Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Blues Piano For Beginners
    Blues Piano For Beginners
    Blues Piano For Beginners
    Ebook32 pages18 minutes

    Blues Piano For Beginners

    By Mark Harrison

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This is the definitive guide to blues piano for beginners, by the world-renowned author and educator Mark Harrison. You'll get started right away, learning some essential left-hand and right-hand patterns to use on your first (or next) blues piano gig! The material is organized and explained in the clearest possible way, and all of the twenty-three music examples are very authentic and fun to play. All fingerings for the music examples are also provided.

    Once you have purchased this book, you can then email us to receive a FREE download of mp3 recordings for all of the music examples in the book. Most of the recordings include play-along tracks with a rhythm section, so you can have fun jamming along with the band!

    Here is an overview of the sections contained in this book:
    Section One - The Basic Blues Left Hand Pattern
    Section Two - Adding Triads in the Right Hand
    Section Three - The Twelve-Bar Blues Progression
    Section Four - Using Triad Inversions
    Section Five - Working With Four-Part Chords
    Section Six - Varying the Left Hand Pattern
    Section Seven - More Right and Left Hand Combinations
    Section Eight - Improvising with the Tonic Blues Scale
    Section Nine - Improvising with the Relative Minor Blues Scale
    Section Ten - Combining Blues Scales and Adding Drone Notes

    Mark Harrison is one of the highest-rated contemporary music educators and authors in the world today. His instruction books are endorsed by Keyboard Magazine, Jazz Times, and Performing Musician Magazine, and are used at numerous music colleges and universities. Mark's books have helped many thousands of musicians in over twenty countries worldwide.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateDec 1, 2011
    ISBN9781618427199
    Blues Piano For Beginners
    Author

    Mark Harrison

    Mark Harrison has a Bachelor's degree in Medieval Studies from Lancaster University. He is a Curator at the Royal Armouries, Tower of London and has a strong interest in the early medieval world. He lives in Colchester, UK.

    Read more from Mark Harrison

    Related to Blues Piano For Beginners

    Related ebooks

    Music For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Matter Of Accompaniment

      Sep 17, 2021

      A Matter Of Accompaniment
      5 min read

    • Article

      In The Beginning how To Learn A New Piece

      Nov 19, 2021

      The challenge of learning new music keeps us feeling inspired and motivated. Done efficiently, the pleasure and satisfaction gained far outweighs any patches of frustration we may face along the way. Learning how we learn best is crucial. It’s not un

      4 min read

    • Article

      Which Piano Should I Buy?

      Mar 17, 2023

      Which Piano Should I Buy?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Hans-günter Heumann Beginners Keyboard Class

      May 22, 2020

      On these pages, Pianist covers the most basic stages of learning the piano through a series of lessons by Hans-Günter Heumann. This lesson features two warm-up exercises to help get the fingers in shape. Lots of work here for the ‘weaker’ fingers. Ma

      1 min read

    • Article

      Circle Progressions

      Sep 24, 2019

      Circle Progressions
      4 min read

    • Article

      Aural Training

      May 19, 2023

      Aural Training
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Late Bloomer

      Jan 20, 2023

      The Late Bloomer
      8 min read

    • Article

      Diatonic Chord Substitution

      Oct 22, 2019

      Diatonic Chord Substitution
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hans-günter Heumann Beginners Keyboard Class

      Mar 20, 2020

      On these pages, Pianist covers the most basic stages of learning the piano through a series of lessons by Hans-Günter Heumann. This lesson features a warm-up for scales, followed by two exercises involving rests and interchange between the hands (pag

      7 min read

    • Article

      Combined Scales

      Nov 26, 2019

      Combined Scales
      4 min read

    • Article

      Modal Harmony

      Oct 20, 2020

      Modal Harmony
      4 min read

    • Article

      Thoroughly CLAVINOVA

      Nov 20, 2020

      Thoroughly CLAVINOVA
      4 min read

    • Article

      Straight Sixteenths

      Mar 1, 2022

      Straight Sixteenths
      3 min read

    • Article

      Stu Hamm: Chords Lesson

      Sep 13, 2022

      Welcome back! In the last issue we looked at chordal fingerstyle playing, an area of bass technique that offers some alternative perspectives on the combination of harmony and melody. In the previous instalment, we looked closely at the technique and

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Blues Piano For Beginners

    4.5/5

    16 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Simple and well explained with great examples. I would recommend this book.

    Book preview

    Blues Piano For Beginners - Mark Harrison

    Reading

    Introduction

    Welcome to Blues Piano For Beginners. This book will start you on the road to playing authentic blues piano, even if you are a complete beginner. You’ll get started right away by learning some essential left-hand and right-hand patterns to use on your first (or next) blues piano gig!

    Please email us at books@harrisonmusic.com with Beginning Blues Audio in the subject, to receive your FREE mp3 audio recordings of all the music examples in this book! Most of the audio recordings feature a rhythm section on the left channel, and the piano on the right channel. To play along with the band, turn down the right channel to eliminate the recorded piano. To hear the piano part for reference, turn down the left channel to eliminate the rhythm section.

    Some eReaders will display the music notation in this book more clearly than others, so along with your free mp3s you will also receive pdf versions of all the music notation examples, as a backup for your use if needed.

    Section One - The Basic Blues Left Hand Pattern

    The foundation of a great blues piano performance is the strong and steady left hand pattern. Our first blues piano left hand pattern uses fifth and sixth intervals and a swing eighths rhythmic feel, as follows:

    Example 1

    Here in the bass clef, C and G are played together during beats 1 and 3 of each measure, and C and A are played

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1