The On-off rhythm
Lesson time: (2min 34sec)
Tim Richards shows how playing chords off the beat - an off-on rhythm over a walking bass line - gives a blues piano part a much groovier feel.
Free lesson
This lesson is part of the course Blues Piano Foundations: Walking Bass & Triads
Watch this lesson for free below.
Lesson transcript:
Making Your Chords More Groovy
At the moment, this isn't sounding that great because the chords are all on the beat. It's not very jazzy or exciting.
Off-Beat Chords
If we play some of the chords off the beat, it will take on a new life and sound much more groovy.
- First chord: on the upbeat of one
- Second chord: on three on the beat
I call that an off-on rhythm.
If you have difficulty with that, you can tap it on your knees.
Here's the left hand pattern:
- One and two, three, four.
- One and two, three, four.
- One and two, three, four.
- One and two, three, four.
If you can do it on your knees, it should be fairly easy to transfer that to the keyboard.
Walking Bass Line
This walking bass line is designed to imitate a bass player. It could be double bass, bass guitar, or electric bass.
In the left hand, you're taking the place of the bass that would normally be in a band.
Another bass line you can use includes the sixth of the scale, which is A for the C chord.
So you could play this as an alternative:
- F6 and G6.
Putting It All Together
Let's play the off-on chords in the right hand again with the new bass line.
There you go! In the next lesson, we'll take this a bit further and will use a tune called Sea Jam Blues.
About the instructor
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.” PianoDaoAs 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 read more