Improvising Blues Piano Paperback – December 1, 1997

The best blues piano book I have found, and I have tried everything I could get my hands on.Tim Richards does a great job of introducing an idea, then presenting a song that allows you to apply the new technique. After each song there are "checkpoints" to highlight what was covered in the song and "assignments" to reinforce the ideas. I am finishing up "Improvising Blues Piano" and I am also working thru his "Exploring Jazz Piano" book one and I just love his style. Here are some bullet points:- Clearly presented ideas- Moves in manageable steps- Audio examples on CD are excellent, there are also playa longs and everything is musical, very professionally done and pleasing to the ear.- It is accurately labeled as an intermediate level book, not too easy, not too difficult, but still challenging and it is making me a better player.- Much more of a true BLUES book than a lot of others(in my opinion it seems like a lot of the other piano blues books are written by jazz guys and as such they miss the style and wind up being "Jazz Blues" this is a BLUES book)- Nice variety without losing the feel of the blues. YES the blues can come in different shades, but there is something that makes something blues and in my opinion this book hits the mark. The section on minor blues is very nice and the book covers the use of minor chords in blues and tensions without becoming a jazz nook. (there is a place for it, it is in a jazz book)I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I also recommend Tim Richards as an author and so far all three of the Schott music books I have worked with are great. --Improvising Blues Piano, Exploring Jazz Piano and Improvising Blues Saxophone (which I am using for blues harmonica)

This is an indispensable resource for the aspiring blues pianist. It is comprehensive, well-sequenced in terms of skills and covers a broad spectrum of blues artists, lending variety and novelty to one’s practice. Although I am not a “raw beginner,” many of us in the beginner’s range of piano will need to exercise patience and persistence if we want to advance through this book. Fortunately, the fingerings provided are not always intuitive, so they become indispensable to acquiring fluency. I have also found it helpful to go back and re-read the explanatory notes in the book and revisit early selections rather than to get “stuck” at a point that can lead to frustration and abandonment. On occasion, I have encountered more success on a subsequent piece before retreating to an earlier song. I have also found it valuable to take advantage of both the audio CD that comes with the book, as well as some of the YouTube videos by Mr. Richards that provide an added dimension. Hearing selections has helped correct occasional rhythmic inaccuracies that tended to creep into my practice sessions when relying solely on notes on a page. Bottom line: Tim Richards has put together a compendium of blues that is both comprehensive and detailed, meticulously and thoughtfully assembled so as to provide a resource that I should be able to use for many months, if not years. It is well worth the money if you are serious about blues piano and is the best single resource that I have discovered to date, a veritable blues goldmine.

There realy are not many great methods for the blues out there, but Tim Richards is thorough and goes into the required detail to show you how each blues style works.The examples are very playable, suiting more or less an intermediate level pianist. Richards is one of the few take-away instruction teachers to be concerned about fingerings, and takes the trouble to suggest good ones. His playing instructions work very well and add a dimension that you don't often get in these method books - he has a great insight into the chords, and the notes and the way they fit the music. The breakdown of theory is very well explained, if sometimes overdone. But he never floods you with scales without showing you how to apply them - that in itself is a good thing!Richards' choice of music is impeccable, and calssic blues standards of af all styles are presented from boogie, to funk, slow blues, and some jazzy numbers. And he shows you music in a number of keys so you aren't stuck to one or two and get a work out in the other keys. I found the music very playable, and well sounding, although I didn't always find the improvising instructions that intuitive.The historical background he gives is accurate and informative and the pictures of blues and jazz legends really make this book interesting.My criticism of the book is that it should have stretched up to the more advanced techniques of the blues - where the top players are, like Oscar Peterson, for example. That is its dissapointment - a teacher as good as this who dedicated the time to work a out a progressive and different course in blues shouldn't have stopped at the middle level. He surely should have stretched us, his interested audience up to the highest level.But this should not stop you from using this very useful and inspiring book - I Thank you sincerely Tim.