There are many styles of piano music defined that you will come across as you learn to play the instrument. A good knowledge of at least a few of them will definitely help you get the most from your lessons. What you will find is that there is a lot of crossover between the styles and whilst it is easier to try to define them as individual ways of playing piano, in practice you will find segments of some styles in others. So when you are playing don’t be too rigid.
Blues Piano Style probably provides the basis of the most modern genres of playing.
Most courses cover the following styles in varying depth, and one of the things you should take into account in your decision on which piano course to study is which of the styles you particularly enjoy and want to learn first. To become a good pianist you will need a knowledge of playing many or all styles, but it certainly helps when starting out to be having lessons on a piano style you like the sound of, as you will probably be repeating tunes quite a few times as you master them.
The Most Popular Piano Lessons on the teaching courses I have taken are :
- Learn to Play Blues Piano
- Learn to Play Jazz Piano
- Learn to Play Rhythm and Blues Piano
- Learn to Play Boogie Woogie Piano
- Learn to Play Gospel Piano
- Learn to Play Country and Western Piano
- Learn to Play Rock Piano
- Learn to Play Classical Piano
So I have put together a little background on each genre below. If you want take a look, if you just want to see what the courses contain look at this page.
Learn to Play Blues Piano
A Quick Introduction to Blues for Piano and Keyboard
The Blues has influenced many other genres, especially Jazz Piano,Swing, Rock & Roll, and later R & B. If you want to play any of them well Mastering the Blues is where you need to start.
Blues music began in the the Deep South of the US towards the end of the 1800’s within the African-American communities.
Blues music has a certain “feel” to it that means you just know whether it’s Rock and Roll, Church Gospel, Country Rock or Jazz Swing that it was inspired by “the good ole Blues”.
Unfortunately that Blues “feel” is why it is a tough style of music to just learn from sheet music and books alone. You really need to watch over the shoulder of an expert so you pick up their techniques and tips, copy a blues riff or two so you can become one of that rare breed of pianist that can produce conincing blues music on the piano.
If you want to see my review of what I consider the best course online to learn to play Blues on the Piano Click Here.
The Blues Form
Blues music will have a pattern of call and response, with characteristic chord progressions. Most people have heard of the 12 Bar blues. The music is made up of twelve bars with four beats per bar, and these are repeated through the song.
A repetitve rhythm called a groove made up of blues shuffles make for a trance like effect to the music.
Blues music with the piano as the main instrument is often referred to as Piano blues. One of the most well known styles of Blues is the Boogie Woogie piano playing style. Jools Holland being a great modern exponent of this way of playing. His show on the BBC in the UK is definitely worth a look.
Better Known Blues Pianists
you may have heard of :
Albert Ammons
Eddie Boyd
Leroy Carr
Ray Charles
James Crutchfield
Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport
Blind John Davis
Fats Domino
Champion Jack Dupree
Cecil Gant
Dr John
Henry Gray
Booker T. Laury
Lafayette Leake
Meade “Lux” Lewis
Professor Longhair
Willie Love
Junior Mance
Jay McShann
Big Maceo Merriweather
Amos Milburn
Little Brother Montgomery
Pinetop Perkins
Buster Pickens
Boogie Woogie Red
Memphis Slim
Sunnyland Slim
Otis Spann
Pinetop Smith
Willie “The Lion” Smith
Roosevelt Sykes
Henry Townsend
Mose Vinson
Jimmy Yancey
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne
Silvan Zingg
Jerry Lee Lewis
Moon Mullican
Merrill Moore
Joe Pullum
Piano Red
Speckled Red
Little Willie Littlefield
Chuck Miller
To be honest When I was researching this I had only heard of a few of them, but I had a look on YouTube and there are some bits and pieces there and boy they can really play.
A Simple Left hand foundation
5ths,6ths, and 7ths
Build a chord based on a 5th and hold that for four beats
6th’s a black or white note
the Dominant 7th note bread and butter of the Blues
12 Bar Blues – Chords 4 beats 1st +5th, 6th,7th,6th
C|F|C|C
F|F|C|C
G|F|C|G
Minor to Major slides on the right hand
top note up a whole step,
middle note up a half step,
bottom note the dominant 7th up a whole note
What is Blues Piano?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_blues
If you are looking for some of the best Blues of all time this article is definitely worth a look. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/12/best-blues-piano-albums
Find the Top Online Jazz Teaching for Keyboards
Want to take Classes in R&B Keyboard Skills ?
