Blues Comping Patterns & Rhythms
In this lesson we will explore some useful voicings, patterns, and rhythmic ideas for right hand comping over the 12 bar blues.
The I – IV – V chords are all related through the circle of 5ths which creates a natural sense of tension and release in the blues progression.
We will now build upon this core principle and introduce some more advanced and interesting harmonies in our right hand.
Triads, 7th Chords, 9th Chords, & 6th/13th Chords
Whilst we can comp with basic triad shapes, the dominant 7th is a very useful sound to incorporate into our chords and voicings when comping.
We can also extend our voicings to include 9ths and 13ths. Steve demonstrates some clean voice leading principles using these colourful extended chord voicings.
The 6th Or The 13th?
Good question!
If the b7th is not present, the 13th is referred to as the 6th. If the b7th is present, the then the 6th is referred to as the 13th. Having both the b7th and 13th will give you a tense and meaty dominant voicing.
1/2 Step Slides & Chromatics
Sideslipping is a useful technique when playing the blues to add both harmonic and rhythmic variety over our left hand bassline.
We can take any voicing and ‘slide’ into it from a half step above or below. This kind of chromatic movement is excellent for comping. It’s easy to execute and adds lots of motion and interest to our right hand.
Off Beat Comping & Horn Punches
Comping on the off beats is an effective tool which works well with the underlying bassline by accenting the up beat.
Steve also demonstrates the use of more randomly-placed ‘horn punches’ to create rhythmic interest and variety.
Download all rhythms, patterns, and lesson notation in the PDF file below.
Lesson Downloads
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Comping Patterns Lesson Notation File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
You can use the specific bassline demonstrated for playing solo piano, learning different blues heads, and for practising improvised solos.
We’ll learn some basic right-hand chord voicings and rhythms, and some specific riffs you can use in many places when playing boogie-woogie.
The left-hand is the foundation of the driving rhythm, over which the right-hand can… well… dance! Let’s look at the characteristics of the style.
Practice Tips
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Spend some time to memorise the I, IV, and V of all 12 keys.
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The tonic, subdominant, and dominant are the basis of each key and so memorising them will give you a strong foundation to comp the blues.
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Use the material covered in this lesson as initial inspiration.
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These are very common and useful comping patterns that will allow you to understand the core principles of right hand comping.
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It's important that we are spending to listen to the notable blues players and transcribe their comping voicings and patterns.
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If you hear something you like, take the time to study it and figure out exactly what it is.
Steve,
Born and raised 27 years in chicago (half my lilfe), love the blues but (through my own hesitation) I’ve shied away from learning / practicing this sound on the piano. You have demystified them in the very excellent blues series, thank you for investing the time. I’ve just finished the 4th video, what a huge nugget of clarity and the pdf download is a gem (again no skimping on the family recipie).
I can approach these lessons and practice cases with much more confidence due directly to your enthusiasm for this cherished sound.
thanks much,
Michael Albanese
Hi Michael,
Glad to hear you are enjoying these lessons, I will pass this onto Steve when I next see him. He will be very happy to hear your feedback I’m sure. I agree Steve has created a wonderful step-by-step approach here to de-mystify the Chicago Blues sound.
There is a 6th theory lesson in this course on “Turnarounds” which I’ve almost finished editing. I will get it uploaded ASAP.
There are also 2 tunes which Steve covers for this course, a slow 8 bar blues, and a fast 12 bar blues. So there are 3 more lessons to come. I figured it would be best to get the first 5 lessons up on the site for our students but do keep an eye on the course as more is coming shortly.
This style is wonderful to develop hand independence and also to develop a strong internal sense of rhythm and timing.
I’d recommend spending some of your practice time on this style each day, and you will certainly see benefits in other areas of your playing; as well as enjoying the groove of the Chicago Blues of course!
Cheers,
Hayden
Hayden, yes more is better !
This technique is so fundamental to much of the rock/blues of my ‘youth’, which is allowing me to visit those tunes now and turn back the hands of time 😉
Michael
I have some issues with hand independence, especially at the end of the harmonic phrase where the fills are added. Also, holding the shuffle groove for 2-3 courses is not an easy task but it’s getting better.
HI Eugene 👋🏻
Happy New Year!
The hand independence is developed from practice, there is no other way to improve.
It can be super frustrating at times but just keep chipping away at it each day and you will see gradual improvement.
Remember to break your practice time down into small chunks so that you cover lots of things in 1 sitting, and so that you are not drilling the same thing for 30 minutes straight.
For example:
– 5 minutes just shuffle pattern
– 5 minutes shuffle pattern with comping
– 5 minutes shuffle pattern with a fill or melodic idea.
See this video for more information: https://www.pianogroove.com/community/t/read-me-guide-for-the-practice-plans-section/2912
Cheers,
Hayden
Hey Hayden, Happy New Year to you as well! Thanks for the recommendations and the link. I really appreciate it.
Watching closely my playing, especially at slower tempos I found that the most challenging thing when it comes to hand independence is to play a shuffle pattern in the left hand, which is an eight-note triplet, and play straight 8th or 16th notes on the right hand.
It is getting better in time and I realize that but I also have to admit that I’m practicing a lot. Lol, I really hope I’ll not burn out! I cannot help myself; I really enjoy spending time with the instrument and hone my craft, pay attention to my fingers or stare at the walls and hear the overall sound I’m producing when I play while forcing myself to not look at the keyboard.
About halfway through this course and going slowly as there is so such material in there to pick apart. One thing I have noticed and not sure if this has been covered and I missed it, or will be mentioned later. Steve seems to very often start the right hand on the up beat of the previous bar (so the last “and” of the left hand). That means the right hand is always “anticipating” a little.
Is this just to add some interest and stop it sounding so regular?
Hi Alan,
Great question here.
Anticipation propels the music forward into the next bar. When we hear the chord change on the last “and” of the previous bar it creates a sense of forward motion in the performance.
This is used in all styles of music – jazz, blues, bossa nova, samba, funk – and it’s great that you have picked up on this.
If we played all of the chords on beat one of the bar, our performance would sound very “square” and “rigid” and so exactly as you say, adding these anticipated chords creates rhythmic interest and variety.
The other side of the coin is that if we anticipate *every* chord change, it might sound a little monotonous and repetitive and so as with many aspects of playing piano, variety is the key. Playing some chords on the downbeat is what makes the next ones “pop out” when played on the upbeat.
I hope that helps Alan.
Have fun playing around with this stuff!
Cheers,
Hayden