The blues sequence, I IV and V chords in C

Improvising Blues Piano with Tim Richards

Hi, I'm Tim Richards. Welcome to Improvising Blues Piano. We're going to start from the basics.

Understanding the C Major Scale

You all know how to play a scale of C major, right?

• Number those notes from 1 to 7.
• And you probably know that to make an A major triad, you have to take the first, third and fifth notes of C major.

Major Triads

• This shape is replicated on the fourth note of the scale to give F major, which we call the four chord (Roman numeral four).
• Then we have the V chord on G.

So that's the root, third and fifth of C, F, and G. These are all major triads on 1, 4, and 5.

Playing the Blues Sequence

We can play a blues right away with those three chords using triads only. We're going to do the same shapes in the bass.

Bassline for C Major Triad

Here's the bassline that follows the C major triad:

• Use your little finger, third finger, and thumb.
• We call that a root, three, five, three bass line, because those are the notes it's using.

Rhythm and Structure

• Use four notes in every bar, quarter notes.
• The blues sequence will do the following:
  • Four times on C,
  • Twice on F,
  • Back to C for 2 bars,
  • Then G for 2 bars,
  • Ending with 2 bars on C.

So I'll play the whole sequence now in the correct order; check the fingering that I'm using. You might want to look at the example.

Chorus and Practices

So that was one chorus, 12 bars. We're playing a 12 bar blues in C major.

• There's a four bar practice pattern for that fingering with the thumb on the root of the F and G chords.
• Just check the fingering in the example.

Importance of Fingering

That fingering is important because if you just jump with your little finger, you're going to have a gap in the sound.

So, that's really bad piano technique. You need to make sure that this bass line is legato.

When we add some chords in the right hand, which we're about to do, it'll be particularly important not to lose sight of the legato left hand.