Beginners blues/boogie/rock discussion

Sophia · 2024-05-29T17:17:55+00:00

I have always been fascinated by boogie woogie, but of course I am limited by my very limited piano skills 😃 However now that I'm in the second Alfred book,...

Nightowl

WieWaldi You certainly have a wide range of music on your wish list WW, I look forward to seeing you expand your repertoire.

Sophia

WieWaldi Your latest piece (Adagio in A Major) sounded very beautiful, tbh nicer than all the Blues over and over again

True, the 3rd book has a lot more pretty melodies. Also, for the first time I'm finding the pieces are starting to sound a bit more like actual music, rather than just a simplified version that sounds like an exercise. I agree it's not all bad 🙂 I am not even halfway through the book, but I'm already thinking that after Alfred, I might pick up where I left off with John Thompson.

The (classical) method books teach a few things that blues courses simply don't mention... such as the pedal 😁 But also dynamics, finger independence, technique, articulation, etc. Even though it's only a hobby for me, it's still nice to learn how to sound somewhat musical when I want to 😆

Now I get it. This thread is growing so fast because we sneak in Alfred discussions!

rogerch

Sophia Side note: I just realized that this is now the longest thread in this forum!

Awesome! I lurk on this thread because it is so entertaining. You all are making great progress learning blues piano and it’s lots of fun to follow along!

WieWaldi

Now I can play the 1^st line with pedal and a metronome.
Ok, a very slow metronome, tbh...

But - if I can play it with a metronome it is the transition from learning to practicing, and it doesn't allow me to pause. Frankly, this is a good thing.

Sophia

That's good progress! My Chopin piece is still at such a speed too.

But my lesson 13 is proceeding a little better... I can play three of the four variations now somewhat smoothly. The last two (the torture and pain in a dungeon in two flavours) is still not going very well, especially when I try to add the pedal. It sounds awful without, but equally awful with because they blend together unless I pedal each note individually. And my pedaling technique is not yet at such a fine-tuned motor skill level 😛

But, steady does it, one line at the time. We'll get there! 😃

WieWaldi

OMG - you get 3 in a row! All this while you`r doing all the Alfred stuff by the way absolutely effortlessly. Me still stucking in the first line, and it is the easiest one. All the forthcoming lines look much more complicated. To be fair - mastering LH with pedal is already quite a piece of the cake, but still... I guess 10 days is optimistic; two or three weeks is more realistic.

I always said - you are a rocket fast learner, Nightowl said you have musicals genes and describes you as ~~annoyingly~~ talented. Let's face it, we are both right!

Sophia

Nah, just having fun. Sometimes I even happen to learn a little while I noodle around a bit 😁

Sophia

Well, it turns out that the second half of lesson 13 is a lot more challenging than the first part! The "pain and torture" description isn't far from the truth 🥴 I'm also not enjoying those licks very much, which doesn't help.

I think it'll probably be another week before I am ready to record... especially if I want to finetune the pedaling a little more, and record it on my keyboard with smooth (nothing missing, no barking) key pushing 😆

WieWaldi

If you are in the "Gimme Pain, Christian" part, you are almost done. The "Double the Pain" is just then ultra easy afterward. I just started a new line and have trouble getting my fingers sorted at the very first notes. And then there are two more lines* to learn. Takes some more time, but I must admit it sounds gorgeous - even when I play it. You know - pedaling makes the difference. But I can't practice for too long at a day, it is uncomfortable, and my ear gets pressure marks.
I took a look at your current sheet music and must admit, pedaling is quite difficult here. You must pedal down on eighth notes (with a tiny delay to let the previous eighths dampen silent), otherwise you hold dissonances, here and there.

*) with line I mean a 16 bar phrase, printed on an entire page on Christian's sheet music, 4 lines on my lead sheet to reduce everything onto two pages in total.

Sophia

Nice! I'm looking forward to hearing your lesson. Sounds like your efforts are worth it!

