Blues Piano Lessons

Welcome to the Blues section of PianoGroove. Below you can find blues piano lessons covering the basic blues form, the jazz blues form and blues improvisation lessons. We also create arrangements for famous blues tunes and a selection of bluesy jazz standards.

Basic 12 Bar Blues Tutorial

  • 08:54

The 12 bar blues is the most common blues chord progression. In it’s most basic form, it contains just the I, the IV and the V chords of the given key.

BeginnerBluesChords

The Jazz Blues Progression

  • 11:19

Now that you have an understanding of basic blues form, it’s time to create the more interesting and sophisticated jazz blues progression.

BeginnerBluesChords

Chord Tone Soloing Tutorial

  • 10:57

Chord tone soloing is the process of creating improvised lines predominantly or exclusively with the primary tones of the chord which are 1, 3, 5 & 7.

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Swing 8th Notes Tutorial

  • 05:48

In this lesson we will take our study of chord tone soloing a step further by incorporating triplets and swing 8th notes into our improvised lines.

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Approach Pattern Enclosures

  • 10:29

Now we are going to combine out knowledge of chord tone soloing with chromatic approach patterns, enclosures and non-diatonic passing tones.

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Passing Tones Tutorial

  • 10:02

Now you have an understanding of a basic improvised line, we will now take it a step further with non diatonic passing tones and chromaticism.

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Blues Scale Improv Tutorial

  • 10:15

With your knowledge of chord tone soloing, the blues scale is now just another dimension that you can add to your solo, instead of the whole solo!

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Blues Licks Tutorial

  • 10:24

Let’s use the notes of the minor blues scale, the major blues scale and the extended blues scale to create different types of blues licks of riffs.

BluesImprovisationPro lessons

Straight No Chaser Tutorial

  • 16:30

“Straight no Chaser” is most often played in the key of F. Its very closely related to the standard jazz blues so learn that progression first.

BluesJazz standardsPro lessons

Major Blues Scale: “Georgia”

  • 12:16

Using the tune “Georgia” – we will also explore the concept of the major blues scale and how to apply this to major 251 progressions.

BluesJazz standardsPro lessons

Georgia On My Mind Part 2

  • 21:05

In this tutorial we create a solo arrangement for “Georgia On My Mind” applying the major blues scale with some soulful licks and riffs.

BluesJazz standardsPro lessons

Cry Me A River Tutorial

  • 16:26

Most often played as a ballad, this is a great tune to incorporate bluesy licks and riffs. It’s written in the key of Eb Major and has an AABA form.

BluesJazz standardsPro lessons

Cry Me A River Part 2

  • 15:39

We start this lesson by applying a stride style in the left hand with some bluesy licks and riffs in the right hand. We then move into the final A section of the tune.

BluesJazz standardsPro lessons