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This is the course introduction to chapter three taken from Blues for Piano and
Keyboard
Gospel, Rock and roll, Country or Jazz: what do they have in common?
Each one of these styles draws heavily on elements of the Blues. In fact if you
want to become a great player of gospel, rock and roll, country or jazz you've got to
first master the blues.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
If you're brand new to music or if you already playing and you'd like to learn to play
piano or keyboard by ear, check that course out.
The first thing we need to do is look at the form of the blues
Maybe you've heard of the 12 bar blues? This means that there are 12 measures
or bars that repeat over and over. Within each of these 12 bars are measures with
four beats.
In the upcoming blues piano lesson chapters there's lots and lots of video zoomed
in close to the piano level where you can see the details of what each hand and
finger are doing. But at this point in the first chapter we're not quite ready yet to
look at specific chords are notes.
Instead we're looking at an overview of the 12 bar blues form. In fact, you can see
it there on the screen: 12 bars or measures, each containing one chord. To help
you keep track of where we are in the 12 bar blues, just follow the circle. It will
follow along with what I'm playing on the piano.
Now that you know what fifths are let's use them to build a simple foundation for
the blues. Look at the blue box again - the 12 bar blues - for each chord I'm going
to play a fifth built on that chord and then hold it for four beats. Here we go...
[video: playing through the 12 bar piano blues]
Now we're just at the foundational stages at this point - don't be afraid to review
that as many times as you need to so that you'll get a really solid foundation. Then
move on.
In the last audio clip I played a fifth for each chord and then I held it for four beats
like this...
[piano lessons video]
Now we are going to build on that foundation using sixths and sevenths.
To make a sixth, simply count one note higher than the fifth. But this is super
important - count up one note in the scale of the chord that you playing.
Here's where it can seem to get a little complicated. Depending on the scale of the
chord that you're playing that sixth can be a black note, or a white note.
But don't worry, there's a very simple trick that will allow you to find the right note:
In our original piano lesson course, we looked at how all major scales are a simple
pattern of half steps and whole steps. Because of that, some scales look radically
different: For instance, C Major has no black notes while A major has three black
notes. However, they're all based on the same simple pattern of half steps, and
whole steps. Here's the trick: if you learn to use this pattern you'll be able to quickly
find any note no matter what key you're in... Make sure you get the original course.
We'll also be using the dominant seventh chord. The dominant seventh is the
bread and butter chord of the blues and it's the number one spice that you'll use as
you learn to cook up a nice tasty the batch of the blues.
The dominant seventh chord is a different beast. Don't worry about what key you're
in - simply find the sixth and then go to the very next note higher.
Remember some dominant seventh notes will be black notes and some will be
white. Just remember to go to the very next note up from the sixth no matter what
key you're in.
Now are going to use the fifth, sixth and seventh in each measure. On the first beat
we'll play a fifth just like we did in the last example. On the second beat I'll stretch
my hand up a little higher to play a sixth, and on the third beat I'll stretch my hand
out a little more to play a dominant seventh. On the fourth beat of each measure I'll
come back down and play a sixth.
So for the entire first measure of the 12 bar blues where the chord is C it sounds
like this - all four beats..
[piano lessons video here]
So far it's pretty simple but it's solid. This is the left hand foundation that will pull
everything together.
The next thing that we're going to do is build on this left hand foundation...
To continue with this online audio and video piano lessons demo, go to the top of
this page and click the next button.
Guess what? We're going to use our old buddies again fifths, sixths and sevenths. This time however, the
dominant seventh is going to be on the bottom.
I can hear you say "What? The Dominant 7th can't be on the bottom can it?"
Of course it can - for instance the dominant seventh of C Major is a B flat, but there
are lots of B flats on the piano. With your right hand simply play any old B flat with
your thumb and then play the third and the fifth of C major above that.
You've got to get used to the notion that you can spread the notes of a chord out
anywhere you want on the piano. This is what's meant by that term "voicing" a
chord. In our original piano lessons course titled Pattern Piano and Keyboard, we
studied how you can take the notes of any chord and then voice them on the piano.
Then we learned to play these voicings as Rhythmic Patterns - effectively giving
you a powerful music vocabulary that you can use to play any song by ear!
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Let me cover one more bit - you'll hear me talk about a piano blues trick that
involves sliding a chord from minor to major. Now I know I say this a lot, but if you
went through our original Piano Lessons course, you would know how to change a
chord for minor to major.
the same finger, just slide that third up 1/2 step to C7. It's a very simple technique.
Here's what it looks like if you played it over F7...
[ piano lessons video here ]
It's exactly the same over G7...
[ piano lessons video here ]
Now we're going to use this very simple piano lessons technique and play through
the 12 bar blues again. You'll be amazed how this simple little minor to major slide
suddenly brings real life and character to the music...
[ piano lessons video here ]
That's a nice little blues trick!
Now we're going to put it all together: some left hand rhythm with some Yum Yum
right hand spice!
In the upcoming piano lessons video you'll hear me referring to whole steps and
half steps. Whole steps and half steps are the main building blocks of scale and
chord construction.
For a more in-depth study of whole steps and half steps, go through the course
titled Pattern Piano and Keyboard
One last bit of music trivia - in the upcoming video you'll hear me talk about moving
one of the blues riffs up an octave. For more detailed studies in octaves and other
foundational musical techniques, you really need to go through the course titled "
Pattern Piano and Keyboard".
