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HowToPlay BLUES PIANOBOEKAIL

Form In rhe Brues '":lt:lt:

St. James lnfirmary .

Playing The Blues In Combos

Double Tirning.

Ouincy Jones' Eone Dance :'

Bernard Peiffer's Tired Btues

The Blues In EverY KeY

Blues Riffs

Bif ly Tayf or'5 ff,/li5tY' Morn ing Blues

Modern Blues Chords

lA/atergate Bluesg

T2Nervous

The Words Of The Blues 16

Frankie And Johnnie (lYrics) 17

18Frankie And Johnnie

Calypso Blues 20

St. James Infirmary (lYrics) . 21

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The Blues... are a part of American folklore. They grew up simultaneously and parallel with our other popularmusic. The Blues are both a style, and a

For.. . and the form couldn't be easier. Why? Because Blues are based on chords ratherthan melody,

There are only three chords in basic blues: a three note chord - do mi so - on the basic tonality note(l or Do), and the same kind of three note chords built on the fourth scale step up (lV or fa) and on thefifth step up f rom the basic keynote (V or sol). In c these would be c, F and G.

These are arranged in a pattern of twelve measures

or bars.

These should be practiced, now with the left hand alone, and later with the right hand playing a simplemelody, They should be memorized and mastered in every key.

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Over these chords a simple melody should be improvised. Try this one:

Play it together with the bass from page three. lf necessary, write it in. Don't mind the dissonances.

Note that the same four bar ohrase is reoeated three times.

Now, play the same thing in other keys. Then try other riffs - like the following.

repeat, changing lastnote on third repeat

You're playing the blues! Try it in other keys, of course, and make up your own melodic patternsvarying the bass accompaniment.

ln Billy Taylor's Misty Morning Blues, published here for the first time, the melody is a fairly simpleriff here given with introduction voiced in the second chorus and repeated to end the arrangement with a

standard stretched endino,

Faster

MISTY MORNING BTUESArr. by BOB KAIL By BILLY

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The Blues can be played with only three chords, as we have seen. But as years went on, musicians Kept

adding notes to the basic chords, or even substituting other chords while keeping the underlying pattern'

Some musicians were rnore partial to adding modern chords, others less so. Today, however, the average

musician would use chords approximately like this'

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ln the thirtles and forties the chords could still be rather simple, like the above, with only a few

sevenths added; as for instance in !Voocly Herman's Woodchopper's Ball, the One O'Clock Jump and the

Two O'Clock JumP.

The serious blues practitioner should now work on adding these notes and substitute chords to his

blues pattern. The only new hieroglyphics we haven't mentioned are 7 and m. Seven, as in C7, means to add

on the seventh scale step up from the basic note of the chord. The big seventh would be Tl in theSol-fa

system.cEGBwouidbeacTchord,butthemorecommonversionistheflattedorloweredseventh: cE

G Bb. Unless specified, the small seventh is meant. The large seventh is indicated by a natural or sharp in

front of the ftgure,

Note also that m means a minor chord. Minor means lower.or smaller. lt is the third step in the scale

that is made smaller. Thus the c chords (c E G) become c Eb G with the third scale step lowered or

f I atte ned .

practlce the more sophisticated blues chords in every key. lt may help to write them out in important

keys such as C, F, Bb, G and D'

I

Slow Blues And Fast BluesBlues can be played in tempos from the slowest drag to fairly fast. Some of the best blues are played withten or fifteen musicians jamming a riff in unison behind a wailing singer. Some of the most poignant bluesecho out of saloons at the end of night when musicians are tired and even the air is soiled with sweat andbeer.

Back of the slow blues you'll often hear a bass line like the Boogie basses. lt's played loud and smooth,while the chords are pumped out staccato.

On the next pages, The Watergate Blues, you'll find an example of a slow Blues. Here the melody isoften legato while the chords are semi-detached. There is a lot of flatted fifths, one of the hallmarks of theo''*i:r':

- The introduction is very standard. The blues pianist would do wellto learn to play it in every key. As

for the tempo, the slower the better.

