this excerpt from the public television program the piano guy
is brought to you by NAMM the international music Products Association
I'm sure this is going to be fun I'd like to introduce you to a
great piano player and friend of the show Bobby Floyd
Hi Scott, okay how about you I'm doing well thank you and I'm
more than a little excited that you're here particularly to work through this
tune
Georgia on My Mind is the official title
and I didn't realize it until we started taping that
you've really got a connection to this tune because you worked with Ray Charles
I worked with Ray Charles back in the mid 80s
I worked with him for about a year and a half
And you toured all over all over the country and parts of Europe with him. tell us about him
What do you have to share about I'll bet the playing was just great to hear
It was great working with him.
the man (Ray Charles) was a genius. They called him the genius of soul
it was great working with him. I played organ
I was just gonna ask how did you do a dueling piano with Ray Charles.
So you didn't.
yeah I played organ actually I played with the band before he would come out
before they would introduce him (Ray Charles.)
and he would come out take over the piano I would move over to the organ
and accompany him while he played. so the band was a big band.
So you traveled with the big band. So you were playing piano with the big band
That is great fun! Then you would move to a B3.
how that's great
He's someone that I'd love to steal some good blues licks from. He was the king.
When you see him play you wish you could see his hands with a good over head camera shot.
exactly
he just had the most soulful stuff. it wasn't particularly
technical usually it was just just right. It was all heart
It wasn't smoking' hot technique It wasn't great chops
It was just absolutely the right thing at the right time
fun stuff yeah so you've played this tune quite a bit them I guess
having done that now how would you
sit down and and you know play this tune, how would you dig in?
I would play the melody line with my right hand probably using single notes
or in octaves or chords
and I would accompany what I was playing in my right hand with my left hand by playing
chords to support the melody
Let's hear a couple of measures
(Playing Georgia on My Mind on Piano)
Do me a favor Start at the beginning.
What chords are you playing?
You did a couple of quick substitutions.
You are playing in the key of F
(Playing Georgia on My Mind on Piano)
2, 5, 1 a D minor
Bb, Bdim
F
D7, G7
C7, 3-6-2-5
That's pretty straight ahead
I forgot what I did there
Maybe I'll do it again.
that's the beauty of playing like this having the freedom to just be able to
hammer through whatever you're doing and enjoy doing the substitutions
like that. Sometimes I'm challenged by the big spaces
It is a long time to let it sit there
same thing to have a long time and then the chords start getting a little busier
give us
some tips on how you make melodic lines
more interesting If there are some long hanging notes what can you do to fill
some of that time. You can do a lot of different things you can do
all sometimes you can improvise
within the melody or between melody notes with your right hand
and since this is a
soulful song I can play
or you don't have to do that
you can just fill in with your left hand
that's enough right there
to make it flow. if you're playing the right chords with your left hand that's enough right there to
make it
flow in the case where you did do that you're thinking was
Georgia, there's the line, and then you're like mentally shifting gears okay now
accompany
now back to being the soloist now accompany
It's like you are playing the melody and improvising
Knowing that we are not going to be singing this one
That is an interesting break for a lot of our viewers how do you shift gears when
you go from solo playing to
accompaniment playing a description that we use a lot of
obviously you don't wang to play the melody line because whoever is singing it is doing it.
but it's almost as though you become a counterpoint
Stay away when the melody should be sung and fill in when you shouldn't
can I could ask you if you were accompanying someone
right now play the first couple of measures right now
Now you are out of the way
pretty much just playing the chords
Please keep on where you were
now that's done your time it is your time as an accompaniment
Back out of the way then back in that's a a fun thing to play
I think it is a really healthy thing to learn for a lot of beginning pianists
because a lot of people playing this style because they do wanna sing or they're wanting
to accompany someone or whatever that is in power
it's a mind shift i think - get away from the melody
fill in when the melody isn't playing
It is the inverse of what you would normally be doing
and it's also a matter of becoming familiar with the right lines
and anything that you were playing between
or behind the melody just becoming familiar with it.
the right way of playing this style. anything bluesy
it's also a pretty song
it's always been an interesting
prelude into the world of improvisation for some people who haven't
improvised - I really don't consider myself a jazz improviser
that is a world I'm trying to get into
i've found in the past for students that may be a good way to nudge
somebody down that path is to say, start accompanying
What you end up getting is improvised lines but in very small bites
you're still having to use the same skills and say hey what chord are
we on
what are some of the appropriate melodic things across these chord changes
but you are not responsible for an entire course full
You get a little nugget
Now let me do a little improvise thing
Maybe that is a good stepping stone for those who feel a little timid
about jumping in the middle of the lake
now moving to the the bridge on this tune
Let's play a couple of measures. We are in the key of F
The bridge is going to the relative D minor
the last couple bars
3, 4 Dm
Gm
What can you do playing wise as this bridge gets
dark
It's in a minor with darker chords as opposed to this
this prettier lighter you know a section
how do you approach playing it to give it that kind of feel or do you do
anything different there
is it more of a durge kinda thing
it's kind of a durge but it still a bluesy song
and since you're going to the relative minor you you can play
a lot of the bluesy lines like the blues scale in the Key of F
blues scale
in the key of F is like a pentatonic with a B natural
The blues scale
in the key of F is like a pentatonic with a B natural
okay
now if you go to the key of D minor Let's say
The blues scale is pretty much based on the pentatonic
If you are in the Key of D minor
Okay
That's a good nugget for viewers
if in this tune you are in the A section
You can work on the F blues scale which was F, Ab, Bb, B, C, Eb
F
Eb
F, Ab, Bb, B,
C, Eb
okay so the reason that works
any one of those notes are going to be safe to play
They are safe appropriate notes to play
across that section now in the B section
when you're in the B section what is the safe
D minor
It's cool to play the D blues scale ok let's do that one
D, F, G
Ab
A, C
yeah just just get those notes memorized and boy is it going to immediately give you
a launching pad for
for having some fun doing some improvisation on tunes and don't
be afraid of that word
Oh, I'm not a jazzer
make some music and have some fun and it's great to do that
Let's hear you play this tune.
thanks for sharing all that information and we'll see we keep our eyes
out if you want to take a solo course that would be great
and we'll listen for the blues scale okay alright
Nice job Bobby!
thanks so much okay really appreciate it thanks this excerpt from the public
television program
the piano guy has been brought to you by NAMM
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