Blues Medley & Shakin’ Bishop
Found in: Arrangements & Variations
Cheri S., Utah
I’m trying to figure out what these two variations are and where I can learn about them.
I’ve seen Blues Medley (V turnaround) listed by other teachers as an official SM variation. I assume this comes from the Lvl. 2 TTP when Neil teaches the V chord turnaround for Light Blue and he points out that you could use this to cycle back to the beginning of any blues song. Is there someplace besides this where I would learn more about creating blues medleys?
For Shakin’ Bishop, which appears in the Playlist Management program, Jy & Sheri call it a “Bonus variation as described in the Teacher Training Materials (TTM).” Does that mean in their own TTM for Playlist Management? If so, I didn’t catch it.
Sheri R., California
Cheri, Shakin’ Bishop is not an official SM variation. It is covered on the TTM Playlist Management audio portion and is presented in the order listed on the Arrangements Names document.
The idea of V turnaround is presented in Billy at the Footy in Level 3 as well as when learning the 2nd an 3rd versions of Light Blue. SM doesn’t have another place to learn about blues medleys as far as I know. Simply play the final I chord with the V “turnaround” and play another 12 bars with any of the versions of 12 bar blues you have so far until you’re plum out of blues juice, then just finish on the I. The Blues and Improvisation TTM is a place to find more ideas for playing blues.