12 bar blues improvisation piano book

It also provides an essential foundation for learning to improvise in other styles such as popular music and jazz. Once you become a member of you will have immediate access to our lesson library. Among the first things is to get familiar with the 12 bar blues. Most blues tunes are made up of a 12 bar progression and he thought that a book that shows the various types and styles of 12 bar blues progressions would be useful to musicians and students. The scene from back to the future in which michael j fox plays johnny b goode, and george ezras song budapest which is an extended 12 bar blues form. Next, you have to become comfortable with the vocabulary youll learn scales and chords. An easy, yet thorough instructional book using famous, classic blues and rock tunes to introduce students to the 12bar blues and simple blues improvisation. Ray charles ray charles style 12 bar blues improv sheet. This lesson is a followup on the lesson above learn one phrase to play a thrilling jazz solo but this lesson can be seen individually anyway. You also learned easy righthand patterns using three of the six tones in the blues scale f, eb and ab. Once you learn to play the 12bar blues on the guitar, you can play such classic blues pieces as hound dog, stormy monday, kansas city, st. Many of our piano students, adult piano students in particular, are interested in playing the blues. The chord progression is easy for beginners because it only uses three chords, the root, the fourth, and the fifth. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration.

Its called the 12 bar blues because its only 12 bars long. In jazz, twelve bar blues progressions are expanded with moving substitutions and chordal variations. We usually start off by introducing the 12 bar blues form, what chords are involved and how the measures are laid out. The 12bar blues is by far the most popular form for the blues.

Blues music grew from the experience of the africanamerican communities in the deep south of the usa in the late 1800s, often featuring tales of despair or hardship. Easytoread examples are written in standard music notation and tab, and theres a special section at the end. In the basic f blues, the 12 bars are only made up of 3 different chords. You will find the name of the piece and page number in the video title. Improvise your own solo using the notes provided during the middle section. The reason why is that there are no shortcuts, it takes work. A while back we took a look at the most basic lesson in guitar improvisation. This is great fun and were happy to help students get started. Learn what it takes to create the distinctive sound of the blues, including basic chords and scales, blues melodies, improvisation, turnarounds and intros. The 12 bar blues has long been a favourite amongst music educators for teaching form, triads, the blues scale, cyclical chord progressions and music history. For teaching high schoolers to play 12 bar blues ive found 2 things very helpful. This book is effective for either group piano or private instruction. A bar is a musical phrase, a way of measuring the music against its rhythm, and blues songs are structured in a 12bar format. The style of blues is to a high degree made upon improvising and there are some easy ways to start.

This lesson will use dominant 7th, dominant 9th, and dominant th chords. Otherwise the last four measures is the blues turnaround, this with or without seventh chords is probably the most common form in modern blues rock. How to really improvise using the blues scale youtube. Due to the overwhelming demand of the book 100 ultimate blues riffs, andrew decided to author another book solely on blues pianokeyboard playing. Today i want to talk to you about the 12 bar blues. Tom horton takes you step by step though the popular 12 bar blues style. After you have studied the fundamentals of 12 bar blues you could also bring some licks into your repertoire and one way is to create your own blues licks from the blues scales. Chord variations may also be added for harmonic diversity. You will work out of a 28 page book so you will see every note, every chord, every progression in the book. Songs that use the 12bar blues often have a section where one musician makes up new melodies. The 12 bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music. Jan 10, 2016 on the ukulele the easiest version of the 12 bar blues chord progression is shown above. The exercises and pieces in this book nurture creativity and selfexpression through the framework of the 12bar blues. A very common concept in the area of improvising is to play a solo over chords.

Each riff is accompanied by a demonstration audio files. Blues scale in general it can be used on every chord but above all on min7 th and dominant 7th chord. A 12 bar blues is performed, as the name implies, by playing twelve bars in a given arrangement that are repeated through a song. The twelvebar blues or blues changes is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. Play the blues an introduction to 12bar blues and blues. Learn the chord in this really basic, first timers tutorial. The 12 bar blues is a chord progression used in blues and rock music that lasts for 12 bars. It is both a great selfteaching book and a great method for use with an instructor. The 1st month we will lay the foundation for improvisation, including the 12bar blues. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on the i, iv, and v chords of a key.

