Hi Sophia

Firstly, well done.

My first reaction when you started playing was - this is slow. I think you'd find the LH easier if you played it all a bit faster. At that tempo it's quite difficult to keep the LH consistent. No doubt that is the tempo advised in the lesson, but if your RH can cope then I think speeding up a bit will help you. That LH pattern can be played and used at virtually any tempo with a variety of rhythmic subtleties.

Are you using music there, or playing from memory?

When I learnt to play the blues many decades ago as soon as I could I started trying to improvise around the blues scale, and that's what I'd advise you to start doing asap. If you know that blues scale in C (C Eb F F# G Bb C) and can keep the LH going start experimenting. What you don't want to do, is make all this effort, working through these exercises (written by someone far more talented than me I'm sure) and at the end of it only be able to play the exercises. That's a complete waste of time IMHO. I'm sure the improvisation aspect will appear in the course you're doing anyway, but if it isn't, that would be a big red flag for me.

The main thing is that you're enjoying it, having fun, and clearly making progress.

Cheers

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

      Thank you Simon! He didn't really indicate what tempo and his demonstrations are all over the place, but the lesson was called "slow blues" so I just picked a rhythm that I thought was sufficiently slow 😃

      WieWaldi would know a little more about how the course proceeds (he is further ahead than I am), but I definitely think that Christian's aim is to teach full autonomy 🙂 But for this particular lesson, the improvisation is confined to "hit that note, double it, triple it, and make sure you don't miss your chord changes..." I also think he is working on hand independence and getting across what sounds bluesy and what doesn't, before he lets us loose on the real stuff. But that's just a guess.

      I know, I moan a lot, but I really am enjoying the lessons and I'm sure I will get into full improvisation soon enough. I agree that I should probably get a little more adventurous and just do it. Less moaning, more improvising

      Simonb Are you using music there, or playing from memory?

      I have the sheet music, but for these lessons I try to learn them as soon as I start the lesson. So playing from memory here.

          Hi Sophia

          As I probably said eons further back in the thread I strongly recommend practising the LH on its own; a lot! Get that LH 12 bar form down so you can do it without thinking about it. It won't happen overnight, it took me a long time, but surprisingly suddenly you'll realise you no longer have to think about your LH. It's like its on auto pilot. When this happens it will free up your RH to improvise.

          For that reason I'd also advise you to practise the blues scale in RH alone, very robotically (to start with) if required, as well. Forget what is written in the course and start playing the scale C Eb F F# G Bb C. Experiment with it! You really can't hit any wrong notes if you stick to those notes. Virtually any order will work. That way you will start to find things yourself. Play them in groups of 2 or 3, slide from one to the other. Again almost anything will work. A bonus note for the blues scale is E (natural) and sliding from Eb to E gives you one of the classic sounds in the blues. Minor 3rd to major 3rd.

          You really can't go wrong, after that it's all about rhythm!

          Hope that helps.

          Cheers

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

            Oh yes, I remember you said that... and believe it or not I have been doing that with other patterns. I just hate this plinke-plonke one so I tend to get it over with 😃

            But I know what you're saying. In fact one of the previous lessons was HUGELY enjoyable, and I spent a lot more time with it. It happened exactly as you mentioned: at some point I was wondering why I had stopped playing with my left hand... and a little puzzled too because it didn't sound any different. Turned out my left hand was doing its thing on fully automated mode!

            But that has only happened once so far. It was quite the exhilarating experience... but then again I'm sure you know all about that ^_^

            I love the blues scale, so I'll probably exchange my daily scale run with the blues one until further notice - much more fun and sounds better too 😋

            Sophia You played with some really nice groove - loved it! And your metronome sounds way better than mine^^ Still, I would encourage you to play on the Yamaha instead. You know, hammer action and correct finger feeling and yada yada yada. Nothing wrong to play along the keyboard's rhythm as a metronome - can you let the keyboard doing the drums, and you do the lesson on the piano?
            About the tempo - I liked it. It is this slow cool mood and your left hand plays very clean with very nice staccato. Actually, you had this good LH from the beginning of your Blues journey. Well - talent is talent.

            About the ending: I always told you not to rush, and now you are venturing into Jazz improvisation - highly advanced!!! In this lesson the standard turnaround would maybe had fitted better, or one of TC3s ending:

            But - no! You must rush into advanced Jazz territory!!!

