How To Play The Blues?

How can I reach my goal of being able to play blues, jazz, and improvise? Piano question.?

• How can i achieve my goals of being able to play blues,jazz, and improvise (yeah, i know i said it before lol.) but yeah what should i learn to help me reach my goals of doing this? I ...show more

• Answer:

  There are a few things you need to improvise well. First, you need to know your instrument inside and out. You need to be able to play what you're thinking, so you need a strong connection there. Second, your theory needs to be solid, including advanced jazz cords, blues scales, modes, etc. Third, you need to be able to remove your inner censor and allow yourself to just play, without worrying about the "klunker" notes. They happen. You can learn from your mistakes. Last of all, practice. The only way to get better at improvising is to do it a LOT. If you have a few friends with whom you can jam, even better. If you haven't already, find a teacher who is well versed in jazz. He or she can help you with improv skills. If you don't have Mark Levine's books, check them out. He has a jazz theory and a jazz piano book. Both are pretty helpful if you already have a grasp on some general skills and music theory.