Sophia I started the left hand pattern of lesson 6 - very cozy and smooth. And easy! Then I added the right hand and the whole thing fell to pieces 😒

Yep. Same here. Even if I tried well know old RH stuff from previous lesson (or even the 1st lesson), I was feeling like a toddler. Now I check for every lesson if there is a new LH. If yes, I know this costs me up to 4 weeks* extra time, because I want to be able to play all old stuff with new LH. After this, LH runs on autopilot, and it gets very easy to learn new RH licks.

Edit:
*) Maybe it would be faster as a PACTicer... Nah - that's not me. I prefer to spend more time in the forum. 😂

    Hehe, yup, though we all have to PACTice - no getting away from that! I'm really glad you experience the same difficulties with a new left hand lick (this will be my first new one). It does reduce you to toddler level and wishing you had stayed at bloody beginner level instead!

    Sorry Sophia, I can't stay a bloody beginner for the rest of my life.
    Royal blood streams through my veins, this requires to be a total beginner at least.

    I've been doing something similar with the books I use. I have a handful of LH patterns I want to be able to improvise over, and a bunch of RH licks to sprinkle in my improvisations, so I've spent tons of time practicing the various LH and the various RH. It took a lot of time, and I still have to do some maintenance practicing if I haven't used a LH in a while, but it's paying off. It's slow, front-loaded work, but now things are coming together that much faster.

    Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

      TC3 I know what you mean. I looked up a few YouTube videos, call them fast-guide or quick-tips. Someone is introducing a nice LH pattern within a few seconds and shows one or two RH licks.
      The videos are short and compact, and it is easy to reproduce if I only concentrate on one hand alone. But both hands together is always a struggle. Bottom line: 1 minute video instruction = 1 month hard practice. It does not feel right to spend that much time just for a random picked up 1 minute video clip.

      This is the main reason why I love Christians Blues-course playlist so much. He knows where to start from scratch and in which order different LH patterns make sense. And if the LH isn't fancy, it is the right thing to learn at my level.

        I have another question... or more advice on which version I should play 🙂 I started practising the lesson, and Christian plays the left hand C-A-G sequence with the A a little more staccato (my first version). But I really like to play the A more smoothly (second version) as well... which would you veterans say I should end up playing? Left hand staccato? Or smooth?

          Sophia Both. Sorry, that's the worst answer! 😃

          Seriously, there's no right or wrong there, just two different ways to do it. I've noticed the same thing with a bunch of different LH patterns. Some teachers / authors suggest legato, other staccato. More importantly, when I listen to classic blues pianists, I'll hear it all sorts of different ways.

          I'd suggest just sticking to whichever one you prefer right now so as not to slow down your progress, and then revisiting it at some point to try it in different ways.

          Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

            Hahaha I was afraid of that 😃 And I'm equally happy to hear it. When I started this lesson the day before yesterday, I played it smoothly. Then I listened to the tutorial video again and realized he plays it more staccato. I asked my husband and although he is not into blues (mostly classical guy, that), he immediately picked the smooth version. And of course I like BOTH as well. I'll probably surprise myself most of all which version I end up playing as my "graduation" video 😃

            Thanks for chiming in!

            • TC3 likes this.

            Sophia I would play the staccato version, because I believe Christian has a reason to play it that way. Call it educational method. Or training of the skill: "one hand legato while other hand staccato".
            Ok, in current exercise, the LH staccato part is solo, while the RH pauses that beat. This makes it probably easier. I found myself strugglig a lot to play LH-A staccato together with RH play a legato note of a lick. Or in other words, as long LH was solo on that note: easy👍. But if I played both hands together, both became staccato, or both became legato.👎
            It cost me a lot of time to sort that out, and it is still not good by any means.

            Maybe TCs tip is the best, not to waste too much time and do what you like best, if one version is problematic. On the other hand, you are as fast as a 🚅, while I am more like a 🛴... Maybe you should go staccato version, or at least try it for some time 🤔

              Haha yes you have a point there 😄 I wish Christian was active in this thread to tell us his reasoning 😆 But then maybe he should expect us to buy all his books, lol!

              But yeah it's true, the lesson gets a lot harder after that easy lick so I wanted to ask before proceeding too much!

              Hi Sophia

              I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know what else has been suggested already, and I'm not a beginner so feel free to ignore me! Nevertheless here's a few suggestions (which worked for me):

              1. Listen to recordings of the blues. This will help you to know when to change from the C to the F chord etc. Once you've played the sequence for a while it will become completely instinctive anyway and you will change automatically.

              2. Practise the ostinato left hand patterns on their own - a lot! The one in your first video is just about the easiest. Eventually you'll get to the point where your LH is on auto pilot and you don't have to think about it. This then frees up your RH to improvise or play variations on the licks and phrases you've learnt.

              3. Learn the minor blues scale. In the key of C this is the following sequence of notes C Eb F F# G Bb C.
                You can play this scale, variations of it, and virtually any combination of its notes over the entire 12 bar sequence. It will work over the F and G chords. Experiment with the notes in this scale and you'll be amazed how much you can do with it. Sliding from the Eb to the E whilst playing G and/or C above is one of the more common techniques in blues and boogie.

