Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 18 hours ago
Here is the secret that makes jazz chords stop being scary: there are no new chords. A Dm9 looks like five notes of advanced theory, but look inside it and you find an F chord you already know with an A minor you already know sitting on top of it. Jazz chords are just the chords you learned first, overlapping.
Try every lesson for $1 for 7 days: webpianoteacher.com/subscription/offer
This is a clip out of my new SMOOTH PIANO JAZZ course, built on "Asking You Out" by the Quinn Perry Trio.
"See how these chords just kind of overlap? One way to think of jazz chords is just overlapping three-note chords. Instead of going seven, nine, eleven, it's like -- oh, I'm just doing an F chord with an A minor."
Spell it out on the keys: D-F-A-C-E. The D-F-A is D minor. The F-A-C hiding inside it is an F chord. The A-C-E on top is A minor. One five-note jazz chord, three little chords you have played for years, stacked so they share notes. That is the whole trick.
WHY THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
- You stop memorizing monster chords. You spot the two or three small chords inside and your hands already know where to go.
- The chord symbols stop being math. "Dm9" stops meaning "count up nine" and starts meaning "D minor with an old friend stacked on it."
- You can build these yourself. Take any chord you know, stack the triad that starts on its 3rd or 5th, and you are voicing jazz chords tonight.
- Reading gets faster. A fistful of notes on the page reads as two shapes, not five separate letters.
- It is why jazz sounds rich but sits easy under the hand. The color comes from the overlap, not from stretching for exotic notes.
WHAT IS IN THE SMOOTH PIANO JAZZ COURSE
This is the sound you have been chasing: the piano on a late night record, warm and unhurried, thick chords hanging in the air, a right hand that wanders off and always lands somewhere beautiful.
PART ONE is the full song, hands together, line by line, from my annotated sheet music with the letter name printed inside every notehead, and my hands on camera from directly overhead.
PART TWO is seven eight-bar chord progressions pulled out of the tune: quartal minor 11 shapes, the stubborn A pedal, slash chords, half diminished, borrowed major 13 color, the Lydian sharp 11, the minor four chord that makes a major song ache. Every bar gives you the chord for two beats and then two beats of silence, and that silence is yours to answer in.
PART THREE is over fifty jazz licks, one over every chord in those progressions: chromatic enclosures, chromatic descents, arpeggios up and walks back down, and the diminished arpeggio off the 3rd of the V chord that resolves by half step into the I. Play-along tracks and printable sheet music included.
Start the Smooth Piano Jazz course on your $1 trial: webpianoteacher.com/subscription/offer
#smoothjazz #jazzpiano #pianolesson #jazzchords #pianochords #learnpiano #pianotutorial #adultpianostudent #chordvoicing #improvisation #jazzstandards #pianoteacher #musictheory
👍 Try 1,000 free lessons today on webpianoteacher.com ✅ Learn to play piano with Shawn’s revolutionary method
Read Google Reviews by Shawn’s actual students google.com/search?sca_esv=5009c1303de011b0&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1008US1008&hl=en-US&q=web+piano+teacher+reviews&uds=ADvngMgvgkdrPGdvQSDLpEVP-ZodsumYvHbzDCPdZxu7y1dxdo5qqAYWcbG74nStvB1P7oPuKgMFxvRIzd_DZN3tMyxEyrPXSMvg62M7DhKnaOoXRrvMRlR2qOzpuVB5MFvbzhVxfpnLmeUii_UEMspRA9Sb2_UNlNmYcxD8gSa_9Y-ZrAhmC7PMo4dC-3yAW2NaRCTwbTkIJFF0zACFe0MmWygbXUnSyy4URj5yYn7f6Y92qL5F7C65sP-AwHchpQ_w3yruheB24nu-AvcfFQo-ckINkBqWAeio4R0dm9r8cmVn2A7RlUhPAPOZyHpYJ2DontEmnoCi9_eEmhwW9RpGrsajaR7u8_U58p0eD_M4AQtnaQce2g4_3U4ECJVG1OOQrlRFwR4byywOQYKXK-PF9b_wDOJ4wtlppDpfX1FhULjD2H_jbmF3keFLT-JjbHx5mU1wYAbm&si=ACC90nwjPmqJHrCEt6ewASzksVFQDX8zco_7MgBaIawvaF4-7tVxiqnhHYhqKwDDsP2tv6FAZ1fBoW06Zy-5I4bv_4sVUMNgTvp0JS4qCRvaokEGreiT-RV-opIxhvzKSE6856yE4kgwpddtdtU31HEpdWwEdq8gXg%3D%3D&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik1uakreOIAxVxKkQIHU2mGhQQk8gLegQIKRAB&ictx=1&biw=390&bih=657&dpr=3
🎹 #learntoplaypiano #learnpiano #pianocover #pianolessons #pianoteacher #pianotutorial #easypiano #howtoplaypiano http:webpianoteacher.com
🎹 Testimonials from Shawn’s actual students: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bI83Iun0tmCk-4IOSVAxm6S
🔥Billy Joel Song Lessons: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bKGJ1HDqNoqdQ02-o579MQk
🔥Elton John Song Lessons: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bJV-8LhjXDcX5W4XRLhFhQZ
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Here is the secret that makes jazz chords stop being scary: there are no new chords. A Dm9 looks like five notes of advanced theory, but look inside it and you find an F chord you already know with an A minor you already know sitting on top of it. Jazz chords are just the chords you learned first, overlapping.