Learn to Play Jazz Piano
How to Begin to Learn Playing Jazz on the Piano and Keyboard
The range of musical styles covered by Jazz is enormous. So if you aren’t keen on one type you may love another. Which is great, but also means that a newbie the first question is often “where do I start”.
A Quick Introduction to Playing Jazz on the Piano and Keyboard
Remember Jazz is More Fun than French
Great Jazz or to be honest even mediocre Jazz can sound incredibly complicated and really quite daunting when you are just starting out. Kind of like hearing a French person talking when you are just beginning your first class in school. But Jazz is much more fun so don’t be intimidated once you get past the basics you’ll love being able to improvise a song.
I would as always advise getting online lessons in playing Jazz Piano, but this newbie advice will help you begin your journey into the world of Jazz.
Jazz Standards
Find a few that you really like and listen to them hard, try and hear and “feel” the way the music moves. Feel is a big part of Jazz.
You might want to start with George and Ira Gershwin’s “Summertime“, Dizzie Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts”, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue these will give an easy intro and varied feel of some easy Jazz.
Great Jazz Pianists
Listen to the greats. Some of this can be a lot more challenging to listen to, so persevere.You won’t find better than Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum,
The Fundamental Jazz Chords
Learn the chords inside and out. The tones and different voicings of the chords.
Understand how the chords progress, what chord will typically come before it and what after in a typical progression.
Jazz Inspiration Personal Expression and Licks
A “Lick” in music is a pattern of notes making up a phrase. They are great to use in solos and give that improvised feel to your playing. Learning a few can quickly give your run of the mill playing a more professional feel.
Don’t Be Put Off
Art Tatum’s musical abilities were brilliant but can be off putting if you come to them too soon – Oscar Peterson apparently nearly stopped playing after hearing him.
How to Be a Good Jazz Pianist – Start by being a Good Listener
I would begin by listening to some of the great Jazzmen . The likes of the incredible Art Tatum – be careful remember Oscar Peterson 🙂 , The Count – Count Basie and Thelonious Monk ( the man was that influencial The Monk Institute was opened in his honour after his death). But Jazz isn’t just a historical musical style there are some fine up-and-coming Jazz pianists to learn from and be inspired by today. I particularly like Diana Krall, and Jamie Cullum and the late Amy Winehouse.
Complete Novice Learners might want to focus on early swing and learning how to improvise to begin.
I was looking online and found a Wiki guide on Learning Jazz Piano.
The points of which were essentially as I have noted below. Good and true as most of this advice is, it definitely needs more than a basic level of playing and understanding to even start and is exactly the type of thing I was trying to learn from when I first started and that didn’t end well 🙂 .
By all means have a look at these types of free guide, but if you want to learn Jazz getting a proper training course is so important if you really want to become a good Jazz pianist. Possibly more than any other keyboard style.
Jamie Cullum on TSFJAZZ – When I get Famous
The Wiki Guide to Learning Jazz Piano – Read with Caution
- First learn all 12 major scales (there are twelve different sounding scales, but in theory B/Cb, F#/Gb and C#/Db are separate scales). Learning all the scales will be extremely helpful.
- Be able to read music.
- Buy a songbook with chord symbols above the melody line.
- Learn a major 7th (1 3 5 7), minor 7th (1 b3 5 b7), dominant 7th (1 3 5 b7), half diminished (1 b3 b5 b7), and diminished chord (1 b3 b5 bb7) of every key.
- When you know them practice songbook.
- Next, learn chord inversions: learn to play CM7 like (C, E, G, B), (E, G, B, C), (G, B, C, E) and (B, C, E, G). Learn those four positions for every chord.
- Learn the pentatonic scale of your favourite key.
- Add in a couple of notes from it into a song you’re comfortable with. Add some more, and take some of the originals out.
- Learn the blues scale of that same key and mix the two.
