Exploring Jazz Piano: Major Triads
CoursePianoJazzIntermediatePart 1 of 3
Part ofPiano

Exploring Jazz Piano: Major Triads

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Duration1h 43m
Modules31
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (1h 43m)

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 1 of Exploring Jazz Piano, Tim Richards' intermediate-level method. Eight sections take you from the five-finger position through three major triads a tone apart, the cycle of fifths, horizontal vs vertical improvising, broken chord patterns, and a fluency checkpoint.

By the end you'll move comfortably through major triads in every key, play broken-chord patterns as comping under a melody, and improvise lines that move with the chord changes rather than against them. Chapter 2 (Minor Triads) is the natural next step.

Who it's for

  • Pianists who finished Beginning Jazz Piano or have equivalent fluency
  • Self-taught players ready for an intermediate jazz method
  • Returning pianists building structured technique

What you'll learn

  • Play major triads in every inversion across the cycle of fifths
  • Apply broken-chord comping patterns under a written melody
  • Improvise both horizontally and vertically over moving chord changes

What you'll need

  • A piano or weighted-key keyboard with 61+ keys
  • Comfort with the cycle of fifths and major triads
  • A few minutes most days at the keys

Explore the series · Exploring Jazz Piano · Pt 1

Based on Exploring Jazz Piano by Schott Music

  1. Exploring Jazz Piano: Major Triads
    01
    Exploring Jazz Piano: Major Triads
    You are here
  2. Exploring Jazz Piano: Minor Triads
    02
    Exploring Jazz Piano: Minor Triads
  3. Exploring Jazz Piano: Seventh Chords
    03
    Exploring Jazz Piano: Seventh Chords

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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