Studio License – Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know – PDF download

Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know is a book everyone can use to improve their understanding of jazz basics, blues scales, the ii-V-I chord progressions, modal jazz improv, other fun jazz chord progressions, and more. Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know was created as one of the resources for the members of the Essential Piano Exercises Course (essentialpianoexercises.com/). This book is dedicated to the many piano students, young and old, who have asked Jerald Simon over the years to release a book with all of the jazz piano exercises he feels are essential to help pianists learn how to improvise, arrange, and even compose in a jazz style. 

In this book, Jerald teaches the following: 

Key Signatures - page 6, Basic Music Intro/Review - page 12, Most Common Chords - page 22, Blues Pentascales - page 38, 12 Bar Blues - page 48, The Major Blues Scale - page 76, 2 - 5 - 1 (ii7 - V7 - I7) - page 88, Jazz Modes - page 98, Whole - Half - Half - page 105, Using the Chromatics Scale - page 110, Using Jazz Chords - page 116, The Boogie-Woogie - page 138, Using 7th Chords - page 170, Improv Lessons - page 198, Modal Jazz Improvisation - page 222, 9th Chords - page 237, Modulating from one Key to Another - page 244, Over 100 Measures of RH Riffs and Improv Patterns Created from the Minor Blues Scale - page 248, and Over 100 Measures of RH Riffs and Improv Patterns Created from the Major Blues Scale - page 252.

Jerald also includes 33 original jazz pieces to help piano students learn jazz the fun way - by actually playing jazz music and seeing the practical application of the jazz theory they have learned.

The entire book follows a pattern of: 

1. Teaching the jazz music theory concept, 
2. Presenting exercises that focus on implementing and applying the jazz music theory concepts, and 
3. Demonstrating how the theory and and jazz exercises can be combined together to create actual jazz music by having the piano student play jazz music that was composed using the exact jazz theory concepts the student has just learned. Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know is part of the Essential Piano Exercises Series. The first book in this series is titled Essential Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know. It was followed by 100 Left Hand Patterns Every Piano Player Should Know. This is the third book in the series. Other books in this series will soon be available as well (i.e. Essential New Age Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know, Essential Pop Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know, Essential Rock Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know, 100 Chord Progressions Every Piano Player Should Know, 100 Improvised Licks Every Piano Player Should Know, etc.).

In order to better help piano teachers, piano students, and parents of piano students effectively learn music theory and what to do with that knowledge, thus bridging the gap between learning the scales and chords and using them to enhance music and make music of your own, I have created a course featuring step-by-step piano lesson videos to accompany this book: "Essential Jazz Piano Exercises." 

You can visit ESSENTIALPIANOEXERCISES.COM to learn more about this course and gain access to hundreds of videos where I demonstrate how to play these exercises and many others, and then teach what you can do with them. Learning the theory is good, but knowing what to do with it is the practical application where I demonstrate how to use music theory to arrange, to  improvise, to compose, and to create music of your own. More important than simply learning the theory is the practical application of why we are learning these scales and chords, and what we can do with them once we have learned them. It is the hands on approach to teaching music theory. In addition, I explain the theory in practical and simple terms so everyone can easily understand and know music theory for what it can do to help them in three primary ways: (1) sight-read piano music better and faster as a result of knowing the scales and chords, (2) take their music playing and music creating to the next level so they can improvise, arrange, and compose music of their own, and (3) ultimately feel comfortable and excited to learn music theory - the "FUN way!"

"My purpose and mission in life is to motivate myself and others through my music and writing, to help others find their purpose and mission in life, and to teach values that encourage everyone everywhere to do and be their best." - Jerald Simon

A message from Jerald to piano students and parents:

If you come to piano lessons each week and walk away only having learned about music notation, rhythm, and dots on a page, then I have failed as a Music Mentor. Life lessons are just as important, if not more important than music lessons. I would rather have you learn more about goal setting and achieving, character, dedication, and personal  improvement. To have you learn to love music, appreciate it, and play it, is a wonderful byproduct you will have for the rest of your life - a talent that will enrich your life and the lives of others. To become a better musician is wonderful and important, but to become a better person is more important.

As a Music Mentor I want to mentor students to be the very best they can be. If you choose not to practice, you essentially choose not to improve. This is true in any area of life. Everyone has the same amount of time allotted to them. What you choose to do with your time, and where you spend your time, has little to do with the activities being done and more to do with the value attached to each activity.

I believe it's important to be well-rounded and have many diverse interests. I want students to enjoy music, to learn to be creative and understand how to express themselves musically - either by creating music of their own, or interpreting the music of others - by arranging and improvising well known music. In addition, I encourage students to play sports, dance, sing, draw, read, and develop all of  their talents. I want them to be more than musicians, I want them to learn to become well-rounded individuals.

Above all, I want everyone to continually improve and do their best. I encourage everyone to set goals, dream big, and be the best they can be in whatever they choose to do. Life is full of wonderful choices. Choose the best out of life and learn as much as you can from everyone everywhere. I prefer being called a Music Mentor because I want to mentor others and help them to live their dreams.