‘Brazilian Like’ (Michel Petrucciani) – jazz piano lesson. There is a great version by him on Youtube uk.youtube.com A leadsheet for this, a good quality copy of the video, a transcription of the piano part, and a backing track to play along with are at web.newsguy.com or www.bushgrafts.com It is very difficult on these compressed youtube videos to clearly see the notation! But try this! If you want to see this or other videos in high quality video to see the notes clearly, add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing URL (ie v=Ux9XsDef8-U&fmt=18 )

Sophisticated Lady – solo jazz piano lesson. This is a recycled midi file of mine I did some time ago. I had spent some time in adding text comments, so I was able to fairly quickly convert this to video. This is another one of the ‘classic’ songs played by many jazz piano players. I notice that some of the notes played at times don’t show up on the piano – to get a much clearer video go to web.newsguy.com Ifyou have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above.

Another attempt to show some solo piano techniques. I took a midi file I had created, IMPORTED it into ‘Band in a Box’ as a midi file. The notation and piano views were captured using a screen capture program. A much better quality video is at http:web.newsguy.com/dougmck along with a PDF file of the Transcription and the midi file and if you want to try to do thisyourself! If you have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above.

Ifyou have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above. Deep Purple – solo jazz piano. Another experiment – this time with 8 bars of the lead sheet displayed, with the scrolling notation , the clear piano view and the text comments on some of the techniques used. There is a much better version (along with a midi file, pdf transcription and leadsheet at web.newsguy.com

Strollin’ (Horace Silver) – solo jazz piano lesson. In this, I have used a variety of block chord techniques – it seems to lend itself to this. The video can be downloaded free from my website – www.bushgrafts.com The transcription is on my DVD – details on my website.

Come Rain or Come Shine is a great song by Harold Arlen. I suppose part of its appeal is that ambiguity between minor and major in the song’s harmonic structure which sort of echoes the title of the song. I played it on my fairly recently bought Kawai baby Grand, which is great to play on, but I can’t derive the transcription that I can from the midi file that I record on my Yamaha P250 concurrently when I record the video. I have added the chords and melody as well as a few annotations, so that, other jazz pianists who are interested can perhaps borrow some ideas. The original video file is at www.bushgrafts.com

‘Old Folks – jazz piano lesson. Lots of jazz pianists have played this great tune – lends itself to various blues type approaches. If you really want to see how this can be played check out the Oscar Peterson solo version on Youtube. This video is difficult to see clearly on Youtube – for anyone wanting to read the notation, follow the keyboard display, or read the comments, you probably would be better to stream or download this video at web.newsguy.com This makes it easier to stop and start. There is also a downloadable PDF transcription, and the midi file there. Ifyou have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above.

‘Just You, Just Me’ – jazz piano lesson. Another in the series I have done aimed at intermediate to advanced jazz piano players. Hopefully with information provided in several different forms – through the audio, the notation, and a clear view of the notes played on a keyboard, as well as comments that aim to explain anything that could be of interest – all these may help students. It is a fairly easy tune to tackle – I seem to remember that Benny Goodman did it. But through Monk and later jazz musicians it mutated into a number of different incarnations. This video was derived from a midi file that I had recorded and annotated some time ago.A much clearer version of this video can be streamed or downloaded from web.newsguy.com along with a transcription in pdf format, ‘backing track’ and the original midi file. It is much easier if you have the video file playing in another media player that will let you stop/start/loop these Youtube videos to read the comments.

The More I See You – jazz piano trio. Another conversion of one of my live-played midi files to video, with lots of added comments and information. I have animated a lot of arrows to highlight some of the techniques used – may be of interest to other jazz pianists. A much clearer version of this video in stereo, along with (this time) a more accurate transcription, the original midi file, and a ‘backing track’ to play along with is at web.newsguy.com Ifyou have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above.

This video was played on my recently acquired Kawai baby grand. It is difficult to get the sound I want in recording an acoustic piano – so easy with a digital. And I can derive a transcription from the midi file recorded as I play on a digital piano which can’t be done with an acoustic! But of course the Kawai is so much more enjoyable to actually play. I am experimenting with different formats – I have added the leadsheet with the chord scheme I used. The video can be downloaded free from my website at www.bushgrafts.com