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Fog,

I tried to PM you about the book, but your address doesn't seem to work. Do you still have it?

Stan

I have very little time now that my mate has entered the workforce.

Coincidentally, the house has broken: it spits up dirty laundry and dirty dishes out of nowhere.

I've also noticed that we seem to have become host to an infeststion of small hairless primates that constantly demand to be fed and who seem to hitch rides to inconvenient destinations(I believe they are somehow connected with the aforementioned house malfunctions...)


Learning my parts for the band songs has been slow because my bandmates are aspiring to crazy things like sticking to one key/tempo and it means I have to actually learn my parts. :rolleyes:

So I've stopped learning new stuff from IBP. I warm up with "Blues for Booker", which I can now play flawlessly about half the time, "Blue Sixth Blues", "Beginner's Blues/Boogie", which I play as one song with the broken octaves bass line, "C Jam Blues" and one more in the second Chapter whose title I forget (ETA:"Jump Shuffle" --I haven't opened the book in months). As well, I've got 3 choruses of a very cool, but simple shuffle memorized that I've been playing almost every day and still haven't mastered.

Once I settle into a routine again, I'll have to work in regular practice time, but "Rikki, Don't Lose that Number" and organ parts for "Something" and "Wonderful Tonight" are my current priorities. Plus, there's a descending fourths run in "Bad Timing" by Blue Rodeo that I can play perfectly until I'm with the rest of the band...

Well, I talk to myself in the real world...why not here?

Tim Richards can be a tough taskmaster, and sometimes it feels like my progress is slow, so if anyone is still working on IBP, here are a few more reflections on the journey through the book, for what they're worth...

I'm back into Improvising Blues Piano with a vengeance since mid-Nov. I've put in at least 1 hr a day on average. It's taught me a few things about this whole learning piano thing. The first took a while to get used to, but now I find it kind of comforting: when I'm trying to learn tricky bits or increase speed, I frequently get worse (slower, more sloppy) as I'm practising. It used to depress me. However, I've noticed that I see the expected improvement the next day, or even later.

The pieces in the book continue to be deceptively tricky for me. The current tune I'm learning (as opposed to polishing) is my favourite up to now, "Blues With Pick-ups".

It sounds the most like an authentic "grown-up" blues tune of anything I've yet played, and I thought it would take me a couple of weeks to master. :rolleyes:

You'd think I'd have wised up by now :p .

I sometimes wonder how much easier it would be if I'd started after a year of conventional lessons...

Co-ordinating the hands in "Blues With Pick-ups" has been devilish, particularly because Richards is shifting the syncopating RH parts in the second chorus, so you can't depend on autopilot to co-ordinate them with the LH, though when it does come together, I really do feel as though I'm playing the blues! . I'm about 3 weeks into it and the first (easy) chorus is nailed, but the second is going to take a couple of more weeks.

The hardest part is coming up with improvisations, though. I'm nowhere near close to doing it on the fly. I have to do it measure-by-measure, slowly and then try to bring it up to speed. Often, by the time I have the first measure of a two-measure lick figured out and near speed, I've forgotten the second measure, or vice-versa .

This is the tension i fell with this book: the pieces are starting to get really interesting now, but they're taking longer to master and I feel myself in danger of falling into the "I have a repertoire of memorized pieces I can't stray from" rut.

It's largely because, I'm beginning to suspect, that improvising requires more practise than learning a piece from music.

Because of this, I've gone back to the beginning of the book to relearn the tunes and exercises in several keys and to really come up with a selection of improvisations to insert over the simpler LH parts.

After 14 months of 1 or two weeks a month of effort, I can almost play the trills in "Trill Blues" at a decent speed. Shouldn't be more than 6 months or so before I can pull them off convincingly I hope. I've noticed, at least, that IBP has improved my hand independence to where the issue is purely finger speed, not interference from the hands to each other...

The "simple" LH of "Barrelhouse Blues" was deceptive and it took me a while (about a week) to figure out why Richards devoted two audio tracks to it. This is why a teacher is useful, I suppose. The legato, droning feel is a subtle thing and took me a few weeks to master. Even now, I have to watch that I don't slip into a stacatto attack while trying to improvise over it...