Today were covering what many would consider the second most basic lesson, and an excellent practice sandbox before you move on to more complicated techniques the 12 bar blues and blues scale combo. In this series of piano with lesley lesley demonstrates how to play pieces from bastien piano for adults book 1. Discover blues improvisation offers the piano student of any age a chance to explore the blues. This is because at one time or another they learned the 12 bar blues progression. The most obvious way to do this is in form of improvising is to combine a scale with chords in the same key, for example, playing the c major scale over chords belonging to the same scale. Voicing the chords in a 12 bar blues blues improvisation in the key of c, the chords in a 12 bar blues are c7 f7 g7. When you see a group of musicians getting together to play everyone seems to know what to do almost magically. Each song is prefaced by a onepage worksheet to help students master pattern identification, fingering. Youll hear this sequence in s of songs, either in this pure form or with a couple of simple variations.

Whilst the basic 12 bar blues just contains 3 chords, the i, the iv and the v, the jazz blues also incorporates the most common progression in jazz music the mighty 251 progression. This is a lesson for beginners explaining how to improvise using the blues scale. Mar 16, 2017 this is a lesson for beginners explaining how to improvise using the blues scale. If you are already familiar with the basic blues form, then jump straight into the lesson on the jazz blues form. Here are some of my favourite online music resources. The music above shows an example of the blues scale. The jazz blues progression learn jazz piano online with. Anyone with basic keyboard skills equivalent to alfreds basic piano, lesson book 2 can dig right in and begin learning blues right away. The concepts covered in the improv lessons can be directly applied to jazz and bossa nova tunes. Gordon is a thoroughly groovy compendium of over 50 12bar riffs that span the full range of blues styles. Discover blues improvisation faber piano adventures. Pianokeyboard early intermediate an introduction to 12bar blues and blues improvisation. Mixing african song with spirituals, work songs and european folk influences, the style often uses simple forms and common chord structures, such as the 12bar blues harmonic. Jamming to backing tracks is a perfect way to start play blues improvisation on piano solo over chords.

The lessons at play blues piano are unique to this site and are not found anywhere else on the internet. This scale is much used above all in blues,pop,jazz,soul,funk,rhythm and blues,rock. Youll improvise through the blues sequence many, many times, until you get the feel of it. How to improvise with the 12bar blues making music magazine. The idea is that we just transpose our 3 small motifs to different keys and we can improvise over for example an entire 12 bar blues chord progression. Both are great options for prac when played in a suitable key for beginners. There are plenty of arrangements, based on chord progressions, to use. Each song is prefaced by a onepage worksheet to help students master pattern identification, fingering, syncopation, and harmonic progressions. Musical improvisation means to make up music as you are playing. Its simple, fun, and can entertain everybody if done right.

An easy, yet thorough instructional book using famous, classic blues and rock tunes to introduce students to the 12 bar blues and simple blues improvisation. Mastery of the blues and rhythm changes are critical elements for building a jazz repertoire. Blues guitar for adults covers scales and techniques for blues lead guitar, important blues formssuch as the 12 bar and 8 bar blues progressionsand even provides licks in the style of the most important blues guitar masters. The gullah net website includes information about the evolution of blues music and how it influenced. Just the blues scale can be considered a basis for a particular key blues. In the above example, the last 2 measures use a cadence referred to as a turnaround. Songs that use the 12 bar blues often have a section where one musician makes up new melodies. Newjazz by oliver prehn jazz piano improvisation lessons. On the ukulele the easiest version of the 12 bar blues chord progression is shown above. In the last blues lesson 12bar blues, you learned how to play the 12bar blues in the key of f, using simplified 2note chords. The improvisation exercises are simple, effective, and fun for both student and teacher. Examining the 12bar blues pattern if youve ever spent any time around a serious blues musician or music aficionado, youve probably heard the phrase 12 bar blues tossed about. Piano keyboard early intermediate an introduction to 12 bar blues and blues improvisation.

