Hi!

Great you put the music for the lick video online, too! More to practice…

Thanks!

Hey Jonathon,

Thanks so much for your Blues licks videos they’ve come along at just the right time for me. Your funk groove is very kool too – LH reminds me of Watermelon man, anyway thanks again

Cheers from Simon in Sydney

I am not sure if you have talked about this before, but is this series available on DVD or CD? I was wanting to have a copy of all of your music videos. They are very encouraging and easy to understand.

Thanks,
Victoria

Thanks for the response. I can understand.

Thanks,
Victoria

Hello Jonathon,

I just joined our High School jazz band this year on piano. Even though I’ve played piano, I’ve never really learned jazz theory. When told to solo, I was just given the notes of the Blues Scales and told to come up with rhythms; yours really help! When we warm up, we all take a solo over Bb blues, so can I ask you to either send me your C version (it looks like Finale?) and I’ll transpose or can you transpose it into Bb for me? If you would like, I can give you my email address.

Thank you!

Your jazz student,
Tyler

Hi there!

I’ve been trying to break into the world of jazz piano for some time now. I’m classically trained but my passion’s shifted over the last few years.
Without a doubt your tutorials are the best material i’ve come accross so far! I’ve bought a fair few books, but there’s nothing like a demonstration to motivate you, and your enthusiasm shines through! I’ve learned your funk groove, and most of the blues licks, but the difficult part for me is breaking away from my classical training and improvising. Any pointers would be most gratefully accepted!

Thanks for these videos, they’re so helpful, and it’s pretty rare to find this quality of material for free!

Andrew

Thank you for doing these lessons. I’ve learned quite a bit. I’ve got to work on both hands more. it’s tough.

Hi,

First let me say that I am a complet beginner at the piano and slowly learning but I like these lessons ok that said I’m starting off with lick#1.

But I am confused a bit, again I’m a piano newb..

Are these licks in C? I thought the C blues scale was

C-Eb-F-F#-G-Bb-C

I’m not every good at reading the notation but it looks like the lick is,

Eb/E-G/F-A/E-G

Am I missing something??

Dear Jonathan Wilson,

I first saw you on expertvillage.
At first i taught you were like some other musician that will teach some and keep some. However, I was wrong. You are a very different musician. You are different from the rest because you’re unselfish to share what you know. Besides this, you painstakingly record down all 31 videos and 4 backing tracks for us.And your videos are of high quality plus detailed explaination with notes ,slow,fast, and with backing tracks demonstrations.
At first i was so puzzled by blues turnaround but you have unlocked the myth of blues turnaround and even taugh me more. I like expecially the bebop licks you played.
Not only that.. After i learn and watch your 30 licks, now i can improvise myself to make more licks. A word ‘Thanks” is not enough for showing how gratefull i am.
I will like to say ‘Thank GOD for you”… and hope to learn more from you.

sincerely yours,
andy from malaysia

Thank you Jonathan Wilson.I didn’t expect to get your reply that fast. In replying me, I presume you’re a humble person and not arrogant.I hope you understand that my nice and kind words are not preplanned or trying to flatter anybody. they are from the bottom of my heart. Because I’m so touch to see somebody like you sacrificing a portion of his life to help strangers like me and everybody here.Do you know that you’re sacrificing your life for us? I said this because if for example, if you hav 4 months to live and you spend 3 months creating these learning materials for us,what left for yourself is 1 month. every minute ticking away is the same as ones life ticking away. I had an old friend. He just past away at 86. I visited him a few times in the hospital. in the hospital, he kept telling my parents that how he wish that before he die,he can get to see his son that is working overseas the last time. Few days later,a friend of his visited him and in that same day his only son and 5 daughters traveling back to meet their father. Then this sick old man told his good friend that he wanted to sleep awhile.Then he passed away while his son and daughters are 15minutes away. If he can live another 16 minutes,maybe he can see them for the very last time. But at least if you do die someday,at least in your life time you did something good. and we will all remember you.

