Blues piano tutorial, part two - the left hand

[ChickityChoice]

Hey Bill... When I'm playing 12 bar blues and improvising... should I be soloing with the blues scale for each respective chord, or simply with the blues scale for the key that I'm in... For example, if my progression is CCCCFFCCGFCC, do I use C blues scale only? or C F and G? Thanks,

~Jason

[Arturostunes]

Wow you were so much help man, I appreciate this video so much; You have no idea. My right hand is more than fast and swift...And my scales are out of control. Improvisation is really not a problem, honestly i rather improvise and have someone else do the beat on the left XDD. I am really going to try to stick with these exercises to improve that though. I just recently caught that "swiftyness" with practice, now i need coordination desperatey. Wish to dominate it like you have somday. Cheers:).

[billhiltonbiz]

@Arturostunes Glad you like it! Keep practising, and remember when it feels like *really* hard work, that's when you're making the best progress :)

[youtabj]

Bill, what I've seen so far is great; I have a question though. I'm mainly self-taught so I may have some bad habits (sure that I do). On the left hand, you use the pinky (#5) for the I, and the index (#2) for the IV, and the thumb (#1) for the V. I find myself using just two fingers - pinky for I, and alternating the thumb between IV and V. The index is not used. Is this an acceptable alternative, or should I make an effort to break this habit? Not sure if it will cause problems later.

[youtabj]

@billhiltonbiz - correction, not I, IV, V, but what... I, V, VI in the pattern? Anyway, question about fingering still applies.

[billhiltonbiz]

@youtabj If you're playing slow to medium blues, it shouldn't cause any problems at all - as long as you remain comfortable with it and you can do it accurately. If you try playing faster rock'n'roll style stuff, you might find that using the thumb/index combo makes things smoother. If you can, learn to do both - flexibility is everything, and one of the problems of self-teaching is that you can develop "weak" and "strong" fingers (so maybe learn and practise some scales if you don't already..)

[billhiltonbiz]

@youtabj .....hope that makes sense. BTW, those notes are actually I, V and VI, not I, IV and V; i.e., C, G and A on a C chord or F, C and D on an F chord. Sorry to be nitpicky - I'm just mentioning if for the benefit of anyone else reading who's gotten confused :)

[youtabj]

@billhiltonbiz Yes, I caught that - too late to edit my first post but you'll see my second one about the pattern. Not nitpicky at all; I didn't want to confuse anyone either, but afaik, you can't edit these things once posted. You can just go "oops!". Thanks for the quick response above (below), 'preciate it.

[rocketrich25]

great video thank you

[muffeCx]

VERY helpful! :D My hands are now soo much easier to coordinate.

[bluephurba]

Thanks. It's appreciated.

[SCAREDBANANA]

Thanks this was very helpful.