100 Ultimate Blues Riffs for Piano/Keyboards Intermediate/Advanced Level

This best selling book, 100 Ultimate Blues Riffs by Andrew Gordon is an exhaustive guide to some of the best musical phrases that make up blues piano/keyboard playing. There are five sections broken down into:

Basic Blues riffs
R&B influenced Blues riffs
Boogie Woogie
Rock influenced Blues riffs
Gospel influenced Blues riffs

The 12 bar Blues progression and the Blues scale are explained. There are two completed songs at the back of the book that shows how to combine many of the riffs to form a song. Many people have commented that this is the best Blues keyboard product that they have ever used. A must for all levels of keyboardists that want to study the blues. All 100 "riffs" are recorded with the piano right hand on the right channel and the piano left hand on the left channel along with a drum track. Learn how your favorite Blues keyboardists play including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Chuck Leavell, Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Otis Spann, Nicky Hopkins and many more!
Customer Comments
I have bought many products published by Andrew Gordon. I think his products are among THE VERY BEST there are. So many books about blues for keyboard are very amateur. I was DELIGHTED when my teacher who is a great musician herself turned me on to Andrew Gordon's products. FINALLY an opportunity to learn and play in an adult and professional capacity. Among the many wonderful qualities this book has, one that I particularly like is the way that Mr. Gordon integrates traditional blues licks and sounds with refreshing new ideas. Miles Davis continually reinvented himself. A musical style needs to retain its traditional elements in order to keep its idiomatic sound. Yet it also must be something organic that breathes, grows and develops. That's what Mr. Gordon does very successfully. And he has graciously decided to share his artistry with us so that we may have fun with it.
Note though, that the format of this book is a compilation of wonderful material but it doesn't offer a very detailed explanation of blues theory. For those just starting out in the blues, you might want to supplement this book with lessons from a qualified teacher of blues keyboard or another book that goes into fundamental detail about HOW to play the blues. I liken the format of this book not to a lesson that gives an overview of blues keyboard playing but rather like those jazz instruction books that assume you know how to play and want to study the transcriptions of the masters. Mr. Gordon is certainly one of the masters of playing blues keyboard as well as the other styles of music that he has published.
For those that love this material, I suggest a couple of Mr. Gordon's other products: "Keyboard Bass Lines" which gives examples of both traditional and innovative bass lines that one can improvise over and/or the CD plus its transcription of Mr. Gordon playing "Boogie Woogie and Blues". Both are fantastic.
I personally am very grateful to Mr. Gordon for making these materials accessible to us. The joy I have gotten from these materials is immeasurable. D.F. Florida
This is a fabulous book, it does what it says, the riffs are so various you can get a great insight into the different styles covered. This is perfect for anyone who has an interest in developing their blues skills. (About me, classically trained, Music academy background) Andrew's instructions and tips are comprehensive and you can choose your favourites and concentrate on them, or have a go at the lot ! Well worth it, make your own mind up, I think this is a true gift and very generous of Andrew to share his love of music in this way.A.H. London U.K.

With Rod Stewart before playing a football game against the team he was playing on. He was kind enough to pose with my book "100 Ultimate Blues Riffs" when I told him that the album that started me on the road to playing Blues was "Truth" by Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart on vocals and Nicky Hopkins playing piano.