Scott “The Piano Guy” Houston, together with guest pianist Milton Ruffin, did a nice analysis on the gospel piano style of Ray Charles.

Milton explained how Ray Charles applied the 1 and 2 technique in his playing, a way of switching between the inversion of two chords.

Here’s the video

Milton demonstrated a few nice licks which he didn’t really elaborate on.

The first lick is at 01m48s of the clip, this was what he played.

• The main chord was Ab7
• The lick is basically a switching between the inversions of Ab and Bbm chords
• The chord circled in red act as a passing chord

The second lick is at 08m28s of the clip, this was what he played

• The chord he was approaching at the end of the turnaround is a Db major
• The lick is build upon inversions of the Db and Ebm chord

A few things to keep in mind:

• Not all songs all suitable to apply these licks. They will sound good only when you are really looking for a bluesy gospel kind of feel, especially over a slow rock type of rhythm
• All eight notes must be played with a shuffle feel
• Observe how the appoggiaturas are added to create a more bluesy feel, take note also how he uses his thumb to play them
• These two licks are written an octave lower, to avoid the use of too many ledger lines

This is part 2 of a series of posts themed Cool Jazz Tricks. Stay tune for more, or subscribe to the Pianologist RSS Feed to be updated regularly.

Until then, Have Fun and Enjoy …