What's New
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Happy November 2024!
Here is my November 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
(A link to my monthly newsletter has been included here.
Enjoy reading it and please consider signing up for it.)
Check out newsletters from previous months, also. More will be added soon.
This month I'm happy to offer three new transcriptions, one of Bob Dylan and the other two of Nicky Hopkins.
In 1980 Bob Dylan created a music video singing a duet with Clydie King, Los Angeles' most in-demand back-up singer, singing "Abraham, Martin and John". The video shows just the two of them seated next to each other on a piano bench. Dylan plays the grand piano with no other instruments accompanying them - just Dylan's piano and their two voices in harmony - a truly beautiful performance by two musical legends.
That video was released in 2017 in the Dylan concert movie Trouble No More - the very last scene.
Here is my new transcription of Bob Dylan accompanying Clydie King and himself:
Bob Dylan & Clydie King - Abraham, Martin and John 
(click here to watch)
My second new transcription this month is of an original composition by Nicky Hopkins, "Jenni", a beautiful instrumental ballad, recorded when he was 22, and released on his first album, The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins. When all the other tracks are removed, the solo piano itself is revealed as a beautiful stand-alone solo piano composition, with a lovely melody and chord voicings, sensitive dynamics, and creative chord changes.
Here is my new transcription of Nicky Hopkins' "Jenni":
Nicky Hopkins - Jenni
(click here to listen)
My third new transcription in November is also of a Nicky Hopkins recording, "Interlude a la El Hopo (Flying Trapeze)", from his 1972 Jamming with Edward! album. The first section is Nicky jamming on "The Flying Trapeze", which he prefaces with an aggressive, rhythmic, rocking Intro. This is a note-for-note transcription of that Intro and Nicky's entire jam on "The Flying Trapeze". It's only 31 seconds long, but it is fun Nicky!
Here is my new transcription of Nicky Hopkins' "Interlude a la El Hopo (Flying Trapeze)":
Nicky Hopkin - "Interlude a la El Hopo (Flying Trapeze)"
(click here to listen)
My new exercise this month will help you learn the left hand boogie-woogie pattern on Nick Hopkins' "Pig's Boogie" (released in 1973 on his The Tin Man Was a Dreamer album).
Here is my new Pig's Boogie Left-Hand Exercise exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Pig's Boogie Left-Hand Exercise
(click to listen)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 116 exercises available.)
Happy October 2024!
Here is my October 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm happy to offer three new transcriptions of legendary players: Nicky, Chuck and Elton - you probably recognize them by their first names.
My new Nicky Hopkins transcription was inspired by last month's transcription of a brief 8-bar phrase of "Sympathy for the Devil" played by Chuck Leavell from the new Nicky Hopkins documentary, The Session Man, It made me curious as to how similar those 8 bars were to the original 1968 Nicky Hopkins track. This is my new transcription of two 8-bar Verse phrases exactly as Nicky Hopkins played them.
Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil - Two 8-bar Verse Patterns - Nicky Hopkins, piano
(click here to listen)
My new Chuck Leavell transcription this month is the piano solo in "Honky Tonk Women" as played live in Paris in 1995. Near the end of the solo Keith Richards reaches over from the non-keyboard side and starts playing rapidly repeating Little Richard-style clusters. All the while Leavell keeps playing, so there are three hands going. All three hands have been transcribed, including Keith's clusters. Here is my new transcription of
Rolling Stones - "Honky Tonk Women" Live 1995 - Piano Solo - Chuck Leavell
(click here to watch)
My new Elton John transcription is of his "Honky Tonk Women" piano solo from his virtuosic 11-17-70 album. Since piano solos on "Honky Tonk Women" are surprisingly rare - there was none on the original 1968 Rolling Stones recording - I thought it'd be good to have two of the best - Chuck Leavell and Elton John - to learn, compare, and study their styles.
Elton John - "Honky Tonk Women" - Piano Solo (11-17-70)
(click here to listen)
My new exercise this month will improve your rhythm and help you learn a very important technique - cross-bar phrasing, which is when a musical phrase stays the same but begins on a different beat (or part of a beat) in each subsequent repeat. It's name comes from the fact that the phrase will extend across a bar line (or a number of bar lines).
Here is my new Cross-bar Phrasing exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Cross-bar Phrasing - Based on 'Jessica' Rhythm
(click to listen)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 115 exercises available.)
Happy September 2024!
Here is my September 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm happy to offer three new transcriptions, each by a legendary player. In a brand-new documentary about Nicky Hopkins, The Session Man, Chuck Leavell talks about Nicky's contribution to "Sympathy for the Devil," pointing out that as you "get to the end he's doing this great figure using a 7th chord, like this...". Leavell then, to demonstrate, plays eight bars of the Chorus. I've transcribed it note-for-note.
Here is my transcription of Chuck Leavell playing 8 bars of the Chorus in "Sympathy for the Devil":
Chuck Leavell - Sympathy for the Devil - Half Chorus
(click here to watch)
My second new transcription this month is of the improvised section in Vince Guaraldi 1965 classic, "Christmas Is Coming". Who doesn't like Vince Guaraldi?! He was a terrific jazz player, but most of his jazz improvisations have not been transcribed. "Christmas Is Coming" was in the very first Charlie Brown TV special in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and starts and ends with sections that are nicely composed but not improvised. However, in the middle of the piece, for about 1:20 Guaraldi ad libs a very nice section before going into the composed (not improvised) Out section. I've transcribed that ad lib section, which contains nice single-note lines punctuated by Left Hand chords, plus some almost Floyd Cramer-style 'twangs'. Also included are the four bars before the improv begins plus four bars immediately after, to help you get into and out of the ad lib section.
Here is my transcription of Vince Guaraldi's improvised section from "Christmas Is Coming":
Vince Guaraldi - Christmas Is Coming - Improv Section
My third new transcription is Hargus 'Pig' Robbins blazingly-fast solo in Travis Tritt's "T-R-O-U-B-L-E". Gifted with perfect pitch, blind pianist 'Pig' Robbins was the leading Nashville session pianist from 1961 (after Floyd Cramer cut back his session work in favor of touring) until his passing in 2022. In 1992 Travis Tritt asked him to play on Tritt's new T-R-O-U-B-L-E album and gave 'Pig' a brief solo on the title track. As expected, Robbins indeed made the most of it, squeezing in three sections: high, repeated octaves+5ths, boogie-woogie 3rds, and then glissandi.
Here is my transcription of "T-R-O-U-B-L-E":
Travis Tritt - T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Piano Solo by Hargus 'Pig' Robbins
My new exercise this month will improve your facility with chord inversions, so that you become comfortable using all of them, not just a chord's root position.
This exercise uses not only the root position but also all three inversions of sixth & ninth chords. It includes six sections - three in 12/8 (shuffle) and three in 4/4.
Here is my new Ascending Chord Inversion exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Ascending Chord Inversions
(click to listen)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 114 exercises available.)
Happy August 2024!
Here is my August 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month my new transcription is of a 1962 classic - Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me". The piano part was played by legendary L.A. session player/arranger Ernie Freeman. Tremendously versatile, he played the tack piano on "Bumble Boogie" and years later won a Grammy for arranging the stunningly-gorgeous strings on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water".)
Here is my transcription of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me":
Sam Cooke - "Bring It On Home to Me" - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
This month my new "Right Hand Lateral Motion Exercise" will help improve one's accuracy while moving the Right Hand from side-to-side. It will train the 1st & 5th fingers of your right hand as to the distance between octaves by using broken octaves, not solid octaves.
It will also strengthen your 2nd & 5th finger 'arch' that is used when the 2 & 5 simultaneously strike notes a 4th or 5th apart.
Here is my new Lateral Motion exercise
Elmo Peeler - Right Hand Lateral Motion Exercise
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 113 exercises available.)
Happy July 2024!
Here is my July 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I have three new transcriptions. The piano solo in Linda Ronstadt's "Back in the U.S.A." is a classic, played by Don Grolnick, released in 1978 on her 9th studio album, Living in the U.S.A.
Here is my transcription of Don Grolnick's piano solo in "Back in the U.S.A.":
Linda Ronstadt - Back in the U.S.A. - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
The Wurlitzer electric piano solo in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Workin' for MCA" is also a classic, played by Billy Powell, released in 1974 on their Second Helping album.
Here is my transcription of Billy Powell's electric piano solo in "Workin' for MCA":
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Workin' for MCA - Electric Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
The piano solo in Chris Higbee's "Living the Dream" is also new - a very rhythmic, syncopated, flashy-looking two-handed piano solo that's both fun to play and fun to watch.
Here is my transcription of the piano solo in "Living the Dream":
Chris Higbee - Living the Dream - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
This month my new "Blues Exercise No.12 - Alternating Hands Lick" demonstrates a technique that can break the monotony of a basic blues Left Hand pattern by occasionally alternating the two hands in a triplet pattern. Not only will it help your sense of rhythm but it should also help your Left/Right coordination.
Here is my new Blues exercise
Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise No.12 - Alternating Hands Lick
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 112 exercises available.)
Happy June 2024!
Here is my June 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month my new transcription is Chuck Leavell's excellent piano part in The Black Crowes' "Hard to Handle", released on their 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker.
Here is my transcription of "Hard to Handle":
The Black Crowes - Hard To Handle - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
(click to listen)
(click to listen to the Isolated Piano track)
This month my new "6-note Minor Pentatonic Blues Scale Exercise" will help learn consistent fingering for the blues scale that will allow one to improvise more controlled solos and riffs without getting the fingers tangled up. Plus, adding the Left Hand octaves will help your Left/Right coordination.
Here is my new Blues exercise:
Elmo Peeler - 6-note Minor Pentatonic Blues Scale Exercise
(click to listen)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 111 exercises available.)
Happy May 2024!
Here is my May 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm pleased to offer three brand-new transcriptions in three quite different styles.
My own favorite is Booker T. Jones' "She Breaks", which has the great old retro classic M.G.'s sound even though it was recorded in 2010.
Another new transcription is the heavily-Gospel-tinged piano Intro for The Doobie Brothers' "World Gone Crazy". It's full of Gospel techniques packed into a short period of time. Bill Payne, founder of Little Feat, is the pianist.
And my third new transcription this month is of "Stop Right Now" from the Cattanooga Cats 1969 TV show. It's a BubbleGum-influenced English dance-hall style, complete with a honky-tonk piano solo.
Here are my new transcriptions this month:
Booker T. Jones - "She Breaks"
(click to listen)
The Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy - Piano Intro (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
(click to listen)
Cattanooga Cats - Stop Right There - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
(click to listen)
Happy April 2024!
Here is my April 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
My new transcription this month - "No Headstone on My Grave" - was recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis in London in 1973 using some of the UK's finest players, and released on his The Session... Recorded in London with Geat Artists album. It would become a concert staple as a sort of anthem for Lewis and his God-fearing, hell-raising persona. A long recording (5:40), it contains an aggressive, technically-challenging piano solo with both hands alternating at blur speed.
Here is my new transcription of Jerry Lee Lewis' "No Headstone on My Grave":
Jerry Lee Lewis - No Headstone on My Grave
Happy March 2024!
Here is my new March 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm pleased to offer my own arrangement of one of pop/rock's most beautiful recordings, The Fleetwood's "Mr. Blue".
All the important elements have been incorporated: background vocals, bass, guitar, trumpet. It is true to the original recording, just translated onto the piano with a few Elmo-isms.
Here is my arrangement of "Mr. Blue":
The Fleetwoods - Mr. Blue (Arranged for Piano by Elmo Peeler).pdf
(click to listen)
(listen to the same piano part but with Fender-Rhodes Electric Piano and Hammond B3 organ added)
This month my new "Blues Exercise No.11 - 3rds, 6ths & Flips" will help you to gain facility with important elements often found in blues piano-playing.
Here is my new Blues exercise
Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise No.11 - 3rds, 6ths & Flips (BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 110 exercises available.)
Happy February 2024! Here is my February 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it. This month I'm pleased to offer a new transcription of an exceptional piano part - Joe Zawinul in a jazz/blues improvisation in a trio setting (acoustic piano, bass & drums) from 1963. A transcription of the string bass part is also included.
Here is my new transcription of Joe Zawinul's jazz/blues improvisation: Joe Zawinul - Zawinul's Jazz-Blues Improvisation (1963) - Piano & Bass
This month my new "Exercise No.2 in Yodeling 6ths" is challenging, but it's fun to play and will increase the strength, stamina and independence of your 4th & 5th fingers.
Here is my new Yodeling 6ths exercise: Elmo Peeler - Exercise No.2 in Yodeling 6ths (Chromatically Ascending & Descending) (BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 109 exercises available.)
Happy New Year! - Welcome to January 2024! Here is my January 2024 Newsletter - Click to read it. This month there are two brand-new technical exercises, available in both PDF (sheet music) and MIDI file formats. The first one is an exercise to help you become more comfortable with chord inversions, specifically with big, fat 4-note chords. Here is my exercise in 4-note Chord Inversions: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in 4-note Chord Inversions (Triads & 7th Chords)
My other new exercise this month is my most challenging octave exercise yet. It uses ascending and descending rock/honky-tonk/gospel scales in Right Hand octaves - major and minor pentatonic scales, Dorian and Mixolydian modes. The Left Hand is kept simple so that one can concentrate on the Right Hand octaves, which are fast and unrelenting.
This exercise will not only help the physical act of playing octaves - speed and endurance - but it also can help the player by showing which note choices are available, i.e., which notes to play on upward runs, and which to play on downward runs. Here is my exercise in Fast Rock/Pop/Gospel Right Hand Octaves: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Fast Rock/Pop/Gospel Right-hand Octaves
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 108 exercises available.)
Happy December 2023! Here is my December 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. This month there are two new technical exercises. The first one is an exercise in a style resembling Jackson Browne's, which will help improve Left Hand/Right Hand coordination as you practice rhythmic 'pushes', which is when a chord is advanced in time (and often accented). Here is my new exercise in Rhythmic 'Pushes' (Jackson Brown style): Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Rhythmic 'Pushes' - Jackson Browne Style.pdf (to listen, just click)
My other new exercise this month, although short, demonstrates an important technique, i.e., how to play legato octaves by using the 4th finger on the black keys and the 5th finger on the white keys. Although the thumb still 'hops' from note-to-note, by using the 4th finger on the black keys legato octaves can be achieved. This also allows for more control of octaves in general.
This technique is not only used in classical performances but also in jazz and rock - from Oscar Peterson to Nicky Hopkins.
Here is my new Legato, Fingered Octaves exercise: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Legato, Fingered Octaves (to listen, just click)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 104 exercises available.)
Happy November 2023! Here is my November 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. My new transcription this month is of Bruce Hornsby improvising a boogie-woogie in the 2020 documentary about Chuck Leavell, The Tree Man. Hornsby says "to play boogie-woogie like the crazy boogie-woogie masters - Meade 'Lux' Lewis and Albert Ammons, the guys from the 1930s & 1940s - is a serious split-brain thing". He then sets up a pattern in the left hand and improvises over it. Here is my transcription of "Bruce Hornsby - Boogie-woogie Improvisation from The Tree Man": Bruce Hornsby - Boogie-woogie Improvisation from The Tree Man (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) (To watch and listen on YouTube, just click here.)
My new exercise this month will help you learn the Left-Hand boogie-woogie pattern that Bruce Hornsby uses in the 2020 documentary about Chuck Leavell, The Tree Man. Here is my exercise based on Bruce Hornsby's left-hand boogie-woogie pattern Elmo Peeler - Exercise on Bruce Hornsby's Boogie-woogie Left Hand Pattern (To listen, just click)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 103 exercises available.)
Happy October 2023! Here is my October 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm pleased to offer my own arrangement for piano of Jay Ungar's hauntingly beautiful musical lament, "Ashokan Farewell", that was used in Ken Burns' 1990 PBS-TV documentary, The Civil War. Here is my new arrangement of "Ashokan Farewell": Elmo Peeler - "Ashokan Farewell" - Arranged for Piano (To listen, just click)
My new exercise this month is a challenging study in chromatic double-thirds in a boogie-woogie context, excellent for finger independence. Here is my new exercise in chromatic double-thirds: Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Chromatic Double-thirds Exercise (To listen, just click) (BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 102 exercises available.) Happy August 2023! Here is my August 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. This month I'm pleased to offer two new transcriptions of two of rock's greatest pianists: Leon Russell and Elton John. In 1970 Leon recorded his own arrangement of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War", where he replaces Dylan's melody with "The Star-Spangled Banner" - a very powerful anti-war statement. It wasn't released for almost twenty years, when it came out in 1989 on the Gold CD, Leon Russell.
This is a note-for-note transcription of Leon's acoustic piano part. Here is my new transcription of Leon Russell's "Old Masters" Leon Russell - Old Masters (Masters of War) - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also new this month is my transcription of Elton John demonstrating the piano style of Leon Russell, from a Howard Stern interview on YouTube titled "Elton John Still Uses This Tip Leon Russell Gave Him in 1970". Here is my new transcription of Elton John improvising in Leon Russell's style: Elton John - Still Uses This Tip Leon Russell Gave Him in 1970 - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My new exercise this month is a challenging study in repeated notes. In four parts, this exercise is built upon the most common cliché in rock-and-roll: C major triad in root position, F major triad in second inversion, C7 (no 3) in root position, and back to the F triad. Each section is progressively more difficult, and builds on the preceding section. Here is my new exercise in repeated notes: Elmo Peeler - Repeated Note Exercise on the Most Common Cliché (BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 101 exercises available.)
Happy July 2023! Here is my July 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. This month I'm pleased to offer three new transcriptions, with one a true classic - B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone". The extraordinary electric piano part was played by Paul Harris, who also played on Bob Seger's "Against the Wind" and "Betty Lou's Getting Out Tonight".
This is a note-for-note transcription of the entire electric piano part on the album version (five-and-a-half minutes). Here is my new transcription of B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone" B.B. King - "The Thrill Is Gone" - Electric Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of Jacob Tolliver's rocking, virtuoso performance of "Boogie Woogie Country Man" - the old Jerry Lee Lewis classic.
Here is my new transcription of Jacob Tolliver's "Boogie Woogie Country Man": Jacob Tolliver - Boogie Woogie Country Man (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Another new transcription this month is the piano part in Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's 2002 hit, "Squeeze Me In".
Here is my transcription of Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood's "Squeeze Me In": Garth Brooks - Squeeze Me In - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
(BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out the 100 exercises available.) Happy June 2023! Here is my June 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. About six months after having to stop work because of health issues, I'm feeling fine and am back! And am pleased to offer three new transcriptions, each with a truly outstanding piano part. My own favorite is Meat Loaf's"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" - a long, complex rock masterpiece that is almost symphonic in its scope and drama. Recorded in 1976 and released in 1978 on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album, at 8:32 it's one of the longest transcriptions that I've done, up there with "Bat Out of Hell" (9:52) and "American Pie" (8:42), and longer than "Green-Eyed Lady" (6:53).
The extraordinary piano part was played by Roy Bittan (pianist for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band), with Jim Steinman (composer of the song) and Todd Rundgren (producer of the album) helping to 'sculpt' the long, evolving masterpiece. Jim Steinman said that he wanted to write the "ultimate car/sex song in which everything goes horribly wrong in the end."
This is a note-for-note transcription of the entire piano part (333 measures), plus, it also includes the complete funky, rhythmic clavinet part. Here is my new transcription of Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light: Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light -- Piano & Clavinet Parts (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of Ray Charles' very best version of his classic "Mess Around" - the rare 1953 rehearsal of just Ray's piano and Ahmet Ertegun's voice, which was not released until 2005 - 52 years later! It also contains the piano solo from Ray's 1953 single release, so the transcription has two solos, both terrific. Here is my new transcription of Ray Charles' "Mess Around": Ray Charles - Mess Around - 1953 Rehearsal (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)"
Another new transcription this month is my transcription of Richard Tee's "Happy Birthday Boogie Woogie". In Tee's 1984 tutorial video, Contemporary Piano, he is asked to play "Happy Birthday" in several different styles, including boogie-woogie. He smiles broadly at the interviewer and says, "You ask some hard questions," and then immediately launches into this version, performing the left hand walking octaves as though he'd been practicing them for days.
