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Any tips, tricks, instructional material, etc., for playing blues in a band situation? I feel like all the stuff I come across for blues piano / keys is oriented toward solo playing (e.g., boogie woogie).
The main thing is, of course, listening to blues bands. However, I also find instructional books, good YouTube videos of tips, etc., quite helpful, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel, as it were.
This is a very good question. In 2010, I organized the first blues workshop in Israel, and immediately faced two problems: drummer and pianist. The pianist studied jazz in a college similar to that of Berkley; played a decent bebop, had some set of blues phrases; but in the ensemble he was completely lost, and did not know what to play. I gave him a list of important blues pianists, and asked him to transcribe a comping of one of them, composed of riffs and their modifications; and then pay attention to interaction with other members of the ensemble; vocals, guitar, drums, bass, organ. I don't see the possibility that some kind of tutorial can really help. BTW, the pianist turned out to be very serious and progressed very quickly - https://yadi.sk/d/vnI5VSKaQ-Ni6Q
I played in a blues band for about 8 years (until 2011) and loved it. As far as actual playing is concerned, what you've said really sums it up. Listen to the sort of material you'll be playing and try and be complimentary to the rest of the band.
The main difference to when you're playing solo is that you've got to play rhythm parts, when other players are soloing or when the vocalist is singing. So practise playing rhythm parts.
I still sometimes played boogie-woogie or rock n roll LH parts though. They kept me in time! I also played in a more 2 handed chordal style for a few things and at other times I'd play in a more Rock Piano style - octaves in the LH etc. I changed my style to fit the type of song, but nearly always a style I was confident about.
Also worth mentioning I doubled on Hammond organ, and played that as much, if not more than Piano.
The band I played in was loud. So apart from the playing itself, make sure you can hear yourself, that you can see some or all of the other band members, and use some sort of ear protection. My simple rule for that is if you're playing with a drummer and there is going to be a blues/rock back beat, you need ear protection. I didn't for quite a few years and it's had some affect on my hearing.
Here's a song from the band I played in, back in 2008. It was our first gig, after we split up and got back together again in a slightly different line-up. So we weren't that tight, and I think the tune was in A, which I never liked playing in. So there's some iffy Piano bits.
Here's a song from the band I played in, back in 2008. It was our first gig, after we split up and got back together again in a slightly different line-up. So we weren't that tight, and I think the tune was in A, which I never liked playing in. So there's some iffy Piano bits.
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Enjoy, or not!
Cheers
However, you are not a beginners and sound quite in the genre. Singer in my workshop you were listening to showed up for the first audition of blues vocalists with Tom Jones' Sex Bomb : he had such notions of blues ...
SIX BLUES-ROOTS PIANISTS by ERIC KRISS OAK PUBLICATIONS 1973
There are so many books and tape plus videos out now but this particular books is about pure blues and it still current today if you can find it. I find it hard to play blues in a jazz setting because one the tempos are always faster and two someone in the band always wants to improvise with jazz runs not blue licks. Yes there is a difference. Here are two examples on my You Tube page with the same jazz guitarist. The first one is ST LOUIS BLUES and he read the music the second one a pure improvise in G but then he wanted to sing so he turn around to the group and said I am going to close with Route 66
Thanks, all - good stuff so far! Simon, I dig your video. It cracks me up that the camera man is so loathe to show the bassist, even when he's singing, that he spends half the time showing the guitar player strumming simple chords!
I've digging around the Interwebz and finding some interesting things. I might start collating them here in this thread - perhaps it could function as a resource for future generations!
Many years ago I bought Hal Leonard's sheet music from the series GIG Guide : BLUES set - the Performance Guide For Bands with parts for every instrument, including the CD.
Here is a site with covers most of the most well known blues pianists. I like this site because it gives you recordings of the the artists. Simon I took the Bass Key Boogie by Little Brother Montgomery The Dirty Dozens by Speckled Red and Spann's Stomp out the the blues book I mention earlier and came up with my own left hand pattern and boogied away. The audience always loved a boogie or blues tune thrown into the mix.
Here is a site with covers most of the most well known blues pianists. I like this site because it gives you recordings of the the artists. Simon I took the Bass Key Boogie by Little Brother Montgomery The Dirty Dozens by Speckled Red and Spann's Stomp out the the blues book I mention earlier and came up with my own left hand pattern and boogied away. The audience always loved a boogie or blues tune thrown into the mix.
Jazz piano Instructor. Technical Editor for Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book". Studied with Mark Levine, Art Lande & Mark Isham (1981-1990). Also: Barry Harris and Monty Alexander (1993-present)