Robert christopherson is a professor of piano at berklee college of music where he teaches private instruction, improvisation, advanced composition, reading, ensembles, and a survey of piano styles. Advanced jazz blues steps it up from the basic blues by introducing new 12 bar blues chord progressions such as minor blues and parker blues. How to play 12 bar blues on the piano when it comes to jazz, the first thing you should learn is how to play the 12 bar blues. Use of pedal point tones technique in the introduction which causes tension and there is moving harmony in the trombones 4. Beginning blues improvisation mascari piano studios. Each of these songs follows the 12bar blues pattern. Whilst the basic 12 bar blues just contains 3 chords, the i, the iv and the v, the jazz blues also incorporates the most common progression in jazz. It is built of only 3 chords making it really easy to play and a perfect skill to learn as a beginner piano player. In this course we explore the basic blues form, the jazz blues form, and then we dive straight into improvisation drills and exercises. The cadence or last four measures uniquely leads to the root by perfect intervals of fourths. Also included are new chords and ways to make the simple blues more interesting by adding some 25s to the mix. A pianist starting this book should have an elementary musicreading proficiency level 2 to 3 in a method series.

Blues guitar for adults covers scales and techniques for blues lead guitar, important blues formssuch as the 12bar and 8bar blues progressionsand even provides licks in the style of the most important blues guitar masters. Most jazz standards are 32 bars long and so the blues form is less that a third of the length of a typical jazz standard. From there we go on to introduce the notes in the blues scale. Piano improvisation technique corcoran high school. Due to the overwhelming demand of the book 100 ultimate blues riffs. Learning the 12 bar blues progression is basic to understanding the roots of american popular music. Gordon is a thoroughly groovy compendium of over 50 12 bar riffs that span the full range of blues styles. Many, many thanks for taking time out of your day to. Below are some common dominant chords that will be used in this lesson. Apr 09, 20 i use the 12 bar blues pattern a lot for students doing the guild musicianship phase. This 12 bar blues uses the repeatedchord technique which was a hallmark of the ray charles style. The first lesson basic 12 bar blues is for those with no previous knowledge of the blues. Andrew decided to author another book solely on blues pianokeyboard playing. Hal leonard student piano library, composer showcase.

The jazz blues progression tutorial now that you have a good understanding of basic blues form, its time to enhance it to create the more interesting and sophisticated jazz blues progression. I like having the kids begin their rh with 3rd finger on c instead of thumb. Learn blues piano with willie myette play blues piano. I use the 12bar blues pattern a lot for students doing the guild musicianship phase.

This is probably the mostused riff in blues and rock music. He is the coauthor of berklee onlines jazz piano course and the book berklee jazz standards for piano solo. Based on the i, iv and v chords of any key, the 12 bar blues is one of the most prominent chord progressions in modern music. Basic 12bar blues improv 26 harmony 001 28 past the basics two analogies and two pet peeves 31 some hints on jazz improvisation 32 material for advanced circle of fifths practice voicing chords 36 chord substitutions and progressions 38. In the last blues lesson 12 bar blues, you learned how to play the 12 bar blues in the key of f, using simplified 2note chords. Also referred to as the blues, or blues changes, it is based on the iivv chords of a key in its most basic form, heres how it is set up. Play the blues for piano lessons 12 bar improvisation hal. Play the blues an introduction to 12bar blues and blues improvisation. So the scale would be gbbceb, or with more notes as they are able. We use the minor blues progression to explore pentatonic, blues scale, and modal improvisation. It can be used over anything including the 12 bar blues, funk and jazz providing the key doesnt change. The 12 bar blues is one of the most iconic song forms ever.