Mixing african song with spirituals, work songs and european folk influences, the style often uses simple forms and common chord structures. Learn blues piano with willie myette play blues piano. This is a pack of worksheets to be used as part of a blues scheme of work at ks3 or ks4. Students love the simplicity and easy reading, and the smoking rhythm section on the cd. Learn how to play the 12 bar blues on the piano in this piano lesson. Each riff is accompanied by a demonstration audio files. Faber piano adventures discover blues improvisation faber. Discover blues improvisation an introduction to blues piano.
An easy, yet thorough instructional book using famous, classic blues and rock tunes to introduce students to the 12 bar blues and simple blues improvisation. Piano intermediate the basic principles of blues piano explained for the intermediatelevel pianist in an easytograsp fashion. Blues music grew from the experiences of the africanamerican communities in the deep south of the usa in the late 1800s, often featuring tales of despair or hardship. Learn what it takes to create the distinctive sound of the blues, including basic chords and scales, blues melodies, improvisation, turnarounds and intros. The 12 bar is an extremely common structure when playing blues. Whilst the basic 12 bar blues just contains 3 chords, the i, the iv and the v, the jazz blues also incorporates the most common progression in jazz music the mighty 251 progression. The book uses only two keys, c and g, showing in each various ways of soloing on the c and later the g minor blues scale, with variants of 12 bar blues. A 12bar blues is performed, as the name implies, by playing twelve bars in a given arrangement that are repeated through a song. Exploring jazz piano volume 1 schott pop styles by tim richards. Ray charles ray charles style 12 bar blues improv sheet music. You ve just played your first full song, and maybe done a little improvisation in the process. In fact, for ten years that cd has never left my player, with several students using it each week. Free 12 major blues scale sheet steve neff music blog. Piano improvisation technique corcoran high school.
Im so glad my spring recital is over, but this month is still somehow very booked. By jj wheeler musician, teacher and record producer. The 1st month we will lay the foundation for improvisation, including the 12 bar blues. Basic 12 bar blues improv 26 harmony 001 28 past the basics two analogies and two pet peeves 31 some hints on jazz improvisation 32 material for advanced circle of fifths practice voicing chords 36 chord substitutions and progressions 38.
A while back we took a look at the most basic lesson in guitar improvisation. Youll improvise through the blues sequence many, many times, until you get the feel of it. Today were covering what many would consider the second most basic lesson, and an excellent practice sandbox before you move on to more complicated techniques the 12 bar blues and blues scale combo. Each song is prefaced by a onepage worksheet to help students master pattern identification, fingering, syncopation, and harmonic progressions. Here is where you start the building blocks of your blues piano playing, the 1st stage of the 12 bar blues.
Cd includes matching audio track to every music example in the book. You will work out of a 28 page book so you will see every note, every chord, every progression in the book. In case you didnt know, the 12 bar blues is a chord progression of you guessed it, 12 bars or measures. Here are some of my favourite online music resources.
If you are already familiar with the basic blues form, then jump straight into the lesson on the jazz blues form. You also learned easy righthand patterns using three of the six tones in the blues scale f, eb and ab. This book is effective for either group piano or private instruction. Due to the overwhelming demand of the book 100 ultimate blues riffs, andrew decided to author another book solely on blues piano keyboard playing. Steve neff has been playing and teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation around the new england area for the last 30 years. The gullah net website includes information about the evolution of blues music and how it influenced. This is a wellknown, simple chord progression which gives you an opportunity to try out some of your ideas. A very common concept in the area of improvising is to play a solo over chords. This lesson is a followup on the lesson above learn one phrase to play a thrilling jazz solo but this lesson can be seen individually anyway.
Want sheet music for the 12 bar blues in all 12 keys. There are plenty of arrangements, based on chord progressions, to use. Melody and improvisation are based on chords and scales accompaniment is based on chords and scales chords are based on scales scales are based on physics,mathematical principles and musical tradictions. In the above example, the last 2 measures use a cadence referred to as a turnaround. If they can understand the concepts of the structure, chords and improvising before ever. In this first article well start with the very basics, that is, the 12 bar blues and the pentatonic scale. Most jazz standards are 32 bars long and so the blues form is less that a third of the length of a typical jazz standard.
