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Free Blues Piano Lessons: A Study in Blues Piano – Focusing on Twelve Licks

Welcome to A Study in Blues Piano!

Course Description

This is an in-depth study of twelve blues licks, with extensive left-hand support tips. Each lick/riff is explored in detail, including variations, fingering, playing tips, and supporting music theory.

More than just learning the notes by rote, you will get insight into the patterns, scales, chords and intervals involved, including how to transpose each lick.

As a result, each lick will be mastered as RAW MATERIAL for endless variations, with applications in many musical settings (genres).

Lick #10 of this group is actually more than a lick; rather, it gives you a complete two-handed 12-bar opening groove, including a left-hand pattern to support your licks throughout your soloing.

Sheet Music

Students can download and print optional sheet music for several of the licks. There’s also a sample solo piece with a 12-bar introduction, followed by a 12-bar piano solo that features licks from the class.

  • THIS COURSE IS FREE TO VISITORS WHEN VIEWED HERE ONLY.  HOWEVER, ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT ON PIANOWITHKENT.COM REMAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, AUTHORIZED FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND IS NOT AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION, UNLESS EXPLICITLY AUTHORIZED, IN WRITING, BY KENT D. SMITH OF PIANOWITHKENT.COM.
  • Piano With Kent is a US Registered Trademark.
  • Thank you for your continued support of free education!

By Kent. D. Smith of Piano with Kent. (c) 2010. (c) 2021.  All rights reserved.

 

THE TWELVE LICK STUDIES

One

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The Amazing Tetrachord: How to Instantly Visualize Any Major Scale

How to “Permanently Learn” Every Major Scale using the Major Tetrachord

A VIDEO LESSON with KENT

Hey folks!

This is Kent Smith of ‘Piano With Kent.’

I’ve had lots of happy feedback about this lesson, ever since I first posted it on YouTube.  People are basically saying that this is the easiest way they have found to learn the notes of all twelve major scales, quickly and painlessly.  I learned about tetrachords in my college theory classes, and I have found them to be a little-known “secret” for organizing one’s thoughts about scales and modes.  Let me know what you think!

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Piano Blues Lick #7: The ‘Flat-Three to Five’

Blues Lick #7: Flat-Three to Five Patterns – From ‘A Study in Blues Piano‘

A video blues tutorial describing a versatile lick pattern for jazz and blues piano.

Hello!

This short jazzy series of chromatic notes, which I call the Flat-3 to 5, is a familiar expression in the Blues. This easy type of lick (you can alter the lick very easily) is heard in a trillion mainstream jazz and blues melodies, as well as in all related music, anything that has even a touch of Blues Inflection.

Which means, you could call this a cliché. 

In the Blues, an improvising (lead) player might belt out a cliché, or ten, to explicitly let listeners know where they are:  “You are in the Blues, thank you very much!”  Any time you venture off into highly original blues territory, a cliché is a great place to come home to!

LESSON #7 – VIDEO TUTORIAL

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Jazz Improv Lesson: A Nice Drill using “Approach Tones” | Free Jazz Tutorial Video

Piano with kent sheet music with letters. piano bar and drums. Spokane, Washington. Photo (c) by Kent Smith @ Piano With Kent | Sheet Music With Letters

 

VIDEO LESSON ~~ JAZZ IMPROV TUTORIAL ~~ JAZZ EXERCISES

Hello everyone!

The jazz ‘drill’ in this video is demonstrated on a keyboard, but–of course–it can be applied and practiced on any other instrument, or voice.

This is a chord-based pattern that we will use and adapt for these standard chords: Major, Maj7, Minor, Min-7, Dominant-7….Actually, this concept can applied to any pre-determined chord, such as a diminished or an augmented chord.

Mastery of patterns/concepts like these

  • Can add fresh interest to your improvised lines, by sometimes preceding the “target tone(s)” of a chord with “approach tones.”
  • Will increase your mastery of any given scale, especially as it relates to the underlying chords.

As a result, the repeated act of mindfully (and not mindlessly) practicing this drill can increase your general facility with approach tones, as well as give you (possibly new) theoretical insights regarding chord-scale relationships.

