Blues Piano Lessons

Are you trying learn blues piano? You’ve come to the right place! In today’s free video I’m going to teach you one of my favorite licks to play. If you want some blues riffs piano training you’ll love this video.

It’s easy and works over all kinds of different 12 bar blues situations.  Lets get started!

Learn Blues Piano – Starter Lick Video

This is a classic blues piano lick and you’ll hear this is in a lot of different styles of music.

I first learned it by grabbing it from Wynton Kelly, but I started noticing Otis Spann has variations on this, and Ray Charles has variations of this in his playing as well.

One of the coolest things about blues is that once you start to understand the little pieces of language that make up the style you can start to use them in rock, jazz, blues, R&B, and pop styles as well.

It’s a style of music but it’s also a sound and a flavor that can be applied everywhere.

That’s why we show you hundreds of licks and blues improvisation techniques inside The Breakthrough Blues Method course.

We wanted you to be able to take all these amazing blues ideas and use them all over your music.

How Transposition Skills Will Set You Free

We’re  in the key of C here for this lick , but of course, you’re going to want to apply these concepts to your other keys too.

It’s always good to be able to play things in as many keys as possible. This is especially true when we learn blues piano.
You want freedom when you sit down at the piano. Being able to play in multiple keys is one of the big things to help you do that.

You don’t want to be what I call “only a prince in the key of C” but a “pauper in every other key”.

I’ve gotten so many gigs (and kept so many gigs) over the years based off the simple fact that I was quick with transposition. Transposition doesn’t need to be hard. Anybody can do it if they follow a simple plan.  The return on your time investment if you practice this is huge!

By the way, we actually created a 2 hour in depth masterclass over the summer on transposition and how to easily master any song, lick, and pattern in all 12 keys.

You can access the whole transposition secrets master class right here.

The Left Hand Chord For This Blues Piano Riff

The chord that I’m playing in the left hand here, this voicing is just a C7 with a 9.

We have E, B flat, and then D. This is a must have blues piano chord.

Classic, sweet, and simple. I’ve used it on just about every blues gig I’ve ever played.

It’s a fantastic chord to use when you’re playing with a very active bass player. Plus, it’s only 3 notes. Super easy to play. It has the 3rd, the 7th, and the 9th.

This is also the first chord that you’ll see Hall Of Fame Blues Pianist Bruce Katz play in this trailer video here. 

Learn Blues Piano Lick Breakdown

Alright let’s break down the lick now.

Here’s what’s going on. I’m starting this lick by playing a C. Then, and I’m gracing that third. C, gracing into the E, G, A, and then I play this C octave.

I start on an & of the chord and then I go triplets based off the major pentatonic scale.

From there I’m playing C octaves and then I’m holding it down. Can you hear that bottom C going down to the A to the G? This is what’s called a drone note technique.

Then I play C again, A octave, C octave, and then E flat and A, E flat and A together. This Eb and A is a tritone.

Essentially it’s just coming from a combination of the major pentatonic scale and the blues scale.

Simple stuff here. Really, all we’re doing here is we’re just combining the blue scale, major pentatonic, and some double stop licks where we start putting 2 notes together.

But there you have it, a killer blues lick and it’s very famous. One of many easy blues piano riffs you must master.

I’m sure you’ve heard this blues piano riff before? All right, have fun practicing this lick. See if you can throw this particular lick in to your music.

And again if you like the sound of this lick and want to learn tons more…we have hundreds and hundreds of these licks inside The Breakthrough Blues DVD.

My blues piano mentor, Bruce Katz, and I,  got together and we made a course where we break down all these cool little blues licks and blues reharmonizations and how to throw blues into jazz and Ray Charles concepts and you name it.

All right. Have fun practicing this lick. If you like it, please pick up the The Breakthrough Blues as well. All right. Happy practicing!