Some years ago,  after I had been playing piano for many years I decided to learn jazz.  I had always loved this type of music and wanted to be part of it.  I assume if you are reading this that you want to be part of it too. 

But this was easier said than done,  trying to find someone to teach me: there are few teachers out there and the players are too busy playing.  Eventually I approached Ted Beament, who was Humphrey Lyttleton's pianist.  I saw him at a gig and knew he lived near me.  He started me off on what you have to do. Then I joined a jazz workshop, not all that brilliant , but it got me playing with other people.

But I thought of how hard it had been to find a teacher and decided to become one myself.  I found that it was very satisfying to help people do something they had always wanted to do. When you learn jazz it's assumed to know something about music already, being able to read, knowing scales and such.  If this sounds a bit too academic, don't despair,  it's only the tools for the job.

If you feel you want to learn improvisation, jazz, blues, latin style you need to be shown how to apply the things you already know.  It's a bit like being given raw ingredients and being told to cook the dinner -  how?   So you start by going to someone who can help you do that.   You need to get on with the teacher as it is a very one-to-one sort of subject.  And once you have got the idea of making meaningful improvisations you need to get out there and do it!

This is the hard bit.  There are lots of summer schools and also workshops, jam-sessions and similar outlets but some of them are expensive and some are a long way away.  I just gathered some of the people I had been to the workshop with and played some stuff round our house (we lived in a detached house then).  This was fun on Sunday afternoons.  Then we started getting a few low-key gigs, parties and fetes.

So hopefully, you too will be able to play he music you love and play along with your friends.