How to play piano blues – part 2

Now that you’ve practiced the left hand from part I of this piano blues tutorial, you should be ready for the right hand.

Here is a melody to get you started. This will fit nicely over your left hand for the first 4 bars in C:

Here’s how it sounds:

Now, this may look a little complicated, but we can break this down to make it much simpler. All we need to remember here is our C chord which is:

If we take away the C from the above chord, then this gives us our first two notes of the melody. You will then notice that as the melody progresses, the C is played at the bottom, directly between the above two notes. For example, E and G are played first followed by the middle C. Then, F and A are played; again followed by the middle C. This then progresses up to the G and B flat. You will then notice that it progresses back down to finish where it started – at the E and G. This is then repeated in bars 3 & 4.

I’ve also written a suggested fingering below the notes (the top number relates to the top note). Don’t forget that your thumb is number 1, and your little finger is number 5.

You may use whatever is comfortable to you, but I find this works well.

For bars 5 & 6 when we move onto the F chord, we will follow the same pattern. So all you are literally doing here is transposing what we’ve just played to the F chord. For bars 7 & 8, we repeat the C section for two bars. Here’s how it looks –

Here’s how it sounds:

Finally, for bars through 9-12 we introduce the G. This is then followed by the F chord for 1 bar, and finally ending on C for the remaining 2 bars. Here’s how it looks:

Here’s how it sounds:

Once you’ve mastered both hands separately, try putting them together. Here’s the full score below:

Here’s how it sounds:

Now take a look at some left hand variations – part 1.