Jazz Scales

[jam8086]

Hey all,

I have been playing the piano for about 10 years now, and I'm currently working on things such as Bach's P&F in A minor (WTC Book I) and Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata (complete), and I have composed some classical pieces, but I have pretty much no experience playing or composing Jazz. This poses quite a problem because I have signed up for two Jazz courses for school this coming year...

Basically, all I need to know are some common Jazz scales and chords, and maybe some tips on playing/writing Jazz.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[nicolaievich]

i am not a jazz expert, but i think this is a good resource, take a look at it.

https://www.petethomas.co.uk/jazz-chord-progressions.html

[pianohopper]

I tried to get my teacher to show me how to do jazz scales, but he said he didn't remember and suggested I ask this jazz pianist who was workshopping at our school that weekend.  When I did, he said he couldn't remember and referred me back to my teacher!  An endless circle!

[jeremyjchilds]

Well, there is the blues scale...(Simple, but kind of overdone...)
I am assuming deviations from a major scale.

1,"flat"3, 4, "flat"5, "nat"5, "flat"7, 1

Then there are the pentatonic scales, and the diatonic scales (which you probably already know)

After that, get rudiments book to explain the modes...

Now we move onwards...

"flat3" = "B3"

Here's just a short sampling....there are many more, and admittedly, this will not tell you about thier function...just thier construction...

Whole tone===1,2,3,#4,#5,b7,1
half Whole diminished===1,b2,b3,3,#4,5,6,b7,1
Blues (Alternate) 1,b3,3,4,b5,5,b7,1

You can also take the modes and alter them to imply the chord colors of a altered chord...Some of this is intuitive, some takes trial and error.

I have to go, but if you have any questions, I'll check back later...

That was a really incomplete list...