In the basic f blues, the 12 bars are only made up of 3 different chords. Improvise your own solo using the notes provided during the middle section. Blues performance worksheets and cover lesson teaching. In this course we explore the basic blues form, the jazz blues form, and then we dive straight into improvisation drills and exercises. Improvising blues piano covers all styles from the 1920s to the present, from the early boogie pioneers via swing, gospel, jumpjive, new orleans, chicago and kansas. The 12 bar blues has long been a favourite amongst music educators for teaching form, triads, the blues scale, cyclical chord progressions and music history. This exciting series of instrumental instruction books includes complete music plus easytofollow instructions. I tell my students that if they ever want to play in a band in the future. Blues scale in general it can be used on every chord but above all on min7 th and dominant 7th chord. One of the best ways into improvisation is the 12 bar blues.
The idea is that we just transpose our 3 small motifs to different keys and we can improvise over for example an entire 12 bar blues chord progression. Blues solo improvisation a basic introduction guitar noise. Learn the counting and structure off by heart and youll find you have a strong base which will make your progression through the. One of the most important musical structures of the last 100 years is the twelve bar blues. The first lesson basic 12 bar blues is for those with no previous knowledge of the blues. Ray charles ray charles style 12 bar blues improv sheet. The 12 bar blues is simply a chord progression consisting of the 1, 4 and 5 chords in whatever major key youre working. This is the easiest version, get to grips with this properly.
In the last blues lesson 12 bar blues, you learned how to play the 12 bar blues in the key of f, using simplified 2note chords. Download the free piano sheet music and video directly to your computer. Gordon is a thoroughly groovy compendium of over 50 12 bar riffs that span the full range of blues styles. Discover blues improvisation faber piano adventures. Blues,whole tone,diminished,diminishedwhole tone,pentatonic scales ok, do not become confused. Chord variations may also be added for harmonic diversity. Lets look at a simple form of this in the key of a major. Improvising a 12bar blues melody on the piano with the. Tagged 12 bar blues, improvisation, piano teaching. Play the blues an introduction to 12 bar blues and blues improvisation. For a limited time were including it as a free bonus with a premium jazz course subscription. Play the blues for piano lessons 12 bar improvisation hal. Just the blues scale can be considered a basis for a particular key blues. A pianist starting this book should have an elementary.
Newjazz by oliver prehn jazz piano improvisation lessons. Each song is prefaced by a onepage worksheet to help students master pattern identification. How to improvise with the 12bar blues making music magazine. Gordon is an exhaustive guide to introduce beginner students to the various phrases or riffs that make up blues sax playing, both from a rhythmic and soloing standpoint. Jamming to backing tracks is a perfect way to start play blues improvisation on piano solo over chords. For the rest of this article, well be using the concept of the 12 bar blues and playing it in the key of a major. Discover blues improvisation offers the piano student of any age a chance to explore the blues. My blogging has been rather sporadic so far this month this is a busy time of year for piano teachers, isnt it. The 1st month we will lay the foundation for improvisation, including the 12bar blues. Based on the i, iv and v chords of any key, the 12 bar blues is one of the most prominent chord progressions in modern music.
The improvisation exercises are simple, effective, and fun for both student and. This 12 bar blues uses the repeatedchord technique which was a hallmark of the ray charles style. He is the author of many effective jazz improvisation methods as well as founding the popular jazz video lesson site. The 12 bar blues is found in all sorts of music across all genres and is a form and style of music that all musicians should be 100% familiar with. Charles, ray ray charles style 12 bar blues improv sheet music for piano. Once you become a member of you will have immediate access to our lesson library. The blues scale for transposing instruments and guitar tab 3. Most blues tunes are made up of a 12 bar progression and he thought that a book that shows the various types and styles of 12 bar blues progressions would be useful to musicians and students. Play the blues an introduction to 12bar blues and blues. Due to the continued success of his more advanced book series 100 ultimate blues riffs andrew decided. The exercises and pieces in this book nurture creativity and selfexpression through the framework of the 12 bar blues. Anyone with basic keyboard skills equivalent to alfreds basic piano, lesson book 2 can dig right in and begin learning blues right away.
It also provides an essential foundation for learning to improvise in other styles such as popular music and jazz. The most obvious way to do this is in form of improvising is to combine a scale with chords in the same key, for example, playing the c major scale over chords belonging to the same scale. The improvisation exercises are simple, effective, and fun for both student and teacher. Its called the 12 bar blues because its only 12 bars long. The lessons at play blues piano are unique to this site and are not found anywhere else on the internet.
471 518 1049 192 278 1020 327 1036 131 1408 1515 1307 203 1187 1519 879 1093 881 1 414 1328 163 1035 524 1066 279 588 937 212 1167 943 11 1383 254 1438 1425 1539 265 233 1138 864 1114 538 1104 1023 1077