Blues School: Intro/Turnaround #1

piano-ology-blues-school-intro-turnaround-01-featured

A good intro builds excitement and establishes expectations before jumping into a tune…

… while a turnaround (typically the last two bars of a chorus) keeps the musical momentum going and leads the listener back to “the top” of the next chorus.

A common pattern is to establish a tonal center, then to move in contrary motion towards the V chord, which creates lots of harmonic tension that is resolved when you play the I chord at the top of the first/next chorus.

piano-ology-blues-school-intro-turnaround-01

learn more… Intro/Turnaround #2