Learn to Play Piano Blues Style
When you play piano blues style you are calling upon some strong music.
The blues is something that is filled with emotion. It is a genre of music that seems to have its very own style that so unique from any other genre. When you play blues on the piano there are a few things you have to know so you can really get this style right.
The Blues Scale
Playing the blues on the piano starts with learning the blues scale. The scale is played with the right hand and the first four notes are C – E flat – F – F sharp. Practice playing that over and over until you have the four notes memorised. Adding in the left hand, you will play a C and G together as a chord.
Knowing the first four notes of the scale and the basic chord will allow you to start playing around a bit with creating your own blues sound. See the Piano Lessons For Beginners page for more info.
Check out the ‘How to Play The Blues’ book in the Piano For All course.
Improvising a Song
Playing the blues is all about reaching inside yourself and creating music that reflects what you feel. You may not have a lot to work with, but what you have learned with the scale and the C-G chord will give you a great start.
Try messing around with the notes. Unlike just sitting down and playing whatever notes your fingers hit, having guidance of what notes to play will actually make it sound like a real song. No matter what notes you play they will harmonize nicely. Just try to stick to scale order by not skipping notes.
The Complete Blues Scale
After you have gotten to know the first part of the scale you can add in the remaining three notes. This will give you the complete blues scale. The scale is C – B flat – G – F sharp – F – E flat – C. Again, practice the scale until you know it well and then begin to improvise again. You can add in some more notes for the left hand. You can use a C chord and/or a G chord. You now have a very good basis to start playing some amazing blues sound.
Creating Music
You now know the basics for playing the blues on the piano. You now can experiment and try all different rhythms and combinations to create your own blues music. You may want to get some sheet music that reflects the blues style or even just listen to some blues music to give you inspiration.
Remember that blues music is all from the heart. No matter what you do with the music, make it yours. Be free and let yourself go. Follow your ear and if something doesn’t sound right then change it up. Don’t forget to record as you play so you don’t forget the music you have created. After a while, you will find your skills grow and you begin to add your own style to the music. That is why you can be sure that you have mastered how to play piano blues style.
Advice on How to Play Rock Piano
When you want to learn how to play rock piano, it helps to get some advice to get you started. Rock piano is simply a style of playing. There is no real secret to it except learning the basic rock style and being able to turn out rock style music from your piano. Learning to play piano in a rock style is something that you may wish to do once you have learned the basics of playing piano.
Energy is Key
The main key to playing rock piano is energy. Rock music is driven by the energy of the performers. The music flows quickly and it can be challenging if you don’t have the energy to keep up with the pace of the music. You must go into learning rock piano with energy, ready to rock and roll. See the Piano Lessons For Beginners page for more info.
Rock Piano Skills
When playing rock piano there are some certain skills that are specific to this style of music. Knowing these specific skills will help you to play rock style easier. There are two main skills: glissandos and fast chords.
Glissandos: This is where you slide your fingers across the keyboard. While it looks simple, it is actually something that can be a bit tricky until you have practiced at it quite a bit.
Fast chords
All piano music includes chords, but in rock music the chords move fast. You have to really know your chords so you can play them fast without mistakes. You may need to spend some time practicing moving through chords over and over in order to get up to speed for rock music.
Basic Elements
Rock music is all about passion and speed. Rock music flows fast and it is played loud. Even the slower rock songs move at a rapid pace compared to classical pieces. Most people learn to play piano using classical pieces so the transformation to playing rock music can be rather challenging at first for some piano players.
Your basic piano skills will really dictate how you can proceed with learning rock piano. If you are a seasoned piano player, who knows all the chords and who can play quick tempos then you may be able to start out with a faster piece than someone who is a relative beginner piano player.
Choosing the Right Piece
For your first rock piece you should probably choose something slow. You want to really be able to work on your styling and grasp the basic flow of rock music before you move into hard, fast pieces.
Learning how to play rock piano is all about practice. You have to get your basic skills perfected before you can move onto real classic rock pieces that move at super fast tempos. You need to really play with all your energy and throw yourself into the music for a rock piece to really come off sounding good.
Even though the guitar is the instrument most people associate with rock music, the piano can also be a great way to rock out.