by kristin jensen - my fun piano studio · by kristin jensen © 2012 ... e flat blues improvising...
TRANSCRIPT
By Kristin Jensen
© 2012 EarTrainingandImprov.com
All Rights Reserved
This lesson is owned exclusively by EarTrainingandImprov.com and may not be shared,
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You Can Jam!
Your teacher will play some chords while you jam. You can play any black
key in any order.
Teacher’s part:
After you’ve had a good jamming session, turn the page to learn how to
play easy E Flat Blues.
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E Flat Blues
To play simple E Flat Blues, use your left hand to play this chord. Use your
thumb and pinky.
Now move your thumb to C.
Practice going back and forth between these two chords. When you’re
comfortable with these two chords, you’re ready to add the right hand.
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E Flat Blues
Improvising the right hand in E Flat is easy- just play any black key.
Press and hold down the first chord while your right hand plays some black
keys.
Then press and hold down the second chord while your right hand improvs.
Your teacher can play an example for you, or you can listen to jazz music
to get a feel for how jass sounds.
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Finger Numbers
Piano players have given each finger a number. Use this chart to learn
which finger to use when you see a number.
Left Right
5 5
4 4 3 3
2 2
1 1
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The C Blues Scale
The first notes of the C blues scale are highlighted below.
Here is recommended fingering for the right hand. Young students can just
get used to the sounds of the blues scale without worrying about fingering.
Come up with a few short licks using these keys. A lick is a short sequence
of notes. Your first lick could go up all four keys in order and then come
back down, using a jazzy rhythm.
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3
2
1
Right Hand
Improvise! Play these keys in any order.
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Blues in C
Your left hand will alternate between two chords, just like with E Flat Blues.
Here is the first chord:
To play the second chord, leave your pinky on C and move your thumb up
one key to A.
Practice going back and forth between the two chords.
Left Hand
Left Hand
Chord 1: Play both keys at the same time.
Chord 2: Play both keys at the same time.
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Blues in C
Now you’re ready to improvise. Press and hold down the first chord while
your right hand plays one of the licks you invented earlier.
Move your left hand thumb to play and hold the second chord. Play a
different lick with your right hand.
Switch back and forth between the two chords in a slow, steady rhythm.
Hold down each chord while your right hand improvises a short lick from
the blues scale.
To finish your improvised song, play and hold the first chord while your right
hand plays a final lick that ends on C.
C
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Cowboy Swing
Next you’re going to learn how to play a western swing bass line. Look at
the picture below to see where to place your hand. Your fingers are going
to have to stretch!
5 2 1
Your teacher will show you how to play this bass line.
There is also a video showing how to play this song.
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Cowboy Swing
Your right hand will improvise with the first five notes of the C Major Scale.
C Major Pentatonic Scale
Using any of these keys, make up a western song. Play slowly, holding
each key down for a long time. Your teacher can show you how to play the
example song on the next page and then you can create your own.
Ready to play with both hands? Get your country swing bass line going
with the left. Imagine a cowboy slowly riding his horse through the desert
on a hot day. When you’re ready, add in the right hand.
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Your teacher can show you how to play this song or you can watch the
video. The right hand plays the notes shown while the left hand plays the
western swing bass in a slow, steady rhythm.
This song was made up using the C Major scale. Try making up your own
song using the C scale
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12 Bar Blues
We’ll learn three left hand chords for this song. Use fingers 5 and 1.
LH Fingers: 5 1
LH Fingers: 5 1
LH Fingers: 5 1
C
G
F
Practice holding each chord down for 4 beats. Count out loud like this:
C 2 3 4 G 2 3 4 F 2 3 4
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12 Bar Blues
The 12 Bar Blues is named for the pattern it uses. There are twelve
measures, and we will play one chord in each measure.
Practice playing this chord pattern:
C C C C F F
C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 F 2 3 4 F 2 3 4
C C G F C C
C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 G 2 3 4 F 2 3 4 F 2 3 4 F 2 3 4
When you’re comfortable playing the left hand chords in this pattern, start
improvising with the right hand.
Improvise with the C Blues Scale. The entire scale is shown below. You
can play any key in any order.
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Rock and Roll
Play a rock and roll bass line by starting with left hand finger 5 and playing
up in order: 5 3 2 1. Go back to finger 5 and repeat this pattern.
Repeat this patter over and over in a steady rhythm.
Your right hand can use a combination of chords. The first chord option is
shown below.
LH Fingers: 5 3 2 1
RH Fingers: 1 3 5
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Rock and Roll
Here are some more chords your right hand can use.
To the chords easier for small hands, omit the middle key and only play
with fingers 1 and 5.
After you’ve learned these chords you’re ready to play with hands together.
Start by getting a steady rock and roll bass line going with your left hand.
Now start adding right hand chords, in any order you like.
RH Fingers: 1 3 5 1 2 5
RH Fingers: 1 5 1 5
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Elephant March
Use fingers 5 and 1 from your left hand to play this bass line. Alternate
keys, starting with finger 5, like this: 5 1 5 1
When you’re ready, your teacher can show you how to play this rhythm or
you can watch the video.
LH Fingers: 5 1
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Elephant March
Your right hand will improvise with the G Major Scale. The first five notes of
the G scale are shown below.
You can play any of these keys in any order to make up a marching song.
Play an introduction by getting the marching bass line going with your left
hand. Then add the marching song you made up for your right hand.
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12 Bar Blues 2
This version of 12 Bar Blues uses three different chord sets: C, G and F.
These sets are illustrated below.
Practice going back and forth between the two chords in each set.
C
LH Fingers: 5 1 5 1
LH Fingers: 5 1 5 1
LH Fingers: 5 1 5 1
C
G
F
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12 Bar Blues 2
There will be 4 beats in each measure and we’ll play a chord on every beat.
This time, when you see the C you will play this:
Play the same back and forth pattern for the G and F measures.
For teachers and those who read music, this is what the left hand part
looks like in music notation:
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12 Bar Blues 2
Here is the chord pattern. Remember that you will play four chords in every
measure, using the alternating pattern you just learned.
C C C C F F
C C G F C C
Like the first 12 Bar Blues, your right hand will improvise with the C Blues
Scale. Here it is again:
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Rock and Roll 2
Add on to the Rock and Roll bass line you learned earlier to make it sound
even better.
First play the bass line you learned earlier.
Leave finger 1 where it is and get ready to do a cross over. Bring finger 2
over the top of your thumb and play F, the next key.
Rock back onto finger 1 and then play the rest of the keys back down in
reverse order. There is a video showing how to play this bass line.
The pattern looks like this:
5 3 2 1 2 1 2 3 5
LH Fingers: 5 3 2 1
LH Fingers: 1 2
Cross over
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Rock and Roll 2
After you’ve got the bass line down, add in some right hand chords. You
can use the chords from Rock and Roll 1 and also these new chords.
RH Fingers: 1 2 3 5 1 2 3 4
RH Fingers: 1 2 4 1 2 4 5
1 3 5
Alternate fingers for small hands:
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Be sure to do ear training exercises with students learning how to
improvise. Ear training goes hand-in-hand with improv. With a well-trained
ear, students can create even more improvised music and have more fun in
the process.
Check back frequently- I’ll be uploading more ear training and improv
activities that make learning music fun for kids.
I hope you enjoyed these fun improv activities!
You’re welcome to contact me with comments or questions- I’d love your
feedback!
-Kristin