Let's move on now to a piano blues riff that's been tried and true down through the
years. It's built on everything we've learned so far. Here it is...
[ piano lessons video here ]
The whole thing sounds like this [ piano lessons video here ]
Note that in the illustration I have the top note going up a whole step, the middle
note going up 1/2 step, the bottom note going up a whole step, and then back. This
all happens within the first four beats of C like this...
Now if you want to go deeper and have an in-depth study of how all these whole
steps and half steps come together to create chords so that you understand how
music itself is constructed, dig into the online piano lessons course titled Pattern
Piano and Keyboard.
I know that I keep talking about that, but I'm really not ashamed of the advertising
because it's been so very helpful to literally hundreds of thousands of piano lesson
students around the world.
In this chapter we're dealing with the right hand primarily, but just in case you want
to push the envelope a little bit with both your hands, I want to throw you a little
extra bone for your left hand...
In the last chapter we dealt with playing fifths, sixths and sevenths for each beat of
the 12 bar blues. Do you notice my Pinkie is repeating that note every time? And
that's how I taught it to you.
That's a great way to start with a left hand but if you want to throw in something
more, you can do what I do a lot - it's called the rhythmic kicker. Check this out...
[ piano lessons video here ]
Do you see how the index finger is throwing in that extra note in between each
beat? The pinky is just sitting and holding. So you've got a couple different options
now in your left hand, but remember - you don't have to throw the new rhythmic
kicker in right away.
OK or write let's go back to what we're studying in this chapter - this is a new right
hand blues riff and we'll play it through the 12 bar blues starting on C.
To continue with this online audio and video piano lessons demo, go to the top of
this page and click the next button.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
[ piano lessons video here ]
Now here's where it's really begins to sound fantastic... when you alternate Riff #1
with Riff #2. Can you hear that?... Riff #1, Riff #2, Riff#1, followed by 2.
Yeah, just back and forth. It's mighty fine. Alright.
But for now, listen to a sample of the right hand playing the static riff in the exact
same spot on the keyboard while the left hand moves through different chords of
the blues. Here it is.
[ piano lessons video here ]
Now, did you hear how the right hand kept hammering the same exact riff while the
left hand playing different chords? That's called a static riff. It doesn't seam like it
would have much interest because after all you always play it in the same spot.
However, when you couple together in the left hand, it can become a very, very
powerful force in the blues. Now a bit of clarification: I did say that you play the
static riff in exactly the same spot in the keyboard no matter what chord the left
hand was playing - there's one exemption. You can play it up an octave (or two
octaves), or an octave lower, whatever the case is, that way it's always the same
notes but in different registers on the keyboard.
Now if it sounds I'm getting a bit technical on this point, you know what? I am! It's
time to dig in - there are great concepts here but it does take some technical,
musical knowledge. Now if you play the piano, and if you're really comfortable with
these terms, let's move on.
But if this is starting to sound like a foreign language, you really need to go through
our course titled "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". You can find that piano lessons
course on the net at www.playpianotoday.com.
"Pattern Piano and Keyboard" starts with the very beginning foundations of music.
It assumes that you have never played piano before, but then it quickly moves to
college level techniques. But the real power of this piano lessons course is that it
will enable you to learn to play piano by ear, quickly - using the revolutionary
technique of rhythmic patterns!
This is so powerful! Using this tool of rhythmic patterns, piano students are quickly
able to develop their own unique style and unique sound on the piano or the
keyboard. They are able to create fantastic arrangements of any song by ear.
Doesn't that sound like fun? We literally have hundreds of thousands of students
around the world who have gone through this course and they have found a new
passion in music.
Now once you have gone through that course, come back here. Work your way
through this online blues course. At that point, you'll have a solid musical
understanding which will allow you to become a creative musician - and this is a
key to a life long love of music.
[Music fading]
Now we're going to work on the individual notes of this right hand blues riff, the
static riff, blues riff #2 frame by frame.
This has been part one of two from chapter 6, in the piano lesson series titled
"Blues for Piano and Keyboard". If you want to see more piano lessons, come on
over to http://www.playpianotoday.com.
[ piano lessons video here ]
In this website, there's a wealth of online piano and keyboard lessons and you can
dig in right away.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
<Turnaround Blues Scale Demo>
Now I'm not going to go over all the detail fingering. You can go through Chapter
Eleven and it literally goes through every key. It will work you through in different
speeds until you become very proficient at playing the blues scales. That will really
open up your world of playing in the blues because your hands will be free. But the
Static Riff, <music/demo> is very simple to play. There's the first two notes, and
then I play the next note with my thumb. Now I go over my thumb and come down
with my thumb. Pretty simple. Kind of the skeleton of that blues scale. And again,
that's why it works so well over every chord in the blues.
Now the power of learning all these different blues riff comes when you learn
that you can put them into your own music and into your own songs and
alternate, mix and match them any way you'd like to come up with powerful
arrangements of any song on the piano.
Now this really is the premise of our course titled "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". If
you haven't yet learned to play by ear, and you want to learn all of the foundations
of these blues stuff is based on, go through the online piano lessons demo found at
PlayPianoToday.com.
Alright let's get to the good stuff. We're going to play all the way through the twelvebar blues again. This time we'll alternate riff #1 <riff#1 demo> with the static riff, riff
# 2 <riff#2 demo>. And as I play through, watch for both riffs played in different
octaves or registers on the keyboard. Alright, here we go.
