Right Hand Blues Variations
In this lesson Jon builds on the material covered in the previous tutorials and we demonstrate some signature licks and variations for the right hand when playing New Orleans style blues.
So far we have covered playing the 12 bar blues with a basic left hand shuffle pattern and some right hand voicings which give it a nice bluesy flavour. While we play this we need to be aware of the time feel and how it swings.
Blues Piano Riffs For The Right Hand
Now we can take a look at a few right hand variations, particularly a lick that can be used over all three chords in the blues progression.
The notes of this lick are based on the pentatonic scale but we use some passing notes to give it a more interesting bluesy flavour.
Combine Licks & Right Hand Chords
To fill this out even further, we can add a chord to the final note of the phrase. There are a few options for the voicing of this chord depending on where we are in the blues progression and what kind of flavour we want to give it.
Here we can make use of the “nasty notes” – notes which are slightly offensive to the ear but grab your attention. If we are judicious with our use of these notes and chords they can be used as a setup for what comes next.
Lesson Downloads
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Licks & Embellishment Transcriptions File Type: pdf -
Embellishments Performance File Type: midi
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Embellishments Performance File Type: mp3
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Embellishing The Right Hand Examples File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
Elsewhere in the world, the blues is generally heard in the 12 bar format. Here in New Orleans it is most often played in the 8 bar form.
This lesson on licks and riffs will inspire you to build your own vocabulary that you can use to improvise when playing the 12 bar blues.
Extended chords create a richer and more complex sound than triads and 7th chords and are used to create more interesting progressions.
Practice Tips
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Getting the phrasing of the main lick presented in this video is challenging. Try practicing it without the chord on the final note to work on the phrasing.
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So far we have been working in the key of C. Try transposing some of these ideas to other commonly used blues keys like F, G and Bb.
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There are some other great licks and phrases that Jon uses in this video but doesn't explicitly mention. These are worth checking out and learning as well, such as the triplet phrase he plays at 5:33. Have a look at the notation if they move to fast to learn by ear.
Im struggling to play the left hand pattern with the shuffling chords. How do I practice this?
Hi Hussain,
Yes this does take time. First of all I recommend to play just the left hand pattern on its own, and cycle around the 12 bar form many many times. Each day, try to play through the left hand pattern at least 20 times. If you are making mistakes, you must slow the tempo down.
The key is revisiting this on a daily basis, and in the space or a week or 2, you will see definite improvement.
When playing this style, the left hand pattern sets both the timing, and the groove of the performance, and so it’s very important that we keep a steady groove and that we don’t have to concentrate on our left hand, ie. we play from muscle memory and our left hand is on ‘auto pilot’.
The only way to get this point of ‘auto-pilot left hand’ is through lots of repetition.
As I mention, your goal is the play the left hand pattern on its own (no right hand yet), at least 20 times through per day.
Next you can try to look away from the piano, and try to find the left hand pattern from muscle memory.
Finally, once you are confident with the pattern and you can play it without thinking, it’s then time to start to add in the right hand elements.
Always practice slowly, use a metronome, and be patient. The improvement often happens whilst we are away from the piano, and when you return to the piano the next day you will find that the shuffle pattern is just a little easier to play.
Each day, take incremental steps as outlined above, and in the space of a few weeks you will see noticeable improvement and confidence.
Enjoy working on this!
Cheers, Hayden