Piano Blues Riff Breakdown

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A lot of piano tutorial videos out there will show you a scale, like the pentatonic scale or the blues scale, and tell you how you can use it to improvise and create melodies.

And then they’ll just leave you.

Or they’ll show you the simple scale, and then play something far too complicated for what you have just learned.

Jordan is here today to show you a really cool blues riff, and then break it down note-by-note so you can see exactly what he’s doing, and pay it for yourself.

The Scale We Will Use

The riff uses the C minor pentatonic scale (C-Eb-F-G-Bb) AND we are using the ‘blue’ note as a grace note. That note is the Gb. So really you can think of it as a C blues scale!

Getting used to sliding from that Gb to the G and the F is probably the hardest thing about this riff. It’ll take some practice and won’t feel natural if you’ve never done it before. But once you get used to it — it will really help your blues playing. Those slides are really common in blues, and they sound super bluesy 🙂

It’s The Blues, Baby

Now, this is the blues — so you don’t have to try and play it exactly as Jordan does (even HE changes it throughout this video lol). It’s about giving you a riff and the notes that you can experiment with and make your own!

Feel try to change the tempos and rhythms. Find what feels and sounds good for you!

When you’re ready, you could even try playing it in different keys using the corresponding blues scales.

The most important thing is to have fun — and play the blues.

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Jordan Leibel is passionate about songwriting, improvisation, and helping you become a creative musician! He’s worked as a composer for film, commercial, and theatre projects as well as a session musician and producer for recording work.