[ piano lessons video here ]
Alright! There it is. Lot's of fun with the few extra goodies thrown in there at the
end. Actually, that long extended riff all the way down in the keyboard - we'll go and
study it in just a couple of chapters. So stick with me, we've got a lot of great of
stuff to dig into. If you'd like to see more, come over to keyboardblues.com.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
For instance, to find that mysterious note that turns C into C7, first start with the
root which is C then go down a whole step which is B flat and just that quickly,
you've found that Dominant 7th note that can turn C into C7. Now, we're putting the
7th down on the bottom of the chord which is usually considered an advanced
musical technique; but once you know this very simple secret, this advanced
technique becomes very easy to do. And you can play that Dominant 7th note
anywhere you want. You can play a nice and low on the keyboard with your left
hand, <note demo> that's the Dominant 7th down there, Or you can play it up high.
Learning to do this is one of those very easy to understand musical shortcuts that
can revolutionize your playing.
[ piano lessons video here ]
Comp chords don't have to be complicated. They're just two notes played by
the left hand on the piano. Isn't that crazy? Two notes can sound so
fantastic. Sometimes less really is more.
Now the right hand is playing a whole lot of stuff but we'll dig in to that in future
chapters.
Now if you pick two notes in the left hand to make comp chords it'll sound great if
you pick the right notes. It's just like anything else in life. It doesn't have to be
complicated but it does have to be right. Now the good news is that it's pretty easy
to find these two notes. Let's check it out.
[ piano lessons video here ]
In our piano lessons course title "Pattern Piano and Keyboard", which you can find
on the net at playpianotoday.com, we studied the two notes of these comp chords
specifically, thirds and sevenths. In fact, we went over every kind of seventh chord
possible. If you really want to become a creative musician, you really need to go
through "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". Here's why.
You can be a piano player or a keyboard player who just reads notes off the page
and that's good, reading is important. To be a well-rounded musician, you
eventually need to learn to read music. To do that, you can simply take lessons
from most any local piano teacher and they'll teach you how to read. Now while I'm
not minimizing the value of learning to read, the truth is that simply reading music
does not make you a complete musician.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Ain't that nice? There's a tri-tone right in the middle. Or what if you play a tri-tone
down here? Remember those three whole steps? <demo> There it is. You can play
a nice fat chord built on that. Isn't that amazing? That simple little tri-tone.
And here's an amazing fact, ninety percent of all the great rhythm and blues
chords that really are fat are based on this simple little tri-tone. Incredible. You
know they had a lot of fun making that a devil chord back in the middle ages. In
fact, if you sang a tri-tone in a chant back then, you'll get kicked out.
Excommunication for the musician. But now you know better, you know that the tritone is actually a beautiful thing that can be put to use very nicely.
We're going to go a step further. Now that you know how to create these tri-tones I
want to show you how to play them in different locations so that your hand doesn't
have to jump - so, that C tri-tone and F tri-tone chord are within a half step of each
other. Now that may sound ludicrous, the notes C and F are a fourth apart on the
keyboard. But now I'm going to show you how to invert these tri-tones so that
they can be played right next to each other. This is typically an advanced
concept but once you understand the pattern of what I'm going to show you, you'll
be able to play this stuff right away. Check this out.
We're going to start with the chord F. Now here's a new concept, I'm going to invert
or turn-over this to F7 chord by putting the 7th on the bottom and the 3rd on the
top. Now do you notice how close those notes are to the ones I played in the video
example for C? But now these chords relate to the chord F and I've inverted it or
turned it over and put the 7th on the bottom. Now I'm going to go back to C just for
examples sake.
[ piano lessons video here ]
There it is, the 3rd's on the bottom now, the 7th on the top. And F, has the 7th on
the bottom and the third on the top.
But the really powerful concept that I'd like you to get here is that even though F7
and C7 are radically different chords, you can play them very simply right next to
each other by inverting that F7 comp chord which means turning it over and putting
the 7th on the bottom. Learning to invert chords like this is a powerful concept that
can really free-up your left hand.
So far, we've looked at C and F. The one other chord that shows up is G7. Now if
you noticed, I've inverted the G chord as well. I've put the 7th at the bottom, which
is F (music), and the 3rd on the top (music), which is B. And look at that, by
inverting that G chord that's right next to the C chord, and it's really close to the F
chord. What a powerful concept than can really free up your hands on the
piano.
Now that you know how to create these left-hand tri-tone comp chords, I'm going to
play the same video again. The video where the right hand's flying around and
playing lots of blues riffs but the left hand is mainly playing either C7, G7 or F7 as
two-note tri-tone comp chords. But this time, I'm going make it just a little easier to
focus on those tri-tone comp chords . Every time I my left hand plays one of them,
I'm going to flash a light on the screen, just like this. <example>
Alright, two-note comp chords, here we go. <demo>
Alright. That was an entire buffet of left-hand tri-tone comp chords. I hope you got
them all. When you're ready, let's go on to chapter 8.
[ piano lessons video here ]
If you'd like to see more, come on over to keyboardblues.com.
[ piano lessons video here ]
In this website, there's a wealth of online piano and keyboard lessons that you can
dig into right away, including this lesson.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
...and then I told you I'd show it to you in the next chapter and I never did. (!) Don't
worry, we'll get to it today. But in Chapter 7, I ended up showing you those powerful
left hand comp chords. Remember that?
