A KEYBOARD COURSE BY OZZIE AHLERS
Keys to the Jam
Four decades on stage and in the studio — distilled into three progressive volumes for rock, blues, and jam-band keyboard.
From the Jerry Garcia Band to Van Morrison’s tours to Billboard #1 albums with Craig Chaquico — the techniques behind a career you’ve already been listening to, taught by the player who lived them.
Ozzie has played keyboards in The Jerry Garcia Band, with Van Morrison, at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios, beside Clarence Clemons — on two Grammy-nominated albums.
WHY THIS COURSE EXISTS
A keyboard course that actually sounds like a band.
Most online keyboard courses teach you to play at a piano. This one teaches you to play with a band — the way Ozzie has for fifty years.
01
Taught by a working pro
Not an influencer. Not a content creator. Forty-plus years of professional credits on records you’ve heard.
02
Band-first technique
Voicings, comping, and improvisation built for ensembles — the small choices that make a keyboard part feel right.
03
Three progressive volumes
Start with the fundamentals; finish with the studio and stage techniques behind Grammy-nominated records.
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Yours to keep, forever
Lifetime access. Watch on your own clock. Re-watch when something finally clicks.
THREE VOLUMES
Buy one volume, or take the whole journey.
Each volume stands alone. Each builds on the one before it.
START HERE
VOLUME I
The Fundamentals
Where it all starts — get your hands right and your ears open.
- ♪Hand position and pro touch
- ♪Essential chord shapes and voicings
- ♪Building blocks of R&B and blues
- ♪Scales and modes that earn their keep
- ♪Listening for the band, not just the keys
$67
VOLUME II
The Next Step
Now you’re in the band — voicings, soloing, and locking in with the rhythm section.
- ♪Advanced chord voicings the pros use
- ♪Improvising over changes
- ♪Studio recording technique
- ♪How to lock in with bass and drums
- ♪Playing live: presence and feel
$77
VOLUME III
Cool Blues You Can Use
The pro stuff — arranging, the studio, and the little secrets behind the records.
- ♪Professional arranging
- ♪The session musician’s toolkit
- ♪Producing your own keyboard tracks
- ♪Signature sound design
- ♪A life-in-music career talk
$87
★ BEST VALUE
ALL THREE VOLUMES — THE COMPLETE COURSE
Keys to the Jam — Complete Bundle
Every lesson, every volume, every supplementary chord chart and practice exercise. The whole arc of a working keyboardist’s life, in your hands.
$231 separately
$197
SAVE $34
BY THE END OF THE COURSE
What changes in your playing.
Specific outcomes, not promises. By the time you finish Volume III, you’ll be playing keyboard the way a pro plays.
PERFORMANCE
You’ll sound like you belong in a band.
- ▸Hold your own in a jam without losing the groove
- ▸Build a part that supports the song, not steps on it
- ▸Take a real solo — phrasing, dynamics, restraint
- ▸Read the room and adjust mid-tune
STUDIO
You’ll know your way around a recording.
- ▸Layer keyboard parts that fit together, not pile up
- ▸Work with producers and engineers without friction
- ▸Build signature sounds you can repeat
- ▸Hear the mix from a keyboardist’s chair
CAREER
You’ll think like a working pro.
- ▸How session work actually happens
- ▸Setting up for different rooms and rigs
- ▸The musician’s-life choices that pay off
- ▸Lessons learned over 50 years on the road
WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID
About the player.
Course-specific reviews will replace these as students share their work. For now, here’s what critics have said about the musician you’ll be learning from.
“His debut Fingerpainting rocks steady from start to finish … [from] a sideman career behind the likes of Jerry Garcia and Van Morrison.”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Artist Review
“Ahlers next helped put Chaquico’s Acoustic Planet on the [Billboard Magazine] charts, where it deposed Yanni from the top spot …”
ALLMUSIC.COM
Linda Seida
“Ahlers writes instantly hooky, hypnotic melodies but performs them with an edge …”
R&R MAGAZINE
Review of Fingerpainting
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Ozzie Ahlers
I’ve had one incredible blast of a life in music, and full circles seem to happen to me a lot. From October 1979 through March 1980 I played keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band. I toured as a sideman with Van Morrison. Back in 1970, my band Glory River got signed to Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Productions. And for sixteen years I wrote, produced, and played alongside Craig Chaquico — including the Grammy-nominated Acoustic Planet, which sat at #1 on Billboard’s New Age chart for 30 weeks and knocked Yanni off the top spot.
Three Gold singles, two Billboard #1 hits, music on The Sopranos and Big Love, four albums with the blues guitarist Jimmy Dillon… I’m outta breath. The point isn’t the résumé — it’s that all of it taught me the shortcuts. The little things that get you jamming, touring, and recording with great players, instead of just practicing alone.
I’ve been teaching keyboard online and on DVD since 2011, and Keys to the Jam is the whole thing rebuilt — remastered, reorganized, and renamed from the series I’ve been sending students around the world for over a decade. I’m not a salesman, never have been. I’m a player who loves passing this on.
Come sit in. I’ll show you the easy way in — wherever you want to go.
Jerry Garcia Band Van Morrison Electric Lady Studios Clarence Clemons Craig Chaquico Jimmy Dillon The Sopranos Big Love 2× Grammy-nominated 2× Billboard #1 3× Gold
COMMON QUESTIONS
The fine print.
Is this the same content as the old "Killer Keyboards Made Simple" DVDs?
Do I need to read music?
What's my level supposed to be?
How long is each volume?
Acoustic piano or synth — does it matter?
How do I actually get the course after I buy?
What's the refund policy?
START PLAYING
Forty years behind the keys, on yours.
∞
Lifetime Access
Watch on your own clock, forever.
↩
30-Day Refund
Not for you? Full refund. No essay required.
♪
Taught by a Pro
Forty years of working credits behind it.
Course opens later this year. Waitlist gets first access and launch-week pricing.
Ozzie Ahlers is a former touring keyboardist with the Jerry Garcia Band (October 1979 – March 1980). This course is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Estate of Jerry Garcia, Jerry Garcia Family LLC, or the Grateful Dead. All references to the Jerry Garcia Band describe Ozzie’s personal professional history.