BartK The Amy Protscher videos I linked may not be right for you. They assume you have a little proficiency at jazz.

I know what you mean about jazz feeling like a mountain. I had been playing classical for 15 years before I started jazz, and it was so frustrating to feel like almost everything I learned about piano was useless. I could play make beautiful music with Chopin sheet music in front of me, but take that away and I couldn't even make a simple melody sound good. The good news is all of that classical experience does help with jazz, eventually. But for the first two years, it really is like learning piano all over again.

Pallas, on that note, if you want to start learning how to use a fake book, I think earlier is better than later. Pop songs are a great way to get into it!

      Hi. Classical player here for 15 years, learning jazz since 3 years, and yes, there is a lot to learn. Sometimes I feel it's better to stop rehearsing classical and focus on jazz only, so I can progress better.
      My advice: get a teacher. Learning online was not structured enough for me, unless maybe you stick to a specific course.

      Just watched a few of these rsl - good suggestion and I am looking forward to trying some these tuts 🙂

      Hi! Non-Classical pianist here as well!

      I’m one of those people who excel in one area (playing by ear most songs except Classical pieces) and deficient in some playing fundamentals. Basically I can walk up to a public place and instantly play songs they’re familiar with, on all 12 keys. It seems cool and folks ask me why I don’t play professionally. My answer is because my talent is more a niche and purely entertaining but I am NOT a conventional pianist.

      And I can’t, and don’t have interest in, reading music. It’s more fun for me to play them by ear. Call me strange 🙂

        Agreed on the pop and Taylor Swift stuff. Anytime I play that on a public piano, folks love it. And it’s quite easy once you have a fairly solid grasp of the basic major/ minor chord progressions.

        High returns on (relatively compared to learning piece) low effort 🙂

          Thanks for starting this thread, RSL. I think it's perfectly fine to have non-classical threads in this subforum.

          Of course, I might be biased because I too am a 100% non-classical player! I have dabbled in jazz but am not doing any jazz at the moment. Mostly I play Einaudi, Winston, Sakamoto, Hisaishi, Nevue, Ffrench and a long list of other contemporary piano composers.

          I am also a "reader" rather than an ear-player. I am a very strong sightreader and I learn everything from the score. I can't play by ear. At one point, I thought it might be nice to learn to play by ear, but I quickly realized that, at my level, I can play much more interesting and compelling music by using the score, so I decided ear-playing was not a good use of my (far too limited) piano time.

          Pallas Pallas, you might consider adding Alexis Ffrench to your list, given that our tastes seem to be similar, I would guess you'd love his music. Let me know if you want a few recommendations.

            Here! 🙂

            I might occasionally pull out something classical but not often. Pretty much jazz at this point. Play a little Guaraldi (especially at Christmas time), a little Bill Evans, a little Dave Brubeck, lots of Real Book tunes, prefer the more mellow stuff to the "out in the weeds" stuff like Oscar Peterson or Art Tatum like. But hey, to each their own. Love big band sounds. Like most of Sinatra kinds of sounds. Kinda feels like a dying genre sometimes, though.

            Currently playing in a 3 piece, piano, bass, and drums. Mostly paying gigs at this point, occasionally a freebie if it seems like good advertising. Certainly not gonna get rich, LOL!! But at least it pays gas money and a little left over.

            Don't know where it all goes from here. Have thought about doing some more quiet restaurant / piano bar kinds of stuff. I'll take it one day at a time. 🙂

            While classically trained (25+ years of piano), I turned to jazz about 12 years ago and it has been a fascinating journey. I only very rarely touch classical anymore, sort of been there done that to coin a phrase (a crooked way to say it). I love to re-harmonize songs and improvise with melodies - my success rate in this is wildly variable from day to day 🙂. Some pianists I like to emulate: Oliver Jones, Keith Jarrett, Giovanni Mirabassi, Art Hirahara and a few more. I do very little pop music but I do love to play/improvise with the genre Chanson Française for ex. Michel Legrand, Edith Piaf, Boris Vian, Serge Gainsbourg, Zaz, Robert Charlebois and many more. This is what I tend to play at public pianos whenever I manage to work up the courage (which is not that often!).

              For better or worse, I found the public to gravitate towards the more mainstream/contemporary music. If I went to a public venue right now, and played my version of "Golden Hour" there would be many folks complimenting me to say I'm good/great a piano.

