Description

David Cohen takes beginning and intermediate pianists beyond the basics and into the colorful flavors, foot-stomping syncopations and old-time funky feeling of the real blues style. The emphasis is on helping you achieve solid technique and improvisational ideas for both slow blues and the more up-tempo boogie-woogie styles. David covers a wide range of musical concepts that will bring your playing to a whole new level. He starts with the driving bass patterns that give boogie-woogie its recognizable groove, then adds chords, riffs, bass lines, classic turnarounds and arpeggios that will give your playing style and distinction. Moving from the key of C to E (necessary if you re going to be playing with a guitarist), David explores slow blues using progressions that will expand your harmonic sense and allow you to improvise easily and effectively in major and minor keys. You ll learn to play the rollicking Pinetop s Boogie (in two keys), the sophisticated Blues For A Summer s Dream and the seemingly endless variations on the 8-bar Slow Blues in E. Sit down with piano master David Bennett Cohen for an essential lesson on New Orleans piano styles. Like a great Southern chef, David shows you the exact recipe for combining blues, gospel, country and boogie-woogie to achieve a rich musical gumbo of sounds. David shows dozens of ideas you can use for soloing, improvising and exploring the keyboard: Bass lines, bluesy riffs, hot arpeggios and the essential scales necessary to play in the New Orleans tradition. With Homespun s piano cam floating above the keyboard, you will be able to see and follow exactly what David is playing. The old gospel song When The Saints Go Marching In is taught both in an up-tempo and a minor, dirge-like version; Crawfish Royale uses “second line” clave rhythm; Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out shows you how to deal with a more complicated chord progression; and the soulful Georgia On My Mind illustrates how to improvise over chord changes. This is a great lesson for anyone looking to learn the basics of New Orleans piano and American roots music.David Cohen – Learn To Play Blues Piano DVDs 1 & 2