Beginning Jazz Piano: The Three-Chord Trick
CoursePianoJazzBeginnerPart 3 of 3
Part ofPiano

Beginning Jazz Piano: The Three-Chord Trick

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Duration40m
Modules21
LevelBeginner
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (0h 40m)

About this course

Tim Richards has been a leading voice in UK jazz piano teaching for over thirty years. This course is part of his graded method, also published by Schott Music as a textbook of the same name. Full bio on Tim's artist page.

This is Chapter 3 of Beginning Jazz Piano, completing the opening volume. You'll work through "the three-chord trick" - the I, IV and V framework that underpins folk, blues and the simpler standards. The chapter introduces shell voicings (root + 3rd + 7th, no fifth), the flat-three pentatonic for blues colour, open triads, and the difference between horizontal and vertical improvising.

By the end you'll handle Swanee River as a jazz piece, hear and play your first 12-bar blues, comp in shells with both hands, and approach improvising with two complementary strategies. Tim Richards' Beginning Jazz Piano Pt 2 is the natural sequel.

Who it's for

  • Pianists who finished Chapters 1 and 2 of Beginning Jazz Piano
  • Returning players ready for their first jazz blues
  • Self-taught pianists wanting to read a chord chart confidently

What you'll learn

  • Comp through a 12-bar blues using shell voicings
  • Apply the flat-three pentatonic for blues improvisation
  • Improvise both horizontally and vertically over chord changes

What you'll need

  • An acoustic, digital or weighted-key piano
  • Comfort with two-chord vamps and the major pentatonic
  • A few minutes most days at the keys

Explore the series · Beginning Jazz Piano · Pt 1

Based on Beginning Jazz Piano by Schott Music

  1. Beginning Jazz Piano: Triads & Pentatonics
    01
    Beginning Jazz Piano: Triads & Pentatonics
  2. Beginning Jazz Piano: Two-Chord Vamps
    02
    Beginning Jazz Piano: Two-Chord Vamps
  3. Beginning Jazz Piano: The Three-Chord Trick
    03
    Beginning Jazz Piano: The Three-Chord Trick
    You are here

Meet the Guru

Tim Richards

Tim Richards

Critically acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tim Richards is one of Britain’s most experienced jazz educators, teaching piano privately for over 30 years, as well as at Morley College, Goldsmiths College, the University of Surrey, Premises Studios and other venues in the UK and abroad. He has produced numerous titles for Schott Music, including the best-selling two-volume Exploring Jazz PianoBlues, Boogie & Gospel Collection and the acclaimed Improvising Blues Piano. He is also co-author, with John Crawford, of Exploring Latin Piano and Brazilian Piano Collection.

More recently Schott have published Jazz, Latin & Modern Collection (15 pieces for solo piano), comprising Tim Richards originals alongside pieces by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and the two volume set Beginning Jazz Piano (now a two-part MusicGurus course).

“The real joy of Tim’s music… is that it is both hugely educational but also such great fun to play. Anyone with the slightest interest in learning to play or teach jazz piano should really acquire a set of Tim’s books.” PianoDao

As a performer Tim has been a presence on the UK jazz scene since the 1980s, also playing the blues with UK and US legends such as Otis Grand, Earl Green, Dana Gillespie, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and Mojo Buford. He has released over a dozen albums as a leader (featuring many of London’s best jazz musicians including Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Seb Rochford, Ed Jones, Dick Pearce and many others), and toured all over Europe with line-ups ranging from duo to nine-piece. His latest recording, the album ‘Telegraph Hill’ by the six-piece Hextet, was described in The Observer as "A true joy from beginning to end".

More info can be found on his website www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk

Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.
Schott Music

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