VIDEO

 

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Sheet Music: Lick #10 from “A Study in Blues Piano”

More Sheet Music for ‘A Study in Blues Piano’

 

This post is from Kent Smith, creator and instructor for the free video-based course called ‘A Study in Blues Piano‘, which is always available right here on ‘Piano With Kent.’

Good day to all students of jazz and blues improvisation, and to anyone else who’s curious!

Here’s a downloadable PDF file of sheet music covering Blues Piano Lick #10, for optional use with my course “A Study in Blues Piano” (all on this site).

This sheet is part of a supplemental collection I’m putting together, in response to recent requests! Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

CHECK OUT OUR EXCLUSIVE SHEET MUSIC BELOW!

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How to Play Difficult Chords on Piano or Keyboards

How to Deal with ‘Over-Crowding’ of Your Fingers when dealing with Awkward Chords

Today’s post is taken from an online exchange between a YouTube follower of mine, and myself, regarding a question he had posted on one of my YouTube tutorials.  The topic of discussion here is playing certain difficult chord-shapes on piano…

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How to Find Your Way Across the Piano Keyboard Landscape

Linus the Jazz Cat on Kent's piano keyboard, Kent's hand on the keys.

How to Read Piano Music – Step One: Naming the Piano Keys

Attention Beginning Pianists!

Here’s a musical overview of your piano keyboard, along with helpful hints for remembering the letter-note/note-names of the keys!

VIDEO

CHECK OUT OUR EXCLUSIVE SHEET MUSIC WITH NOTES AND LETTERS TOGETHER BELOW:

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‘Fur Elise’ COMPLETE | Real Sheet Music with Letters | Letters and Notes Together | PDF Download

Fur Elise with Letters. Note names added to each note.

Für Elise piano sheet music – includes note-name labels for every note

FÜR ELISE – The entire piece – Letter-Notes/Note Names Included

Bagatelle No. 25 in A-Minor  ~ Ludwig v. Beethoven

Here’s the clickable product listing with images and descriptions:

Ludwig v. Beethoven’s timeless and extremely popular piano piece,  Für Elise, officially named ‘Bagatelle No. 25,” in A-Minor,  has been well-loved and well-known across the world for more than two centuries.  Beethoven’s music, especially his later works, ushered in the Romantic Era of western classical music.

QUICK LINKS TO MORE BEETHOVEN SHEETS 

Moonlight Sonata Package – All three movements at a reduced price – Letter-note labels included

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – Entire 1st Movement – Letter-note labels included

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – Entire 2nd Movement – Letter-note labels included

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – Entire 3rd Movement – Letter-note labels included

MANY MORE SHEETS AVAILABLE HERE:

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Jazz/Rock/Blues Soloing Tip: Using the ‘Rock-Bottom Four’ of the Blues Scale

A Powerful Tip for Blues, Jazz, and Rock Improvisers

Good day!

Today’s post is about using the first four notes of a blues scale as a moveable pattern, with many ear-catching possibilities that can fire up your solos in unexpected ways.

This “rock-bottom four” pattern, starting on any given note, can produce a wide variety of bluesy, funky, and jazzy sounds, when used in a context of your careful choosing, guided by your ear as the final judge.

This is a slide show, which is a common format that I use on my Instagram page, @piano_w_kent.

I have discovered that these types of posts seem to work well on my Instagram page, so I’m going to start featuring these here, too.

TODAY’S REMAINING SLIDES:

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‘Clair de Lune’ COMPLETE | Sheet Music with Letters and Notes Together | PDF Download | Quality Piano Sheet Music | Includes Letter-Notes!

Clair de Lune With Letters - Letters and Notes || Piano Music with Note-Names

Exclusive Clair de Lune Piano Sheet Music from Piano With Kent

Claude Debussy’s timeless and extremely popular piano piece, Clair de Lune, is well-known around the world.  Its origins include influences from poetry, the music of Bach’s time (the Baroque period), and the artistic school of Impressionism.

Is ‘Clair’ of Clair de Lune a person’s name?  If so, who is that person?

The ‘Clair’ in the title Clair de Lune does not refer to a person.

Continue reading ‘Clair de Lune’ COMPLETE | Sheet Music with Letters and Notes Together | PDF Download | Quality Piano Sheet Music | Includes Letter-Notes!