Sophia I am wondering if there is a mistake in the sheet music - RH has C - F - Eb - (F# G) - Bb - F - Eb. But He didn't use the natural symbol in front of that last F, so I played it as F# at first and it sounded HORRIBLE. But of course the first F# is only a grace note, so maybe that doesn't need a natural sign later?

I think you are right, according to sheet music, this should be a F#. AFAIK, accidentals remain for the rest of the bar, including the accidentals of grace notes. And musescore software has the same opinion. (This is the source I always ask, to figure out what is right and wrong - and musescore is always right, but sometimes it breaks good habits because it allows for too much freedom)

Anyway - it turns out my sight-reading is miserable, I played it as natural F from the beginning, and I was never thinking about sharpening it. 😵 (until your post). No - F is correct, it sounds good. His sheet music is faulty. No - his sheet music software is faulty. It looks like the grace notes are an add-on and always cause trouble like spacing. And now accidentals, too.

    hebele It turns out my internal rhythm is worse than I thought. Whenever I try to go over beginner blues lessons with a metronome, it goes out of sync very quickly. So I think that means I have to play with the metronome a lot.

    This happened to me, when I played the turnarounds. I got so easily out of timing, and the metronome revealed my flaws. In the beginning I thought, my playing might be good as I sometimes landed on a click. But it had been 5 clicks instead of 4. Or 3 clicks. Go and use a metronome with a different sound for the 1, it pays off.

    btw: I recorded many of my earlier lessons with metronome. And still sometimes do, but now the clicks are hidden from the recording.

        hebele If you don't hear it, get your ears checked

        Hahahahaha! That sounds like him all right! But I listened to his demo a few times (sorry, can't link to it, I think it's only for people who purchase the sheet music) and it's definitely a slide from F# to G and then a natural F towards the end of the bar. So now we're not only pedaling with our ears, but reading with them too. Such busy ears!

        WieWaldi the metronome revealed my flaws

        Oh yes, same here. But I think I was blessed with semi good timing, plus it's the one thing everybody around me would jump on quickly if I didn't get that right... so it's kinda ingrained by now. Unlike all my other bad habits 😁

              Sophia (sorry, can't link to it, I think it's only for people who purchase the sheet music)

              Well - his video is public listed, no worries about that, you are fine if you share.

              Actually, I got notice with this video about the 8 easy blues pieces.
              I remember when I read this title the first time and listened the introduction words, I assumed some of his students would accuse him, to not make easy sheet music.

                Oh thank you! I didn't even know this video existed. All I had was the link in the front of the book... and that leads to an unlisted video where he just plays through the eight pieces without any explanations. Now I can follow the tutorial and correct all the things I probably practised wrongly... when I'm already 2/3 in 😝

                Haha - you are right. His videos about the 8 easy pieces are a mess. He has the preview one, public listed and each piece only played for a few bars. Then there is the one you are talking - whopping 17 minutes with every piece at full length, but unlisted. Only for the sheet music owners. And then there are tutorials of some of them. (Old School Blues and Before You Accuse Me)

                It looks like I won't be able to finish beginners blues course in 2025. There are too many things to practice but not enough practice time 😞. But... I've managed to practice lesson 4! Even though it is a mishmash of unrelated things and doesn't sound very good with humpty dumpty LH. I think this is a good sign that I might stick with it to the end:

                  Making huge progress, hebele! Well played! The MOAT is, as always, mouth wateringly well played. I'm jealous because it took me a loooooooooooong time to get it fairly smooth, and I actually don't think I can play it as well as yourself, even now. Keep going, fellow blues buddy! 👍

                  I might have one suggestion (please tell me if that is welcome or not): you might want to join your RH notes a little more rather than almost staccato, especially during those first 15 seconds. I know you can do it because in other places your playing sounds really smooth. But honestly that is a minor nitpick observation.... you are really making rapid progress.

                    Sophia thanks, that's too kind. And I appreciate any feedback. I will try to pay attention to that RH. Apparently I default to staccatos. It happened with my "Minuet in G" too. Or maybe use the pedal and try to hide behind it 🙂

                      I confess: hiding behind a pedal is a lifesaver, sometimes ^_^ But I think in this case, it is probably better to connect the notes with your fingers - maybe just run the sequence hands separate until you get the feel for it?
                      At least the good news is that connecting notes is learned before staccato usually. So once your staccato lessons arrive, you are fully skilled already 😂

                      hebele Aaaawwww.... nicely played though. Give yourself a big hug. (If you can't, a tap on your shoulder is okay, too) About this legato/staccato play - I think both are possible. Albeit, I tend to go for more legato in the first 15 seconds, too. Anyway - switching from legato to staccato and back is a strong artistic device. Like playing a smooth legato run, following by some staccato notes that are further apart. I also like the mother of all turnarounds. Still, I encourage you to practice it metronome - this was exactly where I found out for myself, my timing is off. Yours is better than mine was back then, but still I think you are rushing the last three notes.

