Piano Lessons

Beginner Blues Piano

Learning to play blues on the piano opens the door for other variations of piano music such as jazz, rock and country. The basic components of learning blues piano music are scale progressions, chord progressions and other chords. Once these have been mastered, it is easy to move on to other types of piano music.

A blues piano tutorial begins with the student grasping the comprehension of chords. To start, understand that chords are named after the intervals of musical notes utilized to play the music. All chords follow a scale progression with the primary chord being C. A C chord derives its name from the root, third, fifth and octave.

Each musical note is categorized by a number or a Roman numeral. Intervals receive the name of root, second, third, fifth and octave. Roman numeral names are I, II, III and VIII. As an example the Roman numeral I denote the first tone for a scale. A 7th chord for C displays as follows: I, III, V and VIIb. This is a common chord progression in blues piano playing. Another chord progression example is I – IV – V. In note format that plays as follow C to F to G. Blues piano music is most frequently broken down into a three-chord progression interval.

Your blues music piano tutorial will start with an instructional display on playing an I-I-I-I interval on a music scale. Next is IV-IV-I-I with the third chord progression set playing as V-IV-I-I. Each chord progression should be played with your right hand. It is the 7th interval that inserts that blues sound to the music when you play the notes.

Once that chord progression set is mastered, it is time for you to move on to left hand play. Many of the chord progressions will follow an eight note pattern. An example of this is I-III-V-VI-VIIb-VI-V-III. For a standard C scale, the musical notes for this progression are C-E-G-A-Bb-A-G-E.

Blues piano music utilizes pentatonic progression which has you playing the starting note, the third note and moving up intervals. Continue by playing a third up from that new interval and move up and down the pentatonic scale. This would look something like this in musical note form: B-D-E-G-A-Bb-A-G-E-D-C-D. Blues piano music exhibits a slow swing rhythm. In this format, eighth notes are clipped to play shorter at every other note. The effect is a bluesy swing effect to the music.

Chord progressions and techniques in blues piano music is what makes it one of the more enjoyable musical formats to play. To master the art of playing blues music on the piano it takes a little understanding of interval shifting techniques; chord changes and pentatonic scales. Once these skills have been polished, you are well on your way to becoming a great blues piano player. Start by perfecting the art of the 12 bar C-Scale and move on from there. Try out the various rhythms to create your own blues songs. Impress friends by going up and down the pentatonic scale. This creates a riff sound to the music which is common in blues music.

Take the time to learn the fundamental aspects of playing blues piano music. It will be worth the time and effort because virtually every other form of piano music will build on your blues foundation.

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