A First Book of Blues

For The Beginning Pianist

David Dutkanicz

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486481296
• eBook ISBN: 9780486171654
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Classical Music

With these easy-to-play renditions, beginning pianists of all ages can enjoy one of America's most celebrated art forms. Sixteen popular blues melodies include traditional songs such as "St. James Infirmary" and "Careless Love" as well as several numbers by blues giants Jelly Roll Morton and W. C. Handy, including "St. Louis Blues," "Joe Turner Blues," and "The Hesitating Blues."
Students, teachers, and other pianists will find these arrangements much simpler and more melodic than other versions. The selections include suggestions for fingering and are arranged in order of increasing difficulty. Introductory material by editor David Dutkanicz offers helpful explanations of the melodic and rhythmic theory behind the blues.

The Blues Scale

When playing the works in this book,

you’ll be sure to notice more accidentals than you’re used to seeing in more traditional and classical piano music. This is due to the use of the “blues scale.” Simply put, the blues scale is a variation on the traditional scale—and what give blues music its character and flavor. Originating in African folk music, it evolved over time and was assimilated into a new musical language.

 

Although there are a few versions of the blues scale, they all involve altering three important steps of a traditional scale: the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. For example, in a C major scale, the E, G, and B would be altered:

Below are two versions of the blues scale: the “ten-note” and the “six-note.” The ten-note is specifically arranged for this edition in order to help performer’s fingers and ears (and eyes) prepare for the technical demands at hand. The six-note scale is the more popular and modern version, indispensable for future study and performance. These serve both as an excellent warm-up and introduction to the blues.

10-Note Scales

6-Note Scales

Blues Rhythms

In addition to special scales, blues music also has its own unique sense of rhythm. These beats have a playful nature that helps propel melodies, emphasize accents and speech patterns in lyrics, and create powerful accompaniments. The two aspects of rhythm essential to blues are syncopation and swinging eighths.

SYNCOPATION

Technically, syncopation is an accent on an unexpected or weak beat. This can occur within a measure on a downbeat, or on any upbeat (e.g. the “and” in 1 and 2 and…). This shift of pulse creates a feeling of displacement, which could be described as “uplifting” or “suspended.” Compare examples I and II:

The first has clear accents (or “thumps”) on beats 1 and 3, since the longest note of a phrase (here half notes) would carry the most weight. By introducing the quarter note on the first beat, the gravity of the phrase shifts to beats 2 and 4. Keep in mind that the tempo doesn’t change, only the accents. It sounds clearer when played on a scale:

The same would apply to quarter notes. In these examples, they are introduced earlier and shifted to the left by an eighth note:

Syncopations are often notated in a way that can make them appear more complicated than they really are. Rather than writin...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Editor’s Note
• The Blues Scale
• Blues Rhythms
• Swinging Eighths
• Down Home Blues
• Outta’ Bed Blues
• Crazy Blues
• St. James Infirmary
• Prison Bound
• Weary Blues
• St. Louis Blues
• Yellow Dog Blues
• Joe Turner Blues
• Careless Love
• Arkansas Blues
• The Hesitating Blues
• Beale Street Blues
• Royal Garden Blues
• Jelly Roll Blues
• Memphis Blues