He responded, “My piano teacher just created a jazz piano chord chart for each chord of the song and that’s what I play.” I asked him, “How did you learn those jazz chords you’re playing?” My interest was certainly there but I had not found a jazz teacher up to that point. You see, at the time, my experience playing jazz piano was very minimal. He was playing jazz piano chords that blew me away. There was a kid sitting there playing a rendition of Erroll Garner’s Misty. One day, I was standing on the opposite side of the room when I heard some really cool sounds coming out of it. There was an old Rhodes suitcase model piano sitting in the corner that I always went to when I had a moment. I remember being in the music room in between classes as a freshman in high school.

The more I thought about this, the more in love I became with the idea. You would learn an array of different ways to play jazz chords, you’d be able to play an entire chorus while sounding great, and you’d have some really great chord voicings to put in your “bag of tricks” for other favorite standards.

I mean, if you’re a beginner with jazz voicings – or never even played them before – and you had a jazz piano chord chart that would actually tell you what chord voicing to play where throughout an entire song, there would be something to be learned from that. I figured if a person had such a chart, it could serve as a confidence boost and food for thought. As a private piano teacher, I was always looking for ways to provide more value to my students. “Hmmmm… a jazz piano chord chart for a popular standard like Georgia On My Mind.” (I always loved playing that standard by Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell). Such a tool would be really helpful to the individual who is trying to get his or her feet wet when it comes to making a standard tune come to life. One day, I thought to myself: “What if there was a specific jazz piano chord chart for the song you are playing?” I could see the value in that. A Jazz Piano Chord Chart For A Specific Tune Makes More Sense What are the chances of that jazz piano chord voicing being compatible with the melody you’re playing? I mean, it would kind of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Imagine soloing over a chorus of a favorite standard and, for each chord, gazing your eyes over to a generic jazz piano chord chart for a chord voicing matching that symbol.

I knew such charts existed but there’s something about the idea that never really intrigued me… Jazz Piano Chord Chart: Easy As Paint By Number?Ī jazz piano chord chart was not something I have ever been exposed to.

Jazz chords piano chart