[ video here ]
I hope you enjoyed Chapter 7, there was some great stuff for your left hand in
there. But today, we're going to dig back into the static riff from Chapter 6. [ piano
lessons video here ] And I'm going to show you how to extend it into a nice long
bluesy phrase on the piano:
[ video here ]
Now that long extended version of the static riff might sound really complicated to
play but let me blow your mind: The long extension of this static riff [ video here ] is
really simple! In fact, you know most of it already if you learned Chapter 6.
It's actually the same static blues riff [ piano lessons video here ] two times, high
and low. Now in between the high static riff and the low static riff, there's a tiny little
riff that connects the two. I call it "the connector". What a great little name, how did
I ever think of that?
This is what it sounds like: [ video here ]. So here's the static blues riff [ piano
lessons video here ] with the connector [ video here ], then you play the same
static blues riff an octave lower. Now here's what it sounds like altogether up to
speed [ video here ]. Let's do that one more time. Here's the static riff up high
[ video here ], here's the connector [ video here ], and finally the static blues riff
again, lower.
Now that was nice and slow. I can't wait 'til you can play this on your keyboard,
but there's even more. Once you learn to do that, you can keep running the static
riff and the connector-static riff and connector all the way down to the bottom of the
keyboard - it sounds fantastic! Let's play it like that once. This time we're going to
kick the tempo all the way up and we're going to run that thing all the way down the
keyboard. Here it is.
[ video here ]
Now I know that may be a little over the top to make that riff roll all the way down
the keyboard -a little flashy, a little dramatic, but every musician has got to have a
few tricks in the bag, right? I mean drummers can twirl their sticks so keyboard
players, when they do, roll this baby all the way down the keyboard, then look at
the drummer and say, "Hey! You're not so tough."
[ piano lessons video here ]
At this point in the blues course, you either are really digging into the keyboard and
really loving this stuff or maybe you're scratching your head and you're wishing you
could understand it just a little more. If that's the case, you really need to go
through our course, titled, "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". You can check this
course out online at playpianotoday.com. Go there and it'll give you an online video
demo of what it means to play the piano or the keyboard by ear using the
revolutionary technique of rhythmic patterns. This course starts simply from the
ground-up. It assumes that you've never played but then it progresses quickly to
college level techniques. By the end of the course, you'll have an entire arsenal of
rhythmic patterns that you can use to play any song by ear.
In addition, a large part of this course is taken up with teaching you to create your
own patterns. Now, this is where you'll develop your own unique style on the
keyboard. You'll be able to create songs and arrangements that are all your own.
This is super exciting stuff. If you really want to study the piano, if you really want
to become a great musician, buy that course and go through it. It's really not that
expensive but it's very thorough and it'll get you up to speed quickly.
Now before we play through the 12 bar blues in this chapter, I want to show you
one more thing. If you remember way back in some of the earlier chapters in this
blues piano lessons course, you'll remember the very first right hand blues riff that I
taught you. [ video here ]. Remember that? It was called "Riff #1". Now, if you need
to, go back and review those chapters. The reason that I'm bringing it up is
because we're going to use it when we play through the 12 bar blues in just a
minute; but I'm going to use it a little different way than we learned it. I'm going to
play it up really high and twice in a row like this... [ video here ].
The thing that will really change the blues riff character this time is that I
won't play it on the same beat that I did when we first learned it. What I mean
is this: when we learned Riff #1 for the first time, I always started playing it on the
first beat of each measure, 1-2-3-4... [ piano lessons video here ]. This really
emphasized or accented the first chord. [ video here ]
This time, I'll start on the second beat of each measure then I'll play it twice in a
row. 1-2-3-4...
[ video here ].
This really makes different sections of the blues riff accented.
Once again, the concepts covered in this lesson build on the original piano
lesson course titled "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". Make sure you check out that
course for a solid music foundation!
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
In this next session, we're going to make use of musical concepts called half-steps
and whole steps. Now if that sounds like a foreign language to you, you really need
to go through our first course titled, "Pattern Piano and Keyboard". It's the original
piano lessons course and you can find it on the net at playpianotoday.com.
Let's look at the first chord of the song, "Down by the Riverside" - what a wonderful
old spiritual. The first chord is C, however this riff does not start on the root of that
chord, it starts a whole step below. So a whole step below C is... B flat. Right
students? Yeah, right! So the first note is a whole step below the root, then it goes
up a half step to B, then another half step to C (which is the root) and repeats. So
it's actually pretty simple. Let me start again, starting a whole step below the root,
up to speed, it sounds like this: [ piano lessons video here ] This blues riff really
helps to push or propel the beat of the music on the piano.
Now the second chord of the song is F. Remember, we don't play the root. We start
a whole step below F which is E flat right? Okay we start a whole step below, come
up half step, come up another half step and repeat it. So F sounds like this:
[ video here ] ...and I'm throwing my right hand blues piano riff in with it. [ video
here ]
Nice and funky okay? Now let me go between C and F. Sounds like this: [ piano
lessons video here ] Here's G: [ video here ] Right? I started a whole step below
the root, came up a half step, came up another half step, and repeated it. So here's
G again: [ video here ] Okay, let me show you something a little more now.
