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 OMG - youtube algorithm is hilarious. It just presented somthing about Thomas the Tank Engine and I instantly recognized from where I know this... 😂

Sophia

Haha that's adorable!!! How appropriate.... 🤠

Nightowl

Thomas the Tank Engine has cult status here in the UK - it's great! 😃 Adults appreciate the humour and children love the animation.

WieWaldi Seriously, I have only 4 stages: ... (5) I am done and make a perfect recording

Er... you need to amend your post WieWie, because we all know that you regularly reach the 5th stage listed. 🙂

My fifth stage is "I am done and make a mediocre recording before I detest every measure of the piece."

WieWaldi

Nightowl Thomas the Tank Engine has cult status here in the UK - it's great! 😃 Adults appreciate the humour and children love the animation.

Never have seen it in Germany, before. At least not that I can remember. But I must admit, his face looks familiar. Dunno where this comes from... 🙄
.

Nightowl My fifth stage is "I am done and make a mediocre recording...

Nah - you do a better job than you give yourself credit for. Your recording isn't just mediocre - it is exceptional mediocre! ^{<ducking away before a flying piano from the UK hits me>}

Nightowl Er... you need to amend your post WieWie,

Okay, okay, okay. Got it. Let me amend my post:

I have only 3 stages:

...... ....0% = not even started
..... .....5% = I totally suck
.........10% = I suck a bit less
.........20% = I can play it veeery slooooowly with a lot of errors
.........90% = I am done and make a 100% perfect recording

hebele

My lesson 6 is sounding like this now:

I was relatively happy about it but then I've watched @Sophia's lesson 6 again. Big mistake 😂. Her LF has this funky staccato which sounds better I think. If I have enough blues motivation tomorrow, I will try that.

Nightowl

hebele It's coming along nicely. Once you're happy with the basics it might sound good if you add some swing to this piece.

WieWaldi

hebele Her LF has this funky staccato which sounds better I think.

Actually, you forgot to swing.
I really advise you to not only work with the sheet music. Make use of Christians videos. Take your time to rewatch his video from time to time and compare with your own playing. As long as you don't have a real world teacher, this is one of the best replacement options you can ever think of.

And yes, LH a bit staccato sounds better than legato. (I learned this by watching Sophia's videos, too. Hers always sounded better than mine 😭.) But the difference between yours and Sophia's is 90% swing, only 10% staccato LH.

hebele

Nightowl yes, at the beginning I was trying to swing the new LH pattern carefully. Then I think somehow I've lost it 😭.

Sophia

Aaahhh yes that is a very nice lesson. I completely messed part of it up because I wanted to include the kitty piano 🐈‍⬛

But it is one of my favourite LH patterns, so I perhaps spent a lot of time trying to make it sound funky 😋

Funny enough I dusted off the pattern just yesterday, because my current lesson is awful and on top of it there is my least favourite humpty dumpty pattern. But it’s actually a little too hard, so I know where you’re coming from!

I don’t have much to add to what’s already been said. No one ever said leaning blues is easy…. But by following Christian’s lessons we’re all get there eventually!!!

Sophia

Oooh I was mistaken. Lesson 6 is not the one with the kitty keyboard. It's the one where I botched the ending and finished with a rude word 🤬

My current lesson is filled with rude words too, but at least I will know how to not record those when the time comes 😃 I can play the intro of lesson 4 now, followed by line 1 and 2 of the Hanon lesson. So far my memory bank is okay with it... but I also realize I'm only 7 minutes into the 40 minutes video.

Oh and I definitely decided against using hebele's "pretty LH pattern", it proved too hard with the weird "long lines" RH. Humpty Dumpty theme we can play in our sleep by now 🤣

rsl12

Sophia I clicked on the link just to hear you say a rude word. Thanks for timestamping it!!

WieWaldi

Sophia Wait a moment... There ain't no Hanon. This was my personal interpretation of the long lines. Play them as Christian told you and you are fine.

Btw - Long lives the Humpty Dumpty LH.
Lesson 11 has Humpty Dumpty all along - so get used to it. Muahahaha. 👺
Humpty Dumpty rulez 👑

Sophia

WieWaldi This was my personal interpretation of the long lines.

