This is a great piano lick to learn and then take to other keys! We are actually putting two different licks together for one monster lick. Just make sure you can watch all videos in the player below… You can switch between videos by using the side arrow buttons in the youtube view.
Learn lick #1 in video 1.
Learn lick #2 in video 2.
Put them together in video 3.
These are also shown on the handout. If you’re a good reader, you’ll be able to learn this faster by reading the music and then watching video #3 just to make sure you’re on the right track! Video #1 & #2 break it down a little more step by step.
This is Part 2 of a 2 part lesson. In both videos, we’ve been working on learning the piano solo that Ray plays during the introduction of his song. In part 2, we cover measures 5-12 of a blues introduction.
5/2/2010 - Audio Update: Some people mentioned they couldn’t find a recording of the song anywhere, so I added an audio recording of the part that we’re trying to learn lower on the page.
5/3/2010 - Notation Update: I took a quick snapshot of my handwritten notes while transcribing it. Its at the bottom of the page as well!
5/5/2010 - Update: So I feel pretty silly. Ray doesn’t actually play piano or sing on this track!!! Its on an album called more from ray… but was only tied in because it was in the movie "RAY" see the comments for more details! I just assumed it was Ray Charles because the mp3 said "Ray Charles" under the artist name… but it was all for record company marketing!!! ARgh..
WARNING: This is an advanced lesson! It will take some time to learn even one of the patterns! You’ll have to pause it and rewind many times!
Just so you don’t feel like you’re the only one, know that I spent about 8-10 hours pausing and rewinding the notes on Ray Charles’ CD to write down and then learn it and record it. Part 1 also took me a really long time as well… just to learn 30 seconds of music!!! But now I can use those techniques anywhere in my playing. Especially when I play the blues… If that feels daunting, just watch it for fun and know that a bunch of and quick easy lessons are coming in a few days!
Piano is a journey and you start with taking small steps! Practice for little bits at a time and over your lifetime, you will have gone on quite the adventure
He adds a couple chords in there to make it just a little bit more fancy! The following chords would be considered "extra" embellishment on a basic blues progression: The Eb7 in measure 2 is fairly common but could be considered an embellishment. Try it and see how it sounds!
Then how ray charles plays measures 7 & 8 is just crazy using these chords: C7, F7 Bb7 Ab7 G7. You’ll have to watch the video above to see the exact execution on the piano.
Bb Blues Scale:
Watch the video for a lot of cool licks! All of them are based on this scale below: The Bb Blues scale. If you’re not sure where to start, just play the notes below with the fingerings that have been written in. The notes in the chord are Bb Db Eb E F Ab Bb. The faster you can get with that scale, the better your improvising will sound. If you have never learned a blues scale before, Bb might not be the best one to start with, try starting with the C blues scale or the A blues scale.
NOTATED TRANSCRIPITION:
Update 5/3: Just for reference I wanted to add the notes I had scribbled out. I don’t have time to put it into a digital notation because I don’t think people will learn this by reading it. I think the best way to learn bits and pieces of this solo is by watching the youtube video and listening to the audio recording.
There are two arrangements of Mercy Mercy Mercy in this video.
The first half is the easier one, its all written down in the handout.
The second half of the video is trickier. I’m using a bass line in the left hand and chords and melody combined in the right hand.
Left Hand Voicings from the Video!
In the example below, there are a few different voicings, play through them to hear how they sound!
Example 1 is the basic root position voicing for Eb and Bb.
Example 2 has the root of the chord in the left hand, and the 7th, 3rd & 5th of the Bb7 chord. It then moves to the 3rd, 7th & 9th of the Eb9 chord. Each finger moves only a half step which creates a very smooth sound!
Example 3 is the same as example 2 but reversed.
The trick to combining the chords and melody in the right hand is to always make the melody note the highest note. Keeping the melody on top helps it ring out. If its in the middle of the chord, it gets hidden and masked.
WARNING FLATS AHEAD!
Don’t forget the flats by the way!
Because of the key signature at the beginning,
All the B’s and E’s are flatted in the music below.
Cool Bb Blues Lick!
This is taken from the middle section of the handout. Play through it to get a feel for how it sounds. You can print it off by clicking on it.
In the example above, the left hand is acting like a bass player playing the roots of the chord in 8th notes.
The right hand is playing the famous blues lick. Its all based around a Bb7 chord. Start off with the Bb major triad then move your top two fingers up the Bb7 scale.
Bb7 Dominant Scale aka Bb7 Mixolydian Mode
Below is the Bb dominant scale. This is the scale to play on Bb7 chords. Its exactly like the Bb major scale, but "A" the 7th note has been lowered to "Ab". (Notice it says "Flat 7th Note").
Also try using the Bb Blues scale. Bb Blues scale would sound good over the entire song!
There is a great technique that will add some cool new sounds to your playing and improvising. It plays with adding tension and then resolving it, taking a note that sounds really bad at first and then switching to a new note. Your ear forgets about how bad that first note sounded because the new is so refreshing!
Minor Chord to Major Chord:
We’ll get started by sliding from minor chords into major chords. The only note that changes is the 3rd, the middle one, so slide off with your middle finger. That might take some coordination practice so you can also use index finger at first if you need to…
The C Blues Scale:
The C blues scale has the notes C Eb F F# G Bb C. The Cminor chord fits perfectly over that scale. All of the notes in the blues scale sound great over the C minor chord.
To transpose this scale to another key, you should think of the scales structure rather than the note names. Rather than thinking C Eb F etc. try and remember [Root, b3rd, 4th, #4th, 5th, b7th, Octave].
Scales & Chords:
What scale to use on which chord is pretty easy to figure out for minor chords. On a C minor chord, use the Cminor scale. Lesson: Use the scale with the same name as the chord.
On major chords its a little different. On a C major chord, if I wanted to use a blues scale, my first choice would be A minor blues scale.
It has the notes A C D Eb E G A. You’ll notice that all the notes of a C chord are in the A blues scale and also that one black note we are sliding off of in the video, the Eb.
So the lesson for major chords is to remember, “If I play C minor, I want to go down the interval of a minor 3rd to find the correct scale, the A minor blues scale for improvising.” The structure is the same for all chords and scales, so think down a minor 3rd from the chord you’re in to find the appropriate blues scale.
PIANO LESSON REVIEW:
If you’re playing in a major chord or key, slide off the flat 3rd of the chord or key.
If its in a minor chord or key, slide of the #4/b5th of the chord or key.
This was a paid request to help someone learn Ray Charles rendition of Everyday I have the blues. The song follows the 12 bar blues with a lot of really tasty ray charles fills and variations throughout the whole song. The first 30 seconds of the song just have Ray playing solo piano as an introduction. This video slows down the licks from the first 15 seconds of the video. SKIP AHEAD TO 1:10 IN THE VIDEO TO SEE MY TRANSCRIPTION OF RAY’S LICKS SLOWED DOWN.
Pick one or two of these licks and learn them really well then transpose it to the key of C so you can get even more use out of them by using them in a blues in C! Transposing it from the key of Bb to the key of C requires you to move every note up one whole step. This is because the keys Bb and C are one whole step apart. Stay tuned for more on this great song! We’ll be working on some good chord voicings for the 3 chords in a Bb blues: Bb7, Eb7 and F7.
