How to Play Jazz Me Blues on Piano

Looking to add some bluesy flavor to your piano playing? Jazz Me Blues is a great place to start. This classic tune has been performed by everyone from B.B. King to Thelonious Monk. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to play Jazz Me Blues on piano.

Introduction

Jazz Me Blues is a classic twelve-bar blues tune written in 1910 by Tom Delaney. The first recorded version was by W.C. Handy and His Orchestra in 1916. The tune has been recorded by many artists over the years, including Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and B.B. King.

The chord progression for Jazz Me Blues is based on the standard blues progression, which uses the chords I, IV, and V. In the key of C, these chords would be C, F, and G.

One of the things that makes Jazz Me Blues sound like a blues tune is the use of blue notes. These are notes that are played or sung slightly flat of the usual pitch. For example, in the key of C, the third note of the scale is E. But a blue note would be E-flat (Eb).

In jazz piano playing, you can use your left hand to play block chords or single-note bass lines while your right hand plays the melody or improvises around the chord changes.

Here is a basic arrangement of Jazz Me Blues that you can use to get started playing this classic tune:

What You’ll Need

In order to play Jazz Me Blues on piano, you will need the following:
-A piano or keyboard
-The ability to read sheet music
-Jazz Me Blues sheet music
-A metronome

If you do not have a metronome, you can find an online metronome here: [metronome link].

The Basic Structure of the Song

In this jazz piano lesson, we’re going to learn how to play the jazz standard “Jazz Me Blues”. This tune was written in 1910 by Tom Delaney and has been recorded by numerous artists over the years, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Ella Fitzgerald.

The melody of “Jazz Me Blues” is based on a twelve-bar blues progression, which is a type of chord progression that is commonly used in blues and jazz music. The basic structure of a twelve-bar blues progression is as follows:

I I I I
IV IV I I
V IV I I
I I I I

As you can see, the first four bars (or measures) of the progression are identical, followed by two measures of the IV chord, one measure of the V chord, and then another measure of the IV chord. This pattern then repeats for the remainder of the song.

The Main Riff

The main riff of this piano blues classic is really easy to learn. It’s just a slow pentatonic melody that moves up and down the scale. You can use either hand to play it, but I recommend using your right hand.

Here’s the main riff:

e|—————————
B|—————————
G|—————————
D|-3-3-3-3-3-3-5-5-5-5-5-5—--
A|—————————
E|—————————

You can play this riff in any key, but the most common key for jazz blues is F.

To play the main riff in the key of F, start on the note F in the left hand and then play the notes in the right hand as written above.

The Chorus

In the chorus of “Jazz Me Blues,” there are two main themes that are alternating. The first theme is played in measures 9-12, while the second theme is played in measures 13-16. To help you better understand how these themes are constructed, let’s take a look at each measure individually.

In measure 9, the first four notes (E-flat, D-flat, C-natural, and B-flat) make up the chord known as a dominant seventh. This chord is important in jazz music because it creates a feeling of tension that needs to be resolved. The next four notes (A-flat, G-natural, F-natural, and E-flat) create what is called an arpeggio. An arpeggio is simply a chord that is played one note at a time instead of all at once. In this case, the arpeggio is based on the A-flat minor chord.

In measure 10, we see the same dominant seventh chord from measure 9, but now it is followed by an arpeggio based on the D-flat major chord.

In measure 11, we see a new chord: the C major seven chord. This chord provides resolution to the tension created by the dominant seventh chords in measures 9 and 10. The remainder of the measure consists of an arpeggio based on the F minor chord.

In measure 12, we see yet another new chord: the G flat major seven chord. Like the C major seven chord in measure 11, this provides resolution to the tension created by the previous dominant seventh chords. The remaining notes in this measure form an arpeggio based on the A flat minor chord.

Measures 13-16 make up the second main theme of this chorus. In these measures, we see more dominant seventh chords followed by resolving chords: first a D flat major seven resolve to an A flat maj7or; then an F7 resolve to a C7; then a Gb7 resolves back to Abmaj7; and finally an F7 resolves to Cmaj7

The Bridge

As you approach the bridge, you’ll notice that the chord progression changes. Instead of following the I-IV-V-I progression, the chords move to a ii-V-I progression. The ii-V-I is one of the most common progressions in jazz and it’s important to be able to play it in all 12 keys.

In the key of C, the chord progression would be Dm7-G7-Cmaj7. You can see that the Dm7 is the ii chord, the G7 is the V chord, and the Cmaj7 is the I chord.

To play this bridge, you’ll use a similar left hand pattern to what you used in the verse. The only difference is that you’ll be playing triads instead of 7th chords.

Your right hand will be playing a simple melodic line using scale tones from each chord.

Here’s an example:
| Dm7 | – | – | – | G7 | – | – | Cmaj7 | – | –
| — | — | — | — |— |— |— |— |—

Ending the Song

Ending the song is pretty straightforward. You can end on either the I or the IV chord. If you want to end on a higher note, you can add a little embellishment by playing an ascending scale on the IV chord before resolving to the I chord.

Conclusion

Now that you know the basics of how to play Jazz Me Blues on piano, you can start practicing and perfecting your skills. Remember to keep your playing relaxed and to have fun with it – that’s what jazz is all about!