And you weren't wrong! It sure feels like Hard Work... aka Serious Exercise 😝

rsl12 I clicked on the link just to hear you say a rude word

LOL, you would.... 🤭

Edit: so I listened to your version again, Wie Wie. I noticed that you are starting with the part I haven't even learned yet 😃

Then around the 3 min mark you get into the "not exactly Hanon but close" stuff. But you are not using the humpty dumpty theme yourself, you are using an interesting LH pattern that I don't remember learning just yet. Does that appear later in the lesson?

Also, EIGHT SOLID MINUTES of recording - that ain't gonna happen. I have already decided to cut this lesson in two parts 🙄

WieWaldi

Sophia But you are not using the humpty dumpty theme yourself, you are using an interesting LH pattern that I don't remember learning just yet.

It is the poor man's walking bass line. The version for total beginners.

Sophia Does that appear later in the lesson?

No, but you have learned it already as bloody beginner. At least a very similar one. Add some notes and good. I am not even sure if mine sounds any better than the easier one you already know.

If you are bored of the Humpty Dumpty LH, feel free and create your own. Or steal it from somewhere. Just make sure you love it. ❤️💕
You know, every new LH costs you some days of learning. (To be fair, in your case some hours.)

Edit: if I remember correctly, I did the poor man's walking bass because the ~~Hanon~~ Long Lines😬 together with the Humpty Dumpty would have bored me to death....

Sophia

WieWaldi the Hanon Long Lines😬 together with the Humpty Dumpty would have bored me to death....

Omg you are so right there…

I forgot we anyway learned this walking bass line. Now that you mention it, I believe that was actually another lesson I didn’t enjoy very much, right? I guess I blocked it from my mind 😸

I might have another try at the lesson 6 pattern, or continue to do the lazy person’s version with HD 😏

hebele

No surprise to me, finding the swing in lesson 6 is difficult. Here is my latest attempt:

I think I will throw the towel and practice some easy method book pieces to cleanse myself 🙂

WieWaldi

hebele I second Sophia's opinion: It is a vast improvement. Congrats to make some swing in such a short time. I know it is hard to unlearn bad habits and replace them with good ones.
Unfortunately, your journey to swing isn't complete yet. I think in general, you swung the 2 + 2½ and the 4 + 4½ notes quite well. Those were the notes when your LH plays two 8ths notes in swing. But when your LH plays only the quarter note (without swinging, of course), your RH has sometimes (not always) trouble to swing alone. I don't remember you had the same problem with the very first LH you learned. The so-called Humpty Dumpty LH, the one that is swinging all the time.

The spots Sophia pointed out, are not the only one, but the most obvious ones. Nevertheless, it is a huge improvement. You are on the right way. 👍

I don't know, if it makes sense to work further on it, or just go to the next lesson and learn it correct from the start. If Christian is talking too much for you, just listen to Sophia's recording and try to copy her rhythm.
btw: Lesson 7 is played straight 😉

Sophia

Oh but that is a huge improvement! I think it would be an even bigger improvement if you held notes like these a little longer:

(Around the 0:38 and 1:28 mark)

Hold those notes until you almost reached the E (2nd and 5th note) LH, then really quickly play the G and F with your RH almost at the same time, but a fraction earlier. Then it would really start to swing! But honestly, MUCH better already! Keep going 😃

BTW I really like your transition to the MOAT - I never got that smooth. We're learning from each other here... some things I get a little faster, other things you. Of course Wie Wie is going like a freight train, despite all his moaning about his slow progress 😋

hebele

Sophia & WieWaldi thanks a lot. I think I rely on my LH for the swing, instead of having the feeling independently. With humpty dumpty it wasn't a big problem. Or rather the problem was hidden. Maybe I should try humpty dumpty for a while to fix the RH 😀. Oh no, that would make me dependent on it. I think I should stop being arrogant (like Christian said) and just count out loud a lot.

Nightowl

hebele Well done, that's a much better version. It's also notable that you reduced the total playing time by about 10 seconds, so you're probably quite close to reaching the ideal tempo (whatever that is, this is not my area).

I rarely count out loud, I prefer to just listen to professionals/experienced players tackling the piece. Then I practice and to help keep even rhythm I tend to sway my body in time with the beat, really trying to lose myself in the music. This can work, but at times I've been known to relax a bit too much and lose concentration - so annoying!

WieWaldi

I was never ever a fan of counting out loud. It feels so... I don't like it.
But Christian teaches students in person, so he might have figured out over the years, it helps a lot of his students.

On the other hand, I always counted when I was on the dance-floor. There it helped me tremendously to stay in the beat. Until it became autopilot. But later on with another dance-style and rhythm: counting again.

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