Jazz Piano Genius Taylor Eigsti Unveils His Tips for Practice, Improv, & Harmony | Jazz Lab Ep. 8

In this episode of Jazz Lab, host Noah Kellman sits down with modern jazz piano master & GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist / composer Taylor Eigsti. Noah and Taylor discuss everything from the best improvisation exercises, how to achieve a "clean" playing style and sound, voicing exercises, Taylor's 49 Chords exercise for building good hand shapes, all the way to travel and packing tips for gigging and touring.
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In this Jazz Piano Lesson, I'm sharing an awesome lick over a C dominant chord. Do you know the name of the scale I'm using here? This scale is a killer tool to pull out over any dominant sound, so I recommend learning it in as many keys as you can!
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Noah Kellman is a musician and teacher known for his unique approach to modern jazz piano.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro to Taylor Eigsti
10:00 - Random 1/8th Notes
15:54 - utilizing mistakes
16:46 - What does Taylor practice?
25:50 - Practice Tips
27:00 - Practicing Announcing
30:00 - Voicings & Harmony
33:50 - The 49 Chords Exercise
53ish - Practicing Standards vs Originals
1:15:00 - Finding Inspiration
1:19:00 - Throw-away Songs
1:24:00ish - Tips for Finishing Projects & Compositions
1:27:00 - Travel & Touring Tips
#noahkellman #tayloreigsti #jazzpiano #modernjazz

[@TommyRarivoson]

2 hrs of free master class with Noah and Taylor! What a time to be alive. Thank you for providing us with this amazing content!

[@NoahKellman]

Sure thing, Tommy. Appreciate the comment, and hope you enjoy the episode!

[@jimwin2011]

Your content is so exceptionally valuable to me as a pianist.

[@NoahKellman]

🙏🙏 so glad to hear that

[@kylereilly3259]

Another incredible interview. Taylor Eigsti is one of my favorite musicians and this is an incredible glimpse into how he thinks about music. Appreciate you so much for putting this out :D

[@NoahKellman]

So glad you dug it Kyle! Thanks for the comment and saying hey

[@mondoinc]

golden era to be alive with all this content for free. you're a gift !

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks!! 🙏

[@NoahKellman]

So glad you enjoyed it!

[@bobbachelor5930]

I've always felt the deeper essence of jazz is the "mistakes" and how well a player uses them. Jazz is not supposed to be anti-septic.

[@NoahKellman]

Agreed, nothing like a good “mistake” to turn into magic

[@bill3837]

The wrong notes. And how many wrong notes? And of course there is rhythm

[@bill3837]

How many kind of really comes down to sentiment as well? You know you can be in a free jazz moment or you can be in a straight classic jazz moment

[@bill3837]

Oh yeah, there's always something to be said by playing by the seat of your pants😊😊

[@CrowClouds]

Top 5 jazz youtube channels for sure. Thank you for this guest and interview

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks appreciate that! Sure thing

[@chrisfireymusic]

So great, thanks for uploading! Taylor is able to incredibly articulate his ideas.

[@NoahKellman]

Agreed, thanks Chris!

[@gitarmats]

I'm a guitarist, but this was super enjoyable and interesting to listen to. Thanks!

[@Johnwilkinsonofficial]

this was great. for singers horn players composers whatever - really creative ! thank you noah and taylor

[@sandilemgcina2904]

Man ! So much knowledge in 2 hrs 🙌🏽🔥

[@BauerHouse]

Such a great interview/lesson. Love this

[@davidolahmusic]

Awesome. Thanks a lot! ❤

[@jimzitrone1357]

very inspiring talk. for life and for making music

[@samratjpatil]

Beautiful talk

[@drcool56]

Just thanks from France ❤

[@ntandoscrayonbox]

Another banger

[@song4night]

such a great experience! This was amazing! Thanks Noah!

[@NoahKellman]

So glad you liked it! Appreciate the comment 🙏

[@blakewhatcott1909]

Loved this! So much knowledge!

[@NoahKellman]

Hey Blake so glad to hear that!

[@arkeys74]

This is truly amazing and very useful! 😉👍👍

[@NoahKellman]

Really glad to hear that! Thanks for the comment 🙏🙏

[@mattwilsonguitar]

This was a fascinating interview! Thank you both for your time

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks for listening!

[@maramazone]

Some amazing nuggets of information, love his concepts! Always excited what next musician you will interview! ❤ 🔥 ❤️

[@NoahKellman]

Got some great ones coming up!