I'm using the pedal too on mine and it does make a huge difference! It's not really a blues, and of course the "improvisations" are pre-chewed. But we had to start somewhere and I'm learning so much each lesson... he is a good teacher (just a tad chaotic like all musicians) 😅

WieWaldi But I can't practice for too long at a day, it is uncomfortable, and my ear gets pressure marks.

🤣🤣🤣 It took me a minute to catch on to that one!!! Just like I'm finger pedaling my Chopin piece... very uncomfortable indeed 🦵👇👇👇

Sophia

Lesson 13! As always, not flawless... But I want to move on now. And yes I'm wearing tatty old cat ripped leggings... well, sue me. This is a lesson, not a fashion show 😃

PianoMonk

Sophia Where's the sheet music? Did you play this from memory? Well done at any rate.
Where are the cats?
So, many questions.... Why did you decided to record the 373 over the Clavinova? The e373 sounds fine, even through the speakers, which is a bit of a surprise. I'm still thinking about the e383, but afraid I'd miss the hammer action.

Nightowl

Well, some people say 13 is unlucky, but I feel the opposite is true on this occasion - that was great, Sophia! 😀 I found that very relaxing to listen to, the drum beat effect was just right, complementing the melody but not overpowering it, and overall the whole thing sounded quite sophisticated. I keep saying that blues music is not really my thing, but it's growing on me and I really enjoyed that performance. Thanks for posting, it's so interesting watching your progress through the course.

Sophia

Nightowl it's growing on me

I'm glad to hear that 😃 I don't profess to like them ALL, but that goes for all genres. I quite enjoyed most of this lesson too, and I think the next one will be even better. I remember WieWaldi submitted that for a recital and I immediately knew that's what I wanted to learn too... and here we are, I'm now about to start learning it 🤩

WieWaldi

Let me recap... since I submitted my Lesson 6 on October, 9th, you did:
Oct, 11: Lesson 11
Oct, 16: Spooky Story
Oct, 26: Lesson 12
Oct, 31: Adagio in A Major
today: Lesson 13
and besides that you are learning something Chopin...
...

...

Nightowl

WieWaldi I share your pain WW, I'm in the same boat as you (a rowing boat, watching Sophia zoom ahead in her speedboat). Slow but steady may not win the race but it can still get you where you want to be. 🙂

WieWaldi

Nightowl don't take me serious. Just kiddin.
Actually, I am proud of Sophia's progress. Ok, she should be proud of herself, no reason for me to be proud of something she achieves. But still, it is nice to see her beaming through the stuff. On top of that, she did this lesson with use of the pedal. This is very impressive!! When I did the same lesson back then, the pedal had a very thick layer of dust on it.

Edit: Pedaling is done with the ears...

WieWaldi

Nightowl WieWaldi I share your pain WW, I'm in the same boat as you (a rowing boat, watching Sophia zoom ahead in her speedboat). Slow but steady may not win the race but it can still get you where you want to be. 🙂

Are you sure?

It feels more like
while Sophia is

Guess her will to advance is tremendous. The more I think about it, the better she fits as the PACT coordinator. If Navindra has another job for a full time clown, . Enough talking, back to the piano. There is still a lot to learn... sigh

Sophia

Awwwwww!!! But... who of us is the sloppy player with too many mistakes 😋

Sophia

WieWaldi Pedaling is done with the ears...

Easier for some than others!

WieWaldi

I just imagine this Dumbodog sitting at a piano, making use of left and right pedal with both ears.

I always thought, I need larger hands to be a good pianist... turned out I was wrong.

Sophia

WieWaldi If Navindra has another job for a full time clown

What? I can do both! Half PACT coordinator and half clown 🤡
Let me remind you...

WieWaldi this course of Christian is just fun to do. We pianists are said to be very serious, too serious about our playing. He isn't, it's just the right mixture between fun and learning.

I never want to forget I'm learning piano as a fun hobby. I'll have enough time to be serious and slow down after I grow up...

(Oops I didn't see the fine print, lol)

I practise about an hour a day, sometimes less, sometimes a little more. And never serious stuff like scales for me... just blues and Alfred 🫢

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