Here is my transcription of Richard Tee's "Happy Birthday Boogie": Richard Tee - Happy Birthday Boogie-Woogie
My new exercise this month, "Exercise in Chord Inversions in the Allman Brothers Style", will help gain facility with the three basic Right Hand chord inversions: root position and first and second inversions. Plus, it's fun to play! The exercise is in two sections. In the 'A' section a 4-bar phrase is played in first inversion, then up to second inversion, and then up to root position. Then a second inversion chord
descends more quickly through all the inversions. This completes the first 14-bar section. The 'B' section repeats the first section but in a slightly enhanced variation, i.e., a couple of extra pick-up chords have been added leading into the original phrases.
Not only will this help you become more comfortable with chord inversions, it might also give you a little insight into the Allman Brothers style. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 100 exercises available.) Here is my new "Exercise in Chord Inversions in the Allman Brothers Style": Exercise in Chord Inversions in the Allman Brothers Style
Happy May 2023! Here is my May 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it.
My new exercise this month, the Rippling Fingers Exercise, will increase the strength and independence of the fingers in your right hand.
In a series of ascending and descending arpeggio-like figures, the right hand gets a real work-out using four finger patterns:
1) 1-3-2-5 Not only will this strengthen your right hand but also it will give you a new pattern, a new 'template', that you can incorporate into your own playing, improvisations and compositions. Fingering is included. Here is my new "Rippling Fingers Exercise": Rippling Fingers Exercise
Happy April 2023! Here is my April 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. My new exercise this month, Exercise in Crossing Hands - No.3, will increase one's facility in crossing the Left Hand over the Right Hand, a technique Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd) used in the introduction on "Free Bird".
This crossed-hands technique can not only sound very good musically, often quite dramatic, but also it looks impressive to the audience. It's an effective technique both aurally and visually. Here is my new "Exercise in Crossing Hands - No.3": Exercise in Crossing Hands - No.3
Happy March 2023! Here is my March 2023 Newsletter - Click to read it. Donald Fagen's "Standard 12-bar Blues (in A Major)" is my brand-new transcription this month. A tutorial video, Concepts for Jazz/Rock Piano, shows Fagen (co-founder of Steely Dan) playing a 12-bar blues pattern on an acoustic piano. Warren Bernhardt played the Left Hand part on a Fender-Rhodes electric piano. I've transcribed both parts and combined them into a two-hand piano arrangement. This also demonstrates the two most common chord substitutions in Blues and Rock, i.e., the minor vi and the minor v chords over the root of the chord. Here is my new transcription/arrangement of Donald Fagen's "Standard 12-bar Blues (in A Major)": Donald Fagen - Standard 12-bar Blues (in A Major) (transcribed/arranged by Elmo Peeler)
Happy October 2022! Here is my October 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it. Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" is my brand-new transcription this month and it is truly extraordinary. This is the album version - 9:48 long - an amazing piano track by Roy Bittan (of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band).
This is not only the longest recording I've ever transcribed, even longer than Don McLean's "American Pie", but it's also probably the best piano part. Bittan really pulled out all the stops on this track. The song has many sections and many tempo changes, and Bittan plays a lot of different styles during this extraordinary composition. Here is my new transcription of "Bat Out of Hell": Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
There are two new exercises this month. My "Shuffle Exercise" will help you understand how to play a 'shuffle' rhythm, i.e., a song in 12/8 meter, plus increase your Left Hand/Right Hand coordination
It includes six sections: 1) Basic right-hand rhythm
It also includes those same six sections with a different, slightly more challenging Left Hand pattern, for a total of twelve sections. My other new exercise, "Harmonize a Scale Richard Tee-style" will help you to better understand Richard Tee's (and Billy Preston's ) style, especially one of his main 'licks', a descending series of R&B-flavored chords.
It explains the underlying scale (or mode) and gives two ways of harmonizing each note of that seven-note 'scale'.
It then gives four examples of how to use those chords to achieve the Richard Tee 'sound', including how he phrased them, plus it gives an example of a typical Left Hand accompanying pattern. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 97 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Shuffle Exercise To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Shuffle Exercise
Elmo Peeler - Exercise - Harmonize a Scale Richard Tee-style To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise - Harmonize a Scale Richard Tee-style
Happy September 2022! Here is my September 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it. My new transcription this month is Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Pigmy", released in 1967 on their Hip Hug-Her album. In it Booker T. uses two different styles: 1) really fat chords
2) his usual minimalist approach - single notes with occasionally two notes at the time.
This transcription also includes very close approximations of his Hammond drawbar settings, plus indications of when he changes the speed of the Leslie tone cabinet. Here is my new transcription of Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Pigmy" from their 1967 album, Hip Hug-Her: Booker T. & the M.G.'s - Pigmy - Organ (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) BTW, if you need good, effective technical exercises, please check out my 97 exercises.
Happy August 2022! Here is my August 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm happy to offer two Bach orchestral classics, transcribed/arranged for electronic keyboard and/or piano. Slow movements from concerti can be beautiful, as are the ones from Bach's Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042 and his Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043. Using the original hand-written manuscripts as the sources, to ensure perfect accuracy/authenticity, I've transcribed these two slow movements for an electronic keyboard that has violins or a string ensemble available. They also sound great on just a regular piano.
They include the lead violin (or the two lead violins in the Double Violin Concerto BWV 1043) plus Bach's original string orchestra accompaniment. With these transcriptions you can play both the lead violin part plus the accompanying string orchestra.
And they are gorgeous, peaceful, serene compositions. Here is my new transcription/arrangement of Bach's Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042 - 2nd Movement: J.S. Bach - Violin Concerto - 2nd Mvmt - BWV 1042 - For Electronic Keyboard or Piano (transcribed/arranged by Elmo Peeler)
Here is my new transcription/arrangement of Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043 - 2nd Movement: J.S. Bach - Double Violin Concerto - 2nd Mvmt - BWV 1043 - For Electronic Keyboard or Piano (transcribed/arranged by Elmo Peeler)
There is no new exercise this month but my Bach-inspired Articulation Exercise in 6ths, inspired by Bach's Invention No.8 might be of interest to those wanting to improve their articulation and control. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 96 exercises available.)
My Bach-inspired exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise in 6ths, Inspired by Bach's Invention No.8 To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise in 6ths, Inspired by Bach's Invention No.8
Happy June 2022! Here is my June 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm happy to offer two great Oldies-but-Goldies keyboard instrumentals from the early 1960s.
One of my favorite instrumentals has always been Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Chinese Checkers", recorded on a Wurlitzer electric piano, complete with all the 'dirty-ness' and borderline-distortion of the Wurly (it might have been a tube-amp Wurly).
I always wondered exactly how Booker T. got those Oriental-sounding licks, which were clearly more complex than just playing in 4ths or 5ths.
Plus, his opening riff, right from the very beginning, is such an ingenious interplay between the hands - and never played correctly by anyone other than Booker T.
Here is my new transcription of Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Chinese Checkers": Booker T. & the M.G.'s - Chinese Checkers - Electric Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My other brand-new transcription this month is of an even earlier instrumental classic - Dave 'Baby' Cortez' "Rinky Dink", which helped elevate the Hammond B-3 organ into its deserved popularity.
"Rinky Dink" is based upon a pretty simple I-vi-IV-V chord progression with an infectuous rhythm, and has an exceptionally catchy right hand lead line.
Although many cover bands play it, rarely does the organist get it just right. It has seven verses which change registers, some up an octave, others in the mid-register with the rhythmic chords on the lower manual. And every verse changes the lead line, which many players don't catch. Plus it contains two choruses that combine major and minor pentatonic scales that also are often mis-played.
"Rinky Dink" is not quite as simple as it sounds, and this transcription captures it exactly as it was recorded, including the Hammond drawbar settings for the upper and lower manuals and the Leslie tone cabinet speed.
Here is my new transcription of Dave 'Baby' Cortez - "Rinky Dink": Dave 'Baby' Cortez - Rinky Dink - Organ (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My new exercise this month uses some elements found in Richard Tee's style to demonstrate how to give "forward momentum" to your own playing.
The left hand part uses a Richard Tee pattern that he used in Phoebe Snow's "Gone at Last", and then adds some 'propulsive' elements into the right hand part.
This exercise will show you how to use 'pushes' and syncopation to achieve forward momentum in up-tempo grooves. The rhythms and the chords are similar to those often used by Richard Tee. The left hand keeps a straight, non-syncopated beat while the right hand is often playing syncopated rhythms and off-beat accents. Containing four sections, this will improve your ability to play chords in the G Dorian mode, increase Left/Right co-ordination, and show you how to make your uptempo jams more propulsive.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 96 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Propulsion Exercise To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Propulsion Exercise
Happy May 2022! Here is my May 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Richard Tee's amazing improvisation featured at the beginning of his Contemporary Piano video is one of three brand-new transcriptions this month. It concisely demonstrates that "Richard Tee sound" that so many have tried to copy - both his chords and his rhythms. A virtuoso improvisation, it's very fast, using an alternating-hand technique punctuated by right-hand accents and rhythmic 'pushes'. Here is my new transcription of Richard Tee's extraordinary improvisation from Contemporary Piano: Richard Tee - Contemporary Piano - First Piece (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of Booker T. & the M.G.'s 1967 classic "Hip Hug-Her" including the exact Hammond drawbar/percussion settings. It also shows where the Leslie tone cabinet speeds up and slows down, so that you can exactly re-create Booker T.'s terrific recording. He also uses his left hand during parts of the recording, which is included. And although the single version fades out, an ending is also included, transcribed from one of Booker T.'s live performances. Here is my new transcription of Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Hip Hug-Her ": Booker T. & the M.G.'s - Hip Hug-Her - Organ (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Another new transcription this month is my transcription of Billy Vera & the Beaters' "At This Moment", a beautiful love song that was included on several episodes of the NBC sitcom Family Ties during the 1985-86 season. It went on to become his biggest hit, charting at #1 in early 1987. The piano part has a Gospel-influenced feel to it, including walk-ups, 4-note chordal licks, a strum, and several dramatic ascending arpeggios. Here is my transcription of Billy Vera & the Beaters' "At This Moment": Billy Vera & the Beaters - At This Moment - Piano Part
Happy April 2022! Here is my April 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it. The Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling" is my brand-new transcription this month. Billy Preston plays the iconic Fender-Rhodes electric piano part. Here is my new transcription of "I've Got a Feeling": The Beatles - I've Got a Feeling - Electric Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) (listen to the isolated electric piano track here on YouTube) Here are my other Billy Preston transcriptions: The Beatles - "Get Back" - Billy Preston, electric piano The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Billy Preston, electric piano Billy Preston - "Nothing from Nothing" - Piano Part Billy Preston - "Slippin' and Slidin'" - Organ Part Billy Preston - "Will It Go 'Round in Circles - Opening Piano Riff The Rolling Stones - "Shine a Light" - Billy Preston, piano
My new exercise this month will help you gain facility in playing two important types of riffs often used in blues, boogie-woogie and in rock music in general, i.e., 'flips' and tremolos in 3rds.
A flip is a briskly executed up-then-down arpeggio (broken chord). And a tremolo is similar to a trill, where the same two notes alternate rapidly a second apart; but the two notes of a tremolo are at least a third apart. The most common tremolos are in 3rds, 6ths, and octaves. On rare occasion they can be in 10ths, e.g., Ray Charles' "Makin' Whoopee".
This exercise is in four sections, each of which is a 12-bar blues pattern with the same right hand part (although two of the four sections transpose the right hand up an octave). However, each of the four parts uses a different left hand pattern.
Fingering is included. If you'd like to improve your ability to understand and to play flips and tremolos, this will help you. It's also very good for Left/Right independence and coordination. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 95 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Flips & Tremolos in 3rds To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Flips & Tremolos in 3rds
Happy March 2022! Here is my March 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Floyd Cramer's recording of the Gospel classic "One Day at a Time (Sweet Jesus)" is one of my three brand-new transcriptions this month. It's classic Floyd Cramer at his twangy, slip-note best - released on his Gospel Classics album in 1990. It contains not only his famous 'slip-notes' but also at least six other types of embellishments that comprise his classic piano sound. Here is my new transcription of "One Day at a Time": Floyd Cramer - One Day at a Time - Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) The Browns - "The Three Bells" (The Jimmy Brown Song) - Complete Piano Part - Floyd Cramer, piano
Another new transcription this month is the excellent bluesy tack piano solo in Gerry & The Pacemakers' 1964 classic, "How Do You Do It". Here is my new transcription of the piano solo in "How Do You Do It": Gerry & The Pacemakers - How Do You Do It - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) (If you don't remember it, listen to it here on YouTube.) And my third new transcription this month is the jazz-influenced exciting electric piano solo in Assembly of Dust's "Second Song (Live)": Here is my new transcription of the electric piano solo in Assembly of Dust's "Second Song (Live)": Assembly of Dust - "Second Song (Live)" - Electric Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) (Listen to it here on YouTube.) My new exercise this month demonstrates how to take any melody - even one not remotely associated with Floyd Cramer - and transform it into Cramer's Nashville slip-note piano style. It is 123 measures long and contains eight sections. The first is just a statement of the main theme that will be gradually transformed. I chose "Mary Had a Little Lamb" because if that simple nursery rhyme melody can be transformed into Floyd Cramer's style, then any other melody certainly can, just by following these seven steps. The seven transformative steps are: You'll see how a nursery-rhyme melody gradually changes into a full-blown Floyd Cramer version. Learn how to play Floyd Cramer's style much better with this step-by-step exercise. My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Floyd Cramer's Style To listen, just click: Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Floyd Cramer's style - "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 95 exercises available.) And remember, if you have any recording that you'd like me to transcribe, just send me an email. I'll be happy to send you a free quote on the job.
Happy February 2022! Here is my February 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it. Glenn Frey's recording of "Route 66" is my brand-new transcription this month. It's a Western swing classic, written in 1946 and recorded by Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, the Rolling Stones, and many others. Here is my new transcription of "Route 66": Glenn Frey - Route 66 - Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My new exercise this month is based upon an Alberti Bass pattern, and will help strengthen and improve the Left Hand. Although it contains a slip-note (Floyd Cramer) melody in the Right Hand, the challenge - and the main benefit - is the Alberti bass pattern in the Left Hand. It has also been used in pop/rock, e.g., the rhythm guitar part of the 1962 surf rock standard "Pipeline" by The Chantays, and Nicky Hopkins piano part in "She's a Rainbow" by the Rolling Stones.
This exercise is 24-bars long and uses Alberti bass patterns in various hand positions: root position, 1st & 2nd inversions.
If you'd like to gain facility in playing this type of common Left Hand pattern and increase the strength and dexterity in your Left Hand, this exercise will help. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 94 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Alberti Bass Exercise To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Alberti Bass Exercise Also new this month is a MIDI file of the piano part in the rare recording of Don Henley's "You Don't Miss Your Water". To listen, just click: Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water" (Live).
Happy New Year! - January 2022! Here is my January 2022 Newsletter - Click to read it.
To start the New Year I'm pleased to offer two new transcriptions of two of the very best pianists of all time - Ray Charles and Billy Preston. My own favorite is Billy Preston's amazing gospel jam with John Lennon and Ringo Starr, "Without a Song", released for the very first time in 2021 on the Super Deluxe version of The Beatles' Let It Be album. And keep in mind that when Billy was only ten years old he was already backing gospel singers Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch. He was very much the real deal when it came to gospel. This is honest, authentic gospel playing at its best. A MIDI file is also available of this transcription of "Without a Song", in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of the Super Deluxe Let It Be album version of Billy Preston's "Without a Song": The Beatles with Billy Preston - Without a Song - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also kicking off the New Year is my transcription of Ray Charles' R&B classic, "Makin' Whoopee" - the complete Instrumental version from the 'B' side of Ray's 1964 single, "Makin' Whoopee' (the 'A' side had the vocal version). Ray uses some beautiful jazz-chord voicings in his Left Hand to support his classic Right Hand riffs, which even include a tremolo in 10ths (which I've never heard before). And in the Chorus he uses some very fat two-handed chords that remind one of a big band horn section voiced for the piano keyboard. This transcription also includes an alternate way to voice the Chorus chords, more like Billy Preston or other gospel pianist might play them. So you have Ray's own notes exactly, plus an alternate version. Ray was a true genius of the keyboard; this is one of his best instrumental tracks. A MIDI file is also available of this transcription of "Makin' Whoopee", in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of Ray Charles' "Makin' Whoopee": Ray Charles - Makin' Whoopee (Instrumental)- Complete Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
To start the new year, it might be helpful to point out a few exercises that'll help you to better understand and play certain styles, including those of Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Richard Tee, Ray Charles and the Allman Brothers plus Gospel and Blues. Billy Preston Style Exercises: Leon Russell Style Exercises: (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 93 exercises available.)
Happy December 2021! Here is my December 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month I'm pleased to offer three new transcriptions, each with a truly outstanding piano part. My own favorite is Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" - a recording of extraordinary emotional intensity, beautifully played by Bruce Hornsby at his best. A MIDI file is also available of this transcription of "I Can't Make You Love Me", in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of the long (5:33) album version of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me": Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of The Beatles - "Get Back" - a Beatles classic from 1969, with its distinctive electric piano part - and solo - by Billy Preston, whom John Lennon called The Fifth Beatle. Preston was a true genius of the keyboard; this is one of his best and most famous tracks. A MIDI file is also available of this transcription of "Get Back", in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of The Beatles' "Get Back": The Beatles - Get Back - Electric Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
The third outstanding piano track that I've transcribed this month is Bob Seger's "Shame on the Moon" (some remember it as "Blame it on Midnight") with Bill Payne (leader of Little Feat) playing the piano. If you don't remember it, click here. A MIDI file is also available of this transcription of "Shame on the Moon", in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of Bob Seger's "Shame on the Moon": Bob Seger - Shame on the Moon - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My new exercise this month, Exercise in Harmonized Arpeggios for Two Hands, takes arpeggios up a notch. It not only addresses all three inversions of a triad, but it also 'harmonizes' the notes. That is, the hands are not playing arpeggios that are an octave apart. They are played in harmony. This is not the easiest exercise but it will strengthen your hands and help you to master runs that are more challenging than scales, while improving your Left/Right coordination at the same time. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 93 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Harmonized Arpeggios for Two Hands To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Harmonized Arpeggios for Two Hands
Happy November 2021! Here is my November 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Mavis Staples' "Hard Times Come Again No More" is my brand-new transcription this month. Her beautiful, heart-felt performance is very sparsely accompanied, primarily by Matt Rollings' amazing piano track, with a little dobro, Hammond organ, and bass guitar (no drums). Rollings' gospel-influenced piano part starts with a piano-only Intro, then gradually builds as the song progresses, complete with his piano solo about two-thirds of the way through, then ends with the final notes from the piano. It's a gem. Click here to hear/watch it on YouTube. Here is my new transcription of Mavis Staples' "Hard Times Come Again No More": Mavis Staples - Hard Times Come Again No More - Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) My other Matt Rollings transcriptions: Brent Mason - Hot Wired - Piano Solo - Matt Rollings, piano Also new this month is my arrangement of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" for solo piano, which was a huge hit for him in 1956, early in his career. However, the music - the melody and chord progression - had already been around for almost a hundred years, since 1861, when published under the name "Aura Lea". During the Civil War it was adopted by soldiers on both sides, and was often sung around campfires. A MIDI file is also available, in addition to the sheet music.
