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Hi b-52 ... Just being able to string a few riffs from different pieces together ,gives satisfaction....Dont worry about the improvising as it will come in time when you get proficient with riffs that you are stringing together..I even use riffs out of Monday Struggle that I'm learning to make up 12 bar runs....Doug

Hi Doug and everybody,

After running through some more advanced tunes in C, now I'm back to Beginner's Boogie (pag. 18), the first tricky piece in IBP.

This time the LH Bass Line looks easier and I hope to master this tune before the end of the day.

Tomorrow I'm going to improvise, using riffs out of some other tunes I like.

Well, IBP keeps me busy! :-)

Good to see you enjoying the book. As a self starter this was really the book that made me progress in my playing. Have been away from piano playing for a while and now starting to get back into it. I think I'm a little over halfway through the book. Been jumping a little back and forth. Sometimes I've gone back to earlier pieces to see if I missed something. For me I had enough just learing the songs and get coordinated in the beginning. As I've progressed through the book and my playing improved I started go back to earlier pieces and then try to improvise.

Just order a book called Discovering Rock/Pop piano. It's from the same publisher as IBP, but not by Tim Richards. Just hoping it is as good as IBP.

Hi Bullit,

thanks for your post.
I'm sure your coming back to IBP is going to improve your piano playing.

As you says,in the beginning it's enough to learn the songs and get coordinated.
Now I can improvise only over a few tunes, whilst with other tunes I am too much busy to keep togheter the left and the right hand... :-)

My first tune in the Key of G is Blues With Pick-Ups (pag. 66) and I love it.

The only tricky point is the fingering 2345 in the passage to D6, but practise makes perfect! :-)

After Blues With Pick-Ups I'm going to move to the other tunes in G suggested by Tim Richards in the Appendix V: Developing a Vocabulary.

Regarding the 3 left hand patterns, I'm using only the Barrelhouse LH and the LH Shuffle, because at the moment the Jimmy Yancey style bass line is too difficult for me.

Now let me go back to my piano! :-)

Hi b-52 ..Have been at P 96 Blues in Thirds..Key G ..it uses the Yancy Special left hand ..it takes time to get the timing right..I use the metronome and count out loud..still just cant sit down and play straight off....but it will help when I attempt to learn the Yancy Special..still need to acquire a proper transcription of the sheet music.....Doug

Hi Doug,
thank you for supporting my efforts! :-)

Barrelhouse Blues (pag.63) and Blues with Pick-ups (pag.66) are under my belt (at least... I hope so!) and today I'll give a try to Blues in Thirds, but against the Shuffle bass lines.

I do love the Yancey's left hand, but at the moment the coordination LH/RH is too much for me, so I prefer to focus on the right hand against a solid left hand pattern.

I hope you will be able to acquire a good transcription of The Yancey Special.
Good Luck! :-)

Hi b-52 ..There is a site in Germany that has the correct transcription...but its a bit expensive for me ..its priced at 25 euros and works out to be $35 plus postage to Aust..its 4 times the price Colin Davey transcriptions are..the site is www boogie-online.npage.de..I have a copy but its not a full sheet music and its only 3 pages and not correct...The Yancy left riff takes a little getting use to, as it is a timing thing..I still struggle with it when I start using it...Theres nothing wrong with using the solid Shuffle...I use it a lot when learning something new...can concentrate more on the right hand....keep at it..Doug

Hi Doug,
thanks for the boogie-on-line link.

I didn't know it: the transcriptions look good, so I do hope to be able to use it in the future! :-)
b-52

Hi b-52..P96. Blues in Thirds ..have still been playing this to get Yancey Special left hand timing...I have acquired a copy of "Yancey Special" by Meade Lux Lewis May 18, 1942...it has 6 pages 8 chorus..an looking forward to tinkering around with it in the future...Doug

In the end Blues in Thirds is under my belt! :-)

Now I can play it with the Jimmy Yancey bass line and I do like it.

I have just changed the triplets in measures 9 and 10 with two eight notes, because triplets against that bass lines are a little to difficult.

To me J. Yancey is one of the best Blues Piano players and his tunes give me great emotions.

I started this new topic because two old topics about IBP were dead and gone.