              These next 2 are more advanced but something to aim for.

              1. Try recreating your first video in a different key. G is a great key for blues and boogie. My favourite in fact. Eb is also, perhaps surprisingly, very good because the blues scale is all black notes except for one note. But that is much more advanced and I wouldn't try that for a while.
              2. Try and learn a few other LH patterns. One that stuck with me and I still use to this day is the Jimmy Yancey pattern. I won't try and describe that here, but it's worth looking up. When I first started playing this one it used to throw my RH off all the time, but eventually after relentlessly practising it on its own for hours and hours it became easy. Perhaps something for the future.

              Most of have fun with it!

              Cheers


              Simon
              All round average Jazz, Blues & Rock player.
              Currently working towards ABRSM grade 8.

                Thanks so much for the pointers Simon! I really appreciate those!

                Simonb I'm not a beginner so feel free to ignore me!

                I think I can safely speak for all here that because you're not a beginner that's the one really sound reason NEVER to ignore you. I welcome all suggestions especially those from seasoned players! We all vary from "bloody beginner" (that's a bit of a in-joke by now) to "somewhat beginner" so it's really really great to read viewpoints from more advanced players such as yourself, PianoMonk, TC etc. Ok and WieWaldi who is still a huge beginner-leap ahead of me 😃

                Thanks again for chiming in!

                  Hi Sophia

                  [

                  This is an example of the Jimmy Yancey bass line, but in C minor rather than major, used in a composition I wrote a few years ago. You'll notice my LH hardly ever wavers from the repeated pattern. As I said earlier I practised these LH patterns for hours and hours so I'd have almost complete independence with my RH.

                  Aside from the simple melody (which is more of a repeated riff) there is heavy use of the C minor blues scale in the solo.

                  Cheers

                  Simon
                  All round average Jazz, Blues & Rock player.
                  Currently working towards ABRSM grade 8.

                  Whoah, very impressive - are you sure your right hand is connected to the same brain as your left hand? 😂 Something we can look forward to be (maybe) able to do that too someday, right, @WieWaldi ?

                    Sophia Agreed. This is impressive.
                    But it is also in reach, it is nothing impossible for us, isn't it?
                    Just another LH, make it really, really autopilot. Make it so autopilot, it is not disturbed from right hand. And then we have just to learn how to improvise with RH, play somthing different than ordinary blues scale, something with speed and syncopations, fitting to the rythm of LH, and make it sound good.
                    I need just to chew through the remaining 25 lessons of easy (proud😎) blues piano playlist, eat some improvising videos and then practice practice practice. Pff... So easy.

                    Wait! This PW recital on October is about improvising! @Sophia, do we have a goal? A pact?

                        WieWaldi do we have a goal? A pact?

                        Oooh October is soooo sooooon! I actually just came back from practising and trying to get that left hand lick in staccato and right hand lick (the longer one) legato... pfftt! Not easy! You are so evil to recommend it instead of the smooth one 😛 It'll be at least an additinal 3 minutes to get that perfect. Yeah I wish 😂

                        Ok, the pact is: I will TRY to be good enough in October to play a blues "improvisation". For the next recital though (the one Navindra just announced) I am going to try to whip one of my Alfred pieces in ready state 😃

                        Edit: I have an idea! You play one hand and I play the other 😃

                            Sophia You are so evil to recommend it instead of the smooth one

                            😸Har Har har👹
                            Sorry, I must work with all tricks to stay ahead of you - at least as long as possible.
                            Seriously, I play piano since 2021 (January) and learned only 3 pieces. Meanwhile, two forgotten, and one got rusty. No, Sophia, I am more of a lazy man. Certainly a really lazy man. Possibly the laziest man in Bavaria county. This would place me high in a runnin for the laziest worldwide. If you open a German phonebook and look under L like lazy, you 'll find my number.
                            And picture:

                            Sophia or the next recital though (the one Navindra just announced) I am going to try to whip one of my Alfred pieces in ready state 😃

                            This is the burden of being a recital coordinator, you 💥must💥 contribute. Sam did on every one in PW. Guess why I didn't raise my hand when Navindra asked for?

                                  WieWaldi I am more of a lazy man

                                  Nah, you just place your hobby at the location it deserves: the backburner 😃 If it weren't for PACT, I would be very lazy too. Right now, my days go "Ok, today I deserve a vacation from practice for SURE. PACT will understand. I will add my absence to PACT... oh wait. It takes longer to find an excuse than play for 5 minutes... down to the piano I go!"

                                  It works, because when the 5 minutes are up, I'm too lazy to get up so I usually practice for 20 minutes or longer 😃

                                    I am currently working through a slow blues course on Pianogroove and a member there shared this recording. Thought I would pass it along here as some may find it enjoyable.

                                      Jazzpunk Nice!

                                      Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.