Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Per Danielsson - Daily Practice Etude

Daily Practice Etude

One of the most important skills to have as a jazz musician is to be able to play in all twelve keys. This is something that requires hours of practice and should be part of you daily routine. Not only do the twelve different major scales need to be learned, but also concepts, scales, progressions, etc. in twelve keys as well. In order to musically speak the jazz language we have to be fluent in all keys and practice in a creative manner. There is often a misconception that jazz musicians do not need to practice as much as classical players since jazz is based on improvisation. Of course this is far from the thruth. In order to be free and creative you have to have an enormous amount of knowledge about jazz and how its harmonic language works. This is something that can only be accomplished by countless hours of practice and even more hours listening to the jazz greats. The more knowledge you have, the more freedom you will be granted when improvising.

One of the fundamental skills to aquire is the knowledge of common jazz scales and how they are used. By knowing these scales you are able to decide what sound to use over certain progressions. The most common scales that should be known by the jazz musician are:

Major Scales
Harmonic minor Scales
Diminished Scales
Melodic minor Scales

There are of course several other scales that should be studied, but these scales serve as a foundation for the jazz language.

There are different ways to practice scales. First of all, learn the scales with both hands and practicing them up and down the keyboard. Play them in thirds, fourths, patterns, anything you can think of. In other words, you should know them in your sleep! Secondly, play around with the scales and improvise over them using the theory of jazz. You may find that some keys are harder to play in than others. Part of the problem is that certain keys are technically harder to play on the keyboard, but the biggest problem is from a mental standpoint. Some keys are harder because you are taught that they are harder. Some keys are harder because we avoid practicing them. Keep in mind, with practice, all technical challenges can be overcome!

The following etude is an excellent warm-up exercise that should be used daily. It will guide you through all the keys and also keep your mind working. There are different scales that can be used when practicing this but for now let’s look at the Harmonic minor and the Half-Whole Diminished scales.

The Harmonic minor scale works well over a minor ii-V-i progression because its harmonic pull toward the one chord is extremely strong. It also covers the b5 in the minor ii chord and the b9 and b13 in the dominant V chord.

When to use the harmonic minor scale: When you play a ii-V-i progression in the key of Cm, use the C Harmonic minor scale over the ii and the V chord. When you get to the Cmin it sounds better if you swithch to a dorian scale (sometimes phrygian will work). The Dorian scale over a Cmin chord is the same as a Bb major scale.

C Harmonic Minor

Play the example below and listen to how well the harmonic minor works over the ii and the V chord. Repeat this example and improvise over the scales to creat melodies and to get used to the sound.

Half-Whole Diminished Scale

The diminished scale works well over the altered dominant chord. The scale covers the b9,#9, #11 and the 13th. Practice the scale up and down to get used to its sound. There are only three different versions of the diminished scales so it is an easy task to learn them in all keys.

The Exercise

The progression on the following page is helpful when it comes to practicing scales and chords in all twelve keys. Here are two different options for you to practice the harmonic minor and diminished scales.

Play Harmonic Minor over the ii and V chord and then Dorian over the i chord.
Play Harmonic Minor over the ii chord, Half-whole Diminished over the V chord and Dorian over
the i chord.
When you are comfortable with the scales, double the meter of the etude. This will present a
whole new set of problems since the chord changes go by twice as fast.

Etude

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