Try every lesson for $1 for 7 days: webpianoteacher.com/subscription/offer
This is a clip out of my new SMOOTH PIANO JAZZ course, built on "Asking You Out" by the Quinn Perry Trio.
"See how these chords just kind of overlap? One way to think of jazz chords is just overlapping three-note chords. Instead of going seven, nine, eleven, it's like -- oh, I'm just doing an F chord with an A minor."
Spell it out on the keys: D-F-A-C-E. The D-F-A is D minor. The F-A-C hiding inside it is an F chord. The A-C-E on top is A minor. One five-note jazz chord, three little chords you have played for years, stacked so they share notes. That is the whole trick.
WHY THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
- You stop memorizing monster chords. You spot the two or three small chords inside and your hands already know where to go.
- The chord symbols stop being math. "Dm9" stops meaning "count up nine" and starts meaning "D minor with an old friend stacked on it."
- You can build these yourself. Take any chord you know, stack the triad that starts on its 3rd or 5th, and you are voicing jazz chords tonight.
- Reading gets faster. A fistful of notes on the page reads as two shapes, not five separate letters.
- It is why jazz sounds rich but sits easy under the hand. The color comes from the overlap, not from stretching for exotic notes.
WHAT IS IN THE SMOOTH PIANO JAZZ COURSE
This is the sound you have been chasing: the piano on a late night record, warm and unhurried, thick chords hanging in the air, a right hand that wanders off and always lands somewhere beautiful.
PART ONE is the full song, hands together, line by line, from my annotated sheet music with the letter name printed inside every notehead, and my hands on camera from directly overhead.
PART TWO is seven eight-bar chord progressions pulled out of the tune: quartal minor 11 shapes, the stubborn A pedal, slash chords, half diminished, borrowed major 13 color, the Lydian sharp 11, the minor four chord that makes a major song ache. Every bar gives you the chord for two beats and then two beats of silence, and that silence is yours to answer in.
PART THREE is over fifty jazz licks, one over every chord in those progressions: chromatic enclosures, chromatic descents, arpeggios up and walks back down, and the diminished arpeggio off the 3rd of the V chord that resolves by half step into the I. Play-along tracks and printable sheet music included.
Start the Smooth Piano Jazz course on your $1 trial: webpianoteacher.com/subscription/offer
#smoothjazz #jazzpiano #pianolesson #jazzchords #pianochords #learnpiano #pianotutorial #adultpianostudent #chordvoicing #improvisation #jazzstandards #pianoteacher #musictheory
👍 Try 1,000 free lessons today on webpianoteacher.com ✅ Learn to play piano with Shawn’s revolutionary method
Read Google Reviews by Shawn’s actual students google.com/search?sca_esv=5009c1303de011b0&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1008US1008&hl=en-US&q=web+piano+teacher+reviews&uds=ADvngMgvgkdrPGdvQSDLpEVP-ZodsumYvHbzDCPdZxu7y1dxdo5qqAYWcbG74nStvB1P7oPuKgMFxvRIzd_DZN3tMyxEyrPXSMvg62M7DhKnaOoXRrvMRlR2qOzpuVB5MFvbzhVxfpnLmeUii_UEMspRA9Sb2_UNlNmYcxD8gSa_9Y-ZrAhmC7PMo4dC-3yAW2NaRCTwbTkIJFF0zACFe0MmWygbXUnSyy4URj5yYn7f6Y92qL5F7C65sP-AwHchpQ_w3yruheB24nu-AvcfFQo-ckINkBqWAeio4R0dm9r8cmVn2A7RlUhPAPOZyHpYJ2DontEmnoCi9_eEmhwW9RpGrsajaR7u8_U58p0eD_M4AQtnaQce2g4_3U4ECJVG1OOQrlRFwR4byywOQYKXK-PF9b_wDOJ4wtlppDpfX1FhULjD2H_jbmF3keFLT-JjbHx5mU1wYAbm&si=ACC90nwjPmqJHrCEt6ewASzksVFQDX8zco_7MgBaIawvaF4-7tVxiqnhHYhqKwDDsP2tv6FAZ1fBoW06Zy-5I4bv_4sVUMNgTvp0JS4qCRvaokEGreiT-RV-opIxhvzKSE6856yE4kgwpddtdtU31HEpdWwEdq8gXg%3D%3D&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik1uakreOIAxVxKkQIHU2mGhQQk8gLegQIKRAB&ictx=1&biw=390&bih=657&dpr=3
🎹 #learntoplaypiano #learnpiano #pianocover #pianolessons #pianoteacher #pianotutorial #easypiano #howtoplaypiano http:webpianoteacher.com
🎹 Testimonials from Shawn’s actual students: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bI83Iun0tmCk-4IOSVAxm6S
🔥Billy Joel Song Lessons: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bKGJ1HDqNoqdQ02-o579MQk
🔥Elton John Song Lessons: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmQmIKv8_bJV-8LhjXDcX5W4XRLhFhQZ
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