Mercy Mercy Mercy - Blues Piano Lesson - Left hand Voicings
Mercy Mercy Mercy was written by Joe Zawinul… also Berklee College of Music grad!
The Notation for the song:
Mercy Mercy Mercy Music Handout
Video Contents:
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!
wow ^)
that looks like an interesting challenge ^)
Thanks you, Chris!
Chris,
More blues yes!! I love it every time you make a post on blues. Thank-you so much =]
Thanks for sharing this post. I appreciate the handout as well as the Pdf for notes that you allow your readers to access. The other version has made me leave my computer and grab my piano to check out on how they will sound. This has urged me to play the rhythm on my piano right away - right at this very moment. Again, thanks for this post and video. Keep coming with bright ideas that we can use and integrate in our classrooms and music studios nowadays.
Keep coming with bright ideas that we can use and integrate in our classrooms and music studios nowadays.
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