frustrating experience. Every musician is unique and complicated because everyone has different strengths, weaknesses, and approaches to playing jazz. We recommend finding a group of patient and experienced musicians to play with and learn from. The right group of musicians will help challenge you and give you the tools you need to become a better beginning jazz piano player. Playing in a group will help you to hone important skills like listening and playing in rhythm. Also, performing what you’ve learned in a live setting will help you to crystallize the concepts and materials you’ve been working on.
We hope this article on beginning jazz piano has been helpful. Jazz in an incredible art form that can seem unwelcoming to beginners, but with lots of focused hard work and practice, you’ll be able to develop the skills and technique you need to be a great player. We recommend mastering simple chords, learning to extend them, and then practicing chord progressions to the slow beat of a metronome. When you feel ready, start playing jazz pieces with a swung interpretation.