Here is my new arrangement of "Love Me Tender" for solo piano: Elmo Peeler - "Love Me Tender" - Arranged for Solo Piano My only Elvis transcription (so far):
Elvis Presley - I Really Don't Want To Know - Floyd Cramer & Tony Brown, piano
My new exercise this month will improve your ability to cross your hands more comfortably, and at the same time improve your Left/Right coordination, accuracy in jumps, and articulation. This exercise contains five sections, three of which have the Left Hand crossing over the Right Hand, and two have the Left Hand crossing over the Right. They involve moving up and down both step-wise (2nds) and in larger intervals (3rds & 4ths). When you listen to this exercise, you're hearing one hand play the lowest and highest notes while the other hand is playing the in-between notes. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 92 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Crossing Hands, No.2 To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Crossing Hands, No.2
Happy October 2021! - "Monster Mash" month! Here is my October 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it. Sugar Chile Robinson's 1950 recording of "Numbers Boogie" is one of two brand-new transcriptions this month. It is a terrific, authentic 1940's-era boogie-woogie for solo piano. You'll find it hard to believe that he was only 11 when he performed this - a real child prodigy. Here is my new transcription of Sugar Chile Robinson's "Numbers Boogie": Sugar Chile Robinson - Numbers Boogie - Solo Piano (transcribed by Elmo Peeler) Watch Sugar Chile perform this on YouTube here. BTW, a second version of "Numbers Boogie" is available where I've "souped-up" the Left Hand pattern by putting it into Broken Octaves. Click here. In addition to the PDF files, MIDI files are also available for both versions of "Numbers Boogie".
Also available this month is my transcription of The Beatles - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" - a Beatles classic from their 1968 "White Album". Here is my new transcription of The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da": The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)" In addition to the PDF file, a MIDI file is also available of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".
And if you haven't listened to last month's arrangement of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" for solo piano, please do (click here) - I think you may like it. It uses the original organ lines from the classic rock recording, and re-voices them to make them more 'pianistic', taking advantage of the greater range of the piano keyboard. Here is my arrangement of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" for solo piano: Elmo Peeler - A Whiter Shade of Pale - Arranged for Piano
My new exercise this month is specifically written to help one's wrists achieve greater strength and to 'hinge', as opposed to being rigid with 'locked' wrists which requires the forearm to expend more energy than necessary.
It is partly inspired by a classical piece, "The Banjo" written in 1853 by the famous American concert pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. In that piece, which requires extraordinary wrist strength and flexibility, he used Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" during the climax and made it sound like it was played on a banjo. This exercise uses slightly different voicings (three-note chords instead of Gottschalk's four-note chords) to make "Battle Hymn of the Republic" sound like it was played on a banjo.
This style of alternating hands will help to develop good wrist technique, which can be learned by first practicing it slowly, similar to 5-finger exercises. If your wrists are too rigid and need to gain more flexibility, this exercise should help. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 91 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise for the Wrists - Banjo on the Piano To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise for the Wrists - Banjo on the Piano
In addition to the PDF file, a MIDI file of this exercise is also available.
Happy September 2021! Here is my September 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Van Morrison's 2017 recording of "Benediction" from his Roll with the Punches album is one of two brand-new transcriptions this month. It has an outstanding gospel-style piano part plus an excellent B-3 organ solo. A MIDI file is also available, in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of "Benediction": Van Morrison - Benediction - Piano Part + Organ Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of The Meters - "Cabbage Alley" - inspired in part by Professor Longhair's "Hey Now Baby". A MIDI file is also available, in addition to the sheet music. Here is my new transcription of The Meters' "Cabbage Alley": The Meters - Cabbage Alley - Piano Part - Intro & Verse (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Also new this month is my arrangement of the "A Whiter Shade of Pale" for solo piano, which uses the original organ lines from the classic rock recording, and re-voices them to make them more 'pianistic', taking advantage of the greater range of the piano keyboard.
A MIDI file is also available, in addition to the sheet music.
Here is my new arrangement of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" for solo piano: Elmo Peeler - "A Whiter Shade of Pale" - Arranged for Solo Piano
My new exercise this month is inspired by Bach's Invention No.8 in F major, of which Ferruccio Busoni, the great Romantic-era pianist, says, "the performance of this little virtuoso piece demands the utmost precision.". This exercise should help improve one's articulation, finger independence, and clarity in 16th-note runs. This exercise is in three sections, all of which are in sixths. The first section - using 3/4 meter like the Bach Invention - states the motif that Bach himself used (although in a different key), and ascends step-wise up an octave and then back down.
The second section, in 4/4, is slightly more challenging. Bach's 16th-note figure is played only once, not three times, before immediately beginning its ascent - up an octave and then back down.
The third section adds a higher note in the Right Hand and a lower note in the Left Hand, requiring the 5th fingers to become involved - again ascending up and down an octave. A MIDI file is also available, in addition to the sheet music. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 90 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise in 6ths, Inspired by Bach's Invention No.8 To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise in 6ths, Inspired by Bach's Invention No.8
Happy August 2021! Here is my August 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The Capitols' original 1966 studio recording of "Cool Jerk" is one of three brand-new transcriptions this month. Recorded with Motown's Funk Brothers' rhythm section, "Cool Jerk" is simply one of the most dance-able records ever, propelled by Earl Van Dyke's amazing piano part. Even before the drums come in, the bass guitar and piano kick off the song, setting forth the syncopated, foot-tapping 'groove'. And even though the piano has already been a prominent part of the recording since the beginning, halfway through the song the piano is given a solo when the singer says, "Now give me a little bit of bass with those 88's". And those ivories just intensify - an amazing piano track. Here is my new transcription of "Cool Jerk": The Capitols - "Cool Jerk" - Complete Piano Part (transcribed. by Elmo Peeler)
Also available this month is my transcription of Howard Jones' "No One Is To Blame" - a beautiful piano/vocal version performed live n 2015. Here is my new transcription of Howard Jones' "No One Is To Blame": Howard Jones - "No One To Blame" - Complete Piano Part" Also new this month is my transcription of the piano part in Leon Russell's version of Bob Dylan's classic "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" - an excellent piano track by the Master of Time & Space. Here is my new transcription of Leon Russell's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue": Leon Russell - "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" - Complete Piano Part"
My new exercise this month is a challenging finger exercise to increase strength and independence of the fingers. This is an exercise in playing a chromatic scale in minor thirds using only the Right Hand - both ascending and descending. Fingering is included, which is based upon Frederic Chopin's own suggested fingering for his Etude in Thirds. Chopin dared to think outside the box in the early 19th century and used fingerings that had never been used before. In doing so he advanced piano technique to a new level. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 89 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Chromatic Double-thirds To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Chromatic Double-thirds
Happy July 2021! Here is my July 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Leon Russell's original studio recording of "Shoot Out on the Plantation" from his 1970 Leon Russell album is one of three brand-new transcriptions this month. This studio version, recorded in 1970 and released on his first studio album is one of Leon's finest recordings, capturing his amazing, rhythmic swamp-rock style. Note that this is NOT the same recording that I transcribed last month. Both of these recordings are Leon at his very best. If you want to study Leon's style you should get both transcriptions. A MIDI file is also available. Here is my new transcription of "Shoot Out on the Plantation": Leon Russell - "Shoot Out on the Plantation (1970 Album Version) (transcribed. by Elmo Peeler)"
Also available this month is my transcription of the piano solo in The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year" played by Rod Argent. A MIDI file is also available. Here is my new transcription of The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year": The Zombies - "This Will Be Our Year" - Piano Solo" Also new this month is my transcription of the organ part in the second Chorus in Jimmy Buffett's "Son of a Son of a Sailor" - plus the harmonica solo.
Here is my new transcription of Jimmy Buffett's "Son of a Son of a Saijlor": Jimmy Buffett - "Son of a Son of a Sailor" - Organ Part in the 2nd Chorus + the Harmonica Solo"
My new exercise this month demonstrates Leon Russell's piano style, in three parts, with each one progressively more difficult. This exercise will help you to really understand - and to play - Leon's classic, octave-filled style.
It demonstrates not only Leon's terrific Right-Hand rhythms, chord voicings, and octaves, but also his Left Hand runs. A MIDI file is also available. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 88 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Leon Russell Exercise To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Leon Russell Exercise
Happy June 2021! Here is my June 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Leon Russell's rare recording of "Shoot Out on the Plantation" from his 1989 Gold Audiophile CD (GZS-1049) is one of two brand-new transcriptions this month. This studio version, recorded in 1970 but not released until 1989 is one of Leon's finest recordings, capturing on solo piano his amazing, rhythm swamp-rock style. A MIDI file is also available. Here is my new transcription of "Shoot Out on the Plantation": Leon Russell - "Shoot Out on the Plantation (Piano Solo Version) (transcribed. by Elmo Peeler)"
Also available this month is my transcription of the complete piano part in "Southbound" by The Allman Brothers Band, played by Chuck Leavell. This includes the terrific 24-bar Piano Solo. A MIDI file is also available. Here is my new transcription of The Allman Brothers Band's "Southbound": The Allman Brothers Band - "Southbound" - Complete Piano Part with Piano Solo"
My new exercise this month demonstrates how to split the Left Hand into two functions, i.e., playing the bass notes with the 5th finger while using thumb for rhythmically accompaniment to the Right Hand. This technique is especially helpful for up-tempo, driving, propulsive piano parts like "Southbound" or Richard Tee's "Do You Want Some of This".
This exercise demonstrates how to achieve this dual-use of the Left Hand. A MIDI file is also available. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 87 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Rhythmic Exercise - Splitting the Left Hand To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Rhythmic Exercise - Splitting the Left Hand
Happy May 2021! Here is my May 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Michael McDonald's piano part in Dave Mason & the Quarantines' terrific new version of "Feelin' Alright" is one of three brand-new transcriptions this month. This contains the first minute of the recording plus the Piano Solo and the Piano Breakdown.. Here is my new transcription of "Feelin' Alright" by Dave Mason & the Quarantines:
Also available this month is my transcription of the 4-bar Intro for "Maria" by the Animal Liberation Orchestra, released on their 2007 album, Roses and Clover. Although it's just the first four bars of the Intro, it has some fun Right Hand octaves plus a rhythmic interplay between the hands to create an excellent rocking feel used throughout the song. Here is my new transcription of the fun-to-play Intro for the Animal Liberation Orchestra' "Maria": Animal Liberation Orchestra - Maria - 4-bar Piano Intro" My third brand-new transcription this month is an arrangement in the old Southern Gospel style of the 1929 classic hymn, "I'll Fly Away". I created this because of all the versions of "I'll Fly Away" on YouTube - and there are a lot - not one truly captured the old original Southern Gospel piano style from many years ago. If you like Gospel-style piano, you'll love this. Listen to it and when it gets to the third Verse & Chorus, listen for the 3-hands effect achieved by dividing the melody between the hands, and the Left Hand crossing over the Right to keep that old-time Gospel feel going - some fun piano-playing in it.
Here is my new arrangement of "I'll Fly Away":
I'll Fly Away - Old-Time Gospel Piano Style
My new exercise this month demonstrates how to play a melody in the warm-sounding lower mid-register of the piano keyboard while still keeping the old-time Southern Gospel rhythm going. It's all about crossing the hands. It shows just how that crossing-of-the-hands is accomplished. Using the simple but commonly-heard hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little Children", this demonstrates how to keep the Left Hand 'striding' even when the melody is so low that it interferes with where the Left Hand would normally play a chord on the up-beats (on 2 & 4).
Listen to the audio example and you'll hear how the rhythm can continue even when the Left Hand doesn't have access to its normal register - the secret is in the Left Hand crossing over the Right. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 86 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Gospel & Stride Exercise - Crossing the Left Hand over the Right To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Gospel & Stride Exercise - Crossing the Left Hand over the Right
Happy April 2021! Here is my April 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The classic piano part in Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" is one of five brand-new transcriptions this month - exactly as Randy McCormick plays it on the original hit record. Here is my new transcription of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll": Bob Seger - Old Time Rock and Roll - Complete Piano Part(transcribed by Elmo Peeler)"
Also available this month is my completely updated transcription of Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away". New software has brought out Roy Bittan's piano track, making it much more audible. My existing transcription has been updated. Here is my newly-updated transcription of Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away":
(click to listen)
(click here to watch on YouTube)
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2) 1-4-2-5
3) 5-2-3-1
4) 5-2-4-1
(click to listen)
(click to listen)
(see it here on YouTube)
2) Bumps, where the chord briefly changes
3) Flips
4) Octaves
5) Octaves and flips
6) Chords and Flips
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(watch it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
(listen to it here on YouTube)
My other Floyd Cramer transcriptions:
Dolly Parton - "Sittin' on the Front Porch Swing" - *maybe* Floyd Cramer, piano
Elvis Presley - "I Really Don't Want To Know" - Floyd Cramer, on the Intro only
Engelbert Humperdinck - Am I That Easy To Forget - Piano Solo & End Tag - *maybe* Floyd Cramer
1) The chords & meter are changed, and a Cramer-style Left Hand part added.
2) Slip-notes are added.
3) A harmony note is added above the slip-notes, the essence of Cramer's style.
4) Six other types of Cramer's embellishments are added (and discussed in the Performance Notes).
5) The melody is slightly altered to reflect his style.
6) Warm mid-register phrases are added.
7) A busier Left Hand pattern is used.
R&B-Gospel Elements Exercise, incl. Substitutions - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
(to listen to it, click here)
Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
(to listen to it, click here)
Coordination Exercise No.2 - Billy Preston-style
(to listen to it, click here)
Billy Preston-style Exercise No.4 - Inspired by "Nothing from Nothing"
(to listen to it, click here)
Leon Russell Exercise
(to listen to it, click here)
Exercise in Swamp Rock - 4ths, 6ths & Tritones
(to listen to it, click here)
Ray Charles Style Exercises:
Boogie-Woogie Exercise #2 - Ray Charles' Left Hand Pattern
(to listen to it, click here)
Exercise - Ray Charles Ending (Extended Walk-down)
(to listen to it, click here)
Gospel Style Exercises:
Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Gospel
(to listen to it, click here)
Exercise in Gospel - Walk-ups & Walk-downs, IV-chord Bumps & Strums
(to listen to it, click here)
Gospel Rhythm Exercise (in the style of Lari White's Good Good Love)
(to listen to it, click here)
Gospel Chromatically-Descending Riff Exercise - Ethel Caffie-Austin's Signature Lick
(to listen to it, click here)
Blues Exercises:
Blues Exercise No.8 - 'The Worst Thing in My Life'
(to listen to it, click here)
Blues Exercise No.10 - Parallel Blues Chords & Rolls
(to listen to it, click here)
Allman Brothers Style Exercise:
Allman Brothers Exercise No.1 - Triplets Riff on I & ii Chords
(to listen to it, click here)
Click here to hear "Hot Wired" on YouTube.
Lyle Lovett - I've Been to Memphis - Piano Solo Sections - Matt Rollings, piano
Click here to hear it.
"Love Me Tender" was my favorite song when I was a child, so I've arranged it for solo piano, requiring no other instruments to accompany it. For me, it is simply one of the most beautiful melodies ever.
Click here to hear it.
Here is my new transcription of Booker T.'s "Green Onions (Live)" - last two Solos:
Booker T. Jones & the Daryl Hall Band - Green Onions (Live) - 2 Solos
Here is my new transcription of Usher - "Mercy Mercy Me-What's Going on Medley (Acoustic Cover)" - Piano Solo:
Usher - Mercy Mercy Me-What's Going on Medley (Acoustic Cover) - Piano Solo
Here is my new transcription of Merle Haggard - "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink - Piano Solo":
Merle Haggard - I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink - Piano Solo
Here is my new arrangement of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms":
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms -- Old-Time Gospel Piano Style
My new exercise this month demonstrates how to take any melody - even one not remotely associated with Gospel itself - and transform it into the old-time Southern Gospel piano style.
It contains seven sections. The first is just a statement of the main theme that will be gradually transformed. I chose "Mary Had a Little Lamb" because if that simple nursery rhyme melody can be transformed into old-time Gospel, then any other melody certainly can.
The six transformative steps are:
1) The meter is changed into a 'swing' rhythm and the melody into basic chords.
2) Walk-ups and walk-downs are added.
3) Some chords are changed into more Gospel-sounding chords (substitutions).
4) Gospel fills are added
5) 'Strums' are added.
6) The Right Hand register is raised an octave; IV-chord & ii-chord 'bumps' are added; more Gospel-chord substitutions are added.
You'll see how a nursery-rhyme melody gradually changes into a full-blown Gospel version that would feel at home in a Southern tent revival.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 85 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Gospel
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Gospel - "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Steinway)
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Gospel - "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (tack piano)
Happy March 2021!
Here is my March 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The excellent bluesy piano solo in James Taylor's "Steamroller Blues (Live)" is one of three brand-new transcriptions this month - exactly as Clarence McDonald, L.A. session ace, plays it..
Here is my new transcription of the piano solo in"Steamroller (Live)":
James Taylor - "Steamroller Blues (Live)" - Piano Solo
Another new transcription this month is Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy' performance of "Boogie Woogie Cocktail". A true virtuoso boogie-woogie showpiece, it contains seven different 12-bar Verses, each based upon a different boogie-woogie pattern, plus two different 20-bar Bridges and a 22-bar Out section. It was written and played by Ken Kersey, an extremely gifted jazz pianist who accompanied and recorded with Billie Holiday. It was recorded by Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy only months after Kersey replaced Mary Lou Williams in Kirk's band.
Here is my new transcription of "Boogie Woogie Cocktail":
Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy - Boogie Woogie Cocktail
My third new transcription this month is the complete Medley from the movie, Groundhog Day. In the movie Murray's character Phil performs an impressive uptempo medley which starts out with a terrific piano boogie and then segues into a jazzy version of Rachmaninoff's 18th Variation from his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. This is a note-for-note transcription of the entire medley, not just the piano boogie.
Here is my new transcription of the complete Medley in Groundhog Day:
Groundhog Day - Medley - Phil's Piano Solo & 18th Variation
My new exercise this month will help you increase your strength and improve your articulation - the ability to play very clearly and evenly - is an absolute necessity whether playing blues licks, boogie-woogie, jazz or classical music. Beginning pianists are often given 5-finger exercises by Czerny, Hanon, etc. to gain strength and eventually clear, clean playing. However, many 5-finger exercises just waste time, requiring a lot of time and yielding only modest benefits.
This 5-finger exercise cuts right to the chase - it will increase strength, finger independence and articulation. And to make it more challenging, and thus yield greater results, it's been harmonized, not just in octaves, as is common practice, but also in tenths and sixths.
This contains nine sections, arranged in progressive difficulty. The first three sections simply set forth the basic 5-finger, 8-note, 2-beat pattern. Then to take it up a notch in difficulty, the pattern in octaves ascends scale-wise and then descends, with one variation. Then the pattern and variation are harmonized in tenths, and then in sixths. By the end of all nine sections the hands will have had a very productive workout. Playing this series of exercises every day will certainly improve one's technique. Fingering is included.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 84 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - 5-Finger Exercise - Harmonized in Octaves, 10ths & 6ths
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - 5-Finger Exercise - Harmonized in Octaves, 10ths & 6ths
Happy February 2021!
Here is my February 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Bob Dylan's Gospel-influenced piano improvisation of "Piano Mood" (YouTube) is my brand-new transcription this month - exactly as Dylan plays it on the YouTube posting, "Piano Mood". Also included is my own arrangement of it, where odd-metered bars are "smoothed-out". Both are included in a ZIP file.
Here is my new transcription of "Piano Mood":
Bob Dylan - "Piano Mood (YouTube)"
Here are my other Bob Dylan transcriptions:
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone - Organ Part
Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Piano Part
My other new transcription this month is Laurent Callens' YouTube performance of "Adiemus". Starting softly with the melody in single-notes, it builds to a very dramatic fortissimo climax with Left-hand arpeggios supporting Right-hand octaves and full 4-note chords, which then slowly ebbs away into a subdued Coda, ending with a whisper.
This is a very Romantic version with flowing arpeggios, tasteful rubato, and a wide dynamic range from pianissimo to fortissimo.
My new Laurent Callens transcription:
Laurent Callens - "Adiemus" (from YouTube)
My new exercise this month will help you learn a few important elements used in Gospel, Gospel-Rock, Pop, and Country & Western.
