D Blues Scale with Comping Exercise

*** Note:  I forgot to note this on the sheet music!  Please practice this exercise in swing rhythm (a long-short pattern in the eighth notes). ***

What will you get with this exercise? (LINK BELOW)

✅ D blues scale practice with proper fingering

✅  Practice comping chords WHILE playing a blues scale

✅  Practice of ii-V-i ending

✅`Practice of syncopated rhythms typical in jazz

✅ Preparation for improvising over chords in the blues scale

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted one of my adult students to start comping chords in the left hand while improvising in the blues scale in the right hand, so I wrote this exercise.  Why D blues first?  Because it's a relatively easy blues scale, and only has one black key in it.  

This is an early-intermediate level exercise but can be used for more advanced levels if you're new to jazz or blues scales.  In this exercise, the right hand will be running up and down the D blues scale with a syncopated rhythm that is typical of jazz, and you will get lots of practice mastering the D blues scale fingering in the process!   Practice the right hand alone first. 

Once you have the right hand down, start adding in the left hand chords.  Once you've mastered the first half of the page, which only has whole notes in the left hand, practice the new left hand rhythm found in the second half of the exercise.  This is a syncopated left-hand jazz rhythm that is frequently used in jazz music.  

After you've mastered the second half, try to get creative!  First, improvise a melody using the D blues scale tones, but make sure you do them out of order.  Keep your left hand going in the same rhythm all the way through. Here's the pdf:   D Blues with Comping Exercise

I hope it helps you get started practicing blues!

Download My Parallel Sixth Exercise

Because I know you need another exercise to hone your virtuosic piano skills... (download is available below)





Parallel Sixths Exercise
www.freethepiano.com



PARALLEL SIXTHS -

 

They separate the men from the boys, the women from the girls, and the pros from the amateurs.
 



If you're not there yet, you might want to try my very romantic parallel sixths exercise.  I created this exercise for a composition student who is trying to fill his tool box with more tricks.  He wanted to bump up his skill level and add depth to the RH melody.  He had seen me spontaneously weaving sixths underneath the melody line while interpreting a lead sheet, and wanted to know how I did that.  It is something I hardly even think about anymore; it happens with such ease.  I even know intuitively when to substitute a fifth for a sixth (there are certain times the sixth doesn't work musically). 

So why are parallel sixths so important in piano?  First of all, they sound amazing.  That's why romantic and impressionist composers like Chopin and Debussy used them with such zeal.  A sixth is rich and deep; much more so than a third.  Thirds are weaker to me, even though it is the same pitch as the sixth, projected in the opposite direction.  They just don't have the sonorous punch and chime of a sixth.  Sixths are bold, dramatic, and romantic.  They also leverage your showmanship if you can spontaneously craft a seamless string of parallel sixths in your right hand (much more virtuosic than a monophonic, single-note melody line)!  So I would advise every pianist to get fluent in parallel sixths in all the keys, and to memorize the proper legato fingering.  I guarantee that mastery of this exercise will improve your classical chops and get you ready for more nocturnes.  It will also fill your composing toolbox with a new trick!  I use parallel sixths in jazz and lead-sheet interpretation.

Of course, I needed the left hand to have something equally meaty to chew on in this exercise, so I threw in a filled-out arpeggio pattern in the left.  It compliments the RH sixths nicely, and would be a likely choice to use if I were interpreting a lead-sheet or composing in romantic style. 

Enjoy!  Don't forget break it down into hands separate at first, and make sure you do the right fingering.

***This exercise is a free download for now.  It is not for sale or distribution, but may be used for personal or teaching purposes. ***

PARALLEL SIXTHS TRAINING

 

(Click the link above to download and print the sheet music for this exercise.)



Download My Filled-Out Arpeggio Etude

Here's the Filled-Out Arpeggio Etude I spoke about in my previous post.  I wrote this for myself and my advanced students, when I was teaching a lot of students.  This is one of my most used tricks when gussying up a popular lead-sheet.  I used to call this arpeggio the 1235 arpeggio because it utilizes the scale degrees 1235.  The 2 is not usually used in arpeggios, but all advanced pianists should know and practice arpeggios that incorporate the 2.  They should know the standard, workable fingering.  This arpeggio can be sped up into a dazzling run to end or introduce a piece, either in the left or right hand.  Click the link below to download and print this free exercise.  For now, my special exercises are free!  Later I will be putting them into book form for teachers and pianists to purchase.

Filled-Out Arpeggio Etude

(click text above to go directly to a .pdf and print!)

Filled-Out Arpeggio Etude
www.freethepiano.com