I still love this book and I'm looking forward to the next few years with, though!

Well, after readin all this, I just hit Amazon myself. Too late to join yall unless I find myself a time machine. But I'm lookin forward to the mail coming once again

Never too late to join, were all going at our own pace. I havent been working from this book in some time but plan get back to it. It really is a great book.

I got the book a couple of weeks ago. I'm working on the Beginner's Blues (Melodic). Lots of fun.

Bob

Stick at it everyone, my copy celebrates its' 5th birthday this week, (on the 12th - I could celebrate by seeing how many beers I can drink and still play "blue fifth boogie!")
It was the first book I bought when I went back to the piano (I'd completely forgotten how to read music when it first came), and progress was painfully slow. It took me over 3 years to work through, but the effort was really worth it. If only I'd had it as a kid I'm sure I'd have never given up the piano at grade 1.
So hang on in there guys n gals.

Glad to hear y;all still hanging around I was beginning to worry that you all had the blues or something! I've gone through the first chapter. I want to play the Cd that goes with the book and figure out where I want to go next in the book. Great Book thougn! I always enjoy looking through the book at all these old pics of some of the greatest blues artists of all times. This book is truly a classsic!

bump.

It would be interesting to know where y'all are in the book. I'm on "Blue Fifth Boogie".

Hey y'all. New to the thread and forum, tho I've posted around about how great this book is. Here's what I'd give myself on a scale from 1-10 on the pieces I've attempted so far:

Beginner Blues: 10
Beginner Blues Melodic: 10
Beginner's Boogie: 10
Beginner's Boogie with broken octaves: 4
Blue Third Blues: 10
New Orleans Triplets: 8
Blueberry Hill: 10
Five Finger Blues: 10
Trill Blues: 7
On-off boogie: 9
Happy blues: 7
Sad blues: 9
Blues for booker: 8

Sixth Blues: 10
Jump Shuffle: 8
C Jam Blues: 9
Riff Blues: 8
Sunday Afternoon Blues: 9
Barrelhouse Blues: 9
Blues with Pickups: 6
Slow Blues in D: 3
Blue Fifth Boogie: 2
Syncopated Boogie: 1
Back in the Alley: 5

Seventh Blues: 10
Blues for Sal: 9
See See Rider: 9
Smooth Blues: 6

I am ready to join. I just received my book yesterday, so I working on the Beginner Blues (transposing it to different keys) and the Beginner Blues Melodic with the different left hand patterns.

-Sue

Cool, Canon_Sue!! Welcome! Seems like you're pretty fast. I had some trouble with the Jimmy Yancey LH part for "Beginner's Blues (Melodic)" as I recall... Have you been playing long?

Now that deeluk's made the list, I can cut'n'paste and add my numbers :
Beginner Blues: 10
Beginner Blues Melodic: 10
Beginner's Boogie: 10
Beginner's Boogie with broken octaves: 9
Blue Third Blues: 9
New Orleans Triplets: 10
Blueberry Hill: 7
Five Finger Blues: 10
Trill Blues: 7
On-off boogie: 10
Happy blues: 9.5
Sad blues: 8 (triplets are a bit slow)
Blues for booker: 10

Sixth Blues: 10
Jump Shuffle: 10
C Jam Blues: 8 (trouble with the final C to G LH walkup at speed)
Riff Blues: 2 (didn't really try it)
Sunday Afternoon Blues: 0 (skipped it)
Barrelhouse Blues: 10
Blues with Pickups: 10
Slow Blues in D: 8
Blue Fifth Boogie: 2 (just starting it)

I have been playing for about a year or so. I have not mastered the LH patterns yet, but it is fun working on them. Practicing with this book gives a nice balance to just practicing the classical pieces.

Wow, I think I need to revise my numbers. I got a metronome a few weeks ago and found out how bad my rhythm really is. Just practicing with it the past couple of weeks has really improved my rhythm. I also got my hands on a microphone and made a quick couple of recordings. Another eye opener. I can see why Richards recommends it. Bletch! Just pushing the silly record button sends my playing into a tailspin. The infamous "red dot syndrome". What I did manage to record that was halfway decent really wasn't. Ah well, gotta keep at it.