Okay, I've taught you the left hand propulsion. Today, I want to show you something
a little more. If you've gotten comfortable with that, I want to show you the left
hand propulsion with an octave backflip. How do you like that? You can be in
the Olympics! Here it is: [ piano lessons video here ] In F it sounds like this: [ video
here ]
You start a whole step below right? Come up a half step, come up another half step
[ piano lessons video here ], and then drop an octave [ video here ] Really thump it
good, like a kick drum. Here it is again: [ piano lessons video here ] Here's F
[ piano lessons video here ], Here's G [ piano lessons video here ] Aright, let's put it
together now with the right hand.
Sometimes I'll play the repeated note [ video here ] and then sometimes I'll play
that octave backflip [ video here ] In either case, here's the whole thing:
[ video here ]
Here's the entire song again, minus vocals, so you can concentrate on just the
piano.
[ piano lessons video here ]
In this website, there's a wealth of online piano and keyboard lessons that you can
dig into right away, including this lesson.
The basic building block for Chapter 11 is the piano blues scale. Here's what it
sounds like...
[ piano video lesson here ]
That's in the scale of A, you'll see later on that I'm going to break it down note for
note. I'm going to give you exact fingerings. But for now, this is what it sounds like.
[ scale here] Whether you're brand new to the blues, or whether you're an
advanced piano player, there's lot of stuff in this piano lesson for you. First, I want
to talk about a few different sections, a few different levels of study.
Let's talk about the "backing tracks". If you ordered this piano lesson as a disc set
through the mail, look at one of the cds. You'll see that it's labeled "backing tracks".
What we did is have a band come into the studio and then we had them play
through the 12 bar blues for two and a half minutes in every key. Here's how it
works: after I teach you each new section of this piano blues lesson, I'll have you
kick on the backing tracks. As you play along, it accomplishes two things: the first
thing is that it's fun, right? If it's not fun, why are we doing it? Playing the blues on
the piano has got to be fun. You've got to be smiling and having a great time. So
when you're playing with the band, you're having a great time.
Here's the second reason, and it's probably just as important as having fun.
Keyboard players are notorious for sloppy timing. And the reason for this is
that we're usually playing piano by ourselves, right? Saxophone players grow up in
school playing in the band with other people, but keyboard players are like the lone
musical cowboys: we're out there playing piano by ourselves. What happens is that
our timing gets really sloppy.
So as I teach you each one of these new things to play, regarding the blues scales
and all the different musical skills that I'm going to teach you, I'll always have you
turn on the backing tracks and play along with the band. We'll be having fun and
establishing rock solid timing on the piano!
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Let's talk a little more about those backing tracks. Not only does the blues band
play in every key through the 12 bar blues, it also plays at three different speeds.
So, for instance, on the backing tracks for the key of A, you'll find that the band
plays through one time slow, and then it plays through at a medium speed, and
finally it plays through at a fast tempo. All of this just in the key of A! And then for
the key of B flat, there's a slow version, a medium version and a fast tempo version
- of course you can guess why. It's because as you progress, you want your hands
to be able to play at higher speeds on the keyboard. Also within each one of those
tempos, the band slowly speeds up over each two and a half minute section. So
this is a really kind of a gradation of accomplishments as you go through on the
piano.
So far we've talked about the backing tracks. That's what the blues band has
recorded. The band has recorded the blues in all 12 keys at 3 different speeds for
you to play with on the piano. What specifically are you going to play against those
backing tracks?
Through the course of Blues for Piano and Keyboards, Chapter 11, I'm going
to teach you seven musical skills that are essential to playing the blues.
Seven skills that are increasing in complexity. Once you have mastered these 7
skills and can play them in most of the keys, up to speed, your music is going to
explode! All of a sudden your hands are going to be cranking. People are going to
say, " What happened to you Superman? What is going on?"
So I'm going to start now and show you each one of those seven musical skills.
Let's pretend that I've come to your house and we're going to learn this together.
We're going to learn seven musical skills in the key of A.
So there we are at your house, and we're going to learn the blues. We need to see
some video that'll show you exactly what to play. So, no matter what format you
ordered the course in, whether that's downloadable video or DVD video, you
simply go to the main video menu. On the main menu you see there's a button that
says "video vault". Within the video vault there are short videos that show all these
seven musical skills from both hands in EVERY key. So there's quite a lot of
videos! So you'd look under the key of A, and you'd look for skill #1. That would
show you a video that would look something like this.
[ piano video lesson here ]
The next thing we do in this piano lesson is to get out the backing tracks cd (or
click on the appropriate "backing tracks" section of the downloadable version of
this piano lesson). Find the slow version of the A blues scale and play the half
scale along with it. This is what it would sound like:
[ piano video lesson here ]
See how simple that is - you already have half of the A blues scale in both hands.
What I want you to do is let the track play all the way through as you just keep
alternating the right hand, then the left hand, then both hands. You do that a
number of times until the track plays all the way out. By the time you've gone all
the way through the track, you're pretty comfortable in both hands with the bottom
half of the A blues scale on the piano. And now you're ready for musical skill #2. So
you go to video vault and you take a look at skill #2 for the key of A. You'll see that
instead of half scales, now it's a full one octave scale on the piano. Let's take a
look at that video from the video vault. Skill #2 key of A, full 1 octave scale...