Anyway, here are the links:

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...2/topic/002423/Number/2/site_id/1#import

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1103123/1.html

Hi boogieman-52..Thanks for posting the links...very intresting...if any body is following the thread from the links ..would love to hear how your doing..its beginners to intermediate that need backup from others at the same stage of playing to help each other with support...Doug

Hi...Bluebery Hill part 1 ..this is the backing for the melody or a singer.It uses the Yancey Special left hand ..which in its self is not hard to play ..BUT..trying to play it in time smoothly with triads played in triplets..takes a little time to get left hand to stay coordinated with the right vamping at 16 to the bar..once I have played it a couple of times it sinks in..this type of music you have to play every day or it soon leaves the brain and you have to look it up again in the music book..Doug

I am a beginner enjoying working with Tim Richards' Improvising Blues Piano and I have been reading this thread with interest. I agree with Bruce Siegel in that I I found that Beginner's Boogie (p.18) pretty tough so early one. I have since been moving around a bit more in the book.

PIeces I am spending the most time on now:
Blue Third Blues (p. 22)
Blueberry Hill (p. 28)
On-Off Boogie (p. 37)
Sixth Blues Triplet Feel (p. 50)

Lately I have been trying to mix and match right and left hands and making my first steps toward right-hand improvisation. Question here - What goes through your mind when you are improvising? What is your mindset?

Off topic. Are Tim Richards' Exploring Jazz Piano two volumes as highly regarded as Improvising Blues Piano?

That's the reason why I have not tried Blueberry Hill part 1 yet!
The bass line is not difficult... The triplets are not difficult... But I find the LH and RH veeery difficult!
I do agree with you: one has to play this kind of music each and every day and... be very patient.

Hi Walkfar,
welcome aboard!

Now I'm working the most time on:
Beginner's Boogie (p.18)
Jump Shuffle (p. 53) + Medium Jump (p. 182)
Barrelhouse Blues (p. 63) + Blues With Pick-ups (p. 66)
Blues in Thirds (p. 96)
Ninth Blues (p. 130)

I try to mix and match RH and LH, but I find easier to improvise on a tune I already have under my belt as it's written.

What does go through my mind when I am improvising?
Well, I would say there is a range that goes from:
1) being the good student who tries to think what he has to do and...
2) forgetting everything and just play.
Stage 2 is much more interesting, but sometimes I crash very soon! :-)

Your last question.
Yes, Tim Richards' Exploring Jazz Piano two volumes are highy regarded.
They are very similar to IBP, but are considered a little more difficult (Grade 4 is required, instead of Grade 3).

Anyway, it seems that you can jump here and there as you can in IBP.

I have not bought them because IBP keeps me very busy and furthermore it is considered an introduction to Exploring jazz Piano.

Bye
b-52

Hi Walkfar..Welcome ..I have found it takes a while for improvisation to set in..I mostly just change certain riffs or melody lines..the best way to start I've found is to mix and rematch riffs and melody lines from other pieces you are learning...most of it is 8 to the bar so most of it will fit...some pieces that have swing probally wont go but it doesn't take much to work this out..When Tim is asking you to improvise you have to remember he is a master and it come naturally to him....it takes many years of playing and listing to other musicians to comprehend whats going on..I would just concentrate on learning whats printed in the book and get to playing it smoothly..
I have the 2 Tim Richards Jazz books as I play a few standards as well..they are very well set out and have a lot of great standards to learn...They are great reference books...Doug

Hi boogieman52..The great thing about the book is you can jump to anywhere you please..there is no assumed manner of level you have to follow..
Have you watched Luckyluca play Hard stage blues on Utube..he's 15 and the performance was this year in Sweden..Amazing.. he has been uploading to Utube since he was 11 ..you can see his progress..

The Tim Richards Jazz books are used the same way..just jump to where you want to try things out..there easy to follow as well....Doug

After a couple of false starts with the highly regarded IBP, I'm encouraged to give it another go after following this thread for a while. Patience is my problem!

I was in touch with Tim Richards some weeks ago and he told me that he did not recommend starting with the Jazz books (Not even the first one) until one has mastered the foundation work in IBP - especially if one is only just beginning to learn how to improvise over chord structures. He said to bear in mind that there's a large overlap between Blues and Jazz and that it's kind of artificial to put them in separate categories. That's pretty solid advice I think.