Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize some tasty ways to play Repeated Notes… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Basic music reading skills… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.
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Study, Practice, & Performance Tips
- Never play these mindlessly and mechanically. Always aspire to play them musically.
- Your goal is not to merely memorize them, but to study and practice until you internalize them using all four musical intelligences: ears, intellect, eyes, and muscles.
- Every time you practice something, you are programming your brain. So always play accurately.
- Practice with a Click Track or a Rhythm Track. Doing so will give you immediate feedback on any rhythmic misconceptions or places where your timing gets sloppy.
- Record Yourself. Always. Listen to the playback immediately. And ask yourself: Is that what you intended to play?”
- If anything feels tense or awkward, stop immediately and experiment with alternative fingerings or choreography.
- Play the keepers in other keys you expect to play in. By the way, once you see the patterns (which is guaranteed if you know your scales and chords) finding the notes in other keys will be a piece of cake!
- If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, realize that anything can and will be mastered if you slow things down or break things down to small enough pieces.
- Although it take time to talk about all the above practice habits, practicing them takes almost no time at all because they can all be done simultaneously!
- Mastering all this takes no special talent. All it takes is a wee bit of knowledge and the discipline to employ a very short list of productive study and practice habits.
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Repeated Notes Pattern #1
Repeated notes are a great way to keep the time moving, build excitement, and compensate for the intrinsic lack of sustain on the piano…
A staple of blues playing is to put “the 1” on top with your pinky while leaning on the b5(#4) in relentless and percussive triplets…

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Repeated Notes Pattern #2
For an even bluesier sound, try playing the b7 as the top note instead…

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learn more… Blues Piano Lessons
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