Playing the Blues


Practising today I did, as usual, all of the Grade 1 scales and broken chords, a few runs through of the old Poacher, RH, and then went back to the "12 bar blues" I started on during the week. I've pretty much got the LH with it, but it just didn't sound very blue. Bit of googling reveals why, it's in a straightforward piano scale, not the blues scale, which is in the pic here, C minor.

Playing it in a regular piano scale is what makes it sound rather dull. So, now, I'm reminded of what Little Carmine said to Tony Soprano: "You're at the precipice, Tony. Of an enormous crossroads". Maybe I should just forget, for now anyway, about the ABRSM and the grades, and focus on the blues. Because that's what I really want to play. 5-10 years from now, I see myself playing in a bar. I could, theoretically, be able one day to play Chopin's Ballad, say, but my family and friends, whilst undoubtedly impressed, would be listening to it rather dutifully. But Bessie Smith would be a different story, of a Saturday night, with drink taken...

So that's a new departure. Start with the scales and take it from there. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leech or flatworm? Ants and Swiss Chard

Image
For the 2nd time in a week or so, (1st time regarding dwarf beans ), I'm following Alys Fowler's advice, this time with regard to Swiss chard .  Long story short, after midsummer plants which often bolt if planted in spring will resist the impulse to do so, probably because of shortening days; (I say shortening, but in Glasgow, in July, we're still getting 18 hours of daylight).   I got a packet of Bright Lights , at a good price, (another reason to wait until July before sowing, lots of bargains, I've noticed). But where to sow them? Most of the 2nd bed is under a tarpaulin, but it wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole bed, so the last 5ft or so went under a sheet of plastic, (in the background of the photo in this post, here .) Transparent plastic was a foolish idea, weeds were growing underneath it, so I covered most of it with sheets of metal from the old shed. I decided to leave the tarp, but use the area beneath the plastic for the chard. Who-ah there...
Read more

"Chevy Chase. Fuck ever happen to him?"

Image
As Paulie Walnuts said in The Sopranos. It got me thinking. As it happens, he's been working steadily , but you can see what Paulie means. It's like that with film and television actors: you don't see them in anything for a year or two, and you wonder if they're dead or perhaps on a lengthy charlie and booze session. Or maybe doing proper acting on the stage? Only appearing on the telly gives them meaning to us. That video with Paul Simon was on one of the cable music channels the other day. It always makes me smile. As for Paulie and the rest of the crew, the clock's ticking. Of course, America already knows how things finish, but we don't. My mate Ian was telling me about a friend of his, visiting the States a few weeks ago, flicking through the channels in his hotel bedroom, he hit on a repeat of THE final episode, just beginning. What a quandry! He watched it, as it goes, but kept shtum when he came home.
Read more

How many pallets can you fit in the back of a Fiat 500?

Image
At least 1. Maybe I could have got 3 altogether, at a pinch. Also 200+ gorse seeds, which have begun to look in danger of damping off, so I'm thinking they'll be better off at the allotment in the fresh air. I'm worried about slugs, snails and woodpigeons, though, so I put them in a wheelbarrow, covered with a net. Also this morning, planted a row of beetroot detroit.
Read more