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,...

Simonb

Hi Sophia

A classic blues lick, and whilst 10,000 is a joke, the fundamental idea is sound. Play it until you don't have to think. Notice that the lower part in the RH is playing the blues scale (without Bb) up and down. So you could just play the lower RH part only.

If playing the LH part at the same time throws you, just play a C octave (C2 and C3 together) on each beat, this is easier and will help you to master the RH.

I think I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Practise the LH patterns until they can be done on auto-pilot. This will free up your RH. Also worth mentioning that once you've learnt a phrase like that in the RH, it can be applied and repeated across the whole of 12 bars.

If I have time I'll try and do a few videos to demonstrate.

Cheers

Sophia

Simonb If I have time I'll try and do a few videos to demonstrate.

That would be wonderful, thank you so much! I think all us beginners (varying from bloody beginner to eternal beginner) would learn so much from that 🥰

Nightowl

There's a lot of skill involved in playing the blues well. I've been watching some of the vids posted here and the pieces seem quite challenging, especially where the LH is playing notes at the bottom pf the keyboard and the RH is on the far right - I haven't yet played anything which involves the hands being so far apart.
I can see the appeal - these pieces are a change from the usual method book selection.

Sophia

Yes, these blues licks involve an entirely different part of the brain as following a method book (at least it feels that way). I enjoy learning both... but I confess that the blues lessons are a lot more fun! I really have to force myself to divide my practice sessions equally, otherwise Mr Alfred risks getting forgotten altogether and I don't think it would please him 😃

Unrelated side note:
When I was still in Alfred book 1 I was following the "Let's Play Piano" lessons. To this day, when I refer to Alfred, my husband thinks I'm talking about Gale 🤣

WieWaldi

Ok, my take. After re-listening to my recording, it still sounds very tumbler-ish compared to the sound of Christian's during his lesson. And I screwed up the ending, wasn't sure if my muscle memory was right, and then just kicked out two notes that are supposed to be played way more smooth.

Anyway, it is very hot these days and my keyboard surface tends to get sticky. So the best time to record is before noon. Yesterday afternoon I tried to get a recording as well, but the slides just didn't work out.

Now it is time to go back to sight-reading as well. I paused that part of my learning path for too long, now.

Nightowl

WieWaldi I've never been into blues music, but I really like that piece, it's very relaxing and I thought you played it really well. You look relaxed and you have lovely hands (said from someone whose hands look like knarled talons when playing - I have hand envy!). I didn't perceive any wrong notes so what was "wrong" towards the end seems to have been cleverly covered by your fluid playing.
How long have you been playing piano?

WieWaldi

Nightowl Thanks, actually this isn't a piece. It was just some exercises put together. The "wrong" part wasn't a wrong note itself. There are not that many notes, that can go wrong in blues ^^. It is the ending I am unhappy. Normally I trust in muscle memory for this, but during the recording my brain switched on and asked: "Are you sure to press these notes? Wanna double check it?" Then I hesitated and decided to tell my brain to shut up and kicked out the notes where my fingers waited. Too harsh, not smooth enough. You know, for music like this, feeling and timing is king.

Nightowl How long have you been playing piano?

Started January 2021, but with a big gap. Now it is about 2 ¹/₂ years active playing.

Nightowl

WieWaldi Thanks for the clarification. I thought you had a few years' experience under your belt and now I can understand why you have pretty high standards about your own playing - I guess that as time goes on we all set the bar for our playing a little higher.
On another note and without wanting to come across as weird, your avatar pic seems totally at odds with your ability to play - there is no way anyone would think that you play like a muppet! 😁 You could change your pic to show your lovely hands instead - they are symbolic of your deft touch. 🙂

Sophia

WieWaldi, that was sooo smooth and delightful! I'm noticing great progress, wow, well done! And although I like your click ⏰ tock 🕰️ tock 🕰️ tock 🕰️ buddy , I confess that I enjoyed this even more without it I also didn't notice any missing notes - the ending was very smooth. You're imagining it 😁

Next: me again... but not too soon. I'm still only 23 repeats into the 10,000 🙄
And Alfred is calling loudly too. I am three pieces away from finishing the book and I want to graduate to book 3 before the summer is over! 😂

Simonb

I did quickly record a video based on that drone riff today, but didn't realise it would need to be on YouTube (or at least somewhere you can post the link from) to show it here.

I'll have to see if I can find a better way....

Cheers

Sophia

Nightowl change your pic to show your lovely hands

If we take this video:

Then WieWaldi is lucky to have Muppet hands 😃 I remember the first time I talked to WieWaldi in PW was to tell him how much I like the avatar, loll It is actually playing piano there! 😃

WieWaldi

Nightowl You could change your pic to show your lovely hands instead

No way! I stick to Rowlf. There aren't that many iconic puppets or cartoons known for playing piano. Schröder from the peanuts might be the most famous one. And Rowlf is next. It is hard to find a 3rd one, maybe Tom. But I know him playing the piano only very occasional. Tom was very intriguing to be used as avatar, as my real name is Thomas, too. But Tom is a much faster learner than me. Even faster than Sophia. (sorry)

Btw: does anybody know where I can get his method book?

WieWaldi

Sophia Oh my gosh! Handpuppets from 1970 - just colored gloves. Today's socks have at least some buttons as eyes.... I must have missed this clip in my life. It is even older than I am. This time was innocent back then. While watching, I was always expecting some nasty gestures to happen, like a middle finger, but this is way too innocent.

Sophia

Haha yes it's older than me too (only a little). Innocent days... and such adorable music. Timeless really!

Edit: oops, cross posted! Tom is not only faster, but he has much more flexible fingers too!

WieWaldi

Nightowl

WieWaldi OMG Both those T&J videos are pure genius! 😁 If only it was that easy to learn piano!

Sophia

Heh, I had a nice experience today. Visited a friend and of course we talked about her piano... she said she stopped playing years ago but she asked me to play something. Long story short, I didn't have any sheet music and I don't know anything from memory out of my Alfred book. I was about to tell her sorry, no go... and then I remembered I'm learning blues "improvisations", I can do that!

Sat down and played some licks from my recent Lesson 8 - she was bobbing her head and really enjoying it... and next we knew, she felt inspired to play again and we were rummaging through her old duet books. We picked out an easy one that each of us will practice for next time 😃

Oh, to stay on topic slightly - WieWaldi, you can lean back in some comfort, because I have decided to take a little break (VERY little, so don't get too comfortable!) from the blues lessons to concentrate on duets - and also going through the entire Alfred book 1 and 2 because I just don't feel ready to move on to book 3 until I KNOW I master all the lessons 🤔.

TC3

Sophia That's fantastic! There's nothing quite like sharing music.

Sophia

Yes, so true! I was smiling the entire time. We picked a super easy Mozart duet which she copied for me so I can learn the part. I'm really excited to visit again. Also, it gave me a chance to play a real piano again after many decades... which was an absolutely fantastic experience in itself. I love our Clavinova, but nothing beats the real thing 😃

Sophia

Well............. watch out.... I ended my little blues break and started lesson 9 today... the ☠️😛 (drone lick). I'm looking forward to it!!!

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