Lesson on Playing Double Notes in Both Hands

In this lesson, we're going to look at playing double notes in both hands.

Introduction to Double Notes

You're already doing the barrel house in the left hand. We're going to try and match that in the right hand by playing two notes together.

Five Finger Position

The easiest way to do that is to put your hand in what's called a five finger position:

• Thumb on C
• Little finger on G

This means one finger for every note. We will play the following two notes together:

• C and E (the root and third)
• D and F (the second and fourth)
• E and G (the third and fifth)

Those are also the fingers you should be using.

Example Phrase

Here's an example of a phrase based on that hand position.

• Do it back to front.
• We don't want to hang around on the middle two notes because they're not in the chord.

So normally, you'd play it more like this:

(demonstration of the phrase)

Importance of Double Notes

The reason for using these double notes is that you've got to remember blues was born in pretty rough and ready conditions.

• Most blues pianists back in the day would be playing in bars or at rent parties.
• They had to cut through the sound of people eating, talking, or maybe even fighting.

Thus, two notes are louder than one, making it really common in blues piano to be playing double notes in both hands.

Transposing to the Key of G

I'm going to play this piece now in the key of G. In order to transpose to G, you just have to think I, IV, and V in the key of G:

• G chord
• C chord
• D chord

So you need to learn your five finger positions in G.

In C, those are all white notes. But for the D chord, we need an F sharp.

Practice Exercises

Practice exercises like this:

• Make sure the notes are clean and legato.
• So it shouldn't sound like this: (example of improper playing)

If you're not playing the notes together, you need to work on that, especially on D, the new chord:

• Make sure you're not playing any F naturals.

Demonstration of Five Finger Blues

I'm going to play five finger blues now with a barrel house left hand in the key of G.

Shortening Patterns

You may have noticed that on the D and C chords, which are one bar each, I had to shorten the pattern.

• Take care to play F sharp on the D chord
• F natural on the C chord

These one bar patterns have been forced on us because the chord's changing one bar at a time, whereas in the opening, it's a longer two-bar phrase.

Example: Two, three.

Alternative Left Hand Patterns

Another bass line you could play in the left hand, which goes back to walking bass, would be your root, 3, 5, 6.

You should develop the flexibility to mix and match different left-hand styles with the same right hand or vice versa. That's an important part of what we'll be doing in this course.

Written Tune in the Book

The actual tune in the book is written with a walking bass, which is slightly different.

• It's got a blue third in.
• So instead of root, 3, 5, 3 or root, 3, 5, 6, I've got root, flat three, major third, and then fifth.

Still a walking bass because there's four quarter notes a bar.

Improvisation in Choruses

When you hit the improvised choruses, don't be afraid to do several times around exploring different options.

• It's really a test of your creativity.

You know what the hand position is going to be, but there are many different ways of playing ideas rhythmically. You can also move the register around.

• Decide for yourself whether you play high or low, fast or slow, still retaining the basic hand position.

Next Lesson

In the next lesson, we'll continue with these double thirds, but we'll play them in triplets.