You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Our Favorite Bluesy Double Stops

Episode Date: February 3, 2020

On today's episode, Peter and Adam reveal a little trick they like to use to bring the blues out in any tune they're playing.There's a new course from Open Studio: Elements of Solo Piano! Learn from modern jazz master Geoffrey Keezer as he shows you the strategies and techniques to become a better solo pianist. You'll also get Guided Practice Sessions featuring Adam Maness, where he walks you through how to practice each lesson in the course. And for even more piano courses, sign up for the Piano Access Pass.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment for this episode.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Adam. Yes. What you know about this? Oh, that's cool, but what about... Oh, what about this? Oh, okay. Sounds like some bluesy double stops. And I'm Peter Martin.

And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. Daily music advice coming at you. Coming at you today's episode is sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open Studiojadogaz.com for all your jazz lesson. We're back on the YouTube's. I think that's what got us nervous today. I'm fine, man. I know what's going on here.

I'm good. I love what you say responsible by You always look over at the sign Like to see if the name changed Yeah if anybody cares where I'm looking That's where I'm looking at sign Yeah well where I'm looking here Because I got a camera here

I got a camera here I got that we got Alex over here Excited to be here Yeah We tell yeah we are stoked Well so we're talking today about Bluesy Double Stop Yeah this is something that we get asked

Quite a bit about And usually it's like What the hell is a bluesy double stop Yeah And it's I don't know Is it something that anybody ever taught you or there was some kind of theory behind? No, but I definitely heard it and, you know, tried to emulate it.

I remember that. Like, you hear in different recordings and be like, wait, how did they do that? And it was kind of a sound, you know? And just as a quick disclaimer, I believe we made up this term, right? Well, you started on violin, and a double stop on the violin is when you play two notes at the same time. I think it's a great term. And so when we say bluesy double stop, a double stop is we're talking about like playing two notes at the same time. Yeah.

but really in that where you're like kind of playing one on top and then the bottom note might be moving, that's usually how it goes. And we have a couple of these that we can demonstrate and even, I think there's, I don't know if there's like a real theory behind this at all, but there's definitely

some that work better than others. Yes, right, right. And I think that the one, maybe we could start with is the ones that you were just talking about where a note stays, at least for a period, the same on top. So like we're kind of key of F. Wait, are they going to be able to see the keyboards now? Yeah, they'll see the light up keyboards.

I'm excited about that. So... Okay, so you're playing, I think, the first one that I remember, like, kind of picking off the radio when I was a child. Yeah. And that's... We're in the key of F and having F on top. And somewhere around the fifth, the flat five, the four...

Yeah, kind of just bluesy melodies. But with that F on top, right? Right. And I think the trick to this... Or one approach to it I like is... You don't have to play that top tonic note, the F in this case. with every melody.

In fact, it kind of works better if you don't. So, like, if you think about, you know, you might play. So if that's your kind of primary melody on the bottom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm playing a lot of them, but not everyone. It's funny because, you know, I think we've done this a lot. So when you start to think about it, it becomes a little contrived. It's really something I don't think about very often.

It's kind of happened. Yeah, it's kind of like an accent. If you think about that as opposed to actual, you don't want it as a static thing that you're repeating. That's another good one that you kind of just. just hinted at with the tonic on top, if we're in F, it's F, is like that, where you can kind of go up in the minor third,

chromatically. But you don't even have to, those are all great. I like this one too, even with the seventh. Yeah. So you have E flat and F like that. Yeah, and then there's. Yeah, so now this is variation number one. With that dominant seventh on top,

you can do all the same kind of stuff. that especially sounds good that fifth yeah and then what we're combining too because sometimes like if you take these

and you just go that's fine but if you like you're combining it with some grace notes so some bent tones you know that's the bluesy

the bluesy yeah we're feeling kind of bluesy today aren't we that chapole sitting in my tummy's got I don't know why you did that

you know another one I like with the seventh on top is like a herbieism yeah oh yeah maybe like an F minor. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and I think you always have the decision once you start moving through the octaves, how long you're going to keep one of your top notes. And really, I think you can tell when you either, like, say, hear a Herbie soul or anybody playing these and then start to put it into your playing.

You can sort of tell whether or not the top note becomes the melody or not. There's some kind of gray area, but usually it's, usually it's, It's just there for the axis. Yeah, it's really just there. But I mean, sometimes, like, if you go and you're moving each one with it, then it sort of becomes the top note, like, you're hearing that.

But when that's, as soon as you have independence of that, like, the movement of the middle or the lower voice and the top note stays the same, it becomes really like almost like an ax, a rhythmic ornamentation to your main bluesy line. Yeah. Let's keep moving down with this top note. If we go to the sixth here in F, which is D, I mean, the one that first comes to mind is probably that, you know, on the ninth there. Yeah, yeah.

One that I, man, I remember hearing this and, like, noting it at this bluesy double stop. There's a guitarist, legendary blues guitarist based here in St. Louis for years and years named Benny Smith. Amazing. Oh, yeah. And he would do this with the sixth on top, and then he would, like, pull up to the fifth, which sounded great on guitar. And then I was like, that would sound good on piano.

It sounds. So you get that CD. Yeah. Oh. Like he would do stuff like. that all the time. That little second crunch is so great. Yep.

