Jazz Piano School

If you’re trying to learn your voicings by playing through lead sheets over and over again, you may be making jazz piano much harder than it needs to be.

In this episode, I break down the practice system I use to move a jazz piano skill from completely controlled practice to spontaneous application.

We’ll move from learning an individual chord, to ii–V–I progressions, isolated chord qualities, organized movements, major scales, completely random chords, and finally applying everything to actual tunes.

I also explain the two variables I use to control the difficulty of almost any exercise, predictability and tempo, including my progression of:

No tempo → 60 → 90 → 120 → 150 → 180 BPM

The goal isn't to become great at exercises. The goal is to practice the mechanics so thoroughly that when you're comping with a group or playing solo piano, you no longer have to consciously think about them.

The chart should test your skills—not teach them to you from scratch.

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After teaching more than 1,000 jazz piano students, you start to see patterns—what actually helps students improve, what slows them down, and what many players misunderstand about learning jazz.

In this episode, I share 10 of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from years of teaching, including why consistency beats practice volume, why students move on from exercises too quickly, why fundamentals matter more than advanced concepts, and why improvisation is far more systematic than most people think.

I also dig into ear training vs. listening, learning voicings through memorization, developing an authentic swing feel, practicing more efficiently, and why the never-ending nature of learning jazz is something to enjoy rather than fight.

Whether you're just getting started or have been playing jazz for years, these lessons can help you rethink how you approach your practice and progress.

Every jazz pianist experiences frustration. The key isn’t avoiding it, it’s learning how to respond to it.

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