Blues forms

Funky Blues (Robert Glasper Style)

Dominant ninths and thirteenths colour most of the chorus, with tight clusters on several grips.

Key
F
Level
intermediate
Tempo
Slow groove (70-95 BPM)

The form

  1. bar 1F9
  2. bar 2F9
  3. bar 3F9
  4. bar 4F13
  5. bar 5Bb9
  6. bar 6Bb9
  7. bar 7F9
  8. bar 8Am7-D7
  9. bar 9Gm7
  10. bar 10C13
  11. bar 11F9
  12. bar 12Gm7-C13

2 bars carry two chords. The transcription writes both chords' notes together without saying which note belongs to which, so those bars are printed and not drawn — a keyboard guessed from an ambiguous line would show a chord nobody plays.

The hands

Left hand then right, as the source writes them. A pianist's voicing routinely carries a colour the chord symbol does not spell — a flat ninth over a dominant, a ninth on top of a seventh chord — so the notes printed under each keyboard are what is actually played, rather than what the symbol alone would predict.

F9

bar 1

LH F2 C3RH G3 A3 Eb4

Add 9th, tight spacing

F9

bar 2 · bar 3 · bar 7 · bar 11

LH F2 C3RH G3 A3 Eb4

F13

bar 4

LH F2 C3RH A3 D4 Eb4

Add 13th

Bb9

bar 5 · bar 6

LH Bb2 F3RH C4 D4 Ab4

Gm7

bar 9

LH G2 D3RH Bb3 F4 A4

C13

bar 10

LH C3 G3RH E4 A4 Bb4

Associated players

  • Robert Glasper
  • Cory Henry