Primarily focused on Walk-ups & Walk-downs, it will show you how to voice the chords as you move from a I-chord up to a IV-chord, then back down again, plus the voicings when you walk-down from a I-chord to a V-chord, then back up again.
All pianists love the sound of those walk-ups & walk-downs, but many aren't sure of exactly what notes to play. This exercise will show you how.
Also included are examples of IV-chord bumps - that's when a chord a perfect-fourth up from the root of the current chord is briefly struck, as a way of increasing harmonic interest and keeping the ear from getting bored with the current chord. Even IV-chord bumps of a IV-chord bump are included.
Plus, 'strums' are also demonstrated - another important element.
This exercise is in four parts - the first section shows the basic voicing of the walk-ups and walk-downs. The other three sections progressively add a little more rhythm to the walk-ups and walk-downs.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 83 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Gospel - Walk-ups & Walk-downs, IV-chord Bumps & Strums
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Gospel - Walk-ups & Walk-downs, IV-chord Bumps & Strums
BTW, if you like Gospel piano, here is one of the very best versions of "Amazing Grace" that you'll ever hear. See it played here.
Happy New Year - Happy January 2021!
Here is my January 2021 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Elton John's live performance of "Wonderful Crazy Night" is my brand-new transcription this month - exactly as Elton performed it in Disneyland in January 2016 for the TV show, The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney 60..
Here is my new transcription of "Wonderful Crazy Night (Live)":
Elton John - "Wonderful Crazy Night (Live)" - Complete Piano Part
My other new transcription this month is Jerry Lee Lewis' outstanding live TV performance from 1979 of "You Win Again" - a true virtuoso piano performance by The Killer at his best.
This is Jerry Lee in top form.
My new Jerry Lee Lewis transcription:
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again (Live TV - 1979)
My new exercise this month will help you learn a new boogie-woogie Left-Hand pattern, which incorporates both the minor 3rd and the major 3rd, as well as the 6th, i.e., E-flat, E and A, in the key of C. Plus, the 12/8 feel is especially 'bouncy', with a nice up-beat accent on 2 & 4.
This exercise is actually a group of 12 different exercises - six in 4/4 and six in 12/8 (swing).
The six sections in each meter (4/4 & 12/8) are arranged in order of progressive difficulty, and each is a stand-alone exercise that can be repeated, or 'looped', until progressing to the next one.
The first two sections use simple chordal 'stabs' in the Right Hand. The next two sections use a "3rds-with-thumb-pivot" technique in the Right Hand. And the last two sections incorporate Right-Hand triplets.
If you'd like to add a new Left-Hand boogie-woogie pattern to your bag of pianistic tricks, this exercise (or series of twelve exercises, to be accurate) will certainly help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 82 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Exercise No.4 - Pablo's Left-Hand Pattern
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Exercise No.4 - Pablo's Left-Hand Pattern
Happy December 2020!
Here is my December 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Steely Dan's "Your Gold Teeth II", one of their most musically complex recordings, from their Katy Lied album, is my brand-new transcription this month - with a wonderful piano part part by session ace Michael Omartian.
Here is my new transcription of "Your Gold Teeth II":
Steely Dan - "Your Gold Teeth II" - Complete Piano Part
Also new this month is a transcription of the complete piano part in Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" (1957). My previous transcription was of only the piano solo, but this brand-new transcription contains the entire recording.
Here is my new transcription of "Great Balls of Fire":
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" - Complete Piano Part
My new exercise this month is a group of eight exercises to increase the strength and independence of the 4th finger.
In two sections, one for the Right Hand and the other for the Left Hand, the second section is a mirror image of the first section. Fingering is included.
Each of the eight measures in each section is a stand-alone exercise, in order of progressive difficulty.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 81 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise for 4th Finger - Strength & Independence
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise for 4th Finger - Strength & Independence
Happy November 2020!
Here is my November 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The beautiful minute-and-a-half Extended Piano Intro for Stevie Nicks' 'Live in Chicago' (2008) version of "Rhiannon", is my brand-new transcription this month - a terrific performance by Darrell Smith.
Here is my new transcription of the Extended Piano Intro of "Rhiannon":
Stevie Nicks - Rhiannon - 'Live in Chicago' (2008) - Extended Piano Intro
Here is this very special version of "Rhiannon" on YouTube.
My new exercise this month is a 6-part exercise in boogie-woogie rhythms and Left/Right coordination with broken octaves in the Left Hand.
This is an exercise in boogie-woogie rhythms that will facilitate Left Hand/Right Hand coordination. It will also strengthen the Left Hand and improve one's ability with a common broken-octave Left Hand pattern.
This exercise contains six sections, each progressively more challenging rhythmically.
Each section is based upon a two-bar rhythmic pattern, except the first section, which is based upon a one-bar pattern.
The first five sections begin with the first Right Hand chord on the 2nd beat. The sixth section begins with the RH on 1&. Starting with the fourth section the RH is required to move around a little more.
If you'd like to learn some classic boogie-woogie rhythm patterns while improving your Left/Right coordination - and strengthening your Left Hand - this exercise will help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 80 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Rhythm/Coordination Exercise with Broken Octaves
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Rhythm/Coordination Exercise with Broken Octaves
Happy October 2020!
Here is my October 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The 36-bar piano part in the Out Section of Toto's, "Rosanna" is one of my four brand-new transcriptions this month - a terrific performance by David Paich.
Here is my new, updated transcription of "Rosanna":
Toto - Rosanna - Synth Solo & Piano Out Section
Another new transcription this month is Chuck Leavell's acoustic piano solo on Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider". You didn't know that "Midnight Rider" has any acoustic piano on it? You thought it only had Gregg Allman's electric piano on it?
Well, you're right about the original 1973 recording. However, in 2019 a 2-CD Deluxe Edition was released that contained a rehearsal of "Midnight Rider" with Chuck Leavell playing acoustic piano. And sure enough, he takes a wonderful acoustic piano solo on it.
My Chuck Leavell transcriptions:
Gregg Allman - Midnight Rider - Acoustic Piano Solo - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Complete Piano Part - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Piano Solo from Tutorial Video - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Piano Solo - Album RH + Video LH - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Ramblin' Man" - Piano Part - Intro, 2 Verses, Chorus - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Southbound" - Piano Part without Solo - Chuck Leavell, piano
Eric Clapton - "San Francisco Bay Blues" - Complete Piano Part - Chuck Leavell, piano
My other Allman Brothers Band transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - "Stormy Monday" - Organ Solo - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
The Allman Brothers Band - "Whipping Post" - Complete Organ Part - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
My Gregg Allman transcription:
Gregg Allman - Midnight Rider - Electric Piano Riff - Gregg Allman, electric piano
Also brand-new is my transcription of the honky-tonk/saloon-style piano solo on Kid Rock's "Cowboy", played by Jimmie Bones, a regular band member of Twisted Brown Trucker, Kid Rock's regular backing band. Complete with tremolos and twangy fills, the piano solo is perfect for those that like sawdust on their bar-room floor.
Here are my Kid Rock transcriptions:
Kid Rock - "Cowboy" - Piano Solo - played by Jimmie Bones
Kid Rock - "All Summer Long" - Piano Tag - played by Billy Powell
Plus, this month I've transcribed the terrific running-16th-notes synth solo from "Hummingbird", released by Restless Heart in 1986 on their Wheels album. Played by Dave Innis, the synth solo trades licks with the electric guitar. The synth is mostly a series of fast (135 BPM) 16th-note runs that sometimes imitate a guitar by using the modulation wheel on the synth (an Emulator 2+). The bass guitar part under the synth solo is also included.
My new Restless Heart transcription:
Restless Heart - "Hummingbird" - Synth Solo - played by Dave Innis
My new exercise this month is a 4-part exercise in "Yodeling 6ths".A very common technique in both rock and C&W, a yodeling 6th is a broken 6th preceded by a minor 2nd, sounding somewhat like a human voice yodeling.
This exercise will help understand and gain facility with yodeling 6ths, chromatically ascending then descending.
Fifty bars long and in four parts, all four sections contain the same right hand part. However, each section contains a different bass line, gradually increasing in difficulty.
It includes fingerings and is in four 12-bar sections, plus a brief coda:
1) a left-hand part so simple that it will not distract while learning the right-hand part
2) the left-hand part is a syncopated 2-beat phrase with a New Orleans-type rhythm
3) the left-hand part becomes a 4-beat phrase, a little more complicated
4) the left-hand part is still a 4-beat phrase but is more challenging
Each section can be practiced by itself as a self-contained exercise.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 79 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Yodeling 6ths
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Yodeling 6ths
Happy September 2020!
Here is my September 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The complete piano part for the long version of Sister Sledge's #1 hit record, "We Are Family", recorded in 1979, is one of my two brand-new transcriptions this month.
Here is my new Sister Sledge transcription:
Sister Sledge - "We Are Family" (Long Version) - Entire Piano Part -
Chuck Berry's "It Wasn't Me" has been aired in 2020 as the track on Amazon Prime's 2-hour grocery delivery service TV commercial. Although it's not as well known as "You Never Can Tell" and "Nadine", "It Wasn't Me" has a piano part that's every bit as remarkable. At first listen it sounds like Johnnie Johnson's high-register tinkling, but research indicates that it was Sonny Thompson, a very strong Chicago-based session player.
Sonny Thompson was born in 1916 in Centreville, Mississippi in Wilkinson County - the most southwesterly of Mississippi counties, not far from New Orleans.
In his teens he moved to Chicago and attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Influenced by Earl Hines and Art Tatum, in his late teens he secured a job playing with Erskine Tate.
For a time Thompson attended the University of Chicago, and also had gigs with Red Allen, Stuff Smith, and his own combo called The Rhythm Masters.
In late 1942 he enlisted in the army and suffered a serious injury which left him hospitalized for a while, then recuperating at home.
He resumed his musical career in late 1944 and in the spring of 1945 landed a top job playing at the Hotel Pershing with a fourteen piece orchestra. The band broadcast nightly remotes live, continuing for a number of months.
In early 1946 he disbanded the orchestra and began to work again as a solo performer. His first session in the recording studio was for a small Detroit label called Sultan Records, and he then recorded with a combo backing up vocalist June Richmond for Mercury.
After joining Miracle he mainly played behind other artists throughout 1947. It was the instrumentals he cut at the tail end of these sessions for various singers that set his career off in another direction.
The first of them, "Long Gone (Part 1 & 2)", became the biggest hit of 1948, in the process launching the two-part single and establishing the slow seductive groove of rock instrumentals in contrast to the more flamboyantly honking sides that were popular at the time.
He followed it up with another #1 hit later that year, but soon settled into a career that took himself largely out of the spotlight, preferring instead to back other artists in the studio - most notably for King Records in the early 1950's doing sessions for everyone from Wynonie Harris to Little Willie John and Otis Williams and The Charms - and to also produce the records.
In 1952 he hired a new female vocalist, Lula Reed, to front his own touring/recording band and ending up marrying her as well as having hit records together, the biggest being "I'll Drown in My Tears", which he wrote (later recorded by Ray Charles as "I'll Drown in My Own Tears").
After overseeing Henry Stone's Chart Records operation in the mid-50's followed by an A&R stint at Chess Records, he eventually returned to King Records as their A&R man and top producer, overseeing the bulk of their recordings in the late 50's and early 60's. At King Records he helped shape blues-rock guitarist Freddie King's early successes, writing "I'm Tore Down".
As a songwriter he penned some of the most enduring classics of that time, and the number of hits he played on behind other artists were equally notable, but it was Thompson's early instrumental hits and the influence they had on rock's early course which remained his most lasting legacy. He died in 1989 just shy of 73 years old.
In 1965 Leonard and Phil Chess produced Chuck Berry's Fresh Berry's album, which included "It Wasn't Me" with Sonny Thompson on piano, Bryce Roberson on bass, and Walter Ben Ruffin on drums. Thompson's piano part is an extraordinarily cool, tinkly boogie-woogie that is almost all in thirds from beginning to end - and when not in thirds he uses sixths (flipped 3rds, of course).
This year a teasingly-short 30-second version of "It Wasn't Me" has been aired on TV as Amazon Prime's 2-hour Grocery Delivery commercial. Upon first hearing it I assumed it might be Johnnie Johnson or Lafayette Leake, but it turned out to be yet another master tinkler of the 88's, Sonny Thompson.
My Chuck Berry transcriptions:
Chuck Berry - It Wasn't Me - Piano Part by Sonny Thompson (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell - Piano Part by Johnnie Johnson (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
Plus, here are my Chuck Berry-related exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Boogie Exercise - Tremolos & Thirds.pdf
Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise No.9 ("Hammered Fourths").pdf
Playing 6ths in rock, blues, boogie, and jazz can be a little challenging, whether they're solid 6ths or broken.
My new exercise this month is a finger exercise in broken 6ths, primarily for the Right Hand, that will help increase strength, articulation and independence of the 1st/2nd and the 4th/5th fingers. It includes fingerings and is in three parts:
1) preparatory exercise
2) main ascending/descending exercise
3) mirror image of the preparatory exercise, for the Left Hand
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 78 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Broken 6ths for the Right Hand
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Broken 6ths for the Right Hand
Happy August 2020!
Here is my August 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The complete piano part for Billy Preston's #1 hit record, "Nothing from Nothing", recorded in 1974, is one of my two brand-new transcriptions this month.Here are my Billy Preston transcriptions:
Billy Preston - "Nothing from Nothing" - Entire Piano Part -
Billy Preston - "Slippin' and Slidin'" - Entire Organ Part
Billy Preston - "Will It Go 'Round in Circles" - Opening Piano Riff - Billy Preston, piano
The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Electric Piano Part - Billy Preston, Fender-Rhodes elec. piano
The Rolling Stones - "Shine a Light" - Billy Preston, piano
Plus, here are my Billy Preston-related exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Billy Preston-style Exercise No.4 - Inspired by 'Nothing from Nothing'
Coordination Exercise No.2 - Billy Preston-style
Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
R&B-Gospel Elements Exercise, incl. Substitutions - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
Kevin McKendree, one of Nashville's leading session players, began to play the piano at the age of three, teaching himself by ear, listening to records by Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles and other early Rock & Roll/R&B pioneers.
At ten, inspired by B.B. King, he began to play the guitar.
At the age of 17, he became a professional musician and worked around the Washington, D.C. area, sometimes as a piano salesman.
At 26 he moved to Nashville, got referrals from Chuck Leavell and lots of gigs, and two years later, joined Delbert McClinton as his band leader.
Since then he has recorded and toured with Brian Setzer and John Oates, as well as producing album projects in his studio, The Rock House, in Franklin, TN.
My only Kevin McKendree transcription:
Delbert McClinton - Going Back to Louisiana - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler)
My new exercise this month will help Left Hand/Right Hand coordination when playing running 8th-note chords in the Left Hand against highly-syncopated Right Hand octave riffs. This style was used by Billy Preston in his "Nothing from Nothing".
Usually the Left Hand plays octaves with a heart-beat type of rhythm following the kick drum. But in "Nothing from Nothing" Billy used a Left Hand pattern not often seen - running (continuous) 8th-note chords.
During much of "Nothing from Nothing" he also used repeated 8th-note chords in the Right Hand. However, during the piano solo he breaks out into a very syncopated Right Hand part full of octaves, tremolos, rhythmic 'pushes', and honky-tonk voicings.
This exercise uses those same elements but with a different chord progression. It starts with a 4-bar chord progression, repeats the progression but with a different Right Hand part, then goes into a 2-bar turnaround played three times, with a 'flip' stuck onto the end as a Tag - a total of sixteen bars.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 77 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Billy Preston-style Exercise No.4 - Inspired by 'Nothing from Nothing'
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Billy Preston-style Exercise No.4 - Inspired by 'Nothing from Nothing'
Happy July 2020!
Here is my July 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
The complete piano part (plus guitar solo) for Jerry Lee Lewis' third record, "Breathless", recorded in 1958 when he was 22, is one of my two brand-new transcriptions this month.Here are my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Breathless (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1958) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1961) - complete piano part
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1969) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms
Jerry Lee Lewis - Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - It'll Be Me (1957) -
Jerry Lee Lewis - Lewis Boogie (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Woman Blues (Live)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - Both Piano Parts - Jerry Lee & Tony Ashton, pianos
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
Jerry Lee Lewis - What's Made Milwaukee Famous
Jerry Lee Lewis - When the Saints Go Marching In (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again (1957)
Born and raised in Alabama, Jimmy Hall is the lead singer, sax and harmonica player for Wet Willie. His 1996 album, Rendezvous with the Blues, included "Too Tall To Mambo", a New Orleans-influenced uptempo track featuring Clayton Ivey on piano.
This is a note-for-note transcription of the 5-bar piano Intro and the 24-bar Solo (plus two bars immediately before and after the solo). The piano solo includes octaves, tremolos, blazingly-fast runs, cool-voiced flat7/sharp5 chords, 'jazzy' left-hand chord stabs - lots of terrific New Orleans-style piano elements.
Jimmy Hall - Too Tall To Mambo - Piano Intro & Solo - Clayton Ivey, piano
My new exercise this month will help you to learn a Left Hand boogie pattern that was one of Jerry Lee Lewis' main Left Hand patterns, along with other important boogie/rock elements.
In seven 16-bar sections, it starts out with just the basic Left Hand pattern, and a Right Hand part that is simple enough that it should not distract from concentrating on the Left Hand.
Each section introduces a new element, becoming progressively more difficult:
A) basic pattern - no frills
B) 'pushes' are added into the Right Hand part
C) Left Hand grace notes on the Major 3rd are added
D) Right Hand grace notes are added
E) Right Hand tremolos are added
F) The Right Hand is transposed up an octave
Out) Flips are added
Each section can be practiced by itself, allowing one to gain proficiency before proceeding to the next section's new challenge.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 76 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Jerry Lee Lewis Left Hand Exercise No.3
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Jerry Lee Lewis Exercise No.3 - Tack Piano
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Jerry Lee Lewis Exercise No.3 - Steinway
Happy June 2020!
Here is my June 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Here are my Greg Rolie transcriptions:
Journey - Feeling That Way - Intro & Verse 1 - Piano - Gregg Rolie -
Santana - "Black Magic Woman" - Elec. Piano Solo - Gregg Rolie
Santana - "Evil Ways" - B-3 Organ Solo - Gregg Rolie
Santana - "Oye Como Va" - B-3 Organ Solo
plus, my newly revised transcription of the piano part in Santana's "Smooth":
Santana - "Smooth" - entire song, complete piano part - Chester Thompson, piano
Here are my Larry Knechtel transcriptions:
The Association - "Never My Love" - Both Organ Solos -
Johnny Rivers - "Rockin' Pneumonia" - Piano Part - Larry Knechtel, piano
Here is my only Joey DeFrancesco transcription:
Van Morrison - "Ain't Gonna Moan No More" - Organ Intro & Solo - Joey DeFrancesco, organ -
My other Van Morrison transcriptions:
Van Morrison - "Brown-Eyed Girl" - Complete Organ Part - Paul Griffin, organ
Van Morrison - "Moondance" - Piano Solo - Jeff Labes, piano
This month's new exercise will help improve articulation in the Right Hand.
It especially teaches the thumb to lift up and get off a key as soon as it is struck, making way for the 2nd finger.
When played perfectly evenly, it will sound like 1,000 stars twinkling in the Southern sky (thus the ending twang).
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 75 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise - 1,000 Stars with a Twang
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise - 1,000 Stars with a Twang
Happy May 2020!
Here is my May 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Little Richard was born Richard Penniman and raised in Macon, Georgia, one of twelve children in a very religious family.
Richard sang in church at an early age, and was very influenced by gospel performers, including Mahalia Jackson and his favorite, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Richard's mother recalled that he was "always musical" and that when he was young, he would always "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans and pots and pans, or whatever, while singing." He was so quick at learning to play the saxophone that he was allowed to play with the high school's marching band immediately.
When Little Richard was 14, his favorite singer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, heard him sing and asked him to open for her at a Macon all-gospel concert - his first paid public performance. He sang gospel songs, as secular music, considered "the Devil's music", was forbidden in his home.
