Piano break no.2

Music Lesson: Exploring Breaks in the Tune

Let's look at the second break I did in the tune, which went something like this: a three, four, something like that.

I don't think the right hand I just demonstrated was exactly what I did on the recording from before, but let's examine what's going on anyway.

Left Hand Technique

The left hand is simply going up a G arpeggio, but with semitones added before those notes. Here's what to keep in mind:

• Octaves: Play the arpeggio in octaves.
• Practice: Make sure to get that down in your left hand as solidly as possible before attempting to do something with the right.

Right Hand Variability

Now, what was I doing in the right hand? I was exploring various techniques:

• Trill: I could have been looking at that trill again, which involves trilling around the B on a G7.
• Anchor Point: I didn't mention this in the last video, but using that B as an anchor is key.
  • Rotate the wrist and keep it all nice and loose. That's the idea.

Creative Practice Ideas

Here are some creative and practical things you could try to develop independence between the left and right hands:

• Simple Right Hand Patterns:
  • For practice, just play crotchets, quarter notes, or eighths.
  • You could also try something like this:
    • Variation 1: Simple steady bass with variations on top.
    • Variation 2: Add some syncopation or different rhythms to lead to creative explorations.

Additional Ideas

• You could base your right hand on what we did before and try something in six to shake things up.

• Incorporate Riffs:

  • Add one of the riffs we looked at earlier, such as:
    • Example: "Three, four" rhythm.

• Albert Ammons Style:

  • You could also mimic the Albert Ammons style from Suitcase Blues:
    • Experiment with:
      • Rolling patterns or repeated notes with some rolls.

Summary

• Break it Down: Consider doing something less intense in the right hand:
  • Something maybe a bit lighter that could work quite well.

Just remember to keep your left hand really solid while trying out your own ideas. Let's move on and look at some other topics!