[@maramazone]

@@NoahKellmanthank you, will definitely tune in, appreciate all the work you put into the interviews ❤🙏

[@ChrisLeePiano]

Thanks for the masterclass! the 49 chords exercise can also be implemented to harmonize melodies diatonically. Just so many ways of utilizing it.

[@NoahKellman]

100%! Great point, Chris

[@onethousandtwonortheast8848]

Respect. My experience is 180 degrees different because of my personal tastes. Keeping common notes between court movements helps me create more interesting. Sounds with fewer notes and makes things sound more smooth to me.

[@TayjazzProductions]

(Taylor here) - that is super cool and I love that you know what you like!!! Make that work for you!! I’m all for that and I’m just excited to hear that someone has a different approach than me - genuinely. That’s what makes this world a harmonically diverse sonic universe

[@TrummerMav]

Thx so much for sharing this ❤

[@Michael_Dominic]

peak content as usual absolute masterclass

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks, Michael 🙏

[@wildhorsemusic1111]

Encore!

[@davidfreel1451]

'Slower,slower,slower'. YES ! Alsmost noone ever talks about how to use a metronome properly for accuracy, awareness and security of memorisation. 1 Play as slow as you can 2. Start with metronome at that tempo. 3. Incrementally head down to about 15 BPM. 4. Take a break and gasp at what you have learned.

[@davidfreel1451]

To gain freedom from rote muscle memory take one bar and keep it fixed. Compose half a dozen or so answers either outlilining a different chord or couloring the same chord. Practice as a above to RELISH the point where your fingers are predisposed to take the 'easiest' habitual route and build flexibility slowly. Superb with purely rhythmic material.

[@HankusMaximus]

Incredible interview. A wealth of knowledge. Wow

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks glad you enjoyed it!

[@lukaipictures9448]

Really great interview. Thanks

[@NoahKellman]

For sure, glad you liked it

[@maciek_d]

Mind = blown

[@pas3202]

Would love to see Sullivan fortner on this series!

[@NoahKellman]

Same! Will try to make it happen

[@SuperC55AMG]

Taylor looks like drummer Jeff Hamilton. Great lesson.

[@jackgalloway8314]

Practising those minor harmonic scales. This guy knows his bus. Good old Bill Parcells, like myself a major NY Giants fan. Looking forward to this season. Greetings from the UK

[@NoahKellman]

Sounds like you know your football (american) unlike me!

[@jackgalloway8314]

Might catch you on tour one day, Noah?

[@danielrose6288]

Omg the G major on Autumn Leaves

[@TayjazzProductions]

😂

[@msh1348]

Thanks bro.

[@NoahKellman]

Sure thing 💪

[@VincentDBlair]

🔥🔥🔥

[@peterjohnstoltzman]

We should all be paying $250 minimum for this. Thanks for offering this to the world, cats!

[@NoahKellman]

Thanks, Peter! We had a great time, and Taylor was an amazing guest, so nice of him to share so much in this format. Hope you are able to learn a lot from this episode!

[@peterjohnstoltzman]

@@NoahKellman I caught the first 30 minutes and then heard Taylor shout out our lesson from 25 years ago…awesome…I still teach the same thing to advanced cats. FYI As a variation: keep the top note in the scale but move the voicing parallel. Any shape like that is dope-quartals, clusters, triads, etc.

[@NoahKellman]

@@peterjohnstoltzman ah cool, Peter! Would you mind explaining that a bit more in depth?

[@brunolacerda4611]

Passa o Pix

[@TayjazzProductions]

Folks should know that this exercise is just a branch/personal version of what I learned from @peterjohnstoltzman years ago!! I was lucky to be inspired early on to internalize these kinds of shapes in the muscle memory from an early age because Peter showed me all this stuff. Folks should know that this is essentially just a version of his exercise that played a game of “telephone” over the years, and for me, morphed into this. Just putting it out there that Peter Stoltzman is the real guru of gurus!!

[@ChicoBlack]

Noah kellman Great improv Video THANK YOU FOR SHARING Producer Chico Black

[@alexcondejazz]

thanks for the video! The exercise at 19:00 I believe is Chopin.

