Jazz Piano Lesson #37: 3rds and 7ths Singing Exercise

As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big advocate of simple voicing exercises.  For me, simple exercises with a slight challenge are what help me make the fastest improvements in my playing.  As Bill Evans eloquently puts it in the Universal Mind of Bill Evans, "The person that succeeds in anything has the realistic viewpoint at the beggining... knowing that the problem is large and he has to take it a step at a time."  Check out an excerpt from the movie below.

Kenny Werner similarly advocates simple more narrowly focused practice throughout his book and DVD.  If you haven't read Effortless Mastery yet you are missing out one of the truly essential books for a jazz musician (or any artist for that matter).

The jazz piano lesson below may seem simple but don't let that detour you from trying it out.  The truly simple parts of my practice routine are often the most gratifying.  Apply the steps in the video to other tunes you are working on and over time you will notice great improvements to your ability to hear and improvise jazz melodies.

Sheet Music for Lesson #37:  Jazz Piano Lesson #37 .pdf