Advices for a jazz/blues newbie?

[monsterjazzlicks]

If you are looking to further develop your RHYTHM then if you can join a local percussion group that would really help to sort you out. i played Timpani in a very amauter orchestra and it really helped to improve my timing etc. Or buy a cheap pair of drumsticks and a rubber drum pad and sit in your room drumming along to records. If you did this 2/3 times per week the strengths gained will start to transfer their way into your piano playing. And you will have a greater awareness and appreciation for the drummer in your band.

Tapping your foot on beats TWO and FOUR will really benefit your swing playing (and help you to lock-in with the drummer).

Don't worry about feeling intimidated by the great pianists. The more you transcribe them, and the more you improve, and the more you listen, they will CONTINUE to sound better and better !! What i mean is as you develop you then begin to notice more and more greatness in their playing, so the learning curve never stops !!! ie. The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know !!

If people in your audience are complimenting your playing then you are obviously doing something correct and moving in the right direction !!

If you practice 3/4 days per week then that is good and you will DEFINATELY improve for sure. It is impossible not to !!

[Frantz]

+1 with Paul, great advices IMHO
Paul is just right about how rewarding a drumming experience can be.
In september I began to play the drumset in a band with my local music school.
Starting from scratch, for me it's about two times 10 minutes 4 days a week on technical rudiments, 15 minutes 3 days a week practicing/learning the tunes, and ~1 hour per week with the band.
I listen to tunes from the drummer's perspective, found that "air" drumming with only my hands/knees and feet/floor helped me a lot for coordination.
The learning curve goes fast at the beginning and it's very rewarding and addictive (always want to spend more time, more often).
Have a good teacher (or drummer friend), a good teaching method ... you might want to play both instruments in two different bands !

[monsterjazzlicks]

Frantz is totally 100% correct here.

Tot much of music tuition/practice is spent with an emphasis on HARMONY !! And RHYTHM is much too often overlooked.

There is a BRILLIANT book by (i think) drummer Louis Bellson and i know tons of musicians in London who practice from this book. And many of these are non-drummers !!!

A very good drummer once told me that it is not just the drummers role to keep the TIME in the band. EVERYONE in the band should have equally good TIME !!!

[JoeCool]

one of the good things to practice in swing style, regardless of what instrument you play, is the following:
Use a metronome, set it to the half speed (so if the tune is 160, set it to 80) Now let it start, but see the clicks as the 2 and 4 of the bar. (1 - click - 3 - click...)
play your entire song incl. soloing on this. You will perhaps not get this in the beginning, but it is a real good exercise for your timing to keep this going and not shift into the click coming on 1 and 3.
I learned this from my first trombone jazz teacher many years agon and still use it.
And stay with simple songs! Don't bother with overcomplicated song and chord structures, get simple things working first.

[Gustavo]

Just today I had some time to view the Jamey Aebersold Volumes I I got, my god I cannot believe the quantity of Volumes that guy has written!! Just impressive. But will take the Volume I recommendation and take it slowly at my own pace.

@Joe thanks for that tip, its really usefull, have been doing that for some time, but I still every now and then get confused and do it (click - 2 - click - 4) but with practice I gotta take that eventually.

Right now I am trying to improve my technique play real legato slowly (which has proven to be hard for me) and play some scales to practice posture, fingering and such.