Thanks for replying and don’t reply me anymore because i don’t want to take away your life and time. You’ve done too much for us all.

sincerely yours,
andy

True, about the time, but time giving is time well-spent. I’m just adding my voice to those appreciating all the sharing and the work it takes. It’s giving me a lot of joy and challenge. Fun stuff! Thanks.

Dear Jonathon,

You have helped me -and this is a serious understatement- a long way. It is, as andythan noted, remarkable how unselfish you are with your knowledge. You take the time to smile, lay down the licks -half speed, with metronome; full speed with backing track- provide notations, in various keys and even more… You’ve actually learned me much more about blues (and jazz) piano than my actual piano teacher.
I asure you, your effort is time well spent, for you will have helped many more than those giving voice to their gratitude.

I thank you sincerely, and hold you in great respect.

A student from Belgium,

Manuel

Absolutely LOVE your work. Been playing since I was 5 (I’m even older than you – have less hair and a more beat up piano – your Yamaha upright records nice and clean). I’ve learnt some nice new licks and variations. You are a very generous man and very talented.

It’s a funny thing to me – pianists and musicians (in general) tend to keep there licks to themselves – yes they share a few but as you said in one of your videos, “this is a nice one to pull out when you want to show off”. I guess for old gits like myself it was all learned off LP’s and later CD’s. It made it hard to progress – and all the licks I managed to learn were hard won!

So how great is it that you spend the time and effort to share and break it down for us – thank you…

hi Jonathon,

thanks so much for your videos and this site. I stumbled across you on YouTube while searching on “how to play rock organ solos…”. I am learning…thanks for teaching.

trrish

Hi Jonathon,

Thanks so much for the Blues licks – your videos have been really helpful!

Is it possible you could send me your original Finale file in C?

Thanks,

Karl

Hey,

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve now taken all of the licks on both the blues lessons and the funk lessons and put them in all 12 keys (it was a long month in the shed for me). I’ve been playing jazz for about a year and half now (formerly a classically trained pianist who fell in love with Oscar as we all do) and I realized that I completely missed out on the roots for all of this stuff. The funk got my left hand separation together, and the blues kept my licks fresh, and I can’t thank you enough for those lessons.

However, I’d love to see you do a couple things.

1. As a pretty huge theory buff I’m always interested in impressing the cats with some tasty modern stuff, so I’d love to see your takes on Melodic Minor applications to the blues, and a more advanced vocabulary (which I know you have, thanks to the Zoom test run.)
2. A blues bass line/left hand techniques lesson would be great. I trust you wouldn’t come up with all the left hand cheese I’ve been trying to use.

Thanks for the music,
Dave

Hi, Jonathon. I’m a teenager in south korea. I can’t type such a long writing, so don’t upset by my short writing.
I saw your lesson video, It was so great. I’m learning ’bout funk groove and blues.
By the way, I felt that I need some backing. Because I don’t have any digital piano and I don’t have any backing or else.
Could you give me your blues video’s backing in this page?
And if you don’t mind, please give me how to play funk groove’s backing in this page : http://www.aqua-web.com/2007/11/17/how-to-play-a-funk-groove-on-the-piano/
Have a nice day, jonathon.

Jonathon

I just want to thank you for the 30 blues piano licks. I have been trying to play the blues for years and they helped me a lot. Great playing and recording.

Best,

Benjamin (France)

thank you sooooo much …….i really love ur teaching …. i ve ben learning so much…….
god bless d internet

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks so much! Really appreciated!
Any chance of a lesson on getting our left hand dancing too?

Also do you have the backing tracks in different keys?

Andrew (UK)

Many thanks from South Caro! This series has greatly enhanced my ability to flow with the band… a great ‘daily vitamin’ for keyboard musicians.

Hi! thanks a lot for the nice groovie 30 must have blues licks. keep doing your thing XD

gunnar ( Norway )