[@pablobear4241]

I believe it’s Lechetizkty

[@CrowClouds]

I like to start my practice time with some exercises around the specific key or scale that I'm working on, and then after that I play a couple songs I'm learning, then finally I like to do straight improv, just audiate what's in my head and create something random, but centered around the scale or key that I'm learning. Then the depression hits as I realize that piano time is over and I have to live my life

[@NoahKellman]

Sounds like a clear and fun routine! At least there’s always the next piano time to look forward to

[@Steve-xl1en]

wow what a great video. As someone who is somewhere between beginner and intermediate jazz player this has given me so much to think about. My 3 big take-aways are 1) Play everything slower when practicing to work on my slopiness 2) the 49 Chord exercise and finally 3) the random 1/8 note exercise -this really hit home for me, as I will memorize a solo or phrase, but when i make a mistake i cant recover for a few bars. Hopefully this will help!

[@NoahKellman]

Hey Steve, yeah No. 3 is an issue I see a lot of students have. I think the random 1/8 notes is a great way to work on that. Here's a video I did a while back on vocabulary integration that might help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWe1dZSirrh9r9U

[@Steve-xl1en]

@@NoahKellman Hi Noah thanks much appreciated I will check it out. Love your channel btw I have already bought a few of your packs! :)

[@donovick]

good

[@alejandromedina2349]

Could someone summ up this video? I do get how to get the 49th exercise. If I use the same shape diatonically they will not longer a minor if I start that way. Or is he just talking about inversions? Please do explain

[@mayakronfeld4617]

Absolutely stellar interview! amazing educator as well as artist @tayloreigsti

[@charlesperforms]

22:22

[@carloscappellini1687]

My dog is a genius.

[@cashglobe]

Getting permission to not transcribe tooooo too much from Taylor is freaking awesome. My first mentor, who toured with Miles (Herbie, Tony, Wayne) for a brief period and replaced Ron Carter (so he’s a heavy cat) as well as Richie Cole, was very much against transcribing too much for the exact reasons that Taylor described. People start sounding like carbon copies and there is no true music in it. It would be like someone only ever speaking in quotes from Faulkner and Dostoevsky their entire life 😂 it would get old after like 10 minutes

[@carsontanner966]

Are you talking about Marshall Hawkins?

[@richardreisman5245]

Hi Noah, Can you clarify how the number 49 applies to the chord shapes exeecise? Thanks.

[@NoahKellman]

Hey Richard, basically, 7×7 = 49. There are seven notes in the scale. You create a voicing that uses each note once. Then, you move that voicing diatonically up the scale, which gives you six more voicings, 7 total. So, you pick seven different shapes, or voicings, and do this process. If you take seven different shapes through their seven diatomic scale, that ends up basically giving you 49 voicings in total that you have practiced/learned. Does that make sense?

[@richardreisman5245]

@@NoahKellman got it . Thanks. Great interview!

[@julienpainot8862]

@@NoahKellman so it would be, day1: 49 shapes of minor7 in all 12 keys. Day 2: 49 shapes of maj7th in 12 keys and day 3: dom7 in all 12keys?

[@NoahKellman]

@@julienpainot8862 I think he means: Day 1: Pick a chord or shape, and diatonically run it through its scale, which gives you 7 voicings total. Day 2: Same thing, different shape. Day 3: new shape Etc. 7 days = 7 * 7 voicings = 49

[@julienpainot8862]

I’m not sure because he speaks about a 3days cycle, not a seven days cycle. So where is the 49 coming from?

[@PCMRvsconsole]

Gundam Thunderbolt.

[@ili626]

36:00 I think he called it the “49 Chord Exercise” because he’s a 49ers fan and thinks of everything on the piano in terms of football (based on his earlier 49ers reference). Also: that’s 7 X 12 not 7 X 7 … so why 49 instead of 84?

[@bill3837]

Okay so you find some happy accidents. What not? Do you start to practice that?

[@danielecorbari7033]

Wtf I thought it was an Anthony Jeselniks video

[@CrowClouds]

Bro can TALK holy shit

[@CrowClouds]

Bro only American dudes will talk 20 min straight uninterrupted -_-

[@rainerschnelle1]

I find a lot of what he says very interesting but overall he talks way too much. He does't seem to be able to finish a thougth.and leave some space.

[@federicorubin1864]

I agree. Too much talkin

[@dariovicenzo8139]

Agree, few concepts and very fast explained with a lot of talking in the middle not contestual. Very bad organized from Noah in my opinion. We lost an occasion.

[@jacobfuller9532]

This is a podcast that you are watching fo free! Not meant to be a masterclass, the man should charge for that.

[@poerava]

Some serious audible fellatio in this dudes intro. Really not necessary The monologues though 🤦‍♀️ Man Was this edited? Or does he really monologue this much? It’s very uneasy listening to someone just monologue this long about their own playing.

[@jackwilliamsopenyourmouth]

This is pissing amazing. Thank you