                      I don't know if critic is welcome: (pls tell me, if not):
                      The note in those time marks sound very off to me:
                      0:54 1:03 1:12 1:21 1:30 1:38
                      And I think I know what the problem is: Christians sheet music program has problems with grace notes. They don't get the space on the sheet music and if there are accidentals used, they are automatically naturaled for the rest of the bar. This is wrong notation. So I assume what you play is perfectly correct according to the sheet music, but the sheet music is wrong. (I assume it is wrong, because I don't have the sheet music for lessons 1 to 7, but I know his sheet music issues).

                      You play:
                      F#>G + C' (F# is the grace note)
                      C
                      F# + A
                      C
                      D#>E + G (D# is the grace note)

                      But you should play this instead:
                      F#>G + C' (F# is the grace note)
                      C
                      F + A
                      C
                      D#>E + G (D# is the grace note)

                      Christians software doesn't remember the # from the grace note and therefore forget to natural the green F.
                      Please redo this phrase with the natural F - this phrase happens to be played so often. Unlearn this muscle memory as soon as possible.

                      General tip: if something sounds strange, compare the keyboard of the video with the sheet music. If it is different, the video is always right. And as you know, if something is wrong, you can hear it - hopefully. Otherwise, you have something in your ears. Maybe a cat. 😸

                          WieWaldi thanks for spending on time on this. Like I said all feedback is welcome. And you are right, I think I've misread the F as F# here:

                          It looks like the same issue Sophia raised three days ago.

                          I will go over it with the correct notes. Although I think I've repeated the wrong note hundreds of times already 😱.

                          General tip: if something sounds strange, compare the keyboard of the video with the sheet music. If it is different, the video is always right.

                          Unfortunately my ears are hopeless to detect strangeness and I hate following videos for detailed instructions. So I need to do extra cross checking between the notation and the videos.

                                WieWie such good ears! I had completely missed those grace notes, but now that you mentioned it, I can hear it too. Or perhaps I removed that cat from my ears, that's possible too 😋
                                Yes, comparing with Christian always helps. You could even slow down his video (Youtube allows for that) and play along.

                                Though I wouldn't recommend it for timing... Christian has one habit that I have mixed feelings about: when he explains stuff, he can suddenly slow down or speed up significantly. I know what he is trying to do (sometimes to explain a situation, other times show how smooth it can sound), but I still don't like it much. My inner metronome throws a big protest rally every time 😱
                                So to learn perfect timing, his lessons are usually not the best indication. Only a metronome can help in that situation.

                                  hebele Nicely played! This piece is so relaxing.

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

                                    hebele And you are right, I think I've misread the F as F# here:

                                    It looks like the same issue Sophia raised three days ago.

                                    No - you didn't misread. It is a F#. The sheet music is wrong, It is the same issue Sophia raised.

                                    hebele I will go over it with the correct notes. Although I think I've repeated the wrong note hundreds of times already 😱.

                                    This was my fear. Sorry. There is no other way than unlearning and relearning. Especially this phrase is so useful for improvising, later.

                                    hebele Unfortunately my ears are hopeless to detect strangeness

                                    That's a pity. Unfortunately, I found two other places with strangeness: The F7 part at 0:22 and 0:24 is exactly the situation when Christian told, not to slide from Eb to E, but to stay on Eb all the time.

                                            WieWaldi thanks. I thought I was being careful to stay on Eb during F7 bars. But I was also getting annoyed to silly mistakes. So it's quiet likely I've let the autopilot on which slides to E 🙂. I will check it out tomorrow.

                                                Sophia WieWie such good ears!

                                                Thanks for the compliment, you know Waldi is the typical name of a Bavarian dachshund. Typically they look like this:
                                                But I don't pedal with my ears. I tried it:

                                                .

                                                Sophia I had completely missed those grace notes, but now that you mentioned it, I can hear it too. Or perhaps I removed that cat from my ears, that's possible too 😋

                                                Haha - you really should pay more attention to the whereabouts of Sandy and Lionel.

                                                    Yikers.... now those are three images that may haunt my nightmares for years to come

                                                    hebele WieWaldi thanks. I thought I was being careful to stay on Eb during F7 bars. But I was also getting annoyed to silly mistakes. So it's quiet likely I've let the autopilot on which slides to E 🙂.

                                                    I know this autopilot thing. It is still an issue for me. Currently I play an extended version of the humptee dumptee left hand and I changed my fingering for that, too. This consumes so much of my brain cells that the right hand does the autopilot Eb->E slide when I switch from C7 or G7 to F7. But luckily I can instantly hear that it was wrong.

                                                      WieWaldi just listened the recording again carefully. And yes, I can hear the Eb->E slides in the F7 bars 🙃. Thanks again. I will repeat it with the correct notes today.

                                                      Yesterday, I've also practiced the F (instead of F#) mishap above. And F is actually easier to play. But I still play F# time to time. So it will take some unlearning. But overall I am still happy with it.

                                                      By the way, that recording was me playing with a metronome (with accent on first beat). I think I will stick with the metronome for the blues course. Somehow metronome feels more fitting to blues. Maybe because the rhythms are trickier than my method book.