This is kind of a little extra rhythmic jump I like to throw in there on the keyboard at
the end of each piano scale. You'll see me do that in a lot of the piano lessons
video. Okay, we're going on now - and we've spent the afternoon at your house
and you can see where this whole thing is going. It's going to get more and more
aggressive on the keyboard, and let me just remind you, you don't have to move
this quickly.
If you stay at skill #1 for a month or musical skills #1 and #2 for a couple of
months, it doesn't matter. Just as long as you're always increasing your
musical skills on the piano - always pushing the envelope of your
musicianship.
But this point, we've been here for the afternoon and you say, "Hey Dave! I want to
move on musical skill #3".
Skill #3 - you find it in the video vault and we're going to look at it. It's called "The
two octave scale". Let's take a look at musical skill #3 from the video vault, key of
A. We've got to zoom out the video a little bit so we can show you musical skill #3,
it's a two octave scale. The right hand looks like this. . .
[ piano lesson video here ]
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Did you notice that the two octave piano scale was exactly the same as the
one octave piano scale except for the transition between the octaves?
Rewind that and take a look at it again if you need to. It's time to crank up the
rubber band again and get them going in the key of A, the slow version. We're
going to play musical skill #3 against the blues band backing tracks.
[ piano lesson video here ]
If you've never played blues scales on the piano before and this your
introduction to them, don't worry. If you're thinking, "Oh! man this ridiculously
hard!", remember at this point, if you're working every day to the point where you
can get both hands going over two octaves - that's super aggressive! If you look at
this overview and you think, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to play that on the
piano", take my word for it, you will be able to play this on the piano.
Years ago, I wasn't able to do this. But eventually you'll be able to play all of these
scales on the piano. Especially if you'll really dig in and practice.
There were years in my early college years, when I was majoring in music and I
really wasn't taking things too seriously. Then I saw a great piano player and I
thought, "My goodness! If he can do that, I can do it".
I remember I was talking to another musician about this. He was saying how
discouraging it was when we saw that great piano player that was much
better then either of us. I said to him, "You can either be discouraged or
encouraged when you see a musician that's much better than you."
You have the option to say, "I'll never be that good on the piano", or you can be
inspired and say - "Wow! look what God's doing through that person. Maybe
I can aspire to play the piano as well (or better!) than them." So I want to
encourage you and say, "You can do it! If you've got 10 fingers and you got the
desire to play the blues on the piano, dig in and God will give you the desires of
your heart." That's what He promised. So I want to encourage you, dig in and you
can do it.
There's actually a few more musical skills here that we're going to look into. The
"Three Octave Scale", the "Broken Octave Scale" - that's a lot of fun. And then the
"Turn-around Scale". The last musical skill is putting all this stuff together.. By that
time, you are ready to be the big funk daddy of the piano (or queen funk momma!)
whatever the case may be.
Now the video vault does not contain any videos at all for this musical skill - skill
#3. Here's why: The Three Octave Scale is exactly the same as the Two Octave
Scale but just it has another octave on top. So there's no video in the video vault
for this particular musical skill. However, just for the sake of explaining things really
clearly I want to show you what it looks like. We're going to look at the 3 Octave
scale right now even though it doesn't show up at all in the video vault.
Remember, the 3 octave scale is the same as the 2 octave scale with just an extra
octave up on top. Makes sense doesn't it? Here we go.
[ piano lesson video here ]
Alright, now let's play that on the piano against the blues band backing tracks.
Here we go!
[ piano lesson video here ]
The full introduction into this piano lesson consists of four separate videos. This
has been one of them. If you want to get the entire lesson, and it's really quite a
lengthy piano lesson. It's a couple hours of video as well as a couple of hours
worth of audio blues band backing tracks. Lot's of stuff to sink your teeth into!
In this website, there's a wealth of online piano and keyboard lessons that you can
dig into right away, including this lesson.
Just like the half-scales, the full 1 octave scale, the 2 octave sale and the 3 octave
scale, we go back and forth with the hands. So I'm going to zoom out the video
now - I'm going to show you what it sounds like with the blues band backing tracks
playing skill #5 on the piano with both hands. First I'm going to do just half octaves
and then I'll to do full octaves. Listen now - I'll guide you through it. We're going to
start with the left hand, and we're going to do half octaves, here we go:
[ video here]
At this point, we are into college level musical techniques. You're playing both
hands on the keyboard as broken octave scales - this is pretty heavy duty stuff. At
first do what you can. If you can only do one hand, half of an octave, that's alright!
But eventually, you'll play things on the piano that you never thought you could breaking the musical barriers that you never thought you'd be going through.
See those turnarounds? Now I know you're thinking, "I was starting to get used to
that and now you're making it more complicated - what is the deal?!". The reason is
that once you add this turnaround to the blues sale in certain situations - especially
when you're taking solos, it becomes a very phat cool sound. Let me play it for you
on the piano up to speed... [ piano video lesson here ]
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Isn't that turnaround nice? Sure it's a little something extra to learn, but then
you have another tool in your tool belt. You can pull out that funky
turnaround when you're taking a phat piano solo.
Okay we've looked at the right hand turnaround scale, Skill #6. Let's take a look
now at what it looks like in the left hand. Just for your information, I'm giving you
quick video examples of how to go through these piano skills.
Remember in the video vault, there are detailed videos of every musical skill for
both hands in every key, nice and slow. You can see every piano fingering,
everything is there for you to dig into. So these are quick musical examples that I'm
showing you. Remember the video vault is your main resource when you're
actually learning all these piano skills in both hands in all the different keys. You
can do it! Okay let's take a look at the left hand, skill #6.