.^..,lnt form is a very standard blues in F. By adding solo choruses, it will serve as a basis for a jam

sesston,

TIIATERGATE BTUES By BOB KAIL

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,__^!:tlr^tq,,9-1974 by Chartes Hansen Educational Muslc and Books. Inc.. New york, N.y.lnternatronal Lopyrighr Securetl Matte in U.S.A. All Richts Reserved

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Up tempo

made to sound even faster by double-timing in the right hand. Breaks

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The Words 0f The Blues

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there are books and books of blues lyrics that are easyro t.*o"ril".makeup his lyr but

My Daddy is an engineer

My brother drives a hack

My sister takes in washin'And baby balls the jack.

And it looks like l'llNever cease my wanderin''

I worked in a cityWorked down on a farm.All I got to show for itls the muscles in mY arm.

And it looks like l'llNever cease my wanderin'.

I been wanderin' early and late,From New York City to the Golden GateAnd it looks like l'mNever gonna cease my wanderin'.

Honey, you will be my wife some daY.( Repeat)I need a little girl who does anything I say.

l'll be right back with a license in my hand.( Repeat)We'll take a honevmoon in some distant land'

Love, oh love, oh careless love.( Repeat)You see what love has done to me.

Once I wore my apron low.( Repeat)You followed me through rain and snow.

Now my apron strings won't tie'( Repeat)You see my door and Pass it bY.

Gonna get religion and ioin the Baptist Church.( Repeat)l'll be a Baptist preacher

And I sure won't have to work.

Oh, I'm preachin' blues and want everyone to shout( Repeat)Gonna shout and holler and roll my message out.

Got to stay on the job, got no time to lose( Repeat)I swear to God, got to preach those Gospel Blues.

3890

t7

Frankie And Johnnie

Blues words are usually complete within the

true. lf you want to sing it with our piano

two-measure introduction. lf the key is wrong

verse. This one, however, tells a complete story - possibly

arrangement, keep repeating the first page except for thefor singing, try the blues in F.

FrankieAnd Johnnie

1.

This story has no moraiThis story has no end,This story only goes to showThat there ain't no good in menThey'll do you wrong,Yes, they'll do you wrong.

2.Frankie and Johnnie were loversOh Lordy how they could love,They said they'd be true to each otherAs true as the stars aboveHe was her man,But he done her wrong.

3.

Frankie went out to find JohnnieShe wasn't looking for f unCause if Johnnie was cheatin' with NellieThen she'd use her 44 gunTo shoot her manCause he was doin' her wrong

4.Frankie looked into the bar-roomAnd right there in f ront of her eyeThere was her sweet man JohnnieMakin' Iove to Nellie Bl1

He was her manBut he done her wrong.5.

Now Frankie is down to the jailhouse,AII tucked away in a cell.They put her where the cold wind blowsFrom the hottest corner of hellCause she shot her man,When he done her u/rong.

(repeat first chorus)

18

FRANKIE AND JOHNNIEArr. bv BOB KAIL (Civil War Era)

Moderately slow

9op{tlgt t I .1274 by Charles Hansen Educational Music and Books, Inc., New york,N.y.Internatlonal Copyright Secured Made in U.S.A. All Riehts Reserved

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Calypso Blues

standard rhymes like head and bed, song and gone.

people are always astounded to heartheirown names ln'improvised'lyrics made upon thespot. Memorize

these lyrics and supply your friends' names as you sing. The lyrics don't have to rhyme. You can also use

lf I was a catf ish swimmin' in the sea

( Fepeat)

l'd swim across the ocean, bring my baby back to me.

Got those Bleecker Street blues, blue as I can be.

( Repeat)

This cold street ain't done nothin' for me,

I Cet up, Miz Flsher, get, get up and answer the phone.Ij ( Repeat)

You gotta go'cause I can't get over a gal like you'

lf blues were whiskey l'd be drunk all the time'( Repeat)It takes so long to wear you off my mind,

I woke up this morning and my big fat gal was gone.

( Repeat)Left me all alone to sing this lonely song'

21

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like a popular song, with one section serving as a bridge.

BIues

St. JamesInfirmary

1.

I went down to the St. James Inf irm'ryTo see my baby thereShe was lyin' on a long white table,So sweet, so cool, so fair.n

Went up to see the doctor,"She's very low," he said,Went back to see my baby;Great God, she was lyin' there dead.

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Let her go, let her go, God bless her,Wherever she may be;She may search this wide world overShe'll never f ind a man like me.

4.Oh when I die, please bury meIn my high-top Stetson hat,Put a gold piece on my watch chainSo they'll know I died standin'pat.

