Review (PDF) Complete Blues Keyboard Method: Beginning Blues Keyboard, Book & CD (Complete Method)
Anyone with basic keyboard skills (equivalent to Alfred's Basic Piano, Lesson Book 2) can dig right in and begin learning blues right away. Learn what it takes to create the distinctive sound of the blues, including basic chords and scales, blues melodies, improvisation, turnarounds and intros. Other topics include the 12-bar blues form, walking bass and playing in a band. Full of fun blues tunes to play, Beginning Blues Keyboard provides a step-by-step enjoyable way to learn the blues. 96 pages.
Series: Complete Method
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Alfred Music; Pap/Com edition (February 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0882849387
ISBN-13: 978-0882849386
Product Dimensions: 0.2 x 8.8 x 11.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #592,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #186 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Instrumentation > Keyboard #229 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Blues #2555 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments > Piano
This is one of the best beginning blues instruction books I've found. It teaches a bit of blues theory and provides the basic framework for the blues, but Tricia also provides the beginner with a few blues tunes to play. You can find books with advanced blues songs (from established performers) and you can find books with blues "riffs"....but you won't find many bookes for beginners that have good sounding, playable, blues tunes. Ms. Woods delivers on all fronts.
I'm new to the piano but not to music (guitar). I can read music (a little... but not in 'real time'). This book is excellent. It keeps the techinical music score to a minimum but still gets across the basic of the Blues plus loads of tricks that can be strung together when improvising (as you'd expect). This the way I taught myself rock / blues guitar and it suits me... learn the basics (chords, structures), learn some sacles and add on a few finishing touches. Perfect!
I was very rusty, having played piano for over 30 years but not touching a keyboard in a long time. I had just bought a new modern keyboard and needed something to jog my memory with a little theory and yet was interesting and fresh to keep me going.The DVD is well done and easy to follow and stop. The book is all I could ask for and I appreciate the bits of blues history just as a side note.There are extra exercises, if you choose, to modulate to different keys and to strengthen your skills along the way, which is something the other books didn't have.I did a lot of research and comparisons before I picked this set. It's not for a rank beginner. You do need to know how to play some, but if you have played at least a year, get this book and have a good time.
I could not decide between Tim Richard's "Piano Blues" book and this one by Tricia Woods. I spent 3 months on the first chapter of Richards, and gave up. I think his approach is more comprehensive, and his appendix of different types of blues scales and LH patterns alone is worth the price of the entire book, but his examples were too complex for me...at my level of playing it required some work for me to play them with technical accuracy, and so did not encourage me to improvise over them. They may be perfect for me more advanced players, not not for me (and I've been playing for a few years).In contrast Wood's book hit the sweet spot for me. The examples are complex enough that they aren't too cliche, but are simple enough to encourage one to play around with them; transpose them, or just take off and freely improvise over their simple LH patterns. I found myself hungrily anticipating practicing with this book. Perhaps I'll return to Richard's after I finish this, but I'll certainly continue with the next in her series before I do.
Take this book seriously. 9 chapters: Music review, 12-bar blues, blues melodies, playing a shuffle, piano blues sounds, a look at boogie-woogie, rhythm-comping-paying-in-a-band, intros-endings-turnarounds, walking bass and intro to the slow blues. Every page or two there is a completely written-out blues song, left- and right-hand, written by the book author in a particular style. Clearly, if you practice each song to the point of competence, you will learn to play a lot of blues. There are also exercises described in words, e.g. "Play the blues above in the key of F instead of C -- Bending the 3 note will be trickier than it was in C." The accompanying CD has 95 cuts illustrating the blues songs and patterns written out in the book.There are also photos and thumbnail histories of famous blues artists.I'm a beginning piano player, so I'm not progressing very fast through the book, but the beginner songs sound good enough to keep me motivatedIf I look for something to complain about, it would be that the book does not contain a lot of riffs that might have caught your ear when listening to particular blues artists.
Was recommended by a piano teacher as a beginners lesson book. Has scales and fingerings and teaches chord progressions, seventh chords, styles of blues.. good early music reading and lessons without having to go the classical route! Inspires improvisation. Highly recommend.
As an adult who took years of piano lessons as a child and never really experienced the joy of playing music at that time, when I looked for a piano teacher recently, my number one instruction was that I did not want to be bound by classical music (as I had been years ago). My current teacher directed me towards this book and I have been having a blast learning the Blues and this particular book and CD combo is a perfect avenue for me to do so. Being able to hear the rhythm and timing of the pieces on the CD is a real asset. In addition, it has really been helping me renew my very rusty ability to read music. Its been so much fun, that I've been willing to work on some classical pieces at the same time.
Great book. I found it ideal for my level, which is extensive background in a variety of instruments and blues, but only relatively short exposure to keyboards.Lots of theory; fingerings for all pieces are given, which is very helpful; unprinted exercises are given for you to work through : other keys, tempos, area to write your own fills using previous lessons, etc. The cd is very clear and greatly beneficial. Some of the pieces required good hand independence for the rhythms used.The greatest asset of the book is that the arrangements are fun to play. Something that is lacking in many such books. Keeps the motivation level high.
Complete Blues Keyboard Method: Beginning Blues Keyboard, Book & CD (Complete Method) DISCOVER BLUES IMPROVISATION W/CD (Keyboard Discovery Library) Essential Keyboard Duets, Vol 3: Music by Bizet, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel (Comb Bound Book) (Alfred Masterwork Edition: Essential Keyboard Repertoire) Essential Keyboard Duets, Vol 6: Music by J. C. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorák, and Mozart, Comb Bound Book (Alfred Masterwork Edition: Essential Keyboard Repertoire) Jazz Intermediate Keyboard (Book & CD) (Complete Method) Three Mazurkas: The Keyboard Artist (The Keyboard Artist Library) Gilbert & Sullivan: 15 Classic Songs for Keyboard (The Easy Keyboard Library) Essential Keyboard Repertoire, Vol 2: 75 Intermediate Selections in their Original form - Baroque to Modern (Alfred Masterwork Edition: Essential Keyboard Repertoire) Beginning OpenOffice 3: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Ivor Horton's Beginning Visual C++ 2013 (Wrox Beginning Guides) Beginning C: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: from Novice to Professional) Learn to Play Keyboard Percussion , Bk 1: A Carefully Graded Method That Develops Well-Rounded Musicianship Hal Leonard Brazilian Guitar Method: Learn to Play Brazilian Guitar with Step-by-Step Lessons and 17 Great Songs (Book/CD) (Hal Leonard Guitar Method) The Complete Book of Doo-Wop Rhythm and Blues The Rules of Sociological Method: And Selected Texts on Sociology and its Method Powder Diffraction: The Rietveld Method and the Two Stage Method to Determine and Refine Crystal Structures from Powder Diffraction Data Savannah Blues: A Novel (Weezie and Bebe Mysteries series Book 1) Polar Bear Blues: A Memoir Of The Endless War (The Endless War. Book 1) Baltimore Blues: Tess Monaghan, Book 1
