Sophia That was great, Sophia. I'm a bit confused though... you seem to be on your second blues course... but it is still called Easy Blues? This does not seem like bloody beginner stuff to me, so was the first course VERY Easy Blues?

I like the fact that often with blues music the LH often just plays a regular rhythm and almost runs on auto pilot while RH does the cool stuff. This makes it manageable for someone like me who struggles doing tricky stuff with LH - my brain can't handle it!

This genre has grown on me, but I would not cope well with downloaded music/courses, I don't have the right size tablet to fit on my music stand and anyway I prefer paper so I can add notes/highlight tricky things. Maybe I will buy a blues music book at some point - if anyone browsing this thread has any suggestions for a book at my level (grade 2ish) I would welcome them.

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

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    Yeah that is a little confusing, but the first course is called Blues for Beginners and this is called the Easy Blues Course (supposed to be the follow up to the beginner's course). Highly insulting of course, I would have much preferred for it to be called Blues For Highly Advanced Super Annoying Talents, but alas.... it is what it is. I will file my complaints to Christian!

    I'm so glad the genre is growing on you! I think his style is very pleasant and laid back, not the 100-notes-a-minute that some seem to prefer. He does sell the sheet music, but of course you'd have to print that if you don't want to use a tablet/laptop (I don't either). And his sheet music, I'm sorry to say, isn't quite the easiest to use because of the many spatial gaps and unnecessary repeats.

    The left hand, though constantly repeating, is a little more tricky than it seems 🙂 It's entirely different from the stuff we do in the Alfred books and in some ways I am finding the repeats rather hard to learn. It almost seems like a completely new pattern with each change of the right hand! It takes me quite a while to have it run semi automatically so that I can concentrate on the right hand more. But that might just be my perception. And as you said, once you practise it long enough, it does become more automatic.

    Nightowl if anyone browsing this thread has any suggestions for a book at my level (grade 2ish) I would welcome them.

    I second that! I'd be very interested as well.

      Nightowl I agree with Sophia that printing Christian's scores is an option. So far, I am mostly using the scores after watching the lesson couple of times. To be honest first three lessons have repetitive bars, so the score is open just as a reminder.

      I also agree that it is difficult in a different way than the method book. Even that simple LH is tricky because of swing pattern. Yes, hands separate is easy but when playing hands together, my left hand likes to rush or drag and messes up the rhythm. For example; lesson three introduces triplets that's supposed to fit together with one LH beat. There's nothing like that in my method book so far.

        I saw this book review video yesterday. These are repertoire books and not just blues. But they were very tempting. I had to remind myself that I already have too many things going on. And don't have enough practice time.

        I think musicians sell more stuff if they simply put "Easy" on the title. Because there are more beginners naturally. Technically it is not a lie. It will be easy for some people. But it is a trap for real beginners 🙂

          hebele I think musicians sell more stuff if they simply put "Easy" on the title.

          Nope. He started the easy course with something like "it is time to drop the word beginner, because we are now beyond that". I think the easy course fits quite well to the difficulty of the 8 easy blues pieces in terms of difficulty. Easy means easy. Since I tried to play a Christian's Christmas song arrangement, (a medium difficulty, I guess) I know the easy stuff is easy. This medium/intermediate level song was so hard to learn for me, I only managed to learn the first half of it. Took me 20 days. And my playing was as error prone as the water is wet. It took me an entire day to get a decent recording, and even then I had to cut two attempts into a single video to get a half of the song done.

          One thing to mention - Christian is from Germany. He doesn't know about Bavarian beginner gradesTM. He constantly jumps over all the levels to amateur. I reckon it was something like this:

          Bloody beginner - beginner - advanced beginner - amateur - make a YouTube channel with piano tutorials

          Sophia Wow - so lovely! It sound great. The ending as well. You improved your slides tremendous. You are absolutely right, now you are a true total beginnerTM. You proved it. I know, it doesn't sound quite flattering, but it is. You don't become tired of telling I am always a step or two ahead of you. But after this recital, I know the opposite is true. I am a step behind you. With the flawless and quite difficult submission you proved it.
          Maybe your blues lesson videos contain same flaws here and there, call 'em random errors. But as you said, you consider this as a lesson and nothing more. I spend sometimes an entire day to get a decent recording done.

          Next one is on me. Actually I could record it already, but I am away from piano and recording equipment. My dad is in hospital and it isn't going well. But that's another story, this is a piano thread, so let's stick to it. Just wanted to say, I was (and still am) busy and I pledge to submit before you!
          Otherwise you can call me a... well something that is so slow that a sloth seems to be steroids compared to me.

