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Blues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads
HomeCoursesBlues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads
CoursePianoBluesBeginnerPart 1 of 3
Part ofPiano

Blues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads

Tim Richards

with

Tim Richards

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

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Cancel anytime30-day refund

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

Subscribe to Watch
Cancel anytime30-day refund
Duration31m
Modules12
LevelBeginner
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (0h 31m)

About this course

Tim Richards has been a leading voice in UK jazz piano teaching for over thirty years. This course is part of his graded method, also published by Schott Music as a textbook of the same name. Full bio on Tim's artist page.

This is Chapter 1 of Improvising Blues Piano, Tim Richards' foundational blues method. You'll start with Comping Style #1 - the walking bass line - then improvise with triads, add the blue third, play double thirds, and meet Comping Style #2 (right-hand thirds in triplets). Every concept is taught through real 12-bar blues practice.

By the end you'll comp a steady walking-bass blues with your left hand, improvise short solos with triads and the blue third in your right, and have two complete comping styles you can use in any blues jam. Chapter 2 (Riffs & Rhythms) is the natural next step.

Who it's for

  • Pianists with basics ready to play the blues
  • Self-taught players curious about real blues vocabulary
  • Returning pianists looking for a fresh musical direction

What you'll learn

  • Comp a walking-bass 12-bar blues with confidence
  • Improvise solos with triads and the blue third
  • Apply two complete comping styles across the blues form

What you'll need

  • A piano or weighted-key keyboard
  • Comfort reading basic notation and finding triads
  • A few minutes most days at the keys

Explore the series · Improvising Blues Piano · Pt 1

Based on Improvising Blues Piano by Schott Music

  1. Blues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads
    01
    Blues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads
    You are here
  2. Blues Piano Development: Riffs & Rhythms
    02
    Blues Piano Development: Riffs & Rhythms
  3. Blues Piano Applied: Voicings & Forward Motion
    03
    Blues Piano Applied: Voicings & Forward Motion

Meet the Guru

Tim Richards

Meet the Guru

Tim Richards

Critically acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tim Richards is one of Britain’s most experienced jazz educators, teaching piano privately for over 30 years, as well as at Morley College, Goldsmiths College, the University of Surrey, Premises Studios and other venues in the UK and abroad. He has produced numerous titles for Schott Music, including the best-selling two-volume Exploring Jazz Piano, Blues, Boogie & Gospel Collection and the acclaimed Improvising Blues Piano. He is also co-author, with John Crawford, of Exploring Latin Piano and Brazilian Piano Collection.

More recently Schott have published Jazz, Latin & Modern Collection (15 pieces for solo piano), comprising Tim Richards originals alongside pieces by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and the two volume set Beginning Jazz Piano (now a two-part MusicGurus course).

“The real joy of Tim’s music… is that it is both hugely educational but also such great fun to play. Anyone with the slightest interest in learning to play or teach jazz piano should really acquire a set of Tim’s books.” PianoDao

As a performer Tim has been a presence on the UK jazz scene since the 1980s, also playing the blues with UK and US legends such as Otis Grand, Earl Green, Dana Gillespie, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and Mojo Buford. He has released over a dozen albums as a leader (featuring many of London’s best jazz musicians including Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Seb Rochford, Ed Jones, Dick Pearce and many others), and toured all over Europe with line-ups ranging from duo to nine-piece. His latest recording, the album ‘Telegraph Hill’ by the six-piece Hextet, was described in The Observer as "A true joy from beginning to end".

More info can be found on his website www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk

View artist page

Published with

Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.
View the Publisher page
Schott Music

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