Beginners blues/boogie/rock discussion

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.

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.

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.

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.

4. 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.
5. 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

Hi Sophia

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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

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?

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?

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!

Sophia Nice work! I like the articulation of the left hand and the licks on top sound cool! Also, that’s what rude words are for…