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            WieWaldi My dad is in hospital and it isn't going well. But that's another story, this is a piano thread, so let's stick to it.

            I'm really sorry to hear this. Even though this is a piano thread/forum, we're also human - and we love our families. We don't want to see them suffer! And when they do, it takes up a lot of our time. That's the last I will say about it 🙂 So, back to piano discussion:

            hebele Yes, hands separate is easy but when playing hands together, my left hand likes to rush or drag and messes up the rhythm.

            Yes! This is exactly what I noticed too. The left hand seems so easy... until you add the right hand. POOF, the left hand goes out of whack - and I haven't noticed that with my regular (Alfred) lessons. It just seems to happen with the blues lessons... I don't know why. Sorry @Nightowl if I accidentally drowned your beautiful dream of an easy way to learn it 😃

            WieWaldi I was (and still am) busy and I pledge to submit before you!

            Hehe good. Don't worry... my life is in a little turmoil too right now and I think my next lesson (whether lesson 2 or an actual piece from the 8 blues book) will probably not go much faster than this lesson one 🤗

            Sophia The left hand, though constantly repeating, is a little more tricky than it seems 🙂 It's entirely different from the stuff we do in the Alfred books and in some ways I am finding the repeats rather hard to learn.

            Oh, I didn't mean that particular piece you just uploaded - that's far more complex than the few very basic blues pieces I've played from the method books. I just meant that for some reason I do not struggle too much to play a swing rhythm with the LH, it feels quite natural and relaxing.

            This thread has been a real education for me. In fact, playing piano has really broadened my knowledge of music, it's been good for keeping boredom at bay.

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

            WieWaldi I'm sorry to hear about your father, I've been in that position and I remember how hard it was. When a parent is ill our roles suddenly reverse and we become the ones caring for them - it's hard to cope with and can be all consuming. Don't forget to take care of yourself too - you need to stay strong. The piano can wait, you have other priorities right now.

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

              Nightowl Thank you very much, Nightowl. ❤️

              Sophia just had a chance to listen. That is great, sounds lovely. It is like peeking through a window to the future. I can get there (in a year or two) if I keep up!

              I know this feeling 😃 When I started the Blues course, I listened to WieWaldi and I thought I'd never manage that level... it is so advanced! And then when I reached that lesson (I think that was 7) myself, it felt soooo good to conquerit. Just keep going and we'll all get there! 🥰

                Sophia (I think that was 7)

                I think it was lesson 14, the St. Louis Blues from the quartety recital in May, PianoWorld.
                Wow, this was only 9 month ago and you did more than just catching up. You are far more advanced now, than I was back then.

                Ah yes! You are right, it was the St. Louis Blues. I think one of the big changes we both made, which makes us sound so much more "advanced" all of a sudden, is the use of the pedal. I forgot which lesson I started using it, but since then it made everything sound so much richer. It's a great way to mask poor playing and I found this convenient shortcut before you did

                  Sophia and I found this convenient shortcut before you did

                  Mmmmm.... well... yes... indeed...

                  I still don't pedal properly, but I explained you, how it works. Don't remind me bout that, this make me look like a 🦧

                    WieWaldi I explained you, how it works

                    True! And every time I push that pedal, I feel like

                    Here is my current state of "Blues Piano for Beginners" lesson 3:

                    Tempo is slow but still has mistakes. And I am getting tired of it. I think my piano's C2,G2,A2 are going to feel different than other keys because of the abuse 😅. I'd like to move on. But I've just checked lesson 4 scores and there are 5 pages! That's going to be fun 😬.

                      Oh wow, very impressive @hebele! Very well played, rock solid rhythm overall, flawless mother of all turnarounds - not once, but TWICE (it took me many more lessons to get that as smooth as your version) - and nice use of dynamics/beat emphasis. And a proper ending, something I think I only just managed recently and not too often either 😃

                      I think we have found ourselves a new victim to call annoyingly talented.

                      Well done!

                        hebele Very well played. Especially the turnaround had a very cool groove and perfect tempo. And you played the royals with slides. Nice! The bluesscale was very crisp and clear in both directions, congrats. This, and your playing is stable enough to do it twice, should give you confidence.

                        Sophia I think we have found ourselves a new victim to call annoyingly talented.

                        Hahaha. No. It's you, Sophia! If you want to hoax him, you need to find something new.
                        I always said, you are the one who is learning is super high speed, and Nightowl calls you annoyingly talented. Basically same conclusion from both of us. No no, annoyingly talented sticks on you and you'll never get rid of it.