- Look at the chord sequences in the songs you’re playing. Try and splice one from one song into another.
- Learn the 3, 6, 2, 5, 1 progression. Also learn tritone substitutions and the circle of fifths. Play the same songs in different keys.
- When you’re ready, learn chromatic and diatonic harmony. Learn modes and different scales.
Now I think this is fairly good advice and when you have learnt to play jazz well it will make perfect sense to you BUT it probably isn’t the easiest way to begin the process.
You will gain much better keyboard skills and be a much better jazz player, or for that matter any type of musician, by investing a little money in your musical education at the start when you learn all the good habits rather than getting frustrated and maybe giving up from a lack of progress or hitting a roadblock when you don’t have somebody to ask about a problem.
Remember Oscar Peterson, nearly didn’t become the great Jazz hero he eventually did.
A Little History of Jazz
Jazz has grown from the Blues.
Like Blues it began within the African-American population a little later late 19th,early 20th centuries. Ragtime being one of the earliest forms. As the music spread around the country and the world it picked up many influences and morphed into many different types of Jazz, some of which the early Jazz players would be hard pressed to recognise as their version of Jazz music. And that for me is the essence of Jazz, and why I like it. Ragitme is over a hundred years old now, but it has evolved like a living creature into the likes of Hard bop in the mid-1950s, introducing influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and boogie-woogie, to the more modern types of music that appeal to younger players and listeners like M-Base in the 80’s and 90’s, and nu-jazz and acid-jazz beginning in the UK
Jazz tunes as a genre tend to contain a lot of improvising of the music polyrhythms, which use two or more conflicting rhythms at the same time, a syncopated rhythm played off the main beat, and swung notes (or shuffle notes) in which notes of the same time value are played for differing lengths of time. Anything Goes !
If you are looking for an easy in tho Jazz I personally would begin with the Swing music starting in the 30’s.
And then have a look at our Reviews on Jazz Piano Training Courses.
Best Online Blues Piano Teaching
Learn to Play Rhythm and Blues Piano
Stevie Wonder – John Legend – BB King
Three Legends – One Modern and Two Older Legends
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm and Blues
Play piano like Alicia Keys a modern R&B great.
Rhythmn and Blues not for you ? – Want to play Rock Keyboard Music ? Click Here.
Find out which course of R&B piano teaching would suit your learning style.
Learn to Play Boogie Woogie Piano
Pianist Henri John Pierre Herbert dazzles the crowd at London St Pancras with an impromptu Boogie Woogie Keyboard performance on the public piano.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie-woogie
See what I think are the top rated piano lessons online for beginners
Learn to Play Gospel Piano
Aretha Franklin @ GospelFest 2013– Still Great Gospel Keyboards and Singing
Find Out About Gospel Piano Music – http://www.gospelmusic.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_music
Like Gospel then I guess you like the Blues, R&B, maybe even Jazz. You could even morph into Boogie Woogie there are so many similarites you’ll be amazed when you sit down and start to play the different styles all with the common thread of a rythmn. You’ll be as surprised as I was at how quickly you can get your fingers to move around the keyboard when you are taught by good pianists and follow a well structured training course put together by very good piano teachers.
Check out my top rated piano lessons for Gospel Music beginners on the web.
Learn to Play Country and Western Piano
John Hobbs (Brent Mason on Guitar) – Lay Me Down – A Great Country Keyboard Lesson
Renowned keyboardist, Country Music Hall of Famer John Hobbs Plays Keyboard and Sings.
News For Country Keyboard Players and Students at The Boot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music
Prefer the Classical Piano Style Click Here.
Looking for what I think is the leading piano teaching on the internet for Country check this out.
Learn to Play Rock Piano
John Paul Jones Intro to No Quarter Piano solo live
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_music
Heavy Rock News for Rock ‘n Roll Pianists
Prefer the Honky Tonk sound of Country Music Piano click here.
If you want to learn to play Rock Keyboards and Electric Piano check out the highest rated electric piano classes online
Learn to Play Classical Piano
DANIEL BARENBOIM ~ Mozart piano sonata # 9 ; K.311- A Masterclass in Classical Piano Playing
My favorite and Easiest Online Piano Courses to Play Classical Piano
