This comprehensive introduction to jazz, blues, and rock piano will offer easy-to-understand explanations of music theory, and guide you step by step as you develop your skills. Above all, Piano by Ear will help you to explore and develop your ability to improvise. Rather than focus on written notation, you'll learn to express yourself at the piano by relying on your ear and on your own creative instincts.

Building on the fundamentals introduced in Book One, Book Two introduces a whole new world of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic possibilities. Only basic piano technique and basic music-reading skills are needed. Includes access to online audio.

Major Triads & Major-Seven Chords

The Circle of Fifths – Improvising Techniques featured in Book One – Improvisation Workshop: Including Phrases that Flow Directly from One Scale into the Next

 

Dominant-Seve Chords

12/8 Time – The Blues Scale – Improvisation Workshop: Two Important Rhythms

 

Minor Triads & Minor-Seven Chords

From Book One: Learning Phrases by Ear – Improvisation Workshop: Incorporating Phrases from the Recorded Improvisations/Incorporating Phrases You’ve Composed

 

Diminished Triads & Half-Diminished Chords

The Major Pentatonic (plus #3) Scale – Improvisation Workshop: Experimenting with Articulation

 

Diminished-Seven Chords

 

Suspended-Seven Chords

Chord Families

 

Dominant-Seven-Sharp-Five Chords

Minor Tonality – The Natural Minor Scale

 

Dominant-Nine Chords

Twelve-Bar Blues – Grace Notes

 

Dominant-Thirteen-Flat-Nine Chords

Looking ahead to Book Three