Just like the right hand, the left hand has a blues turnaround. Here's what it looks
like.
[ piano video lesson here ]
Remember that you can study that in great detail and more depth in the video
vault. But just for an example, let me show you what it looks like in both hands
now.
[ piano video lesson here ]
Now again for example's sake I'm going to get the backing tracks out and I'm going
to play an example of the turnaround blues scale on the piano with the blues band
backing tracks. You'll see me play the right hand for 3 octaves on the piano, so I'm
going to have to zoom the video out. Then you'll see me play the left hand in 3
octaves and finally both hands together for 3 octaves using the turnaround scale.
Let me tell you again, these are advanced piano skills. This is something to really
shoot for, okay? This is what it looks like. We'll start with the right hand, here we
go...
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
First, we'll take a look at a video of the full song used in this piano lesson - you'll be
able to see all of the blues riffs that we'll be studying. In addition, you'll be able to
see the solo section where we're going to be studying how to put together a
keyboard solo to really rip it up when it's your turn to shine!
In the full version of this lesson, there is a super-slow motion video version of the
full song so you can really see exactly what's going on. And remember, once we
get to the section of the lesson where we're looking at each of the blues riffs in
detail, we'll study every single note in up-close slow motion. In addition, we'll study
all of the music theory behind these riffs - there's lots to dig into here!
In the next video contained within this quick piano lessons overview - we'll take a
look at the section where we go through all of the chords used in the song. In this
section, we won't be looking at any of the blues riffs - that will come later in the
lesson. This section simply goes through every chord used so that we have a solid
foundation on which we can build all these fantastic blues piano riffs.
Finally, we'll look at some video footage from the section of the piano lesson where
we zero in on the individual blues piano riffs. This is the nitty-gritty study section,
but because you're getting a ton of funky blues riffs under your hands, it's totally a
blast! Enjoy...
for your left hand on the piano? Everybody is. This is a piano lesson
you've got to go through.
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
[ piano music playing ]
Here's a twist - as we go through this online piano lesson, all of the blues riffs and
techniques will be based on the same blues piano scale that we've studied in
previous chapters. But now, we're going to look at it with a Rock beat, using the
concept of "Straight Eighths". Again, this is a completely different animal from the
swing beat.
This lesson will also be detailing some fat "phat" chords! F#7-5, F13, E7+5,
C7#11... but wait a minute: what are all these phat chords doing in the context of a
rock piano lesson? Here's the kicker - when you merge these phat jazz piano
chords with the straight eighths of the rock beat, you've created a fantastic
new style called "Fusion". Maybe you've heard of it - it's a fusion of rock music
and jazz music that combines the best elements of each style on the piano.
If you're looking for new sounds under your fingers on the piano, this piano lesson
is a whole new buffet of delicious ideas to chew on!
[ piano music playing ]
Now for those of you that want to go deeper, don't quit yet! There's more heavy
duty stuff. For instance, we'll be studying the awesome sound of the minimalist tritone comp chord. Now this is the same tritone comp chord that we've studied in
earlier chapters. But now, we're going to use it to create something called
"Suspended Chords". You've heard of suspended chords before, but when you
create it with this minimalist tritone comp chord, it's very very phat!
[ piano music playing ]
Finally, one extra tidbit we're going to study is the #11 chord. This goes right along
with the fusion technique. This particular chord adds what's called "Polytonal"
sounds in your music. Now I know polytonal sounds like a big-headed concept. But
polytonal simply means "Many different tones" We'll merge different tones from
different chords to come up with new phat fusion sounds. This is a fantastic
technique, and you'll hear new sounds coming out of your keyboard.
Don't miss this lesson. These concepts will change the way you play the piano!
Really, it will change they way you think about music.
Now let's take a look at the full song used in this lesson as a vehicle to teach all
these blues riffs and techniques. Here it is up to tempo.
Now it's based on a blues scale, the lead sheet says C7 but there's an additional
note that shows up in there. That A. How does that A jive with the C blues scale?
Well, it's a higher extension. That's the 13th of C.
[ piano lessons video here]
Alright let's jump ahead. Here's a sample taken from where we're studying through
riff #9. Riff #9 is a doozy!
[ piano music playing ]
Lot of stuff going on there, you know where the excitement comes in? It's in the
unexpected twist and turns of the music...
[ piano lessons video here]
Most of that riff is based on the A blues scale. You know that from Chapter 11 right?
A lot of great things in this world are built on that little, tiny scale! The only note that
shows up that's not a part of that is that little passing note there... watch for it!
[ piano lessons video here]
Isn't that amazing! This has just been a sample of some of the video highlights for
"Blues for Piano and Keyboard" Chapter 13. If you like to see more, come on over
to keyboardblues.com
In this website, there's a wealth of online piano and keyboard lessons that you can
dig in and play including this lesson.
[ piano music playing until fade ]
If you're looking for new sounds under your fingers on the piano, this
piano lesson is a whole new buffet of delicious ideas to chew on!
Enjoy...
In part 2 of this blues piano lessons video overview from chapter 14,
we'll take a look at some of the up-close video that details all of the
blues riffs, tricks and techniques used in this lesson.