His father, a church deacon who owned a nightclub and bootlegged moonshine, ordered Richard, in his mid-teens, to move out of the family home, because of his early signs of homosexuality. He was taken in by a white family who owned a club in Macon, where Richard eventually began performing and honing his talent.
Richard started recording in 1951 at age 19, but as of 1955 had not yet had a hit. Lloyd Price, who had written and recorded the #1 R&B hit "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", suggested that Richard send a two-song demo to Price's label, Specialty Records. Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty, teamed Richard with producer 'Bumps' Blackwell, and nine months later "Tutti-Frutti" was a smash hit.
Richard's electrifying piano style used jackhammer-fast triplets - both octaves and chords - and often his Right Hand would descend the keyboard in clusters. As a piano-player, he was very much for real.
Over the next three years he churned out 18 hit singles, including "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Ready Teddy", "The Girl Can't Help It", "Lucille", "Jenny, Jenny", "Long Tall Sally", and "Good Golly Miss Molly".
However, by 1957 Richard had quit rock-and-roll and began performing only gospel music. In 1964 he resumed playing rock until 1977, when he again retreated into gospel-only performances.
In 1985 Richard returned to rock performing and accepted a role in the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He and Billy Preston wrote the faith-based rock-and-roll song, "Great Gosh A'Mighty" for its soundtrack.
A high-energy rocker, "Great Gosh A'Mighty" contains many of the same elements of his earlier dynamic hits: a droning, pounding Left Hand, a driving, mid-register Right Hand, and occasionally using the high registers for pneumatic-hammer-fast octave triplets and runs.
Years later, in 1994, Little Richard and Lloyd Price appeared together on the Sally Jesse Raphael TV Show, and performed "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" together - Price's song whose success had made both their careers possible. Price's original recording used Fats Domino on piano, but Richard's more driving piano style brings a new level of energy to "Miss Clawdy".
And, of course, Little Richard's driving piano style is certainly on display in his original 1957 recording of "Slippin' and Slidin'". If you haven't heard it in a while, listen to it here on YouTube.
Here are my Little Richard transcriptions:
Little Richard - "Slippin' and Slidin'" - entire song, complete piano part -
Little Richard - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" - entire song, complete piano part
Little Richard - "Great Gosh A'Mighty" - entire song, complete piano part
plus, Leon Russell's song about Little Richard:
Leon Russell - "Crystal Closet Queen" - entire song, complete piano part
Born in 1946 in Houston, Texas, Billy Preston moved to Los Angeles as a child with his mother, a stage actress - for whom twenty years later he would write "You Are So Beautiful". A child prodigy with perfect pitch, Billy started playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap and was entirely self-taught.
Although he'd never had a music lesson, by age ten Billy was playing organ onstage, backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch.
At 11 Preston appeared on an episode of Nat King Cole's TV show singing the Fats Domino hit "Blueberry Hill" with Cole. He also appeared in St. Louis Blues, a 1958 movie about W. C. Handy starring Nat 'King' Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway; Preston played Handy at a younger age.
In 1962, Preston joined Little Richard's band as an organist, and it was while performing in Hamburg that he met the Beatles. In 1963, he played the organ on Sam Cooke's Night Beat album and released his own debut album, 16 Yr Old Soul, for Cooke's SAR label. In 1965, he released the album The Most Exciting Organ Ever (which includes "Slippin' and Slidin'") and performed on the rock and roll show Shindig! In 1967, he joined Ray Charles' band.
Following this exposure, several musicians began asking Preston to contribute to their sessions, including the Beatles, seven years after meeting him while playing with Little Richard.
He played on several of their songs, including "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "Something", "Let It Be" (the organ part), and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
During the "Get Back" sessions Lennon suggested that Preston join the Beatles, even using the term "Fifth Beatle", but the idea was dismissed by the others.
Billy Preston was the only artist to receive joint credit on a Beatles single. Preston also accompanied the band on electric piano for its rooftop concert, the group's final public appearance.
From 1970, Preston played keyboards (including piano, organ, clavinet and various synthesizers) for the Rolling Stones, sometimes alongside pianists Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart, on their albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. (which includes "Shine a Light"), Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n Roll and Black and Blue.
Although credited to usual Stones writers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Shine a Light" was largely a Mick Jagger-Leon Russell composition. Mick began writing the song in early 1968 when the Stones still had guitarist Brian Jones as a member. The song was originally titled "Get a Line on You" and dealt with Jones's ever-worsening addiction to drugs and his detachment from the rest of the band.
After Jones' death in 1969, the song resurfaced. Following revisions by Jagger, it was recorded again in July 1970 as "Shine a Light". A third recording at London's Olympic Sound Studios in December 1971 resulted in the final version of the song released on Exile on Main St.
As the band's primary touring keyboardist from 1973 to 1977, he also performed as a support act with his own band (including Mick Taylor on guitar) on their 1973 European tour.
In 1974, along with Bruce Fisher, one of his regular songwriting collaborators in the 1970s, he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live's premiere episode.
Although the Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a disagreement over money, Billy continued to play on solo records by Stones members likeMick Jagger's Wandering Spirit, and made appearances on the band's Tattoo You and Bridges to Babylon albums.
Billy Preston was certainly one of the most gifted musicians in the history of rock-and-roll, bringing rock organ-playing to a new level. His instrumental version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" shows off many of his extraordinary B-3 techniques: his extremely 'fat' chords, 'crushed' notes, grace notes, tremolos, his amazing glissandi, etc. If you haven't heard this special recording, listen to it here on YouTube.
Here are my Billy Preston transcriptions:
Billy Preston - "Slippin' and Slidin'" - Entire Organ Part -
Billy Preston - "Will It Go 'Round in Circles" - Opening Piano Riff - Billy Preston, piano
The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Electric Piano Part - Billy Preston, Fender-Rhodes elec. piano
The Rolling Stones - "Shine a Light" - Billy Preston, piano
Plus, here are my Billy Preston-related exercises:
Coordination Exercise No.2 - Billy Preston-style
Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
R&B-Gospel Elements Exercise, incl. Substitutions - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
My new exercise this month addresses the most important finger movement in piano-playing, i.e., the "thumb-under" movement, where the thumb passes under the 3rd or the 4th finger. It's very important to be able to execute it evenly and fluidly, without any break or 'hop'.
This exercise is for strengthening and improving the control of the "thumb-under" movement in the Right Hand as the thumb passes under the 4th finger and as the 4th finger passes over the thumb.
It was inspired by a riff in Albert Ammon's "Boogie Woogie Stomp", which is included at the very end.
It is in four sections, with fingering:
A) sets forth the basic exercise.
B) is where the added 'twist' (challenge) comes in; the highest note is taken up an octave, thus helping one's leaps.
C) adds the thumb-under-the-3rd-finger movement.
D) adds the 'twist' of taking the highest note up an octave, again helping to improve the accuracy of one's leaps.
The four sections are comprised of six 2-bar phrases, each of which is an exercise of its own. After mastering all six phrases, then all six can be played sequentially, i.e., back-to-back as notated, without pausing.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 74 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Thumb-Under-4th-Finger Exercise with a Twist - Inspired by Albert Ammons
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Thumb-Under-4th-Finger Exercise with a Twist - Inspired by Albert Ammons
Happy April 2020!
Here is my April 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in Oklahoma as Russell Bridges, young Leon Russell began playing piano at the age of four. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the same 1959 class as David Gates ('Bread'). He and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencement.
At 14 Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. "Oklahoma was a dry state and consequently there was no liquor laws, and I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy."
At 17, in 1958, Russell moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles, where as a first-call studio musician he played on many of the most popular recordings of the 1960s.
When Leon began working with Joe Cocker in 1969, he was already a veteran of the L.A. studio scene, a member of 'The Wrecking Crew', playing on many of Phil Spector's 'wall-of-sound' hits, plus hits by The Byrds, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Bobby 'Boris' Picket, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell and many others.
In early 1970 Joe Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking Crew, the Delaney & Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began rehearsals.
Those rehearsals led to the live Fillmore East concert that was recorded and released as the MadDogs & Englishmen album, along with the 1971 movie, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" - a documentary of the Joe Cocker tour for which Leon served as Musical Director.
Shortly thereafter, jam sessions with Delaney & Bonnie led to Leon recording "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" with them - a late-night jam arrangement that's anchored by Leon's wonderful gospel-style piano accompanying Bonnie's plaintive voice.
And it was in August 1970 when Elton John gave his very first Los Angeles performance, with Leon sitting in the first row of the relatively small club, The Troubadour.
Leon described it, "We'd been trying to get Elton for Shelter Records [the US record company started by Russell in 1969], but we were about a week late. I knew about him before he came to America; I had heard him with Long John Baldry. I sat down in the first row at the Troubadour, and he was brilliant.
"Sometime after the first Troubadour show, Elton and Bernie came over to my house. They were both very shy and very English, and Elton told me I looked like a proper rock star. They liked a sign I had above the piano saying "Don't Shoot The Piano Player." I think maybe that was where they got the idea for that album title."
Of that meeting, Elton Remembers, "It was the most magical of times because here was my idol accepting me. Actually, he could eat me for breakfast [playing piano]. I came from England and being a huge fan of someone like him and to have him accept me and kind of take me under his wing and be really fantastic to me the whole time. It meant the whole world to me that someone could show me that generosity that you admired so much. It helped validate me by saying, "Well if he thinks I'm alright then I must be alright because he's my hero."
"I saw him and my knees went zzzippp!. He invited me up to his house and I thought he's going to invite me up there and tie me to a chair and whip me and say, "This is how to play the piano!" I was really scared. I (had) heard the Delaney and Bonnie album [1969's Accept No Substitute, which featured Leon Russell on piano] and I just went through the roof. I nearly retired at that point. I figured there wasn't much point in playing anymore."
Few recordings have captured Leon as well as his studio version of "Crystal Closet Queen", written as his homage to Little Richard. To refresh your memory, listen here on YouTube.
Here are my note-for-note Leon Russell transcriptions:
Leon Russell - "Crystal Closet Queen" -
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Faded Love" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "A Song for You"
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
Leon Russell - "Roll Away the Stone"
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
Good finger exercises can greatly improve one's technique, but can be a little boring after lot of repetitions, for the fingers as well as the ears.
To get away from the Major/minor nature of most exercises, I've created an exercise based upon the whole-tone scale, which produces a more liquid, watery, Impressionistic soundscape.
The fingering, which is included, can be a little more challenging than Major/minor scales but one's fingers will benefit from the change.
This exercise, for Right Hand only, is actually a group of eight short, repeated exercises that address both single-note runs (sequential patterns) and double-thirds (ascending & descending scales). There are only two whole-tone scales, and both are used.
The purpose of this exercise is not to master whole-tone scales, but to use whole-tone scales to improve one's technique in general - gaining independence, agility, strength, articulation.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 73 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Finger Exercises in Whole-Tones - Single Notes & Double-thirds
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Whole-Tones
Happy March 2020!
Here is my March 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Ricky Nelson was born in 1940 into a musical family. His father Ozzie was a successful bandleader and Harriet was the band's vocalist.
In 1944 the radio sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet debuted, and 8-year-old Ricky joined the show in early 1949.
By 1952 the radio show had become a weekly TV sitcom that would last until 1966, one of the longest-running sitcoms in TV history.
At age 16 Ricky dated a girl who was an Elvis Presley fan, and in an attempt to impress her he fibbed and told her he, too, was going to make a record. She was highly skeptical, to say the least.
With Ozzie's help he got a one-record deal with Verve Records and recorded "I'm Walking" (the Fats Domino hit).
Before it was released he sang it on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The single hit #4 on the charts and the flip side, "A Teenager's Romance" hit #2. And 17-year-old Ricky made his first road trip, playing at four state and county fairs in Ohio and Wisconsin.
That summer of 1957 he signed a lucrative 5-year deal with Imperial Records and his next single "Be-Bop Baby" sold over a million copies. His first album, Ricky, hit #1. He also formed his own band with musicians near his own age, including 18-year-old guitarist James Burton. "Believe What You Say" was their first recording together.
In 1958 he released his second album, Ricky Nelson, and "Poor Little Fool" reached #1 on the charts and sold over two million copies.
During 1958 and 1959 Ricky had twelve chart hits in comparison to Elvis' eleven. It turned out that his skeptical girlfriend had been a blessing. His initial "I'm Walking" led to a career that saw 60 million records sold, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
My own career intersected with Ricky's in the late 1970's. I had already toured with the Beach Boys, who had hired Jerry Schilling, a childhood friend of Elvis, as tour manager.
Jerry dated (and ended up marrying) Myrna Smith, one of the Sweet Inspirations. When Elvis died, the Sweet Inspirations went on their own with Jerry as their manager, who asked me to be their Musical Director.
The Sweet Inspirations became the opening act for Ricky Nelson, who invited me to join his Stone Canyon Band. I accepted, and for awhile was going onstage with the Sweet Inspirations as the opening act and then going right back onstage with Ricky, the headliner.
There were lots of fun times and great memories from those tours. And when the Sweet Inspirations stopped opening for Ricky, I stayed with Ricky.
Until early 1981. We did some fun shows that year, including the Ritz in New York City, but our sound mixer had the bad habit of cranking up the volume far too loudly in the monitor mixes every single performance.
After a soundcheck at the Roxy on L.A.'s Sunset Strip, I gave Ricky's manager, Greg McDonald, my notice, explaining that I didn't want to lose my hearing. He offered me a raise, which I declined; but I promised to stay until a replacement pianist could be found. That replacement was Andy Chapin, and my last gig with Ricky was in March 1981.
When Ricky's plane caught fire on 12-31-1985 from a faulty heater, I lost three friends: Ricky, Bobby Neal (guitar), and Clark Russell (road manager). Rick's other musicians I'd toured with - Billy Thomas, John Beland, John Davis, Pat Upton - had fortunately already left the band. My replacement, Andy Chapin, was unfortunately on that plane.
I feel it important to make available the piano parts on two of Ricky's biggest hits.
Here are my two new Ricky Nelson transcriptions:
Ricky Nelson - "Hello Mary Lou" - piano part
Ricky Nelson - "Travelin' Man" - piano part
If you'd like to see me playing piano with Ricky Nelson, there's a video on YouTube of a TV performance of "Almost Saturday Night", complete with piano solo here.
A video of our Saturday Night Live performance can be seen here. "Hello Mary Lou" starts at 6:35. "Travelin' Man" starts at 9:06.
My new exercise, my third regarding twanging, further demonstrates how to add 'twang' to a couple of melodies, using Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town". 'Twanging' a note isn't just used when playing Floyd Cramer-style. Twanging is very much used by all rock/pop pianists, from Nicky Hopkins to Billy Powell to Chuck Leavell.
A twang is a type of grace note. The main difference between an ordinary grace-note and a 'twang' is that a twang also includes a higher harmony note (often played by the 5th finger).
This exercise contains 49 measures and two melodies, and is in three parts:
1) the 8-bar Verse melody and the 8-bar Chorus melody of "Lonesome Town", without any twanging
2) the same 16 bars, but with twang added
3) the same 16 bars with twang added, plus a simple Left Hand accompaniment
Performance Notes are included, of course, to help explain the principles of 'twanging'.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 72 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Twanging Exercise No.3 - "Lonesome Town"
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Twang Exercise No.3 - Lonesome Town
Happy February 2020!
Here is my February 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, a prolific London-based session guitarist, who'd played on hit records since 1963 with artists as diverse as Petula Clark ("Downtown"), Marianne Faithfull ("As Tears Go By"), the Nashville Teens ("Tobacco Road"), and the Rolling Stones ("Heart of Stone").
After a stint in the Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck), Page decided to form his own group.
John Paul Jones, whose real name was John Baldwin, was born in 1946, two years after Jimmy Page. He started playing piano at age six, learning from his father, a pianist/arranger for big bands in the '40s and '50s. His mother was also in the music business and the family often performed together touring England as a vaudeville comedy act. His influences ranged from the blues of Big Bill Broonzy and the jazz of Charles Mingus to the classical piano of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Because of his parents' touring, Jones was sent to boarding school at a young age. A student at Christ's College in London, he formally studied music; and at the age of 14 Jones became choirmaster and organist at a local church. During that year, 1960, he also bought his first bass guitar, followed by multiple others until finally buying his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass, which he used until 1976.
At 15 Jones joined his first band, The Deltas, and then played bass for the jazz-rock London group, Jett Blacks, a collective that included guitarist John McLaughlin.
In 1964 at 18 Jones began studio session work with Decca Records. From then until1968 he played on hundreds of recording sessions and soon expanded his studio work by playing keyboards and arranging, working with the Rolling Stones on Their Satanic Majesties Request (Jones' string arrangement is on "She's a Rainbow"), Herman's Hermits, Donovan (on "Sunshine Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man", "Mellow Yellow"), Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, and numerous others.
During his time as a session player, Jones often crossed paths with guitarist Page, and in 1968 at a recording session, he approached Page, who later recalled, "I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music training, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him."
Vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham soon joined. Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds", the quartet soon became known as Led Zeppelin.
Always a cutting-edge musician, Jones acquired a GX-1, Yamaha's first big polyphonic analog synth, and used it in 1978 to record the Strings and the Synth-Brass solo in "All My Love". He later sold it to Keith Emerson.
Written by John Paul Jones and Robert Plant, "All My Love" was composed in honor of Plant's 5-year-old son who had died in 1977.
Released in 1979 "All My Love" was performed only 14 times - all during their 1980 European tour - as Led Zeppelin broke up two months after the tour with the passing of John Bonham.
John Paul Jones and Robert Plant also teamed up to write "Your Time Is Gonna Come", released on their very first album in 1969, where he gets to show-off his pipe organ skills acquired as a 14-year-old choirmaster/organist. If you're not familiar with it, check out at least the 50-second organ Intro (with a second overdubbed organ on top of it, no less).
Here are my Led Zeppelin transcriptions:
Led Zeppelin - "Your Time Is Gonna Come" - complete organ part - John Paul Jones, organ
Led Zeppelin - "All My Love" - SynthStrings & SynthBrass Solo - John Paul Jones, keyboards
Led Zeppelin - "All My Love" - SynthStrings & SynthBrass Solo + Live Strings & Misc. Bass - John Paul Jones, keyboards & bass
Led Zeppelin - "Boogie with Stu" - Complete Piano Part - Ian Stewart, piano
Also new this month is the 'Cascade' exercise that will increase the independence of the fingers while adding an important riff to your repertoire, similar to one used by Chuck Leavell in his "Jessica Solo" with the Allman Brothers. It actually goes back to 1853 in a run on the black keys in Franz Liszt's 6th Hungarian Rhapsody.
It's not only an important riff to have in one's pianistic bag-o-tricks but it's also helpful in building independence of the fingers.
This exercise is built upon the major pentatonic scale using descending sets of sequences. It includes five parts:
1) RH in single notes, simple LH
2) RH in single notes, quarter-note LH
3) RH in triplets, LH uses different harmonic rhythm
4) RH in double notes
5) RH in double notes in triplets
The double-notes in parts 4 & 5 are excellent for developing finger strength, independence and flexibility. They are included as supplemental exercises to help perfect the main single-note cascade.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 71 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Cascade Exercise - Inspired by Chuck Leavell's 'Jessica' Run
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Cascade Exercise - Inspired by Chuck Leavell's 'Jessica' Run
Happy New Year - January 2020!
Here is my January 2020 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Al Kooper was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Queens in a lower middle class neighborhood, primarily Italian and Jewish, where "everybody lived in the same kind of houses".
Then, in the 7th grade, he was bussed to a junior high school in a different neighborhood, which changed his life - suddenly around people that were quite different from those he grew up with.
That's where he first heard Gospel music. "The way I play the organ on "Like a Rolling Stone" was very gospel derivative. It's what a gospel organ player would have played."
His first professional gigs were as a 14-year-old touring guitarist with the Royal Teens ("Short Shorts"). During his teen years producers would hire him because he wasn't as sophisticated musically as the usual jazz-oriented session players, and could get that "dumb, kid sound".