              For me, it's super simple to do. But I think folks like it because it's music they're used to hearing. So it's less about my piano abilities (which is okay, but not great), and more about familiarity. Most folks get bored (unfortunately) if someone whipped out a very impressive classical piece. To me, I'd be mesmerized, but in public places, I've seen then get bored. Even when the player is phenomenal!

              With that said, for those of us who play non-Classical, it does make the music we play more fun and attractive to laypeople who are not deeply into the arts. It is what it is : )

                I very much enjoy the fewer forum sections - it allows me to actually read everything more easily. I think "PIanist zone" covers both classical and non-classical anyway!

                Being very much a beginner I can't claim to be either, but I certainly love both. Classical pieces can move me to tears, but so can great non classical. I want to learn both! As long as it doesn't require feet and elbows on the keys 😃

                  HeartKeys If I went to a public venue right now, and played my version of "Golden Hour" there would be many folks complimenting me to say I'm good/great a piano.

                  I take it up a notch by playing songs by ear on the spot! People think you're a genius then lol.

                    kanadajin

                    I always wondered about Michel Legrand. How much improvising is he doing when he plays solo piano? It's so impressive--I wish I could command as many styles as he seems to be able.

                        I have always been an ear player. One of the things I wanted to do when I started out playing piano was to be able to transcribe any song by ear. Improvising has always been something I've done at the piano, often for hours at a time.

                        That said, I really want to get into jazz, but haven't found the time yet. I did jam along with some people a while back and I tried my best to keep up, but it's not the same. Most of my improv is classical-ish.

                          rsl12

                          I just saw some videos and read his biography and currently think it’s a combination of both improv and prepared. Very fun music he plays!

                              ranjit Most of my improv is classical-ish

                              Do you do this more on a digital or acoustic? For me, classical improv on an acoustic sounds super majestic!

                                  rsl12, it sounds like we're in kinda similar places in numerous ways.

                                  I had thought about adding some vocals to what I do in the band. Our bass player does some vocals. But I got kind of a snide remark from the drummer one time when I was trying to hum out how a tune went one time, something about not being able to carry a tune. That kinda did it for me. Even though I wasn't really trying to do anything at the time, I have never even had a microphone on stage with me since. I have sung before, in performance settings. But that pushed my buttons to the point I won't get my voice out for this group. I have, however, considered getting it out for some solo work and working on it. Frank Sinatra I ain't but considering some of the "talent" I've seen around me, some of 'em set the bar pretty low.

                                  Indeed, riffs fascinate me. And occasionally, I'll pick something up. Would like to have more of them in my general musical vocabulary. Blues, "scales" of sorts, two finger runs, so many goodies, so little time. LOL!

                                  We've done several concerts for one of the more upscale nursing homes in the area. They actually pay pretty well. Had one old guy there that would play sax on occasion up until nearly the end. He just passed away, I think at 101. I'd not gotten to play with him but had been looking forward to it. With us playin' some of the "oldies", (swing, jazz, lots of stuff from the 20's, 30's, & 40's) they probably heard quite a lot of in their younger days, it's a good audience. And many really nice people, too.

                                  Anyway, gettin' long-winded. Have a good day!

                                      rsl12

                                      I agree with what HeartKeys said.

                                      Of course I do not have the definitive answer, but after spending time with recordings and working out some arrangements, the way I humbly view it is this: the harmonic framework for each song would likely be pretty well defined (chord progressions, often used substitutions, other style-istic trademarks of his). Therefore when performing, one can be in a say semi automatic mode where one can "play around Â» up to a certain point at whim within the melody constraints. It would be a little like having a toolbox where one can pull out different tricks to suit particular musical contexts at specific points.

                                      I may be totally out to lunch on this, btw 🙂 In any case this is what I strive to do when I dabble at the keyboard in general; I seem to have certain hand imprints or accompaniment sequences which I naturally gravitate towards without having to think about it too much. Of course, my problem is that I do not have all that wide a range of such reflexes and I fall flat into the trap of sounding too repetitive, grrr…..

                                          HeartKeys Do you do this more on a digital or acoustic?

                                          Acoustic! And yes.

                                            HeartKeys Agreed on the pop and Taylor Swift stuff. Anytime I play that on a public piano, folks love it.

                                            I can't listen to any of her songs without thinking "I'm definitely not the target audience for this." But I know I should add a few to my bank of songs!

                                              kanadajin

                                              I've heard your transcriptions in the ABF recitals but I don't think I've heard you improvise yet! What are you working on now?