Waching daily Jan 9 2017

Hey, fellow "Pianiste" readers ! Today let's look at a minor blues.

Here's a short piece I wrote, called "C Minor Blues."

First I'll play it.

You can repeat it as much as you want, that's the good thing.

Notice the left hand

and when you switch to F minor, you stay on 1 3 4 5.

Now we're in F,

now back to C.

To come back, play G dominant, G F Eb D,

and one last time, C Eb F G, 1 3 4 5.

Play half notes, two beats each, so that the whole structure lasts 12 bars.

The right hand plays the 1, or C, the 2 is the minor 3rd, also the blue note,

third finger on F, the 4th degree,

F#, another blue note,

and the G, or 5th degree.

That's how the blues mode starts.

Stick to those notes, just the melody,

but use phrasing.

This one's very staccato, for example.

It's marked with a dot, very staccato.

The second has a line underneath, it's a little heavier.

It's legato, you can see the connection between the notes,

and the last one's staccato again.

That's a typical jazz phrase.

The rhythm's always the same, except for now.

Here the 2 is accented, staccato.

This rhythm…

Maybe you know it, it's a Habanera…

you hear it a lot in pop music, especially in the south of the U.S.,

then and now.

To synchronize your hands,

watch how the notes come together,

this one by itself is a staccato C,

it's called a "pick-up"

if you want to know the technical term,

a pick-up, ending on the first beat with a C on the bottom

and the blue note in the 4th finger of the right hand.

Now comes the G by itself,

and the Eb after that.

To get a jazz sound, play it swing.

That will slowly add a little rhythm,

this note in the right hand goes between the beats,

just before the beat, an 8th-note triplet,

with the left hand on the beat underneath that, in the beginning they follow each other

but they're always on the 1st beat, hands together.

Here's the 1st beat :

now off the beat,

the bass is on the beat,

the pick-up

on the beat, the second bar,

now change

and play the same thing with the right hand,

notice the left hand position has changed

but the bass line is the same,

1 3 4 5,

now back,

5th degree, dominant.

Now it's your turn to play around with that,

and if you want to spice it up,

you can already take a look at double stops:

every time you play the melody in the right hand

you add a C above it.

For example, it could sound like this :

So when you solo, try some double stops,

and play around the melody,

any way you want.

Now it's up to you.

Start simple and gradually play more complex ideas,

but really take your time in the beginning.

Work on rhythm, phrasing and notes without moving your hands.

Take the time to get started.

Then you can really take off on your solo.