6

Get six gamblers to carry my coff in,Six chorus girls to sing my songPut a jazz band on my tailgateTo raise Hell as we go along,

Let her go, let her go, God bless her,Wherever she may be,She may search this whole world over,And never f ind a man like me,

Now that's the end of my storyLet's have a round of booze,And if anyone should ask, just tel lthem,l've got the St. James Infirmary Blues.

,9

ST. JAMES INFIRMARYArr. by BOB KAIL

TRADITIONAL

Slow Blues

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p"p{t:$t I .1.9]4 by Charles Hansen Educationat Music and Books, Inc., New york N.y.lnlernatronal copyright Secured Made in U.S.A. Ail liights Resened

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! N/iL:sica!ly, the l;iues are a paradcx. We have seen lhat most blues are in major - the happy mode, and

serilorn in rnincr - which is associated with sadncsg. irrCeed most Lril-tenrirn [:iries are happy and exuberantin spii'it. But the blues as sung rernain a ia.,aii.

i",1airy Liluet t'lpe songs are biues cnlr; in spirit cnci sryle. not ii.i inrrn" "Birth Of l-he Blues," "Basin

Street," and ii'lany of the Dixieland or Ragtime conrpcsirions r,vith blues tities are examples of this.

Playing Blues In Combss

Oiten mr-rsicians play blues in jam sessions, The reader shouid have enougi'i knowiedge frorn this book tro

play aiong, Use any four bar introduction especially the type used in this book. Soloists will usually play at

least two blues choruses arrd often more beiore surrendeririU to the next player. A sirong beat and good

chords should be laid dornrn behind each soloist. Right hancl fills shouid cover the span between the Soipists

phrases, l.

Beware of breaks -- usually the last two bai's of a chorus. fliiytlrm steps and the soioist takes over:

Often soloists will alternate solos of 2 or 4 hars each. The underiying cliorcis do not change. Endingswill

oftsn iollow the examples given in this book with a ritarrl ancl a iong held seventh chord at the end.

t-iere are two common and convenlent st,..ii:s of a*c*rnf;eninrenr

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27

In a slow blues,

sketchiest right hand.

a welcome variation is to play a florid "Boogie Woogie" type bass with only the

lf a blues is not too fast, one can double the tempo. Usually a drum solo will introduce the new tempo.Often the arrangement is ended by reverting to the original tempo.

When playing alone, a convenient device is to play around the circle of fifths. Each set of two chcrusesis played in the key five steps below. Another device is to go up one half or one full step with each chorusor two choruses.

Quincy Jones'

evenly.

'Bone Dance' is an example of blues with a Latin influence. Play the staccato eighths

2A

BONE IIANCEArr. by BOB KAIL By QUINCY JONES

Fast Latin tempo

Copyright O 1956 by Sithouette Music Cogp., 1842 Wect Avonue, Miarni Beach, Fla. 33139Thic arrangement Copyright G) 197? by Silhouette Music Corp.

lntemational copyright secured Madc in u.s.A. - Alt Rights Recerved

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The Blues developed parallel with our other popular music. They go back even before jazz. Frankieand Johnnie is said to date back to the 1830's. Some of its ve:ses were written down by an Army officer at

the Siege of Vicksburg. Few American songs have remained so consistently popular, being used again and

again in each generation.

Throughout the forties and fifties, jazz kept exploring closer and closer to the limits of tonality and

complicated chords, just as'legitimate' music did under Wagner, Debussy and Ravel. The limits of this style

were reached in the fifties. One example, which we include on the following pages, is by Bernard Peiffer, a

prominent and obviously well-schooled 'musicien de France.'

With the advent of Rock and the renewed interest in folk and country music - and especially because

of the use of the guitar as the basic pop instrument rather than piano, a new simplicity in blues chords set

in. Simpler and more basic chords are again being used.

But 'Tired Blues' by Bernard Peiffer represents the outer limits of development in complicated chordsand melody. lt starts out with a passage in fourths, a melodic development that interested many prominentmusicians. The rhythm is complicated. The form, however, is rather standard. Two twelve bar blues sections

are followed by an eight bar bridge with a four measure extension" The piece concludes with another 12barblues pattern with a one measure extension.

TIRED BTUESMedium Slow Blues

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