                  WieWaldi or one of TC3s ending:

                  But but but but! That WAS my attempt at one of TC's endings. Obviously butchered so very badly that it could not even be recognized 😁😆😂

                  It was not one of my better lessons, but it also wasn't a favourite. I may stick with lesson 16 for a while, because I can only be a lovely beginner once 😄

                  Thanks for your very kind words, even though it feels a little undeserved this time 😝

                  WieWaldi I would encourage you to play on the Yamaha instead

                  I practised it on the Clavinova 😊 Just to record I switched to the E373. Not to provide excuses, but it was one reason I struggled, because the action is indeed so very different!

                      Here is my rendition of "At Last", from the final section of Alfred's Self Teaching Adult Piano Course (AKA book 1).
                      I skipped this piece the first time around, but recently I've been replaying everything in the book and I decided it was time to finally tackle this classic piece. My recording is not perfect, but I'm moving on from it before I kill my enjoyment of playing it, because sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. When I finally managed to get a passable recording, the title rang very true for me. 🙂

                      [

                      "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                        Oh wow Nightowl, another jazzy blues piece from you, that was quite the surprise! See????????? Learning this style is contagious! You already joined the ranks of bloody (blues) beginner, you can only move upwards from here on 😋

                        That was played with much confidence and pleasant schwung (this is a German word that the Dutch use too, and I'm not sure if there is a good English translation for it). I loved that tune and you did it justice. All your zealous practising is starting to pay off, well done!

                        More more!

                        Thanks Sophia! I made a mistake in the second half but carried on, because the piece is longer than anything else I've recorded and several times I had played it quite well throughout then made a complete mess of the last measure - totally maddening! 😬 I'd need to work on it for another week or two to manage a note perfect recording, but I'd had enough. It's an apt way to finally say goodbye to the first book before I focus on finishing book 2.
                        Blues music has grown on me over the past year. It helps that much of it is played at a slow tempo - in fact that piece has the instruction "Slowly, with feeling" - ideal for a slow coach like me! If anyone notices slight hesitations I can claim they were intentional, as I was "feeling" the emotion of the piece! 😁

                        "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                          Nightowl this was a very solid Blues. If the score says it must be played "Slowly, with feeling", then you must play slowly and with feeling. You succeeded. Yes, I could hear some feeling. Some bluesy feeling, to be precise. Well done - I could hear a lot of blue notes and some blue scales. And you played a 2:30 minute piece - which is a long ass of a thing. This makes the chance to get a proper recording so ultimatively much more difficult than a short one. Again - this is another time to give yourself a big clap on the shoulder.

                          Nightowl If anyone notices slight hesitations I can claim they were intentional, .... 😁

                          I like this sentence! May I borrow it? I might be very useful in the future! No seriously, it is way better to hesitate and then play a right note. The people that do play a wrong note within the timing instead, tend to wire their brain wrong. You know, there is a very true sentence:
                          Practice does not make perfect - it makes permanent!

                          A few more steps like this and you can feel like 💙🧑🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏻🎩🕶️ (The Blues Brothers, wearing hats and sunglasses.But don't mix up with spies and men in black 🕵️🕴️)

                          Sorry for the late reply, I was just waiting for the best occasion to add the 500th post in this thread! 💯💯💯💯💯 🥳
                          Gotcha! 🤘😎👍

                                WieWaldi Thanks WieWie, your words really made me smile and the video you linked made me laugh - that man is one bad ass comedian! 😃 Some of the phrases he referred to are not used much here in the UK, they are much more prevalent in the States, but his observations were very clever.

                                500th post - yes, that's quite a landmark! Maybe I'll make the 1000th post - if I remember to get my ass in gear when the time comes! 🙃

                                By the way, I was so sad to see the news about the attack in Magdeburg - just awful! I hope you and your loved ones stay safe, I fear that the repercussions of this incident might become widespread. Take care of yourself.

                                "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                    Nightowl Thanks for your kind words. No - I am not in Magdeburg (Germany). I am in Bavaria (near Germany). Yes - it is dreadful. But this isn't the first time. I feels more like a déjà vu. Unfortunately it seems people get used to it - maybe some even want to have this. Otherwise I cannot explain why German voters are unwilling to change politics. But sorry - let's stop here. I don't want to rant about politics. This is a piano forum.

