A lovely gift showed up in my inbox today: Uwe Karcher, a German pianist and piano teacher has transcribed the final solo from 30 Must-have Blues Licks and added in his own left-hand parts. The transcription is top-notch, and the left hand parts are a great way to make this into a complete piece.

Many people have asked for some kind of left-hand part to go with these blues and thanks to Uwe — now it’s here! Just head over to the dedicated blues page, scroll down near the bottom and download Uwe’s PDF!

Many people have suggested that they would appreciate some tutorials that were a little easier than the advanced funk grooves. So this is the first of many in a new set of tutorials called “Groove Starters.”

This one is called “Open Fifths” and highlights both that chord and the fifth interval. If you learn this piece, you’ll be able to play a fifth anywhere on the piano at the drop of a hat! We’ll also discuss some of the music theory behind the slightly-dissonant hanging chords which give this tune its ambient feel.

Head over to the dedicated Groove Starter #1 page for all of the videos, a free PDF with the sheet music, and several MIDI files for loading into Synthesia or your favorite sequencer.

Click the thumbnail below to watch the first video, and to hear the whole tune at full speed.

neimaD11 from YouTube submits an absolutely gorgeous recording of my “Lullaby #4″ from 2008. I don’t think I could have played this better myself. Bravo!