On another note, I've been making more frequent forays into chapters 3 and 4. If you haven't tried this yet, I really recommend it. I've been having a blast with Slow Blues in G (ch3) and Slow Guitar Blues (ch4). They're both pretty easy pieces (especially with s-l-o-w in the title), and I think they sound really good.

I am currently using Improvising Blues Piano with my teacher as the foundation to my lessons. We started a few weeks ago on the book and I am working on Beginners Boogie Woogie. It took me a bit of practice to get the swing feel in the left hand but gradually I was able to play it quite well. The right hand chords are a good way to practice but I'm now at the point where I am introducing the left hand melody gradually. It isn't easy but I imagine, like everything else, it will just fall into place with constant practice. Anybody else working on this one?

By the way, my teacher thinks this is an excellent book but has two criticisms to date -
1. Why on the CD Tim didn't continue the counting throughout the song to assist with the timing
2. Why he chose Eb in the early stage of a book in Blueberry Hill

I'm starting lessons next week. My emphasis will be on playing by ear and improvising. We'll use IBP and Dave Limina's "Accelerate your Keyboard Playing" as the basis, at least to begin with, though we'll probably incorporate lead sheets and "by ear" melodies for learning chord progressions and ear training.

I've noticed that my numbers are no longer valid. I find that a "10" level for a relatively complex tune ( i.e. NOT Beginner's Blues :p ) lasts maybe a week or two without refreshing. Then it takes anywhere for 5 min to 2 days to get it back.

I'm also working on some boogie-woogie exercises from "Learn Boogie-Woogie Piano". To keep everything rock-steady for at least 4 full choruses with no mistakes is my goal before moving to the next exercise and I'm finding it tough, because of the need to seriously overlearn the LH.

It seems to me that in order to internalize tunes so that they can be used in improvisation, I have to play them A LOT, even after I can play them through without mistakes. I've chosen six tunes from the first two chapters to work on until they're internalized. We'll see if my teacher thinks that this is a useful strategy...

I have never been to a group so I am not sure what's in it besides the posts I see here. I plan to buy IBP soon. Please let me know how I can join, thanks!

Glenn

GILBERT WROTE:
IMO this book is absolutely perfect for learning the blues so I just had to reply to these criticisms which makes no sense to me.

1. Counting throughout the song will interfere with the song itself. Use the metronome to assist you and then develop your internal clock.

2. Blueberry Hill is in the key of Bb. Eb is the 4 chord, which Tim explains clearly right next to the song. (Makes me wonder about your teacher) Each chapter progresses in difficulty, thus if a song seems difficult, go to the next chapter. There is nothing wrong with the placement of this song.

3. If those were serious criticisms, I suggest, lose the teacher and make Tim your new teacher. (I'm self taught and currently using the Tim Richards method)

Glenn Chung looks like you've just joined the group.
My favourite pieces in it (list stolen from Deelux)
Blue Third Blues: 10
On-off boogie: 10
Sixth Blues: 10
Jump Shuffle: 10
C Jam Blues: 10
Riff Blues: 10
Sunday Afternoon Blues: 10
Blues with Pickups: 10
Slow Blues in D: 10
Blue Fifth Boogie: 10
Bouncy boogie: 10
Pine Tops BW: 10
Mojo workin: 8 (I usually stuff the ending)
St Louis Blues: 8 (I always get mugged in some Missouri suburb)
Honky tonk train blues: 6 (inevitably derailed at some point usually with major blood shed)

Scores have been given according to the likelihood of mistakes under optimum conditions: adjust scores according to number of people listening (minus 2 points per person), and pints of beer /glasses of wine consumed (minus 1 point per pint / glass with minus double points each and every glass beyond 2)
My daughter says I score a maximum of 6 on any piece under even perfect conditions but even when the doors shut she opens it and then slams it just to emphasise the point that she hates listening to me play, so I take 6 as quite a compliment.

Hi!
I wonder if you can answer one question. I have one year of experience and am taking classical lessons but want to eventually become a rock musician. I wonder 1) if this book will help me with this? and 2) If one year of experience is enough to start with it?

Thanks