← All exercises
Exercise
— switch — The Cycle Shells with Color Rootless Voicings Bud Powell Left Hand The Turnaround Tritone Substitution Reharm the V Diatonic Sevenths Secondary Turnaround Minor ii–V–i Minor ii-V-i with ♭9 Minor Turnaround Diatonic 7ths in Minor Backdoor Progression Twelve-Bar Blues Minor Blues Bird Blues Blues Stride LH Blues Walking Bass Rhythm Changes Boogie Blues Shuffle Rhythm Changes Bridge Blues Rootless (Evans) Coltrane Changes Blues Pedal Point Standard Intro Blues Block Chords Two-Handed Comping Blues Freddie Green Charleston Comping Bebop Blues Comp Freddie Green Comping Blues Guide Tones Walking Bass Charleston Blues Tritone-Sub Walking Bass Bud Powell Blues Drop Two Two-Handed Modern Blues Stride Bass Stride with Melody Quartal Voicings Upper Structure Triads Hybrid Voicings Kenny Barron Voicing Sus Chord Vamp The Mu Chord Maiden Voyage Chord 4-Way Close Pedal Point Lydian Vamp Phrygian Vamp Bossa Nova Guide Tones Bebop Scale Dominant Bebop Dorian Bebop Bebop Minor The Enclosure ii-V-I Lick Pentatonic Patterns Plain Locrian Melodic Minor Dorian ♭2 Lydian Augmented Lydian Dominant Mixolydian ♭6 Locrian ♮2 Altered Scale Harmonic Minor Phrygian Dominant Half-Whole Diminished Whole-Tone Scale Minor Blues Major Blues Aeolian (Natural Minor) Dorian Mode Ionian (Major) Lydian Mode Minor Pentatonic Mixolydian Mode Phrygian Mode Whole-Half Diminished
(MED. SWING ♩=80 )
27
Jazz Piano · Blues Comp Styles
Blues Block Chords
RH four-way close on every beat, LH bass, twelve keys
Play exercise
Block chords (four-way close) put the four chord
tones — 1, 3, 5, ♭7 — in close position in the RH, struck on every
beat. The LH plays the bass note as a held whole note. Erroll
Garner's strummed LH quarters are the closest model (George
Shearing's famous locked-hands version is a different texture —
it harmonises a moving melody and doubles it in the LH); the
sound is everywhere in 1950s cocktail-jazz piano.
Applied to the blues form, block chords produce a strong, even
rhythmic pulse with full four-note harmony on every beat. Less
subtle than rootless voicings but more emphatic. Easy to learn,
powerful for sustained shouts at the end of a chorus.
RH 1-3-5-♭7 in close position, struck on every beat
Form I⁷ IV⁷ I⁷ I⁷ | IV⁷ IV⁷ I⁷ I⁷ | V⁷ IV⁷ I⁷ V⁷
Jump to
F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G C
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
X
X
5fr
C
7
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
X
X
5fr
C
7
X
X
5fr
C
7
C
7
X
X
5fr
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
The Daily Drill
Learn the feel
5 min Play one key very slowly. Internalise where each hit lands in the bar. Feel the rhythmic shape — that's what defines this style. 15 min Cycle three keys at a time. The shape is the same; only the transposition changes. Pay attention to how black-key starts shift the hand position. 8 min Apply: pick a blues you know (Now's the Time , Billie's Bounce , Tenor Madness ) and play this comping style behind a recorded soloist. 3 min Cycle through all twelve keys without stopping. The blues form is one chorus; twelve choruses lets you experience the style in every key.
Four notes, every beat, twelve bars. The shouting voice of swing-era piano.