Thursday, March 26, 2009

World's shortest jazz piano lessons


Yesterday I got a wacky idea to start posting 12-second piano "microlessons" on Twitter. The aim is to provide students (or anyone else interested) with daily snippets of musical information, whatever happens to float across my brain's fuzzy radar screen, with the hopes of sharing something that might help your playing or give you an idea to build on - free of charge. There's so many people peddling online lessons these days, and I've considered it, but hey, I didn't invent jazz piano. I remember vividly being 18 years old in NYC, seeing Herbie Hancock at the Blue Note. As he descended from the stage after his amazing concert, I boldly walked up and asked him what the correct turnaround was on "Footprints" (it's F#-B-E-A) and to show me that nutball chord on "Eye of the Hurricane". He'd only been offstage for five minutes, the audience was still in their seats paying their tabs, and Herbie went right back up to the piano and answered my questions. In front of everybody. And I was a nobody then. That experience, and Herbie's selfless generosity, has stayed with me ever since.

Why only 12 seconds? Well, because it's a convenient Tweetdeck app, and because the people over at 12seconds.tv think anything longer is boring. And it's about all I have time for these days, with a toddler running amok in my house!

3 comments:

  1. Absolutely Brilliant! You are great!

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  2. Hey Geoffrey, your 12 second lessons on 12seconds are just great. This is really so generous of you. My toddler days are long over, my son is now 24. I wish you and your wife many happy years of being parents...it never stops! hahaha! best wishes, Jeremy

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