Improvising Blues Piano [With CDROM]

by Martan Mann

Book Overview

(Music Sales America). Unlock the mystery of blues improvisation as you develop an understanding of different blues styles. Inside, you will find everything you need to know to get you playing the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0825616247
• ISBN13: 9780825616242
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Music Sales
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.1" x 11.9"

Customer Reviews

Improvising is the key to blues

The key to this book is in the title, "Improvising". If you're looking for hand-holding examples and complete scores this is not the book for you. If you want to get the big picture quickly and reinforce that with applied theory and excellent audio examples, then this book is perfect. This book would be worth the price if it were reduced to three or four pages and the CD. All of the blues scales and fingerings are provided on one page (28). All of the popular blues forms (basic, gospel, jazz) and chord transitions along with a simple and straight-forward method of developing a blues style are provided on facing pages (84 - 85). Follow these with a review of important soloing ideas (29) and you're ready to play. I am a drummer and had no trouble with the music theory sections. The comprehensive overview of the various blues forms was the roadmap I needed. This roadmap gave me the ability to quickly pick out bass lines and chord transitions from a recording and play enough on the keyboard to give a bass or keyboard player examples of the style and sound I'm looking for.

Unique guide through pro tricks

I think the reviewers are being a little harsh on this book. It never professes to be a 'Blues Piano for the complete beginner' text - it's called 'Improvising Blues Piano' which implies that a certain amount of knowledge has already been reached. It's actually a pretty rare resource, because it is a very accomplished blues player offering his advice and personal tricks and methods for improving playing. More importantly the playing and taste on this cd sounds great and miles away from the plodding cliched beginners stuff on most collections. Doubtless, the pressure was on him by the publishers to make some concession to the 'absolute beginners' audience but on the whole it's a great book/cd combo because it tries to teach stuff that music instruction books usually can't tell you - things like which scales real blues players prefer to improvise with, or good techniques for learning new intervals. If you've already done a beginners book and want to start playing stuff that actually sounds good then take this book on as a resource - you'll delve in and out of it but it'll be a good friend as you bring style and art to your playing.

Teach Yourself To Play Blues Piano

This book assumes that the reader can read music and has a basic understanding of music theory. It provides useful exercises and examples of various styles of blues piano. More importantly, it provides an explanation of the exercises and examples, as well as practical advice as to how to master them. The CD which accompanies the book contains recordings of the author playing the examples in the book. Timing and feel which are especially important in playing blues music are very difficult to transcribe correctly and more difficult for a student to correctly interpret. Being able to listen to the CD minimizes these problems. This is a good example of what music self study guides could and should be.