CONTENTS 2 SITTING IN: BLUES PIANO. SONGS BY CATEGORY BASIC BLUES C Gold Blues (Basic Blues)... 6 The Bad, Bad Blues (Basic Blues)...

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1 SITTIN IN: BLUES PIANO CONTENTS About the Author... Introduction... How to Use This Book... Working with the Audio Tracks and Software... 5 C old Blues... 6 The Bad, Bad Blues... Summer s one... 6 JJ Rider... 0 Take Shelter... 6 Breaking the Cookie... The -Mile Cruise... 6 Funk, I Love You... 0 et Your Crawfish (While They re Hot)... Late for the Train... 8 Boogaloo... 5 How Low Can You o? The Down and Out Blues rease for Hire SONS BY CATEORY BASIC BLUES C old Blues (Basic Blues)... 6 The Bad, Bad Blues (Basic Blues)... BLUES VARIATIONS Summer s one (Minor Blues)... 6 The -Mile Cruise (Fast Blues)... 6 Late for the Train (Swing Blues)... 8 NEW ORLEANS BLUES et Your Crawfish (While They re Hot) (New Orleans Blues)... Boogaloo (New Orleans Blues)... 5 BLUES SHUFFLE Take Shelter (Blues Shuffle)... 6 The Down and Out Blues (Blues Shuffle) OSPEL Funk, I Love You (Funky ospel Blues)... 0 How Low Can You o? (Slow ospel Blues) Take Me Back to Cali (ospel Blues) ROCK N ROLL/BOOIE WOOIE JJ Rider (Early Rock n Roll/Blues)... 0 Breaking the Cookie (Boogie Woogie)... rease for Hire (Boogie Blues/Rock n Roll) Take Me Back to Cali Appendix: Basic Music Theory... 76

2 5 SITTIN IN: BLUES PIANO =? Track (Full Mix) Track A (Rhythm Section Only) Boogaloo (New Orleans Blues) C n? 7? n n D 0? C n n n D7.. Œ Ó Œ Ó Roadmap 7 total choruses: choruses of head, chorus of guitar solo, chorus of harmonica solo, chorus of piano solo, choruses of head out.

3 SITTIN IN: BLUES PIANO 5 Overview When listening to early New Orleans blues recordings, you ll often hear a fantastic straight eighth-note beat, usually based on Caribbean rhythms. New Orleans Blues stems from early blues music and Louisiana blues, which developed in later years (after World War II). Listen to the great New Orleans artists to soak in the vibe: Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and uitar Slim (for you six-stringers out there!). eneral form: I IV V Key: Maor BPM: Bars: Feel: New Orleans blues Scale: Maor Pentatonic scale w w w w w w The chords are in root position throughout (with slight variation): In the right hand, the bottom note starts on the 5th step of each chord (for example, below, D is the 5th of the chord).? Listening Suggestions Professor Longhair: Who s Been Fooling You I love these old recordings. The musicians weren t playing to a click track they were ust feeling it. They were feeling the beat and the groove, and were ust playing off of one another. If you were to remove one person from the equation, the result wouldn t have been the same. These artists weren t worried about playing perfectly, they were ust playing from the heart, and at the end of the day, that s the most important thing. Eddie Bo: Warm Daddy Eddie Bo is another New Orleans style pianist, and one you don t hear about too often. Other than the intro, there s not a big piano moment in this song, but listen to the outro there s some great right-hand riffing there, but yet it doesn t overshadow the singer (something very important to remember when accompanying a vocalist).

4 5 SITTIN IN: BLUES PIANO Fingering Here is the fingering for the main riff.? 5 5 Right Hand, /, /,, /5,,,, Left Hand 5,,,, The same fingering applies to the rest of the piece. Pocket This piece should be played on the beat, with emphasis on the downbeat and upbeat of beat in each measure. Approach it with a slight staccato feel in the right hand, although the left hand should be played legato and swampy! Chords in the Tune, C, D, D7 Soloing The Maor Pentatonic scale works really well with this tune. I would stay away from the blues scale it doesn t fit the feel or style of this piece. o crazy with the grace notes they re a lot of fun and work well here. Also, the Professor Longhair triplets are a sure thing for an authentic sound. So, that would be grace notes, triplets, and swampy! ot it? ood!

5 SITTIN IN: BLUES PIANO 55 Lick Our first lick uses the Maor Pentatonic scale, but notice how we snuck in a b. Remember, if it sounds good, go with it! Πmin7 b 5 7 n b b n n? Lick This one features Longhair triplets and a cool blues feel.? J b Lick As mentioned on the previous page, here are your grace notes! You can add and remove them as you please. Remember, you don t want to play too much of any one thing, so use discretion. n?