Good stuff. Okay, so that's the sixth. The fifth. There's lots to be done on the fifth, too. Yeah, there's lots to be friends. So this one kind of is almost like, maybe like the tonic up its top in terms of... Yeah, I like this one for, like, on the third, especially.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, and what you're doing there is, like, you're using that grace note again to play around with the major and minor, bluesy kind of. Yeah. And a lot of times, you know, we'll think of from minor to major, but you can also go major to minor. And it's not usually,

that's a different kind of thing. That's a different thing, yeah. And Monk did this a lot, Thelonious Monk as it. You know, really had that great technique of bending the note, and then you can just add that fifth or the octave above it.

I love to bend the note. Okay. The fourth, I don't really, I'm just thinking, like I wouldn't use it over, an F as a... I mean, but it's more of a suss thing or a minor thing.

Which sounds great if it's a suss. And then the third I also probably don't use on top of any blues I'm trying to think of my word. Major third? Major third. But the minor third... Oh yeah. Yeah, that's right. So these are great. Actually, any kind of shell...

Yeah. You know, we talk about practicing our voicing in our right hand as well as our left hand. Any shell can be used as a bluesy. double stuff. I think in the intro I did something like like this G7 and you hear Oscar Peterson do this all the time well you know like I mean he'll do like a whole

blues chorus yeah and I think Oscar was such a master of going to this kind of and then throwing them in either at the beginning and or the end of you know and then go single line flurries kind of thing and then coming back to this very effective so you can use those shells like to your advantage in these bluesy double

stops any thirds and seventh. Yeah. It's really fun to go through those. Yeah, and in case people miss it, just what you were just talking about, we talk about the shells, which is normally the seventh and the third. There's some other shells, but like certainly over the blues.

And we're talking about learning them in both hands so that you can use them, you know, root shell pretty, you know, bigger voicing in either hand. Maybe you're walking a baseline, but also for these kind of applications for shapes. They're going to set off your melodic improvisations.

Yeah, and you can actually do this on any, like, four-note voicing. Yeah. You know, just break it up into some bluesy double stops. The second or the ninth, I would use on like a major seven. Yeah. Yep. That kind of sounds me if when you do it up there, like with the F on the root, the sixth with the sharp 11.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, these are so nice, man. Yeah. Now, would you consider these, I know we're getting a little bit away from bluesy with the sharp 11, but would you, I kind of consider these double stops, too, when you go. Oh, like pentatonic?

Yeah, well, pentatonic or not, but just, you know, when you're going from single line into a couple of two notes. Yeah, those I consider double stops. I don't know if I put them in the same category as like. Right. That's what I said, without the bluesy part. But I see what you're saying. Or even if you go like, say,

back over to F blues. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you could add one in where it's like, who, yeah, yeah, yeah. And those are almost like two independent melodic lines a little bit. But then you... Oh, nice. All right, if we're debating what is and isn't a bluesy.

Well, we made up the terms. I know, we can do whatever the hell we want? But do you consider something like... Yeah. Like... Yeah. Right, I mean, because it's moving. Yeah.

Well, especially the way that you approach it because you were like... And so the main melody note is on the bottom. That's kind of what typifies this a lot of times is that usually the melody and then the accompaniment or the harmony notes are below it. This is traditionally an area where the accompaniment and the rhythmic accentuation is on top. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One thing I'm thinking of is instead of like that for a diminished sound, right, which you could use with any kind of flat nine chords. So if I have G7 here, it's like my two. You know, we talk. You talked about the shell using F and B. Shiel.

But you could do a diminished, like a B diminished. And you could either use D and A flat, but you could also use B and A flat, like the outside notes of that diminished chord, and just fall off it. That's another awesome thing. And you know what this is? Like all this stuff, this is just about ways for us on the piano

or on the keyboard to express, interesting, melodic things that really, you know, except for the guitar and look, a lot of these are kind of taken

from guitar wrists. They're made to sound like guitars for sure. But I mean, single line instruments can't do, but like a trumpet or a saxophone

or a vocal can bend notes in a way. This is almost like a lot of times use it's almost like a bending ornamentation kind of thing. This is our way to bend notes

for sure. I was just thinking like those diminished like especially that's a little bit of a bendy kind of and you can do the same thing

with like augmented Yeah. You know? Yep. Don't you do that? What is that? That's not really a double stop. No, but it's fun.

It has that feel. Yeah. Now, what about just one last one we could maybe think about, aren't there times when we'll do like... Well, I'm thinking like... Sometimes you'll do that. Almost like a funk groove, you know? Like almost like a New Orleans funk thing.

So it's the double stop is like triplet, kind of tript. you know yeah yeah like that's the main melody yeah I like that that minor third with the six yeah and if you're on a minor chord like C minor here's what you're playing

like almost thinking of it like F7 with these bluesy doubles yeah yeah sure yeah that'll work good good yeah man we got through it we did the bluesy double stops bluesy double stops done

go to open studio jazz to learn more about We don't have a course on bluesy, though. Well, we just laid out a course, but we go in and out of it on a lot of the stuff. Keiser plays some bluesy double stops. I don't know if he calls him that. We all do. We all do.

Yeah, we should do a whole... It's a part of the jazz piano vernacular. We need to do a lesson on bluesy double stops on the jazz piano method, which is your weekly course that you have over 700 lessons on. Is it seven or eight hundred? No, I think it's like 500. Is it five or six hundred? It's like four or four hundred.

It feels like 700. It's like a one-hour movie that feels like it's three hours, you know? let's keep adding to it with more bluesy double-stop. Yeah, and it's available as part of our piano access pass, which has quickly become our most popular membership option. Yeah, I don't want to say that I called it, but I totally called it. You did call it. That's right.

Well, till tomorrow, you'll hear it.