Moving Pair Riff Module Seven Supplement DOther Three-Plus-One Variations
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First Riff | Second Riff |
Orientation
If you've 'just landed', please feel free to explore, but to get the most out of this module, you probably need to have worked through Musicarta's 'Moving Pair' series of blues piano lessons from the beginning. Click through here to the start of the series.Musicarta Blues Piano modules have MIDI support. You can download MIDI files of the musical examples and play them on the free MidiPiano application. This is highly recommended and will greatly improve your progress. Learn more at the Musicarta MidiPiano page.
First Riff
This is the riff we're going to build up to first.| 12bar_MP_M70 |
A two-handed version
Try playing a 'no-frills' version of this riff with two hands first. | 12bar_MP_M71 |
Play the root(s) and any notes below with the left hand and the moving pair material with the right hand. The MIDI performance file (12bar_MP_M71) shows the hands divided this way,
(The riff sounds fine without this extra twist, though, so it doesn't matter if you leave it out for now.)
The one-bar D and C patterns in the 'third line' of the chord chart have a different pattern, but it's classic 'moving pair' material. You should be able to get it, with the help of the MIDI file performance.
(These two bars are also slightly different to each other, but it doesn't matter if you don't 'get' that.)
Use your media player and MidiPiano (or other sequencer) intelligently to help you get this riff. Zoom in, slow down and be prepared to practice over and over until you get it.
Fingering a single-handed version
If you're playing in a combo, you might be quite happy with just the two-handed version. Otherwise, you'll want to learn to play the riff with just the right hand. This involves a closer look at fingering. Here's the riff in G with fingering. NB: You DON"T need to be able to read music to follow! The right hand thumb – finger 1 – is on G, and the rest of the notes are predictable 'moving pair material'.
Try it, see how it works and why. Admittedly, this is a 'best case scenario'. You can 'get by' with less-perfect fingering, but sooner or later, we all have to get to grips and learn some tricks!
The riff still sounds exactly the same.
| 12bar_MP_M71 |
The bass line
The riff bass line is a development of the Variation 1 (Two Only') bass line. Revise these three groups of three notes.
| 12bar_MP_M70 |
The three-note run-up has to start in time to arrive at the root (R) on the strong beat at the start of the bar.
| 12bar_MP_M72 |
These latest performance files (above) are 'demo only', and use a slightly different chord sequence:
Developing the bass line
You could, in theory, play the same run-up to every start-of-the-bar root| 12bar_MP_M73 |
But 'tweaking' a mechanical pattern usually improves it. Listen to the full riff again. (All of the 'tweaked' run-ups have appeared in the previous Moving Pair modules._)
| 12bar_MP_M70 |
Here are the bass line run-ups between the various chords written out with bass guitar TAB.
Playing hands together
Look closely to see 'what comes together' when both the left hand and the right hand are playing at the same time.
Second Riff
Here's the second riff in this module.| 12bar_MP_M74 |
It's very similar to the previous riff, but the right hand only comes in on the middle 'moving pair'.
Here's the riff G position looped and slowed down to practice speed. Disregard as much of the fancy bass as you want – just play the long root note for now if you want.
| 12bar_MP_M75 |
The left hand
The riff uses the 'flapping thumb' left hand from previous Moving Pair modules (here without the 'run-up').| 12bar_MP_M76 |
It's an irresistible beat – well worth practising! You'll hear it again at the very end of the module.
The C and D patterns
The main riff use the C and D patterns as the previous riff in the bottom line of the chord sequence, but you could transpose the pattern into those chords.| 12bar_MP_M77 |
Playing hands together
Here's the written-out music for the riff G position, for the fingering.
Going on from here
This is the end of the Musicarta Moving Pair series of blues piano lessons.The Moving Pair material is incredibly versatile. Listen to this audio sketch:
| 12bar_MP_M78 |
It's the 'two positions only' material with the right hand playing triads in inversion. If you enjoy playing like this and want to learn how this music is put together, you should look into Musicarta's 'Chord Progressions' lesson series. You're already halfway there! Click through to the Chord Progressions series here.
If you've been finding that your main challenge is coordinating your hands to get the rhythms, Musicarta's Beat and Rhythm series of lessons offers a progressive approach to syncopation for keyboard players. Click through to the Beat and Rhythm series home page here.
If you'd prefer to play something slightly more classical-sounding for a change, Musicarta's flagship 'Pyramids Variations' offers a way to learn chords and 'theory that works' at the keyboard that might suit you. Click through to the Pyramids Variations home page here.
If you want more 12-bar blues and boogie material – stay posted! New material is constantly becoming available – more 'Two-handed Boogies' are next in line for roll-out under the Blues Piano umbrella. Keep up to date by bookmarking the Musicarta blog page and checking in regularly, or get the Musicarta RSS feed for no-hassle updates. (Not sure about RSS? Click here for a brief explanation.)