Considered a "bad boy" or "juvenile delinquent", he attended four different high schools, including a tough public school where a teacher had been thrown out the window.
After high school he attended college for a year but quit because he felt they were teaching him to be a music teacher. Continuing to record guitar parts for lots of teen records, he learned how to read and write music for the studio, and started becoming friends with many of the more-established players.
At age 16 he had begun working as a songwriter at NYC's Brill Building, and at 20 co-wrote his first big hit, "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis & the Playboys.
When Al was 21, his friend Tom Wilson was producing Bob Dylan, and invited him to observe the session. However, he was determined to figure out a way to play on the session and arrived an hour early with his guitar, to set up his gear and appear to be a hired musician. The other musicians knew him from other recording dates, so he blended in until Dylan walked into the studio, accompanied by guitarist Michael Bloomfield. Kooper did not know Bloomfield, but when he heard him warming up, he was blown away, packed up his gear and went into the control room, pretending to be a magazine reporter.
The players began their first rehearsal of "Like a Rolling Stone" but stopped and moved the organist, Paul Griffin ("American Pie"), onto piano. Seeing the organ wasn't going to be played, Kooper asked the producer if he could play it. But before Wilson could gave a definitive 'no' he became distracted, so Kooper went in and sat down at the Hammond organ.
Before this, Kooper had only played organ a little on songwriter demos, but didn't really understand the instrument. He has said that if Paul Griffin hadn't left the organ turned on, he wouldn't have known how to start it.
Of the session Kooper has said,"It was a six minute song, there was no music to read from. And there I was playing this unfamiliar instrument. So I would come in on the upbeat of one. I would wait until the band played the chord, and then as quickly as I could come in, play the chord. So the band would go, uh, [plays] -- this is the band, this is me. [plays] So if you listen to the record you can hear I'm always on the upbeat of the band, because I'm listening to hear what the chord is. I'm always on 8th-note behind everyone else, making sure of the chord before touching the keys. And I had good ears, and that's really what got me through that take.
"The other thing is, see where the Leslie speaker is over there, at the session, that was covered up by sound material. And the band was playing so loud that I couldn't even hear the Leslie... And I just knew what those notes were from having a little musical knowledge. But I could not hear it until I came into the playback. And it very could have easily have been wrong, but it wasn't.
"At the end of the playback of that take of 'Like A Rolling Stone', or actually during the thing, he (Dylan) said to the producer, turn up the organ. And Tom Wilson said, oh man, that guy's not an organ player. And Dylan said, I don't care, turn the organ up, and that's really how I became an organ player."
Of course, Kooper also became a legendary arranger/producer. He founded Blood, Sweat and Tears, and 'discovered' Lynyrd Skynyrd in an upscale Atlanta nightclub, producing their first three albums, which included "Sweet Home Alabama", "Free Bird", "Call Me the Breeze", "Tuesday's Gone", "Poison Whiskey", and "Simple Man".
His excellent keyboard playing alongside Michael Bloomfield's terrific guitar can be heard on his albums Super Session and The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (whose cover was painted by Norman Rockwell).
Here are my transcriptions of Bob Dylan recordings:
Bob Dylan - "Like a Rolling Stone" - Entire Organ Part - Al Kooper, organ
Bob Dylan - "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" - Piano Part
Here are my transcriptions of Lynyrd Skynyrd recordings:
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me the Breeze (Solo & End Run) - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me the Breeze (Verses) - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (Live) - Intro - Peter Keys, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (Live) - Solo - Peter Keys, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd Live - Free Bird (Live) - Solo - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - I Know a Little - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Poison Whiskey - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man - Intro
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama - Complete song - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama - Solo - Peter Keys, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - T for Texas - Solo - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday's Gone - Solo - Billy Powell, piano
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Workin' - Organ Part - Billy Powell, organ
Kofi Burbridge was born in 1961 in the Bronx, at two moved to Washington, DC, and at three became the older brother of Oteil Burbridge.
As children, both were jazz- and classically-trained on many instruments. Kofi, born with perfect pitch, developed a love of keyboards and flute, while Oteil chose bass and drums.
Kofi's early career was in a variety of Southeast R&B and Pop cover bands. After both brothers moved to Atlanta, in 1997 Oteil joined the Allman Brothers Band and in 1999 Kofi joined the Derek Trucks Band.
In 2010 Kofi co-founded the Tedeschi Trucks Band, whose debut album, Revelator, won the Best Blues Grammy in 2012 . Tragically, Kofi Burbridge passed away in February 2019 of an ongoing cardiac issue. Fortunately his legacy includes many outstanding recordings, forever a testament to his wonderful talent.
My only transcription of the Tedeschi Trucks Band:
Tedeschi Trucks Band - "Come See About Me" - Clavinet Solo - Played by Kofi Burbridge
If you haven't heard his "Come See About Me" solo, listen to it here.
One of the main techniques involved in boogie-woogie is the use of the right hand thumb as a pivot between notes struck with higher fingers, i.e., 2 - 5. This exercise is to help develop facility with that thumb-pivot motion. It also will help develop Left-Right coordination.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 70 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Boogie-Woogie Exercise No.3 - Thumb-Pivot Right Hand vs Walking Broken-Octave Left Hand
Happy December 2019!
Here is my December 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, pianist Jay McShann led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie 'Bird' Parker, Ben Webster, and other jazz luminaries.
In fact, all his first recordings were with Charlie Parker, the very first as the Jay McShann Orchestra on August 9, 1940.
Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and nicknamed Hootie, his musical education consisted of listening to Earl Hines' late-night radio broadcasts from Chicago's Grand Terrace Cafe: "When 'Fatha' (Hines) went off the air, I went to bed".
At the age of 15, in 1931, he began working as a professional musician performing around Tulsa, Oklahoma, and neighboring Arkansas.
Five years later in 1936, at 20, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and set up his own big band, which variously featured Charlie Parker (1937-42), Al Hibbler, Ben Webster, Paul Quinichette, Bernard Anderson, Gene Ramey, Jimmy Coe, Gus Johnson (1938-43), Harold "Doc" West, Earl Coleman, Walter Brown, and Jimmy Witherspoon.
Although McShann's band played both swing and blues, most of its records were blues, the most popular recording being "Confessin' the Blues", which he co-wrote. Twenty years later the Rolling Stones covered it on their 1964 album, Five by Five.
In 1944 McShann's group disbanded when he was drafted into the Army.
After World War II McShann began to lead small groups featuring the blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. They had a hit in 1949 with "Ain't Nobody's Business". And in 1955 McShann had an R&B hit with "Hands Off", featuring a vocal by Priscilla Bowman.
In 1979, he appeared prominently in The Last of the Blue Devils, a documentary film about Kansas City jazz.
He continued recording and touring through the 1990s. Well into his 80s, McShann still performed occasionally, particularly in the Kansas City area. In 2001 he made his last recording, "Hootie Blues", after a recording career of 61 years.
In 2003 McShann said, "You'd hear some cat play, and somebody would say 'This cat, he sounds like he's from Kansas City.' It was the Kansas City Style. They knew it on the East Coast. They knew it on the West Coast. They knew it up North, and they knew it down South."
Most pianists love playing the blues, and have long heard of 'Kansas City blues', even if they don't know exactly what the Kansas City style is. Jay McShann's recording of "Going to Kansas City" pretty much defines Kansas City blues piano-playing. I have transcribed his classic recording of it note-for-note.
Here is my new transcription of a Jay McShann classic:
Jay McShann "Going to Kansas City" - Piano
If you haven't heard his "Going to Kansas City", listen to it here - you'll see why he's in the Blues Hall of Fame.
One important element in blues piano-playing is 'rolls', which are sort of like 'flips' in that they're both a type of arpeggiation, but rolls don't necessarily end lower than they started, as a flip does. They're both lots of fun to play, and can sound great.
Also, there's a basic chord voicing - simple but effective - that blues pianists need to be aware of.
The chord voicing/inversion is a triad with a sixth between the lowest and highest notes, and with a third below the highest note. This inversion, or chord position, facilitates good voice leading when going in parallel motion from a 7th chord to a 9th chord.
My new exercise, Blues Exercise #10, combines those two elements - rolls and a particular chord inversion used in parallel.
It is in three 16-bar sections, with the second section adding 'rolls' and the third section adding more rolls plus a few tremolos.
Those three sections are then repeated with grace notes added. The final, sixth section, is repeated. At 100 measures in length, this is one of my longest exercises. Hopefully it'll also be one of my more helpful, at least in this genre.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 69 exercises available - including other blues exercises.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise #10 - Parallel Blues Chords & Rolls
To listen, just click: Blues Exercise #10 - Parallel Blues Chords & Rolls
Happy November 2019!
Here is my November 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
This month may seem like a continuation of last month's newsletter - déjà vu all over again - because they both feature Ray Charles, but it wasn't planned that way.
Last month when I transcribed his bluesy "Heartbreaker", I hadn't planned to transcribe "Boogie Woogie", not because I didn't like it - it was actually my favorite of the two - but because it seemed like too daunting a challenge, a project that would just take too much time.
However, since boogie-woogie is my favorite piano genre, and this particular recording is a sublime example of Ray Charles' genius elevating the boogie art form, I couldn't resist tackling the project. I myself wanted to know just how did he get those sounds, what were the voicings of those cool chords, exactly what was his left hand hand doing...
So I went to work, and after a lot of hours, managed to nail every note of Ray's amazing "Boogie Woogie". I'm as proud of this transcription as I am of "American Pie" or "Green-Eyed Lady" because of the notes that Ray sets forth during those two amazing minutes.
As brilliant as Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade 'Lux' Lewis certainly were in creating the boogie-woogie art form, Ray Charles, their musical equal, added his own elegant contribution in "Boogie Woogie".
Not only are Ray's notes and rhythms wonderful but also listen to his bouncy, light, detached (but not totally staccato) touch - a unique touch never used by Ammons/Johnson/Lewis.
One of the 20th century's greatest musicians, he was gifted with perfect pitch, learned to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven using braille music, loved R&B and C&W, and could play straight-ahead jazz with the most cutting-edge players. He had it all.
Back in 1953 with Ahmet Ertegun standing feet away in the NYC Atlantic studio, Ray recorded the rousing, foot-patting "Boogie Woogie" using only an acoustic piano - no other instruments, no vocals whatsoever - just young 22-year-old Ray Charles revealing his genius to the world through his piano and ten amazing fingers.
Here are my transcriptions of Ray Charles recordings:
Ray Charles - "Boogie Woogie" (1953 Instrumental) - Piano
Ray Charles - "Heartbreaker" (1953 Instrumental Version) - Piano
Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars" - Piano
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say" - Verses 1 & 2 - Electric Piano
Ray Charles - "Makin' Whoopee" - Chord Chart Only
If you haven't heard Ray Charles' "Sweet Sixteen Bars" and you like blues or gospel piano, you owe it to your self to listen to it here - an amazing recording.
Also, Dr. John liked to play what he called the 'Ray Charles Ending', a cool walk-down progression that can sometimes be tacked onto the end of a piece.
Also new this month is my transcription of the hauntingly beautiful harmonica solo in Gilbert O'Sullivan's 1972 hit, "Clair". It was played by three-year-old Clair's father, Gordon Mills, who happened to be Gilbert O'Sullivan's manager and an award-winning harmonica virtuoso.
This transcription of the 8-bar solo also contains the bass guitar line during the harmonica solo.
The Left Hand phrase that Ray Charles uses in his 1953 recording of "Boogie Woogie" is a classic variant on 5ths-based boogie patterns. His uses not only the open-fifth sound but also adds a sixth.
This new exercise will help you gain proficiency in this wonderful - and important - boogie-woogie left hand pattern. It contains three parts, each one a little more difficult than the previous one.
The first gives you repetitive practice on the pattern while starting to introduce simple coordination-challenging 'stabs' in the Right Hand.
The second increases the coordination challenge with more difficult Right Hand 'stabs'.
And the third section goes beyond Right Hand 'stabs' and introduces a riff loosely based upon a riff in Ray's 1953 recording of "Boogie Woogie".
By the time you master these three sections, you should be well on your way to having added a classic, important boogie pattern to your repertoire - one that was a favorite of Ray Charles.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 68 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Boogie-Woogie Exercise #2 - Ray Charles' Left Hand Pattern
To listen, just click: Boogie-Woogie Exercise #2 - Ray Charles' Left Hand Pattern - Grand Piano
To listen, just click: Boogie-Woogie Exercise #2 - Ray Charles' Left Hand Pattern - Tack Piano
Happy October 2019!
Here is my October 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in 1930 Ray Charles was blind by the age of seven; one of the last things he saw was his younger brother drown in his mother's laundry tub. His destitute, grieving mother sent young Ray to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945
Gifted with perfect pitch, he was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven using braille music.
While Charles was happy to play classics, he was more interested in the jazz, blues, and country music he heard on the radio. On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies at which Charles would play piano and sing popular songs. On both Halloween and on George Washington's birthday, the black department of the school held socials at which Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys" and sang his own arrangement of "Jingle Bell Boogie". During this time, he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine.
Ray Charles' mother died in the Spring of 1944, when Ray was 14. Her death came as a shock to him; he later said the deaths of his brother and mother were "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles returned to school after the funeral but was expelled in October for playing a prank on his teacher. After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa, and then at 17 bought a one-way bus ticket to Seattle, Washington. After getting a regular 1-to-5-AM club gig, he recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart. While in Seattle, he met 'Bumps' Blackwell and Quincy Jones, who encouraged him to move to Los Angeles, which he did in 1950.
Two years later Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records bought his contract for $2,500(about $25,000 in today's money), and immediately started recording him. "Mess Around" (with Ertegun's lyrics) had modest success, along with a few others, and then "I Got a Woman" reached #2 on the R&B chart in 1954.
After other modest successes, his big break-through hit came in 1959 with "What'd I Say", followed by "Georgia" which garnered four Grammy Awards.
In 1962 his album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was released, where he interpreted some of C&W's greatest songs through his own R&B prism, and the result was a stunning artistic (and commercial) success. "I Can't Stop Loving You" was the #1 Pop song for five weeks, and the #1 R&B record for ten weeks.
One of the 20th century's greatest musicians, Ray Charles was not only an extraordinary singer but also a master of the keyboard, capable of playing jazz on the highest levels with the most talented jazz artists.
Back in 1953 with Ahmet Ertegun standing feet away in the NYC Atlantic studio, Ray recorded an instrumental version of "Heartbreaker" (like "Mess Around", written by him with lyrics by Ertegun), using only an acoustic piano - no other instruments, no vocals whatsoever - just young 22-year-old Ray Charles revealing his genius to the world through his piano. This remarkable recording was stored in the vaults and not released for 52 years - until 2005.
Here are my transcriptions of Ray Charles recordings:
Ray Charles - "Heartbreaker" (1953 Instrumental Version) - Piano
Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars" - Piano
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say" - Verses 1 & 2 - Electric Piano
Ray Charles - "Makin' Whoopee" - Chord Chart Only
Also, Dr. John liked to play what he called the 'Ray Charles Ending', a cool walk-down progression that can sometimes be tacked onto the end of a piece.
BTW, since it's October and Halloween is inexorably approaching, you might want to prepare for the Halloween parties by learning Leon Russell's classic piano part in "The Monster Mash". If you haven't heard it in awhile, click here to listen.
My new exercise this month will help develop strength in the Right Hand thumb during "thumb pivots", when the hand is pivoting between the right side (fingers 2- 5) and the left side (the thumb).
This exercise contains two parts, the second one a little more difficult than the first. They should be practiced without stopping, i.e., looping, until the hand begins to tire. Stop, rest, and repeat a few times every day. Over a few days/weeks, one should notice an increase in the number of repetitions possible before fatigue sets in.
Besides increasing strength in the Right Hand, it will also improve one's control in general.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 67 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Thumb-Pivot Exercise - Strengthen and Increase Control of Your Thumb
To listen, just click: Thumb-Pivot Exercise
Happy September 2019!
Here is my September 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in 1944 Dave Edmunds is a Welsh singer/songwriter/guitarist. At the age of ten he first started playing in a band, a duo with his older brother.
Forming many bands over the next 16 years, Edmunds finally broke through in 1970 with a #1 single in the UK (#4 in the US), "I Hear You Knocking", a remake of Smiley Lewis' 1955 classic.
Edmunds' 1982 album, D.E. 7th, saw him assemble a new group of musicians that had been known as Geraint Watkins and the Dominators. They would record and tour with Edmunds throughout the rest of the 1980s.
In 1981 Edmunds had gone to a Bruce Springsteen concert at Wembley Arena. "I was backstage in the hospitality area after the gig," Edmunds recalled, "and one of his crew of road managers tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Bruce wants to meet you.' I went back and had this great talk with him, and he played me this song ('From Small Things') and said, 'I'd like you to do this, if you like it.' He said he'd send me the tape, which he did."
Edmunds recording of "From Small Things" reached #28 in Billboard, and featured a terrific, uptempo boogie-woogie piano solo by Geraint Watkins.
Watkins, born in 1951 and also from Wales, dropped out of Portsmouth Art College, joined the New Orleans-influenced band Red Beans and Rice, and moved to London, where he went through a succession of bands and solo performances in pubs.
Discovered by producer Stuart Colman, Watkins became an in-demand session player, working with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Nick Lowe (5 albums), and Van Morrison (4 albums).
Here are my transcriptions of Bruce Springsteen songs or recordings:
Dave Edmunds - "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)" - Piano Solo - Geraint Watkins, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Because the Night" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (Live in NYC) - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (album) - David Sancious, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Hungry Heart" - B-3 Solo - Danny Federici, organ
Bruce Springsteen - "Jungleland" - Piano Interlude - Roy Bittan, piano
Manfred Mann - "Blinded by the Light" - Manfred Mann, organ
This month I've created a challenging exercise inspired by the piano solo in Paul Brandt's "The Highway Patrol", which contains a tricky, rhythmic, ascending 2-handed run.
Using only the first six notes of that run (based on a D9 chord), I expanded them sequentially not only upward but also descending. Two versions of the exercise are included, an 18-bar phrase plus a shorter 9-bar variant.
This exercise will help improve your technique in several areas: Left-Right coordination, rhythmic syncopation, articulation, and "close-quarter" hand positions.
Because the underlying harmony for this exercise is a ninth chord - a D9 - and both hands are alternating in a Right-Left-Left pattern, it's called "Alternating 9ths".
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 66 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Exercise in Alternating 9ths
Happy August 2019!
Here is my August 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in 1949 in Queens, New York City, Roy Bittan said that music first entered his life when, as a child, he saw an accordion player, Dick Contino, on the Ed Sullivan Show.
"I said, 'I want to play that.' He was pre-Elvis; from like 1949 to 1952, he was one of the biggest entertainers in the U.S. - very Italian-looking guy, muscular. Women in those days would throw their hotel room keys at him. I was too little to understand that part, but I loved the instrument, so I wanted to take accordion lessons, and my parents indulged me. I studied the accordion.
"The two sides of the accordion are broken up, the right hand being the melody and the left hand being sort of chordal. I suppose you could say the same thing about the piano, but it's not really the same on the piano, because when you play the accordion, you tend to play melody with a harmony of thirds and maybe sixths, and it's a very, very melodically evocative instrument. The accordion also has a sense of pathos, as well as a sense of joy. I mean, it's a woodwind. It's wind blowing over a reed. And it can be very expressive when played properly. So I think the training I had on the accordion gave my playing an expressiveness.
"Also, when I studied the accordion, I had a teacher who gave me the pop songs of the week to write out a chord chart, which is basically the melody of the song and then a symbol above it of what the chord is underneath it. You have to figure out how to play the song. So, that sort of extemporaneous, spontaneous training of taking a melody and then embellishing the accompaniment gave me a leg up on those who took piano lessons and maybe just studied classical music. I was trained early on in expressing myself and getting the most out of a particular piece of music." Roy first met Bruce Springsteen in 1974 at Max's Kansas City, a nightclub in NYC where Springsteen and his E Street Band were sharing the bill with Bittan's band. "So for a few nights, our bands would trade sets, and we would pass in the hall. I would go, 'Ah, man, you're so great,' and he would go, 'Hey you played really great.' We would pat each other on the back: 'Hey, have a good set.' There was no question in my mind that he was going to break through."
