Beginners blues/boogie/rock discussion
Sophia Well of course... You're late already. Get practising you! That said I just had a peek at lesson five - introducing SIXTHs? Should I start shivering???
Thanks. No pressure then.
Sixths are easy. They are just inverted thirds.
I know it is confusing, because 6+3=9, but octave means 8. And the truth is, it has only 7 notes.
But seriously for just a second... I'm so very, very happy that we can joke around like this. I don't miss being told nonstop how we're just stupid adults who don't learn properly and rush ahead and doing it all wrong whatever we do.
Learning piano is supposed to be fun and it finally is. Thanks for the giggle
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Ahhhhhhhhhh swoooonnnn, That's exactly MY kind of music!!! Small combo, calm and soothing melodies, and a kitty guitar with matching paw print! I could listen to that for hours! My dad had a mixer just like that btw.
It's a shame so many jazz musicians seem to want to cram in as many notes as possible... Although I admire the skills, I can't listen to such for more than a minute really. I find the type of music you play so much more enjoyable!
Edit: wait, you BUILT that guitar?! That's incredible, my husband once built his own guitar (acoustic) so I'll show him your creation. He still has the original design cut out in plywood. I'm sure he'll be fascinated!
Sophia Thanks. Glad you like it. I was once one of those "crammers" when I was young. I guess getting old has its pluses. Jazz is sometimes complicated, in the sense that some musicians play to the audience, which may, or may not, be comprised of aficionados, who expect pyrotechnics. Other players feel the need to push the limits with the other players, self-indulgent as it may be, which the audience might also find entertaining. John Coltrane got so far out, his band left him. I find Bill Evans, (my favorite pianist), solo and with a group, the perfect blend of taste and prowess
What mixer? The "amplifier" used on the recording is a virtual one, of many, found in GarageBand.
PianoMonk What mixer? The "amplifier" used on the recording is a virtual one, of many, found in GarageBand.
Whoops, that goes to show how much I know Yes, he had an amplifier that looked just like that... but it wasn't virtual, he carried it around on his performances. Then again I assume that that doesn't say much - I assume they all have knobs and dials and holes where you can stuff cables and mikes in
I guess you're right, I honestly don't remember! It's been... well... quite a few decades ago
Nightowl Ok, maybe I'm the odd man out here, regarding this video, and this type of piano playing.
I'm easily bored with three chords. Maybe from years of fronting my blues band, or the few months I played lead guitar in a traditional country band, (three chords and the truth, not modern country, which isn't really country). At least with blues and country, you have melody and lyrics to add depth and variety, and to tell a story.
To me, the players in this video are good at what they do, but I'm not impressed by what they do. The fact that they can chat and goof around while playing, demonstrates that it's mostly muscle memory; like knowing where the bathroom light switch is in a house you've lived in for a while. I don't find this to be very musical, or even interesting, with those left hand calisthenics, and the right hand choosing from a cliched bag of tricks, root+7, 3rd+octave, 5th+octave, dom7 chords and their inversions, mechanical runs using dom7 scale, blues scale, and pentatonic, and all of the interchangeable bits and phrases, over and over. No dynamics, no melodic development, same tempo, for the entire video, and more of the same on Ladyva's other YT clips. I think this type of piano playing would easily be replicated by Artificial Intelligence, perhaps even improved upon.
If I built my career on playing this type of music, I'd probably go mad. Be careful what you wish for.
I have another question for you blues gurus: in the sheet music of lesson 5, the turnaround is shown AFTER the 12 bars (so it ends with C7 C7 and then it shows the sequence). I'm a little confused - should it be played instead of bar 11 and 12, or after?
Thanks! I watched the video too but he isn't very clear on it... he seems to enjoy teaching in smaller segments. I would imagine that at some point he'll put the whole thing together for us
Sophia OK, I think bars 11 & 12 are just a transcript of what he plays at 10:20 ff. There should probably be an end repeat after that on the sheet music. I think the bars that look like measures 13 & 14 are just meant to be a separate thing, a new turnaround you could use over bars 11 & 12. Does that make sense?
Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.
Ok, I'll bite. I don't have the sheet music, but a 12 bar blues is a 12 bar blues. A turnaround is a way to keep the song going, like reintroducing the tune, usually so another player can solo. Anyway, on a 12 bar blues, using this for an example, C7 C7 C7 C7 F7 F7 C7 C7 G7 F7 C7 C7, a standard turnaround would take the place of the last bar of C7. So, still a 12 bar blues. Sometimes, the last 2 bars act as a turnaround, with maybe something like a chord change every 2 beats - C7 Am7 Dm7 G7, then back to the beginning. Or, you might have: C7 Eb7 Ab7 G7. Or, C7 Eb7 Dm7 Db7, then back to the beginning. There are lots of ways to make your way back to the head (that's jazz-speak for the start ;-), or to break up the progression, keep it going, or to offer a path to more tonal variety, which you hear in lots of jazz type blues tunes. Hope this helps.
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Sophia Sorry - I didn't buy his 1st patch of sheet music. From lesson 4-7 I made them up by my own (but bought the consecutive ones, because I was too lazy after this).
Let me share it for you: (Don't get confused by 12/4 time signature, the swing is baked in)
Sophia should it be played instead of bar 11 and 12, or after?
Instead of bar 11 and 12 - exactly as in my sheet music. The page is one complete 12-bar sequence.
btw: you are really fast in learning this! chapeau
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PianoMonk Hope this helps.
Always, thank you! You too, WieWaldi. This is what his sheet music shows:
It starts with bar 10, 11 and 12 (the rest is on the previous page):
And after that it shows the turn around.
TC3 I think the bars that look like measures 13 & 14 are just meant to be a separate thing, a new turnaround you could use over bars 11 & 12. Does that make sense?
Yes, I think he just forgot the double bar just before that
Forget what I said in the last post. Doesn't make any sense now.
I am confused with his sheet music. Let's call his version:
- top line = bar 8 + 9 + 10
- bottom line = bar 11 + 12
Then bar 9+10 are C7 (makes no sense as 9+10 are normally G7+F7)
And bar 8 is F7, but played lower than C7. (in his tutorial, C7 is the lowest chord, while F/G7 are a few key higher).
Nah - do yourself a favor and stick to my version. It works and it sounds, believe me.
Another thing - you will find in my sheet music more notes than in his one. I didn't invent them. Just looked at his fingers.