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Bluesy Amazing Grace

I did not see this coming.

On Wednesday after work, I headed north to Brevard, NC, where my parents live. My mom was getting cataract surgery Thursday morning, and even though my sister lives here in Brevard, my mom wanted me here to stay with my dad while she was getting surgery.

So I packed my laptop (so I could work remotely) and my 61-key Yamaha keyboard (so I could at least do some minor 7th and blues improvisation exercises).

I got a good bit of work done (I had to), but I honestly didn't expect to get much done on piano.

Boy, was I wrong.

Looking for "Amazing Grace"

I wanted to play "Amazing Grace" for my dad. Even though I can play it by ear, I wanted to find a good arrangement. I was looking ... and then it dawned on me that Piano With Jonny probably had one.

Well, they have a whole course on how to play Amazing Grace in a gospel blues style! Not only that, but they have it in intermediate and advanced versions!

My time to learn something new was limited, so I started working through the intermediate course, and all I can say is ... wow. Just wow.

Maybe It's a Grace Thing

I had no intention of learning anything new this weekend, much less on a little plastic keyboard, but instead I found the course I have been needing all my life. I have so many years of playing hymns and adding broken chords in the left hand, thinking of how they all sounded pretty but also how I was dying of boredom, doing the same old things over and over.

Friends, my days of being bored while improvising on hymns are over.

I have a lot still to learn and a lot of work to do, but this course has started me on the unexpected journey of learning to play in that gospel blues style I have always loved but never understood: slides, harmonizations, tremolo, walking bass, etc. All that stuff that I just needed someone to teach me because, for whatever reason, this classically trained girl couldn't figure out for herself.

Here is a halting version of "Amazing Grace" from the course, just a few hours after working my way through it at breakneck speed because I was so eager to learn it all. I'm mostly reading the music, but not completely. Since making this video a few hours ago, I've already worked on similar versions for "Higher Ground" and a couple of other hymns. I'm so excited.


My favorite part is the end when my dad says it's a pretty song. He is 90 years old and I know I will treasure that little clip for the rest of my life.

That rusty old key turned big-time this weekend. I'm on my way to being the pianist I want to be. So thankful for Jonny May and PWJ.

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