Bittan's first album with Springsteen's E Street Band was Born To Run. "We spent a good bit of time working on the arrangements. We would labor over, 'Well, what do we do with the ending of 'Thunder Road'?' And 'Jungleland', my God, it was like, 'How do I connect all this stuff?' My classical training helped me connect all the sections and sort of make them flow together. Then we had to play it like it was a real piece of music. Bruce didn't want to just splice the song together; we would perform it from beginning to end and try to get one great take - not easy to do. So there was a lot of rehearsal involved, a lot of construction. The songs needed tight structure, and I think I was able to distill them and work up piano parts to highlight what he was doing. Using so much piano on the album gave it a certain gravitas rather than just maybe doing it all with guitars."
When told that Keith Richards had said that his last request would be to play "Jumpin' Jack Flash" one final time, and asked what song would that be for him, Bittan replied, "That would be the longest song we ever recorded, which is 'Jungleland'."
Here are my Roy Bittan transcriptions::
Bruce Springsteen - "Jungleland" - Piano Interlude - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Because the Night" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (Live in NYC) - Roy Bittan, piano
Bob Seger - Roll Me Away - Roy Bittan, piano
Here are my other transcriptions of E Street Band members:
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (album) - David Sancious, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Hungry Heart" - B-3 Solo - Danny Federici, organ
Pat Benatar - "Looking for a Stranger" - Charles Giordano, organ
"Swamp Rock" is an atmospheric piano style with roots in the Louisiana bayous, but an Oklahoman, Leon Russell, played it as well as anybody. This exercise helps clarify some of the basic elements that give it its colorful 'sound':
1) 4ths - good for fills over the I chord
2) 6ths - good for fills over the IV chord
3) Tritones - right-hand voicing for dominant 7th chords
This is an 8-bar phrase that introduces the player to these three important elements of the "Swamp Rock" style. The Performance Notes explain the music theory underlying this style.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 65 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Swamp Rock - 4ths, 6ths & Tritones (grand piano)
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Swamp Rock - 4ths, 6ths & Tritones (honky-tonk piano)
Since Leon Russell was the master and leading exponent of 'Swamp Rock', here are my actual Leon Russell transcriptions (not exercises but pieces that are great to learn from):
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Faded Love" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "A Song for You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Roll Away the Stone" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live" - Leon Russell, piano
Happy July 2019!
Here is my July 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in 1946 in Houston, Texas, Billy Preston moved to Los Angeles as a child with his mother, a stage actress - for whom twenty years later he would write "You Are So Beautiful". A child prodigy with perfect pitch, Billy started playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap and was entirely self-taught.
Although he'd never had a music lesson, by age ten Billy was playing organ onstage, backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch.
At 11 Preston appeared on an episode of Nat King Cole's TV show singing the Fats Domino hit "Blueberry Hill" with Cole. He also appeared in St. Louis Blues, a 1958 movie about W. C. Handy starring Nat 'King' Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway; Preston played Handy at a younger age.
In 1962, Preston joined Little Richard's band as an organist, and it was while performing in Hamburg that he met the Beatles. In 1963, he played the organ on Sam Cooke's Night Beat album and released his own debut album, 16 Yr Old Soul, for Cooke's SAR label. In 1965, he released the album The Most Exciting Organ Ever and performed on the rock and roll show Shindig! In 1967, he joined Ray Charles' band.
Following this exposure, several musicians began asking Preston to contribute to their sessions, including the Beatles, seven years after meeting him while playing with Little Richard.
He played on several of their songs, including "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "Something", "Let It Be" (the organ part), and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
During the "Get Back" sessions Lennon suggested that Preston join the Beatles, even using the term "Fifth Beatle", but the idea was dismissed by the others.
Billy Preston was the only artist to receive joint credit on a Beatles single. Preston also accompanied the band on electric piano for its rooftop concert, the group's final public appearance.
From 1970, Preston played keyboards (including piano, organ, clavinet and various synthesizers) for the Rolling Stones, sometimes alongside pianists Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart, on their albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. (which includes "Shine a Light"), Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n Roll and Black and Blue.
As the band's primary touring keyboardist from 1973 to 1977, he also performed as a support act with his own band (including Mick Taylor on guitar) on their 1973 European tour.
In 1974, along with Bruce Fisher, one of his regular songwriting collaborators in the 1970s, he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live's premiere episode.
Although the Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a disagreement over money, Billy continued to play on solo records by Stones members like Mick Jagger's Wandering Spirit, and made appearances on the band's Tattoo You and Bridges to Babylon albums.
Although credited to usual Stones writers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Shine a Light" was largely a Mick Jagger-Leon Russell composition. Mick began writing the song in early 1968 when the Stones still had guitarist Brian Jones as a member. The song was originally titled "Get a Line on You" and dealt with Jones's ever-worsening addiction to drugs and his detachment from the rest of the band.
A version of the song, under the title "(Can't Seem To) Get a Line on You," was made by Leon Russell at Olympic Studios in October 1969 with assistance from Jagger (lead vocals), Charlie Watts (drums), Leon Russell (piano), and probably also Bill Wyman (bass) and Mick Taylor (guitar). The recording was made during the recording sessions for the 1970 album Leon Russell, where both Watts and Wyman contributed drums and bass to some of the tracks. However, Leon's version of the song was shelved until 1993, when it was finally released as a bonus track on the 24K gold re-release of Leon Russell by DCC Compact Classics.
After Jones' death in 1969, the song resurfaced. Following revisions by Jagger, it was recorded again in July 1970 as "Shine a Light." A third recording at London's Olympic Sound Studios in December 1971 resulted in the final version of the song released on Exile on Main St.
Here are my Billy Preston transcriptions::
The Rolling Stones - "Shine a Light" - Complete Piano Part - Billy Preston, piano
The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Complete Electric Piano Part - Billy Preston, Fender-Rhodes elec. piano
Billy Preston - "Will It Go 'Round in Circles" - Opening Piano Riff
Here are my other Rolling Stone transcriptions:
The Rolling Stones - "2120 South Michigan Avenue" - Ian Stewart, B-3 organ
The Rolling Stones - "Around and Around" - 36-bar Piano Solo - Ian Stewart, piano
The Rolling Stones - "Cool, Calm and Collected" - Intro & 1st 2 Verses - Jack Nitzsche, piano
The Rolling Stones - "Key to the Highway" - Ian Stewart, piano
The Rolling Stones - "Loving Cup" - Nicky Hopkins, piano
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow" - Piano Intro, Nicky Hopkins, piano
Here are my Leon Russell transcriptions:
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Faded Love" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "A Song for You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Roll Away the Stone" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live" - Leon Russell, piano
David Evans, born in 1961, better known by his stage name the Edge (or just Edge) is the lead guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 14 studio albums with the band as well as one solo record.
On U2's first #1 hit in the U.S., "With or Without You", Edge played the Infinite Guitar, a modified Stratocaster that allowed notes to sustain infinitely.
Michael Brook invented the Infinite Guitar by modifying his own Fender Stratocaster. He says he simply "put one pickup on top of another." The bridge pickup amplifies the sound of the strings, the newly added pickup reflects the sound and sends it back to the original pickups, creating a loop that can sustain the note indefinitely.
In 1987 while he was producing U2's The Joshua Tree album, Daniel Lanois told The Edge about Brook's invention. Intrigued, Edge paid Brook a visit, heard possibilities in the new Infinite Guitar, and asked if Brook could make him one. Brook initially demurred, telling Edge he's not a manufacturer, but eventually offered to modify the Irish guitarist's 1965 Strat. (Daniel Lanois, who employed Brook as an engineer at his Grant Street studio, owns the only other Infinite Guitar ever made.)
Choosing to use a clean Strat sound, the Edge recorded two tracks, both of which were used in the final mix by producer Lanois. Because of their sustain, they sound similar to a synthesizer, but being played on a Strat, the sound can be quite expressive, using harmonics and the guitar's volume knob for crescendos/decrescendos. The Edge uses both techniques in "With or Without You".
My new U2 transcription:
U2 - "With or Without You" - Both Infinite Guitar tracks - the Edge, guitarist
Here are my other Synthesizer transcriptions:
The Cars - Bye Bye Love - Synth Solo - Greg Hawkes, synth
Emerson, Lake & Powell - Lay Down Your Guns - Piano Part + Synth Solo - Keith Emerson, synth
Led Zeppelin - All My Love - Synth Parts - John Paul Jones, synth
Styx - Fooling Yourself (Synth Solo No.1) - Dennis DeYoung, synth
Styx - Fooling Yourself (Synth Solo No.2) - Dennis DeYoung, synth
Toto (& Weezer) - Africa - Synth Solo - David Paich, synth
Toto (& Weezer) - Rosanna - Synth Solo
Contrary motion - and its harmonization - has intrigued musicians since the time of Bach, whose Soprano and Bass lines often moved in opposite directions.
And 300 years later contrary motion is still alive and well, especially in Blues and C&W turn-arounds, and in Gospel and Rock. The chorus in the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets" is just one example of contrary motion between the melody and the bass guitar - the melody descends while the bass ascends. (BTW, this exercise is not based on "Takin' It to the Streets".)
Sometimes contrary motion can be a little challenging to harmonize, i.e., to find a chord that won't clash with the lines heading in opposite directions.
This exercise gives an example of a melody line that descends an octave while the bass line ascends an octave. Three different ways of playing the same chord progression are included.
There are a lot of different methods to achieve contrary motion, and this is only one chord progression. But if you like the sound of contrary motion and haven't been clear on what chords to use, this should help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 64 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Exercise in Contrary Motion
Happy June 2019!
Here is my June 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Nicky Hopkins - Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones called him 'the greatest rock 'n' roll piano player in the world', and the Kinks dedicated a song to him, "Session Man" on their 1966 Face to Face album.
He played piano with The Beatles ("Revolution") and John Lennon ("Imagine"), and for the Who, the Kinks, Jeff Beck, Jerry Garcia, Cat Stevens, Jefferson Airplane, the Steve Miller Band, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and many others.
Born in England in 1944, a year younger than George Harrison, Nicky began playing at age three, and started lessons at six. By the time he was eleven his solo performances were singled out in the local paper: "Eleven-year-old Nicholas Hopkins played his own composition, "Processional March"... The audience so applauded that Nicholas played the march again."
He learned to sight-read and progressed rapidly through the classical repertoire,and from age 12 to 16 he studied every Saturday morning at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was almost certainly a contemporary of eleven-year-old Reginald Dwight (Elton John) - both scholarship winners.
Also at age twelve, he later recalled, "It was the first time I remember being able to listen and then sit down at the piano and playing it. That's when I first started to understand music, beyond just having the ability to read it. Rock allowed me to experiment with new styles, but I never lost that classical element in my music. I was twelve when I first heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and those records made a fantastic impression on me."
However, Nicky rebelled against authority and by his own admission was only good at music and English, so he dropped out of school at sixteen to join his first band, Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages. Later in his teen years his always-frail health - Crohn's disease - necessitated a series of operations that made him bed-ridden for nineteen months, from May 1963 to December 1964.
Upon recovery, rather than joining bands, he concentrated on session work and became one of London's most in-demand session pianists, working extensively with leading UK producers Shel Talmy (the Who and the Kinks) and Andrew Loog Oldham (the Rolling Stones).
At 23 he joined the Jeff Beck Group with vocalist Rod Stewart, and at 25 recorded his own instrumental, the elegant "Girl from Mill Valley". Listen to it here on YouTube.
Since most of his recordings were accompanying tracks with the piano often buried in the mix under vocals, "Girl from Mill Valley", his own instrumental with up-front piano throughout, is an excellent study in gospel-rock generally, and Nicky Hopkins' style specifically.
The 'Girl' was the then-separated wife of a Quicksilver Messenger Service band-mate - one of shy Nicky's few romantic interests. Introduced by a mutual friend in California, he invited her to return to England with him, which she did, and met his parents. However, she kept it a platonic friendship and after ten days returned to Mill Valley. Nicky once said the song was "about nobody".
Nicky's piano sound was characterized by a certain bright percussiveness, always with clean, precisely-executed rhythms that could propel a rhythm track like drum fills. He had a great sense of classical-influenced melody, balance and proportion, and was equally at home in ballads ("You Are So Beautiful") and up-tempo rockers ("Revolution").
About "You Are So Beautiful" Joe Cocker says, "I'd been living in London and was a bit disillusioned with the whole business when Jim (Price) came in and played me that song, 'You Are So Beautiful,' which got me back in the studio; it was originally a gospel tune, but Jim kept saying, 'When I get Nicky Hopkins on this track, you'll understand what we're talking about' and of course, when he finally played it to me that way, I couldn't believe this piano part; that's when I did the vocal that stayed on the record. I sang it to wrap around that piano line. It would not have been that song without that piano part. Nicky's thing and the vocal just kissed each other; it was special. I was a latecomer on the scene and I kind of knew Nicky, but it wasn't like we did that session together. I'd still never met him at that stage."
And Nicky, who'd recorded the piano track without Cocker even present, consistently picked "You Are So Beautiful" as one of his own all-time favorite performances.
Other great Nicky Hopkins recordings include his tracks with the Rolling Stones, including "Loving Cup".
In a 2003 interview, Mick Jagger explained: "On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play 'Loving Cup', the ballad from Exile on Main St. I didn't want to play the tune and I said, Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can't even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I've done it loads of times in America, it doesn't go down that well, it's a very difficult song to sing, and I'm fed up with it! Chuck went, Stick in the mud! so I gave in and put it in the set-list. Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding... Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, What a wonderful song that was, when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released."
Here are my Nicky Hopkins transcriptions:
The Rolling Stones - "Loving Cup" - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Joe Cocker - "You Are So Beautiful" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins, piano
The Jeff Beck Group - "Girl from Mill Valley" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins, piano
John Lennon - "Imagine" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins, piano
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow" - Piano Intro - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Here are my other Joe Cocker transcriptions:
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - Tommy Eyre, organ
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Live) - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Studio) - Artie Butler, piano
Joe Cocker - "That's Your Business Now" - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
In rock-and-roll piano-playing Left Hand/Right Hand coordination is very important. Often the Left Hand will keep a heartbeat rhythmic pattern going while the Right Hand plays syncopated, i.e., 'pushed', chords.
Often it's not clear to rock/pop pianists what the Left Hand should be doing, which is usually to add forward momentum. And even when one knows what the Left Hand should be doing, sometimes it can be a little tricky when the Right Hand is playing something quite different.
This exercise is in three parts, all three with exactly the same Right Hand part, a simple pattern with rhythmic 'pushes'. The first part shows the wrong way to play a Left Hand part, with the Left Hand copying the Right Hand pushes.
The second and third parts show how to add a simple 2-strike and 3-strike Left Hand 'heartbeat' pattern that complements the Right Hand part rather than copying it, rhythmically.
If you'd like to gain greater independence and coordination of the hands, this exercise should help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 63 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Happy May 2019!
Here is my May 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Gospel piano music isn't inspirational just because of its association with the church, but also because in the best hands, it just plain rocks.
If you could ask Leon Russell what he thought about gospel piano, he'd probably point out that almost every recording he ever made contained gospel elements, from the notes and chord voicings to the rhythms.
As would the late great Richard Tee, whose gospel rhythms and licks infused his amazing style.
The difference in their styles was that Leon grew up listening to the gospel pianos in the churches in Oklahoma, whereas Richard Tee grew up listening to the church pianists in Brooklyn and Harlem.
Around 1969 gospel piano began having a big influence on mainstream rock piano as Joe Cocker burst onto the scene and both of his main pianists, Chris Stainton and Leon, embraced gospel piano, using it on most of their recordings with Cocker.
Nicky Hopkins' gospel-based style started influencing the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, and many others. And Billy Preston, gospel B-3 genius, was called the 5th Beatle.
Southern (& Northern) gospel-influenced rock-and-roll (& Top 40) started coming from London studios - and NYC, Chicago, Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Los Angeles studios. If you were a session player, you could count on the producer asking you to "take it to church".
Many of us have grown up listening to the gospel-infused riffs coming from the radio hits of the day, while hearing first-hand the gospel piano giving buoyancy and momentum to the hymns in church every Sunday.
This month we add some of the older-style Southern gospel to a more contemporary gospel track, in a brand-new arrangement of "Victory in Jesus".
My new gospel transcription/arrangement:
"Victory in Jesus" - Transcribed/Arranged by Elmo Peeler -
My other gospel-influenced transcriptions:
Joe Cocker - "You Are So Beautiful" - Nicky Hopkins,piano
Jeff Beck Group - "Girl from Mill Valley" - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars"
Ethel Caffie-Austin - "Amazing Grace"
The Beatles - "Let It Be" - Paul McCartney, piano
Lari White - "Lead Me Not" - Bill Payne, piano
Bill Payne - "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live" (Intro)
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me" - Leon Russell, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Faded Love" - Leon Russell, piano
Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water" (Live) - Jai Winding, piano
Plum Nellie - "A Love Like Yours" - Joe Glossop, piano
Plum Nellie - "That Lucky Old Sun" - Joe Glossop, piano
Billy Preston - "Will It Go Round in Circles" - Opening Piano Riff
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" #1
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" #2
Aretha Franklin - "Don't Play That Song" (Intro)
The Band - "The Weight" - Garth Hudson, piano
Eagles - "Please Come Home for Christmas" - Glenn Frey, piano
Elvis Presley - "I Really Don't Want To Know" - Floyd Cramer & Tony Brown, piano
Jackson Browne - "Rock Me on the Water" - Craig Doerge, piano
Jerry Lee Lewis - "When the Saints Go Marching In"
One of the most fun pianistic licks is the 'flip', where the riff ascends, then reverses direction and descends lower than the beginning note.
Probably originating in New Orleans, certainly often used by Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, flips are now found in all types of pop music, from Rock to Blues to Country.
Although fun to play, and important to have in one's bag of tricks, flips can be a little tricky to figure out at first. This exercise helps clarify the various elements and execution of a typical flip.
Fingering is included, along with Performance Notes.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 62 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Flips
Happy April 2019!
Here is my April 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in Scotland in 1938 and raised in London, Ian Stewart started playing piano when he was six. Stewart, who loved R&B, boogie-woogie, blues and big-band jazz, was the first to respond to Brian Jones' ad in Jazz News in May 1962 seeking musicians to form an R&B group.
Also that May, Keith Richards met Stewart for the first time, as recalled in his auto-bio:
"I can hear this boogie-woogie piano, this unbelievable Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons stuff. I'm suddenly transported in a way. I feel like a musician and I haven't even got there! I could have been in the middle of Chicago, in the middle of Mississippi. I've got to go up there and meet this man who's playing this, and I've got to play with him. And if I don't measure up, it's over. That was really my feeling as I walked up those stairs, creak creak creak. In a way I walk up those stairs and come down a different person.
"Ian Stewart was the only one in the room, with this horsehair sofa that was split, horsehairs hanging out. He's got on a pair of Tyrolean leather shorts. He's playing an upright piano and he's got his back to me because he's looking out of the window where he's got his bike chained to a meter, making sure it's not nicked. At the same time he's watching all the strippers going from one club to another with their little round hatboxes and wigs on. "Phoar, look at that." All the while this Leroy Carr stuff is rumbling off his fingers. And I walk in with this brown plastic guitar case. And just stand there. It was like meeting the headmaster."
In another interview Richards described meeting Stewart: "He used to play boogie-woogie piano in jazz clubs, apart from his regular job. He blew my head off too, when he started to play. I never heard a white piano player play like that before."
Mick Jagger joined in June, and the group played their first gig under the name "the Rollin' Stones" in July 1962.
