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,...

WieWaldi

Sophia The level scale is one WieWaldi created and you need not worry - it only applies to the blues course.

No no no no.
No.

Roger, TC and Bart - to name a few - never took this Blues course and they never finished it. Are they bloody beginners because of that?!? Come on.
You graduate whenever you finished a milestone. A book. A course. A chopin etude. Whatever you call a milestone. But a method-book and a YouTube-playlist-course definitely count.

Sophia Oops cross posted with you WieWie 😃 There you go! He generously upgraded you to total beginner too!

Yes! And you, Sophie, you are a True Beginner. I know, it doesn't sound too flattering, but you are what you are. 😁

Sophia

Haha ok ok! I surrender... again. But all those people that you mentioned... I believe we might even refer to them as Intermediate... maybe even... gasp! Advanced?! 🙇‍♂️🙇🏽‍♀️🙇🏿

WieWaldi

Sophia Exactly. Advanced... for sure advanced. Or a professional intermediate, if you want. And none of them attended our beloved Blues Piano for Beginners course. You can't claim Blues piano is the only way to step up that career ladder. There are many career ladders out there, or staircases. Some prefer to take the lift. Or a turbo lift if they are annoyingly talented and learn at supersonic speed.

Nightowl

WieWaldi There are many career ladders out there, or staircases. Some prefer to take the lift. Or a turbo lift if they are annoyingly talented and learn at supersonic speed.

Well said WieWie! 😁 Sometimes I feel like a tortoise as I struggle to climb a single rung of the ladder, but then I remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare and feel slightly better. (Although I don't think the hare was moving at supersonic speed. Sigh.)

Sophia

Oooh, the Easy Blues course starts with one of my favourite tunes. Hit the Road Jack - move over, Ray Charles! Here I come!

WieWaldi

I've seen Ray live, Nov 17th 2001. It was in a small townhall, probably 200 guests and I was about 20 meter away from him. But I doubt he had seen me 🙁

Most impressive on that show wasn't Ray himself, the show was on his last days an as old man. It was his foregroup and accompaniment: three black rnb singer ladies in their best age with amazing voices. Similar to the accampaniment ladies of this video. Except, they weren't in black and white and voices were much more present. Although the dresses had a very similar cut, but silver instread of grey.

Ray himself wasn't that long on stage, the ladies made the evening. And it was a wonderful evening! 🕶️

Sophia

Wow!!!!!!!!! Lucky you!!!!!!! 😍 My husband told me (many times) how he visited Louis Armstrong live when he was young. Same, on his last days as an old man and in a small setting. He was lucky to have the best seat in the house and experienced the full charm first hand. Now I'm jealous of both of you 😅

Sophia

Hehehehe......... ahhh that tortoise 😄
Smarter, better looking, happier, and got there faster. What's not to like 🙂

Of course I much prefer us making the journey together... finishing at the same time!

WieWaldi

Turtles are only fast when cheating

Animisha

WieWaldi Turtles are only fast when cheating

No, turtles are fast when they get some support with the heavy weight that they are carrying!

WieWaldi

Sophia ...And we're completely poisoning poor Kaydia's thread.... she must think she landed in the madhouse.

You are right - we have this thread for the quack quack...

After the turtles have finished teasing the cats (and rabbits), I want to say I am stuck in the Blues lessons. Only 5 more days and then there are the recitals. Meaning, I have to get the Country Blues flying and learn the Frisco Blues, too. Both are very easy, don't expect something special. Only thing, I still don't know what Blues is for which forum.

But at least, I get the first two in the 40-ish pieces a year challenge. *proud*

Sophia

WieWaldi I get the first two in the 40-ish pieces a year challenge. proud

Nice! I'm looking forward to hearing them.

I learned the left hand of Hit the Road Jack and I'm slowly adding the right hand blues scale. I think we'll both be a total beginner for a long, long time 😝

WieWaldi

Sophia I learned the left hand of Hit the Road Jack and I'm slowly adding the right hand blues scale.

You know what? It cost me 10 minutes to re-learn the left hand and 10 more for the RH chorus + verse. Ok, not as error free as in my video, but still. Twenty minutes to get it goin again. 💪

WieWaldi

Oh yes. The total beginner state will be there for a long long time. Especially if I spend time learning pieces instead of attending the course. On the other hand, a successful 40 pieces a year challenge will be graduate me one level higher as well. 🤩

Wait - you aren't a total beginner anymore. You are already beyond. 😼

Sophia

Whooo hooo! I am error free with just the left hand. Just before I had to take a break, I started to add the right hand, nothing but the blues scale.

Today I went back to that briefly, but the left hand loses track quickly. I can't wait to add actual smooth licks because the blues scale isn't very pretty with the pattern.... but first I need to cement it a little further before moving on with more complicated stuff.

WieWaldi

Right. On that LH, the BS sounds like BS.

WieWaldi

It might be not useful now. But I don't wanna be alone with that:

I just jammed along the good ol' Blues shuffle LH in C, and then a melody appeared in my head,
I tried it - wrong.
......I tried again - better.
.............Tried again - perfect!
.....................And it sounds!!!
Okay, it is just a small line, but I feel like

<Hoping, I remember tomorrow>
And the recital pieces are calling!

rogerch

WieWaldi This is a huge milestone! Fantastic!

Nightowl

WieWaldi So have you begun improvising now WieWie?!? Impressive! That means that you're now a composer! 😃

hebele

WieWaldi that's amazing 👏. Thanks for sharing. You may not realise but you guys are a big motivation source to me.

On the blues course, I think I will count my lesson two done. I am giving up the strange slide thing for now:

Because swing and the syncopation is hard enough. And my fat fingers end up pressing extra keys when I attempt to slide.

WieWaldi

hebele Sliding is fun. And it makes the sound so living.
The down-slides are easy - don't skip it. Get used to it.
But the power slides (up-slides, or side-slides from white to white key) are a skill that needs a lot of practice.

Btw - we use this thread as motivational source, too. And for entertainment of course. 😀
If you record your lessons and share them here, it is even more motivating. Go back to original post and you find all lessons of Sophia as YouTube! So nice being able to see, where she was half a year ago.

Awwww - back then everything was so relaxed, but now she's on my heels like a fire-red Ferrari in the mirrors.

Nightowl So have you begun improvising now WieWie?!? Impressive! That means that you're now a composer! 😃

Sophia Oohh that's fantastic! WieWaldi, the famous composer. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Oh - you are so darn right, my lovely friends!

Sophia

Oohh that's fantastic! WieWaldi, the famous composer. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Edit: wow, beaten by Nightowl by mere seconds 😂

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