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't$ " K646 HowToPlay BLUES PlAt{O ffiffiffitu :p For The Advonced Picnist I i, P r, lf p bl il ii €$str#uisl ; aF tSdl Eroal*ayl N* Yek, N.Y f @23 Printed in U.S.A. Available for sale in the Unire<i /.ingdom. ' .e-tt/'" ,',,,,*u' il{| r I HowToPlay BLUES PIANO BOEKAIL Brues '":lt:lt: Form In rhe 3l ll q* The Blues In EverY KeY s Blues Riffs Bif ly Tayf or'5 ff,/li5tY' Morning Blues 6 I Modern Blues Chords g lA/atergate Blues T2 Nervous Blues 16 The Words Of The Frankie And Johnnie (lYrics) 17 Frankie And Johnnie 18 Blues 20 Calypso St. James Infirmary (lYrics) . 21 St. James lnfirmary . 22 Playing The Blues In Combos 2a 2i Double Tirning. :' es Ouincy Jones' Eone Dance Bernard Peiffer's Tired Btues 3T ,.il Hansen tu"",$ll3"It:ic.and Books' Inc" NewoYork'i],ti.**.. ,",.Tlil1*l8rl,?l1ii":H'fs 3 The Blues ... are a part of American folklore. They grew up simultaneously and parallel with our other popular music. The Blues are both a style, and a For .. . and the form couldn't be easier. Why? Because Blues are based on chords ratherthan melody, There are only three chords in basic blues: a three note chord - do mi so - on the basic tonality note (l or Do), and the same kind of three note chords built on the fourth scale step up (lV or fa) and on the fifth step up f rom the basic keynote (V or sol). In c these would be c, F and G. These are arranged in a pattern of twelve measures or bars. These should be practiced, now with the left hand alone, and later with the right hand playing a simple melody, They should be memorized and mastered in every key. rrha, Btti0s In'E ffiliKey ')rrrlurtrtfj ,r, , , ,l) t t tl", , , , ffll tttt ", , ) r r rlt t t tl'r r , tttt 7 , , rl r t t t fj , , tttt r, tJ t t tl"r r, tltt ") , , ,lu, , t tf) , , , tttt 7 or', , ,19 t t tl') r, tttf 7 , , ,J t t tlT ,, , ttlt T, , rlr t t tf/' , ,, /ttt "r , , tl t t t tlT r , lttt oi r r rf) t t tl) r, ttlt ', , , r1", t t tll ,, , tttt , , ,fi t t , , , ,ttt At ot t f ,ltD ht t tlt, Ab t t t tltt ? tlo, r, rlt r t tl|,, ,, ttlt ') , , rlr t t tlo) ,, , tttt 7 ) r r rfi r t t1'r r, lttt ') , , ,lo) t t tlo) , , , lttt : ') , r t t rf) ,, , ttlt ) , , ,l', t t tl) ,, , tltt rlo) o), , rlr ! t rl") r, Itfr 7 ,, rlr t t tl) , r, lrtt u), , ,il t t tlti r, , tttr ", , , ,l', t t tl) t t t ttt, I , , t0 t t tlY ,, , trt, u) , , ,l') t t tf) ,, , tttt ) r, tlr r t r u tltt "), r rlt t r rlu) t t t tttf r17 u, , r r0 t t tl? , r, ,ll, ) , r rt'i t t tlu) r, , tftl ,F r t tlt, gbt r tlt,F t t t tflt ur r r rlt, t t tlur r, tltf nt bt t tlt, t t tlt,F, t t tltt "r, rlr, t tlY , r, ttft c t t t tlt, Btb t tlt r' t t t Itll ') , , ,J t r tlu ,, , tff, r- Over these chords a simple melody should be improvised. Try this one: Play it together with the bass from page three. lf necessary, write it in. Don't mind the dissonances. Note that the same four bar ohrase is reoeated three times. Now, play the same thing in other keys. Then try other riffs - like the following. Faster repeat, changing last note on third repeat You're playing the blues! Try it in other keys, of course, and make up your own melodic patterns varying the bass accompaniment. ln Billy Taylor's Misty Morning Blues, published here for the first time, the melody is a fairly simple riff here given with introduction voiced in the second chorus and repeated to end the arrangement with a standard stretched endino, MISTY MORNING BTUES Arr. by BOB KAIL By BILLY TAYLOR 3 3 h: 1 3 \ 3 { L V i ---_---_t_z t'opyriglit O t9;4 by Charles liansen Educational N{usic and Books, Inc., New York, N.Y. Intena;io;ai C-opy;right Seeured Made in U.S.A. All Rights Reserved ? b*l { t lH: -td Id ; The Blues can be played with only three chords, as we have seen. But as years went on, musicians Kept adding notes to the basic chords, or even substituting other chords while keeping the underlying pattern' Some musicians were rnore partial to adding modern chords, others less so. Today, however, the average musician would use chords approximately like this' Lo Fll't, t A; Eb Eb7 A7 lft/ tftt ^b7 t t t t lt t ,t rbgr Eb c c7 Ab t^1l2', t I It t f t t t t1 tl? t tr'm RT ilb Fr',9 t tn\, ?lr I Eb t t tt t t t I lt lt It I ln the thirtles and forties the chords could still be rather simple, like the above, with only a few sevenths added; as for instance in !Voocly Herman's Woodchopper's Ball, the One O'Clock Jump and the Two O'Clock JumP. The serious blues practitioner should now work on adding these notes and substitute chords to his blues pattern. The only new hieroglyphics we haven't mentioned are 7 and m. Seven, as in C7, means to add on the seventh scale step up from the basic note of the chord. The big seventh would be Tl in theSol-fa cE system.cEGBwouidbeacTchord,butthemorecommonversionistheflattedorloweredseventh: G Bb. Unless specified, the small seventh is meant. The large seventh is indicated by a natural or sharp in front of the ftgure, Note also that m means a minor chord. Minor means lower.or smaller. lt is the third step in the scale that is made smaller. Thus the c chords (c E G) become c Eb G with the third scale step lowered or f I atte ned . practlce the more sophisticated blues chords in every key. lt may help to write them out in important keys such as C, F, Bb, G and D' I Slow Blues And Fast Blues Blues can be played in tempos from the slowest drag to fairly fast. Some of the best blues are played with ten or fifteen musicians jamming a riff in unison behind a wailing singer. Some of the most poignant blues echo out of saloons at the end of night when musicians are tired and even the air is soiled with sweat and beer. Back of the slow blues you'll often hear a bass line like the Boogie basses. lt's played loud and smooth, while the chords are pumped out staccato. On the next pages, The Watergate Blues, you'll find an example of a slow Blues. Here the melody is often legato while the chords are semi-detached. There is a lot of flatted fifths, one of the hallmarks of the o''*i:r': - The introduction is very standard. The blues pianist would do wellto learn to play it in every key. As for the tempo, the slower the better. .^..,lnt form is a very standard blues in F. By adding solo choruses, it will serve as a basis for a jam sesston, TIIATERGATE BTUES By BOB KAIL \ ,ln_t_er^n!a:ttlrro^ntaql, ,9L-o1p9y7rig4h rb yS Cehcaruters eHtaln sen EducaMtioanttael inM Uusl.cS a.nAd B. ooks. Inc.. 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