Play Swanee River Boogie

Update #1: Play Swanee River Boogie

2024-05-25T03:27:40+00:00

Swanee has been my #1 want to learn in boogie for ages. I think it will be the ultimate song to rip on piano. This is probably the most difficult song I've learned in terms of left hand- both hands will need to do their own thing!

Challenges Overcome: Practiced a bit using this lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8V6sWH33GI You can see my attempt at playing left hand consistently while trilling with the right hand- they aren't independent yet. I got the idea for practicing the hand independence from Dr. K https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJyLWbFXoMI&list=PLvGPGdLp1zr_CfXITPeL5E2eKvI0YRF5P&index=2

Update #2: Basic riff with left hand

2024-05-26T04:36:13+00:00 5% complete

Able to steadily play left hand. Testing a theory where drilling the same riff over and over leads to hand independence.

Challenges Overcome: Able to play a single riff with hand independence. Developed some good habits around this practice riff.

Obstacles Faced: I think the hardest part of this song is hand independence. What happens for me is both hands want to copy what the other hand is doing. I need to mentally break that shell. I have to make sure to learn things correctly the first go, because if I develop a bad habit this early on it'll propagate and screw a bunch of things up later

Next Steps: Expand the riff a bit more

Looking Back: Pick one riff (less than 10 notes for each hand). Memorize the exact timing of the riff. Repeat it over and over and over. Use pointer finger on left hand 5th so thumb doesn't have to move around (allows way more consistent rhythm). Right hand naturally acts much much more independent. So, I realized I can kind of just focus on making sure left hand plays correctly and right hand will do the "right" thing (after drilling that riff into muscle memory)

Update #3: First verse feeling comfortable

2024-05-28T18:00:06+00:00 25% complete

Slow burned the first verse and surprisingly it's feeling pretty good. I guess going slow and steady and just getting reps in really does work

Challenges Overcome: Left hand feeling good. Right hand seems to be fitting in right after some practice.

Obstacles Faced: Left hand is actually getting a little tired. Still "forcing" myself to play the parts, it doesn't really flow yet. When it flows, I'll be able to easily improve it, but not there yet. If the left hand plays two notes, the right hand wants to play two notes (thanks brain). Need to work on splitting this indepence- it's like the elementary school pat head rub belly problem.

Next Steps: Time to memorize the next

Looking Back: Just get the reps in, it's all muscle memory. Learn it right and go slow. Surprised how much progress I could make with just a few hours of practice. After baking it into muscle memory, then try really "feeling" the song and letting it swing. It'll come out much more naturally and sound good.

Update #4: Playing it feeling the melody more

2024-06-01T18:41:48+00:00 50% complete

Not just brute forcing the memorized notes- but playing it so it sounds like the melody really helps the natural swing and timing of both hands

Challenges Overcome: Really starting to groove with the melody, which unlocks improving the right hand.

Obstacles Faced: Having sheet music would make this 10x easier.

Next Steps: Time to add some body to the right hand!

Looking Back: Youtube tutorials will slow down the melody so you can learn the notes- but in a vacuum it's hard to know how it is supposed to sound. Playing the tutorial at a faster speed helps click into place how a section is supposed to sound.

Update #5: Making right hand fuller

2024-06-08T18:40:25+00:00 60% complete

Focused on nailing the right hand melody with a little more body

Challenges Overcome: Memorized right hand notes (but still missing some for transitions and body)

Obstacles Faced: Really hard to trill 3rds with right hand while keeping melody. Left hand gets sore and right hand gets sore trilling now. Will have to work the muscles up slowly

Next Steps: Practice it until it’s second nature

Update #6: Main melody groovin, some trills

2024-06-22T20:38:56+00:00 75% complete

I'd say after 10 hours of practice, I finally feel that I can improv a bit, kind of naturally clicking. Still a challenge consistently keeping left hand going while right hand has total freedom

Challenges Overcome: Playing the main melody which is super catchy. When I play it around people, I find them humming it the rest of the day :D

Obstacles Faced: Left hand strain/cramping is a huge limiting factor, way more than I thought it would be. I can't practice more than 10 minutes at a time, which is severely limiting my progress. This is the only song I've learned that has caused this much stress on the left hand.

Next Steps: My pianist friend @jadi had some advice for left hand cramping/preventing injury. I'll be focusing on his advice for next progress. To paraphrase, here was his advice: "It's not about muscle memory, it's about technique. Your wrist needs to be at level with the keys, slightly above it by millimeters (wrist position). You're probably exhausting yourself my slamming the keys and getting some of that kinetic energy back into your wrist as you hit the bottom of the key, and engaging the wrist/fingers/hand in stiff and awkward position (wrist stiffness). This leads to injuries including my tendinitis. Finally, you don't need strength and brute force to produce great sound volume, you can use velocity."

Looking Back: Some of the transition parts for the right hand caused me to slow down or become sloppy. Until I get more comfortable, I rearranged some of the notes to be easier/closer together on the right hand which has helped.

Update #7: Moments like this make practice worth it

2024-06-30T17:49:02+00:00 75% complete

While playing on a public piano a stranger sat next to me and started ripping. It's for moments like this that I love learning new skills

Challenges Overcome: He didn't speak English and I didn't speak French but we had one language in common

Update #8: Playing with left hand as chords = can practice melody with right hand

2024-07-12T23:00:26+00:00 85% complete

Took a step back started playing chords with left hand. Realized this is super helpful as it stretches the left hand and helps get timing + improves freestyle ability/feeling of song. I was so focused on playing both hands I forgot to give them freedom! Listening to the song a bunch of times helps a lot too.

Update #9: A little break, a little practice, and listening to the song over and over

2024-09-30T21:59:02+00:00 100% complete

I was able to rip it on 93S piano and get people moving, my original goal.

Challenges Overcome: Playing it and hearing people whistling it after

Obstacles Faced: Keeping left hand on time while messing with right hand

Next Steps: Keep having fun with it!

Looking Back: Go slow, really listen to how the timing should be for each hand. Improving to fit the parts, as long as you capture the essence, is the true sign of understanding.