I don’t know why, but, when I get to the end of a piece I find it incredibly hard to finish. I’ve spent the last month rewriting, tweaking, hating the tone quality and generally being dreadfully unhappy with everything about the Wendi piece.

This is normal – I wish I didn’t go through it but I do. I’m probably another couple of weeks away from publishing but it will come eventually. While I work through the bullshit – every now and again I have to sit down and beat the crap out of my frustration on the keys. This is what it sounds like…

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Thinking Blues – actually thinking lots of things – nice version of hey too…

Currently developing a blues piano piece for Nath (that’s her T-shirt design in the box up there on the right!)

I’m working at 57 beats per minute and beginning to get a feel for the tempo; theme hunting will start soon.

Paying members of music2work2 got the full 11 minute version of this piece as a bonus on the release of Coyote.

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Download audio file (reason-101-click.mp3)

Basic rock piano is not about scales, chords, arpeggios or riffs – it is about the relationship between your right and left hand. The best way to teach yourself basic rock piano is to investigate what sounds good when your hands are playing something different.

Practice with a metronome

As a piano player, a rocking groove only works when your hands are agreeing on time. The only way to really understand time is to practice with a click – a metronome.

If you practice to the click you will be surprised at how quickly your chops develop.

Learn the basic “rocking” rhythm

You are going to create a 3 finger chord with your right hand and then “rock” it back and forth while keeping time with your left hand.

Set your metronome to 101 beats per minute – if you have a digital metronome you can set the signature to 8 / 4.

Start out in C major so you don’t have to worry about any black keys. With your right hand, place your thumb on middle C, your index finger on E and your little finger on G (This is also known as placing your fingers on the 1,3 and 5 of the C major scale.)

Listen to the metronome and count out loud, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

On the 1 count, play the E and the G (index and little finger)
- on the 2 count play the C (thumb)
- on the 3 count, play the E and G
- on the 4 count, play the C

repeat.

Once you have the rocking motion down with your right hand, add the left hand.

Place your left hand thumb on the first C below middle C and then using the same 8 count, play the C on the 1, the 4 and the 5.

Initially for most people this feels pretty weird but after a couple of passes – it starts to make sense. Once you understand how it feels – then practice it – a lot. The more you play it – the more it makes sense – you start to think about finger velocity, about tone, about expanding the octave, about syncopating the left hand, about playing in different keys, etc…

Learn the blues scale

Rock and roll comes from the blues – and the blues is awesome. In C – the notes in the right hand are:

C, Eb, F, F#,G, Bb,C

With the blues you tend to have the left hand keeping time and structure with the right hand hitting the melody and doing all the fancy stuff. The most basic introduction to the blues would be a classic 12 bar blues.

In C major the left hand would play the notes that make up the following chords.

C, C, C, C, F, F, C, C, G, F, C, G,

Set the metronome and start playing – once you can play different things in the right hand without falling off time in the left hand then you can start to experiment: make chords of the notes in the left hand, play with sliding off the black notes onto the white notes, play with not hitting every note in the bar, slow the tempo down, speed it up – practice.

Play – a lot!

Once you have these tools “under your belt” – play as often as you can – the more you play the more your ears change and the better the whole experience becomes

Quora post text:

So I’m working through the piece and it’s beginning to come together – the main theme and first variation are dialed in and I’m beginning to flesh out the second theme. As is my practice I’ll fire up the metronome and start playing the themes at different Bpms to see what comes out and this little blues clip appeared on Sunday. The left hand is a super simple walk down but it’s the right hand that caught my ear.

Download audio file (coyote-blues.mp3)

The track’s in B minor & I realized that I don’t think I’ve ever played the blues in this key before – which is kind of odd really. Although technically playing the same relative notes – different keys sound completely different to one another – the positioning of the different black and white keys and how they relate to each other change depending on what key you’re in – think I might play in B minor a little longer!

The second theme variation comes in at the end – I’ll post later on this week the development of the primary theme.

Image Credit: Coyote tlindebaum Flickr CC

Some days there’s just nothing – even if you’re half humming a theme in the shower, by the time the finger chops are done there’s nothing in the ether – so what to do? This is where the blues come in:

Download audio file (131blues.mp3)

Download MP3

I almost gave up the piano – I was 12 and I hated it – Chopin etudes weren’t exactly resonating with someone who preferred to play air guitar to Deep Purple’s Space Trucking. I was fortunate to have the experience of a truly magical teacher – you know – those life changing ones that – well – they change your life.

Thanks Phil.

When I’m dry – I turn to the blues – it keeps the creative juices flowing, keeps the finger chops up and just occasionally morphs into something fabulous. Today I was just happy to have somewhere to go.

Posted via web from Andrew McCluskey

After hitting the scales and arpeggios this morning – my left hand just wanted to groove – I like where this one was going.
Download audio file (137-September.mp3)

Download
I might come back and develop this later on in the week – it should get interesting as the tempo quickens.

I actually sat and played the blues for 30 minutes this morning – it is by far my favorite way of “practicing” – although I have to be careful to not let the left hand get lazy. It’s funny though – after practicing at higher tempos, I sit back down at this “keyboard” and my fingers are too fast for my typing – I’ve corrected this sentence three times now!