Daan,
My ex-piano teacher is a studio rock pianist and session man. His advice to me on the very same question, which I'll pass on to you is as follows:
First of all, to study rock, you really need to study blues. Hammer out that 12 bar root IV, V7 pattern in every key until you can do it blindfolded. Most blues tunes are in Bb, so work alot in accidental keys.
Secondly, you really need to know major and minor pentatonic scales. Quite alot of rock, blues and jazz solos are structured around pentatonic riffs, so work on and master these over most of the keyboard, both hands.
Next, work on chord inversions and voicings. Play major, minor, major 7, minor 7 etc. chords in all the inversions, and then introduce voicings to alter the sounds of these chords without really changing chord structure. A simple example. Play C Major triad. A relative minor to C major is A, so now play A minor over a C base. Different chord, or is it? Now, record it, play it back and play C major with the relative minor over the C base you recorded. It still works. That is a simple example of chord voicing. When you get into this big time, the possibilities are endless as your knowledge of more complex chord structures increases.
Now take these voicings you learned, and play them in a standard 12 bar blues, introduce some major or minor pentatonics and wow, you're now playin' some really cool stuff, using a relatively simple process.
Don't sloff off rock blues and other non-classical piano forms as braindead. It is often a more staisfying, freer, and more difficult and complex piano methodology. Not to put down classical, it is just that composing and playing rock and blues tunes often does not get the credit it deserves. I hope I've helped. Have fun!
Jamie
[ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: Samejame ]
[ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: Samejame ]
