place
05-14-2010, 09:45 PM
Willie, et. all,
The thread on Irish Music got me thinking a bit philosophically, so please bear with me. I don’t really think of myself as learning to play jazz piano, gospel piano, blues piano, or whatnot, but first and foremost I am learning to play piano. Then, whatever style I choose to play in is up to me. That being said, there are certainly little things one can add to ones playing to make a piece sound “bluesy,” “funky,” or whatever. A lesson that explored some of these techniques for a variety of styles would be very cool to me.
What chord progressions, voicings, bass lines, accompaniment patterns, etc. are typical of various styles? This is what I loved about the Blues lesson on Accompaniments and Turnarounds. Blues purists may have hated this, but it clearly showed me how I could spice up a song (blues or not) with a bit of a tango, country or funk flare. Here are some examples of similar ideas that I’ve already picked up from this site:
• Add a few notes from the blues scale to get a more bluesy sound (it may seem obvious but now I know how to do this)
• Because funk chords often contain both the major and minor 3rd, just by adding a #9 to a dom7 chord it can instantly sound more funky.
• The Floyd Cramer licks where the 9th (or 2nd depending on how you look at it) slides up to the 3rd give you a country sound.
A lesson of these type of tips, tricks and techniques with a different style for each chapter would be tremendous. My starter list for styles would include new age, country, reggae, rock, pop, bluegrass, ethnic styles like Irish/Celtic, klezmer, world beats, some Latin styles (tango, calypso, salsa). I’m sure others could add their favorites to the list too.
Thanks for listening and allowing us to voice our opinions. Sorry to go on so long.
Mark
The thread on Irish Music got me thinking a bit philosophically, so please bear with me. I don’t really think of myself as learning to play jazz piano, gospel piano, blues piano, or whatnot, but first and foremost I am learning to play piano. Then, whatever style I choose to play in is up to me. That being said, there are certainly little things one can add to ones playing to make a piece sound “bluesy,” “funky,” or whatever. A lesson that explored some of these techniques for a variety of styles would be very cool to me.
What chord progressions, voicings, bass lines, accompaniment patterns, etc. are typical of various styles? This is what I loved about the Blues lesson on Accompaniments and Turnarounds. Blues purists may have hated this, but it clearly showed me how I could spice up a song (blues or not) with a bit of a tango, country or funk flare. Here are some examples of similar ideas that I’ve already picked up from this site:
• Add a few notes from the blues scale to get a more bluesy sound (it may seem obvious but now I know how to do this)
• Because funk chords often contain both the major and minor 3rd, just by adding a #9 to a dom7 chord it can instantly sound more funky.
• The Floyd Cramer licks where the 9th (or 2nd depending on how you look at it) slides up to the 3rd give you a country sound.
A lesson of these type of tips, tricks and techniques with a different style for each chapter would be tremendous. My starter list for styles would include new age, country, reggae, rock, pop, bluegrass, ethnic styles like Irish/Celtic, klezmer, world beats, some Latin styles (tango, calypso, salsa). I’m sure others could add their favorites to the list too.
Thanks for listening and allowing us to voice our opinions. Sorry to go on so long.
Mark