                                        WieWaldi Understood.

                                        "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                          Well, I started lesson 16 today. Just four beautiful chords for now to prepare for some cool licks 😊 I think I will enjoy this lesson! But for now, I am just learning the left hand.

                                          Funny enough I started my next Alfred piece (I will write a little more about that in the Alfred thread) and... it's a boogie! But a very interesting boogie in C# minor, with just one single chord pattern for the left hand throughout the entire piece. It's very hard to do (for me, so far), so that means that today my right hand had nothing more to do than scratch my nose. The left hand had to do all the work! Luckily I have two left hands, and they are both all thumbs 👍🏼

                                          WieWaldi I was just waiting for the best occasion to add the 500th post in this thread! 💯💯💯💯💯 🥳

                                          Whoooo hooooo!

                                              Enjoy - if I recall correctly, this is the 2nd lesson with a LH chord progression instead of a pattern. Comes often more and more, but there will be the patterns again, too. When I did the long gospel chord progression with 16 chords, I was sitting in my armchair, watching TV, and had the Casio on my lap. Did the chords again and again, until the grips felt more and more natural.

                                              Sophia Funny enough I started my next Alfred piece (I will write a little more about that in the Alfred thread) and... it's a boogie!

                                              See - no matter how hard I tried to rush throgh the course, you reached Boogie Woogie first. 😡
                                              🐎 vs 🦥
                                              🚴🏻‍♀️ vs 🛌🏻💤
                                              🍔 vs 🥔

                                              (Can't wait to listen to it. Will you post it here or in Alfred's thread?)

                                                  WieWaldi Can't wait to listen to it.

                                                  Haha well, I think it will be a while! Technically it's not a boogie... it says it's a Jazz Ostinato. Then the footnote explains that this means it has a pattern of notes repeated throughout the composition. But it sounds to me like a boogie... in a minor key. Very interesting! I will need a very steady left hand though, so it won't be ready any time soon. I may prove to be a 🦥🥔🛌🏻💤🥔 after all. Because after I get the left hand done, the right hand has the learn to provide all the frillies. I'm excited to learn this 😋

                                                  WieWaldi I was sitting in my armchair, watching TV, and had the Casio on my lap. Did the chords again and again, until the grips felt more and more natural.

                                                  I saw a Youtube video of someone who practices the boogie patterns like that! I don't think I would have the patience for that... though now that the lessons are becoming more and more challenging, I may need to rethink my laziness and start doing the same. Simon also told me that I need to do just that. You guys are hard taskmasters 😂

                                                        Sophia Technically it's not a boogie... it says it's a Jazz Ostinato.

                                                        Ohhhh. This doesnt make things better. U know, I am in this blues and (hopefully next year) boogie thing only, to get a foundation to be able to play jazz one day.
                                                        And you 🏇 are right into it, now!
                                                        😱😱😱

                                                            You can blame it on our friend Alfred. He pushes the envelope all the time - Nightowl gets involved in blues and I get into boogie/jazz. Just by following the book

                                                              Sophia Nah, no one's falling for that line, Sophia! You are flaunting your musical genes again by moving along at the speed of light, don't try and pin the blame on poor old Alfred. His taste in music might be dubious, but he's not the one responsible here!

                                                              WieWaldi I feel your pain, we stand together against an annoyingly talented person who is making us feel bad. I'm going to ask Nav to stop her posting on any thread for beginners/learners, because she is clearly not really a BBB (bloody blues beginner) like me/us! <stamps foot, stomps off to find Nav>

                                                              "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                                                    Nightowl His taste in music might be dubious

                                                                    Say what now? Alfred's taste is improving all the time... blues! ragtime! boogie! jazz! HOW DARE YOU just when the book is finally getting better and better 😂🤣

                                                                    Nightowl she is clearly not really a BBB (bloody blues beginner) like me/us

                                                                    Watch your mouth 😃 WW is well ahead of me/us and probably always will be, because I need to slow down considerably now that the lessons are becoming more and more difficult 😃 I'm not catching up with him any time soon 🧑🏻‍🦽