This blues lesson contains quite a few advanced musical
concepts - make sure you go through the original piano lessons
course titled "Pattern Piano and Keyboard" as well as the previous
chapters in this blues piano lesson course. Enjoy!
Watch the Video Version of this piano lesson (top of this page)
Partial Transcript from this Piano Lesson:
Welcome, to KeyboardBlues.com. This video is a quick overview of some of the
highlights from the piano lessons series titled "Blues For Piano and Keyboard"
Blues Piano Lessons Chapter 15. There is a lot of stuff to study in this keyboard
lesson. We're going to study 18 brand new blues piano riffs.
These are really advanced riffs. Riffs that build on everything in the previous blues
chapters I've taught. So if you've gone through and nailed down the concepts in
chapters 1 through 14, you're ready for everything in this piano lesson.
In addition to learning 18 brand new blues riffs, we're going to explore some
concepts that we haven't even touched on yet. Specifically, we're going to look at
something called "anchor points". This is the best way to lock down some really
difficult phrases on the piano. If you ever get to the point where you wonder, "How
am I ever going to get my hands together on this?" or, "How am I going to make
this phrase fall right rock solid in the rhythm"? - Once you get the concept of
learning to use anchor points, your confidence, as well as your piano playing will
improve dramatically.
To begin, let's go through the song that we're going to use in this piano lesson.
Now you're going to recognize this. When I play this up to speed with the full Blues
band, you're going to say "Hey, that's the introduction video that you use on all your
piano lessons." True, but, I've never used it in a lesson because the blues riffs in
here are really quite advanced. But we're going to nail em' note for note in this
lesson.
I'm going to play through this a couple times and I'll play through the full song up to
speed with the band. Then we'll slow it down and give the band a break and I'll
strip it down to just piano at about half speed. So you'll see the whole thing isolated
on the piano nice and slow, the second time. First, here's the whole thing up to
speed with the band.
[Piano Music Playing]
That's absolutely so much fun to play. Let's go right into the lesson now. You've
already seen me play the entire song with the band up to speed and that's so much
fun. But now let's start to break it down. I'm going to give the band a break and I'm
just going to play only piano at about half speed. So you'll see it all the way through
nice and slow. For the remainder of the hour We'll go through all 8 (FADES OUT)
Since this piano lessons video is just an overview of the highlights from chapter 15,
I'm going to jump ahead in the piano lesson now. I'm going to jump to the portion of
the video where we're going through each of the riffs, there's eighteen of them in
here, all quite advanced. But, we go through all of them up close and personal.
Nice and slow, and we detail not only the riffs, but the theory and the concepts
behind them. Here's a couple video samples from those sections. Riff number
three, two hands nice and slow. The left hand is going to have to be played up an
octave, because you can't see it. Normally, it's here. So I'm going to play it up here
where you can see it, but nice and slow. Now it starts pretty simple, right? One,
two. Some slidin' or some grace notes going' on in the right hand you're familiar
with that. But for the remainder of the riff the right hand is squeezing in a lot of
notes in between the beats like this. To really help facilitate, get the timing down I'm
going to show you something called "Anchor Points"
Anchor points are where the right or the left hand hit together. Now since the left
hand is panning out the quarter notes. Wherever the right hand hits with those
quarter notes, will be the anchor points. Meaning, the hands play together. Let me'
show you.
[Piano Lessons Video Playing]
Here's the first anchor point. Here's the next. Riff number 6 up to speed sounds like
this. Kind of an interesting little riff. A lot of chords are going through there look at
that. Gm Em-5, A7+5, and D7#9 sounds like a calculus equation. Let's take a look
at it, in detail.
The right hand has an entrance of seven squished little baby notes. Then there's
an anchor point there, right? And, in the last measure there lots of hands together.
And then, a classic shake. Borrowed from all the silent movies of the past.
Riff number nine is the old Jerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of Fire riff . Which was
setting us up for riff number 9, which is over C. Immediately, the left hand grabs
this fat comp chord. What is that? It's a C13, minus the root. You've got the third,
the thirteenth, the seventh, the dominant seventh and a ninth. Minus the root. Then
it does a little move up, to another chord. Which is a D flat. Nine chord 3, 7, 9, and
back. We studied that, in a previous blues chapter It's called the half step push.
Here it is with the root. In context, you're not really changing the chord of the whole
measure to a Db, you're just passing back and forth.
That's actually my favorite little spot in the whole thing. It's kind of an angular little
phrase with that A7+5 down on there. And it ends with a D7 sharp nine, since the
left hand is just sitting and holding that D7#9. The right hand doesn't really have an
anchor point, or a point where both hands play together very much. So it's really
easy to get lost in your rhythm. Here's just a, just a reminder. If you ever find your
in a situation where primarily just one hand is playing and you've got to play a lot of
notes and fit them in and get the rhythm just right, and you don't have any anchor
points where you're hands play together to lock the rhythm to, here's the trick: Pick
out an accented note to head for. Make that your goal. Watch this. So in between
there, there's lots of little notes with lots of little rhythms. But I don't have to think
about that I just know where I'm headed, that's my goal. If I place that F in the
rhythmic spot of the piano music where I want it to, the rhythm of all those internal
notes will take care of themselves.
This has just been a quick overview of some of the highlights taken from the piano
lessons series titled "Blues For Piano and Keyboard, Chapter 15" You can
download the entire lesson at "KeyboardBlues.com"