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Lesson time: (1min 46sec)
James builds on the blues scale to develop your improvising, using the chord tones of each dominant chord (like F7) to shape more interesting solos over a 12-bar blues.
This lesson is part of the course Rockschool Piano Grade 4
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Hey, I'm James. Today, we're looking at improvisation.
In the Rochecal syllabus, there are loads of great tunes written down. However, most of the solos, in fact, all the solos during the piano syllabus are written out.
These tunes are fantastic pieces, but it's important to note that the solos are pre-written. This approach is an excellent way to learn the sound of other musicians and enhance your technique, alongside every other aspect of playing written music.
If you're aiming to be a creative player in genres like pop, jazz, blues, or rock, it's essential to be able to improvise as well.
Today, we will be using the format of the blues to guide you on how to improvise.
In the first lesson, we discussed the blues scale and playing over different forms, specifically the 1, 4, 5 of the blues. Now, we're going to build on that foundation and make it slightly more complicated by developing the more interesting aspects of the blues.
Let's talk about chord tones.
By utilizing these chord tones, we can improvise effectively.
Through the blues sequence, we have the three chords of the blues. From this, I'm going to show you how to develop interesting and exciting ways of improvising.
Let's dive in!