During this period, Stewart had a job at Imperial Chemical Industries. None of the other band members had a telephone; Stewart said, "My desk at ICI was the headquarters of the Stones organization. My number was advertised in Jazz News and I handled the Stones' bookings at work." He also bought a van to transport the group and their equipment to their gigs.
In May 1963, the band's manager decreed that Stewart should no longer be onstage, that six members were too many for a popular group, and that the older, burly, square-jawed Stewart did not fit the image. He said Stewart could stay as road manager, however, and play piano on recordings, which Stewart accepted. Richards said: "Stu might have realized that in the way it was going to have to be marketed, he would be out of sync, but that he could still be a vital part. I'd probably have said, 'Well, fuck you', but he said 'OK, I'll just drive you around.' That takes a big heart, butStu had one of the largest hearts around."
Stewart loaded gear into his van, drove the group to gigs, replaced guitar strings and set up Watts' drums the way he himself would play them.
He contributed piano, organ, electric piano and/or percussion to most of the Rolling Stones albums released between 1964 & 1986. Stewart played piano on numbers of his choosing throughout tours from 1969 to 1982. Favoring blues and country rockers, he remained dedicated to boogie-woogie and early R&B. He refused to play in minor keys, saying: "When I'm on stage with the Stones and a minor chord comes along, I lift my hands in protest."
Stewart remained aloof from the band's lifestyle. "I think he looked upon it as a load of silliness," said guitarist Mick Taylor. Stewart played golf, and as road manager showed a preference for hotels with golf courses. Richards recalls: "We'd be playing in some town where there's all these chicks, and they want to get laid and we want to lay them. But Stu would have booked us into some hotel about ten miles out of town. You'd wake up in the morning and there's the (golf) links. We're bored to death looking for some action and Stu's playing golf."
Stewart contributed to Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" from Led Zeppelin IV and "Boogie with Stu" from Physical Graffiti, two numbers in a traditional rock and roll vein, both featuring his boogie-woogie style.
Stewart was involved in the 1985 recording for Dirty Work, but by early December, began having respiratory problems. On December 12, 1985 he went to a clinic to have the problem examined, but he suffered a heart attack and died in the waiting room.
When Dirty Work was released, it included at the very end in tribute to Stewart a hidden, unlisted track, "Key to the Highway", a 33-second piano boogie-woogie instrumental played by Stewart.
When the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, they requested Stewart's name be included.
Shortly after Stewart's death Mick Jagger said: "He really helped this band swing, on numbers like 'Honky Tonk Women' and loads of others. Stu was the one guy we tried to please. We wanted his approval when we were writing or rehearsing a song. We'd want him to like it."
In his 2010 autobiography Life, Keith Richards says: "Ian Stewart. I'm still working for him. To me The Rolling Stones is his band. Without his knowledge and organization ... we'd be nowhere."
My Ian Stewart transcriptions:
The Rolling Stones - "Around and Around" - 36-bar Piano Solo
Led Zeppelin - "Boogie with Stu" - Ian Stewart, piano
The Rolling Stones - "Key to the Highway" - Ian Stewart, piano
The Rolling Stones - "2120 South Michigan Avenue" - Ian Stewart, organ
My other Rolling Stones transcriptions:
The Rolling Stones - "Cool, Calm and Collected" - Intro & 1st 2 Verses - Jack Nitzsche, piano
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow" - Piano Intro - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Born in England in 1944, Keith Emerson was encouraged by his father, an amateur pianist, to learn to read music and to play the piano. He referred to his first teachers as the "local little old ladies", from whom he began learning classical music around the age of eight.
Not owning a record player, he listened to the radio, enjoying Floyd Cramer's 1961 "On the Rebound", and boogie-woogie and country-style pianists, including Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Russ Conway and Winifred Atwell.
Emerson describes himself: "I was a very serious child. I used to walk around with Beethoven sonatas under my arm."
Emerson became interested in the Hammond organ after hearing jazz organist Jack McDuff perform "Rock Candy", and the Hammond became his instrument of choice in the late 1960s. Emerson acquired his first Hammond organ, an L-100 model, at the age of 15 or 16, on the installment plan.
"My father... introduced me to Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Dudley Moore and many others. Mum and Dad didn't smoke or drink. It was a disciplined childhood. When I first went on the road, I wasn't into the rock-n-roll lifestyle. I didn't even like beer. Mum used to polish my L-100 as if it was a piece of furniture."
After leaving school he worked at Lloyds Bank where he played piano in a bar during lunchtimes. Outside work, he played with several different bands.
The flamboyance for which he would later be noted began when a fight broke out during a performance in France by one of his early bands. Instructed by the band to keep playing, he produced some explosion and machine gun sounds with the Hammond organ, which stopped the fight. The other band members told him to repeat the stunt at the next concert.
Emerson said, "I wanted to do for the keyboards what Hendrix, a friend, was doing for the guitar.
"There were lots of funny moments among the broken ribs and blown-off fingernails. When we were touring as Emerson, Lake & Powell [in 1986, with the late Cozy Powell on drums], I was playing this very complex arrangement based on Holst's Mars. One section was hard to remember, so I had a monitor set up above the keyboards with the score. I'm playing away and look up only to see the monitor showing a heavy Swedish porn video..."
It was this band, Emerson, Lake & Powell, that produced one of Emerson's most beautiful melodies and chord progressions, "Lay Down Your Guns".
While transcribing the complete piano part for Keith Emerson's "Lay Down Your Guns" two months ago, I discovered a rare "Instrumental Demo" of LDYG that had been recorded earlier than the album version. It's in a different key, G (instead of E-flat), and contains enough different musical material that it needed to be transcribed, so that musicians could compare the transcription of the early demo with that of the final album version and study Emerson's creative process.
This month I'm happy to offer my new note-for-note transcription of that earlier Instrumental Demo (in G) for "Lay Down Your Guns".
My Keith Emerson transcriptions:
Emerson, Lake & Powell - "Lay Down Your Guns" - Instrumental Demo - Complete Piano Part + Synth Line -
Emerson, Lake & Powell - "Lay Down Your Guns" - Album Version - Complete Piano Part + Synth Solo
Relaxed, evenly-played tremolos are important for all pianists to master. They've been around since before Beethoven, who used them in his Sonatas. They were ubiquitous in silent-movie piano accompaniments. And they are commonly used in blues, C&W, boogie-woogie, and rock-and-roll. Every good rock pianist from Nicky Hopkins to Billy Powell has had them in their bag of tricks.
But they can be a little difficult to execute for many pianists. Often a pianist's forearm and/or wrist will tense and make the tremolo sound forced or uneven - not smooth and fluid.
This exercise eases the pianist into tremolos in 6ths by starting with slow tremolos, and gradually increasing their speed and number of notes per beat.
This contains four sections:
1) 8th notes
2) 8th-note triplets
3) 16th notes
4) 16th-note triplets
A suggested range of practice tempi, in BPM, is provided for each of the four sections. Plus, ten 'Performance Notes' with practice suggestions are included.
If your tremolos are not what you'd like them to be, this exercise should help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 61 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Tremolo Exercise #1 -
Happy March 2019!
Here is my March 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Jerry Corbetta, a Denver,Colorado native, started as a drummer at the age of 4 before switching over to keyboards by age 7.
As a teenager, he started playing keyboards and joined a few Denver-based bands. The Moonrakers was one of them, and in '67-'68 twenty-year-old Jerry led a locally popular five piece band "The Half Doesn't" that drew crowds in Denver's 3.2% beer bars that served up low-alcohol beer and live music to Colorado's 18-year-olds. During his stint in The Moonrakers, he went back to playing drums. But in late 1968, Corbetta and a guitarist friend, Bob Webber, formed the band Chocolate Hair, with one of his main reasons being his desire to return to playing keyboards.
Liberty Records liked the band's demos and signed them. Just before the album's release, however, the legal department at Liberty suggested the name Chocolate Hair might be taken as having racist overtones. The band members agreed to change their name to Sugarloaf, the name of a mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado, where Bob Webber resided in an A-frame house. "Green-Eyed Lady" was recorded at Original Sound Studios in Hollywood, California, and was a last-minute addition to the album, which was released in the very late spring of 1970.
In a 1985 Rocky Mountain News interview Corbetta said the song was about his girlfriend at the time whose name was Cathy (Peacock), saying, "She has incredible green eyes and people were always saying stuff like, Corbetta's green-eyed lady." They had first met at Metropolitan State College when he was finishing his last quarter in the music department, and moved in together within two months, living in the tourette of an old Victorian home.
To quote Cathy, "Jerry and his writing partner were in the process of composing the music for Green-Eyed Lady when he turned to me one day and told me that he was going to call the song Green-Eyed Lady because he loved looking into my green eyes.
"The band was signed to their record deal with Liberty Records and their manager wanted the band to move to Los Angeles. Jerry asked me to move and I never looked back. Jerry and I stayed together until I no longer could tolerate the groupies, touring, and the rock and roll life. We broke up around 1974, but remained friends until our forties when I lost contact with him... He was a fantastic musician and a wonderful man. I hold dear those memories of Jerry and our brief romance. I thank him for giving me a peek into the psychedelic world of rock and roll of the 1970s and for Green-Eyed Lady. I never tire of hearing it on the radio or in the supermarket as the unmistakable organ riff plays, and a smile slowly appears on my face as memories come flooding back of days long since passed and I see the young man sitting at the piano, softly serenading me with a ballad he just composed for me."
Corbetta said he'd based the music partly on a scale exercise he'd found in a book. Sadly, he passed away in 2016 at age 68. But his "Green-Eyed Lady" will live on.
My new Sugarloaf transcription:
Sugarloaf - "Green-Eyed Lady" (Long Version) - Complete Organ & Clavinet Parts -
Ian McLagan, born in England in 1945, first became interested in rock-&-roll at the age of 10 when he heard "Rock Around the Clock". At his mother's insistence he took piano lessons, and after hearing Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Green Onions" he became interested in the organ. He started playing in bands in the early 1960s, initially using the Hohner Cembalet before switching to the Hammond organ and Wurlitzer electric piano.
In 1965 the Small Faces' manager, Don Arden, hired 'Mac' for the sum of £30 a week ($750 in 2019 dollars), to join the band. Once the 'probation' period ended, hispay was reduced (at his request) to £20 a week ($500), which was what the other band members were getting. They never received more than that because Don Arden collected all the proceeds of their hard work, and it wasn't until 1967 that they started receiving any royalties. McLagan played his debut gig with them at London's Lyceum Theatre in November 1967. In 1969 after Steve Marriott left the group and Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined, the band changed its name to Faces.
He went on to become a sideman for the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart (where I met Mac),John Mayer, and many others. But one of his proudest achievements was meeting and marrying Kim Kerrigan, the ex-wife of Keith Moon (drummer for the Who) and a wonderful woman - sensitive, bright & caring - like Mac. They were a perfectly matched, devoted couple.
I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Mac and Kim during Rod Stewart's Unplugged tours of the '90s. He was the organist for the tours and I was the arranger/conductor (and keyboardist) of the 21-piece orchestra. We toured together through Europe, Japan and North America, from Madison Square Garden to Wembley Stadium to even the Palace of Brunei. Before meeting Mac I didn't know what he looked like, but I'd heard his playing over the years and assumed that he must've been a big-boned, brawny Irishman whose piano sound was as big as was. Boy, was I wrong! At 5' 5" and weighing as much as a banty rooster, Ian was as diminutive as his sound was big. And he had a large personality with a wry wit and great sense of humor. Indeed, Mac was always the 'class clown' - a naturally funny person with a warm heart.
Mac played on many sessions for lots of bands, including the Georgia Satellites when they covered Jerry Lee Lewis' classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
My Ian McLagan transcriptions:
Georgia Satellites - Whole Lotta Shakin' - Piano Solo & Out Section (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).pdf -
Faces - Stay with Me - Main 2 Electric Piano Riffs (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).pdf
As mentioned in last month's newsletter, we've all seen keyboard players that were exceptionally rhythmic, seeming almost as much a drummer as a keyboardist.
And we've all heard Jon Lord's great rhythmic B-3 playing on Deep Purple's "Hush" and Nicky Hopkins' terrific rhythms propelling many Rolling Stone tracks.
Why is it that some keyboardists can turn their keys into rhythmic drums while many others can not?
It's simple - they understand the rhythms that a drummer plays. It's not mystical. Drummers practice rudiments (paradiddles) like pianists practice scales. And those rudiments are written down and can be learned by keyboard players.
This month's new "Playing Drums on the Piano" exercise takes another common drum paradiddle - LRLLRLRR (last month's was LLRLRRLR) - and applies it to the piano keyboard. Every single measure during the 14-bar pattern uses that particular drum rudiment to help the pianist ultimately become relaxed and comfortable with the Left-Right coordination required for very rhythmic keyboard playing.
The exercise is in three parts:
1) a 14-bar chord progression using basic triads and 7th-chords
2) the same 14-bar chord progression but harmonically richer (with 7th & 9th chords)
3) the same 14-bar chord progression (7th & 9th chords) but with a subtle difference on beat 3
Performance Notes are included. If you'd like to inject more rhythm into your playing, this exercise will help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 60 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Paradiddle Exercise #4 - Playing Drums on the Piano -
Happy February 2019!
Here is my February 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Michael Martin Murphey was born in Dallas, TX in 1945, and began riding horses on his grandfather's and uncle's ranches at age six. He would sleep on his grandfather's porch under the stars, listening to his cowboy songs and stories, one of which was a Native American legend about a ghost horse rescuing people in the desert.
During these early years, he developed a special love for cowboy songs and stories. He was also an avid reader, especially drawn to the books of Mark Twain and William Faulkner. As a youth, he enjoyed writing poetry and loved listening to his uncle's old 78-RPM records, particularly the music of country and folk artists such as Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie.
In junior high school he began performing as an amateur. At the age of seventeen, he took his first "professional" music job, playing western songs around a campfire at a Texas ranch. By the early 1960s, Murphey was playing the clubs in Dallas with his own band.
After graduating from high school, Murphey briefly studied Greek at the University of North Texas, and then moved to California, where at UCLA he studied classical literature, and medieval and Renaissance history and literature, with an emphasis on poetry and creative writing. He remained almost completely self-taught as a musician.
Soon he had made a name for himself in the Los Angeles folk music scene, and by 1964 formed a musical group with an old Texas friend, Michael Nesmith, under the name the Trinity River Boys. Murphey's first big break came through Nesmith, who had become part of the popular television musical group, The Monkees. Nesmith asked Murphey to write them a song for the next Monkees album, and Murphey composed "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round". The album sold over five million copies.
In 1971 Murphey signed with A&M Records and released his first album, of which Rolling Stone magazine said, "On the strength of his first album alone, Michael Murphey is the best new songwriter in the country".
"Wildfire" was written in 1972. I was working on a concept album called The Ballad of Calico for Kenny Rogers with my friend Larry Cansler. I was in my third year of college at UCLA, but I was living in the mountains in California. I would drive down to Larry's apartment in Los Angeles and sleep on his floor, because we would work, sometimes, 22 hours a day on the album. The night "Wildfire" came to me, Larry went to bed, and I went to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. I dreamed the song in its entirety. I woke up and pounded on Larry's door and said, "Can you come down and help me with this song?" His wife got up and made us coffee, and we finished it in two or three hours.
"The song came from deep down in my subconsciousness: My grandfather told me a story when I was a little boy about a legendary ghost horse that the Indians talked about. In 1936, author J. Frank Dobie identified this ghost horse story as the most prominent one in the lore of the Southwest... We recorded the song at Caribou Ranch in Colorado, 10,000 feet up in the Rocky Mountains."
The haunting piano Intro and ending Coda were played by Jac Murphy, a talented Dallas jazz pianist whose Intro and Outro were inspired by Scriabin's Prelude in D-flat, Op. 11, No. 15. As Michael himself said, "It's not easy to find a pianist who can play like Jac Murphy! Jac Murphy, who had flying fingers and quick-witted improvisation, was like 'Bill Evans meets Bluegrass'."
If you don't remember "Wildfire", just click here to hear it on YouTube.
My new Michael Martin Murphy transcription:
Michael Martin Murphey - Wildfire - Piano Intro, Coda & Chord Chart
We've all seen keyboard players that were exceptionally rhythmic, seeming almost as much a drummer as a keyboardist.
Many years ago my cousin went to a Cat Stevens' concert and raved afterward about Stevens' pianist, who, she said, "played drums on the piano".
And we've all heard Jon Lord's great rhythmic B-3 playing on Deep Purple's "Hush" and Nicky Hopkins' terrific rhythms propelling many Rolling Stone tracks.
Why is it that some keyboardists can turn their keys into rhythmic drums while many others can not?
It's simple - they understand the rhythms that a drummer plays. It's not mystical. Drummers practice rudiments (paradiddles) like pianists practice scales. And those rudiments are written down and can be learned by keyboard players.
My new "Playing Drums on the Piano" exercise takes a common drum paradiddle (LLRLRRLR) and applies it to the piano keyboard. Every single measure during the 14-bar pattern uses that particular drum rudiment to help the pianist ultimately become relaxed and comfortable with the Left-Right coordination required for very rhythmic keyboard playing.
The exercise is in three parts:
1) a 14-bar chord progression using basic triads and 7th-chords
2) the same 14-bar chord progression but harmonically richer (with 7th & 9th chords)
3) the same 14-bar chord progression (7th & 9th chords) but with a subtle difference on beat 3
Also new this month is an 11-bar exercise to further explore "twanging", the technique that Floyd Cramer introduced to Nashville during the 1950's, and the same technique used by every rock pianist from Nicky Hopkins to Billy Powell to Chuck Leavell to Paul Griffin.
Although the technique is simple, many players need just a little coaching to really understand the possibilities (3rds or 6ths twangs? what type accompaniment in the Left Hand?).
Performance Notes are included with both exercises. If you'd like to inject more rhythm into your playing, and get more comfortable playing 'twangs', these exercises will help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 58 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Paradiddle Exercise #3 - Playing Drums on the Piano -
Elmo Peeler - Twanging Exercise #2 -
Happy New Year - January 2019!
Here is my January 2019 Newsletter - Click to read it.
Born in 1944, Keith Emerson at first lived in a row of terraced houses that shared a single lavatory at the end of the road. Early on, his parents moved to a seaside town in West Suffix to live with his paternal grandmother, where Keith was encouraged by his father, a telephone engineer and amateur pianist, to learn to read music and to play the piano.
He referred to his first teachers as the "local little old ladies", from whom he began learning classical music around the age of eight.
"I played for my auntie's dance classes when I was 13 and 14, everything from tap-dancing to ballet. I learned a lot of styles, but I was painfully shy, hiding away behind the piano, and being driven mad by the sight of all those girls. I used to make loads of Airfix Spitfires (model airplanes) while dreaming of being a star and a hit with the girls."
Not owning a record player, he listened to the radio, enjoying Floyd Cramer's 1961 "On the Rebound", and boogie-woogie and country-style pianists, including Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Russ Conway and Winifred Atwell.
Emerson describes himself: "I was a very serious child. I used to walk around with Beethoven sonatas under my arm. However, I was very good at avoiding being beaten up by the bullies. That was because I could also play Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard songs. So, they thought I was kind of cool and left me alone."
He used jazz sheet music from Dave Brubeck and George Shearing and learned about jazz piano from books.
Emerson became interested in the Hammond organ after hearing jazz organist Jack McDuff perform "Rock Candy", and the Hammond became his instrument of choice in the late 1960s. Emerson acquired his first Hammond organ, an L-100 model, at the age of 15 or 16, on hire purchase.
"My father played piano-accordion, piano, guitar and introduced me to Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Dudley Moore and many others. Mum and Dad didn't smoke or drink. It was a disciplined childhood. When I first went on the road with the VIPs and Gary Farr and the T-Bones, I wasn't into the rock-n-roll lifestyle. I didn't even like beer. Mum used to polish my L-100 as if it was piece of furniture."
After leaving school he worked at Lloyds Bank where he played piano in a bar during lunchtimes. Outside work, he played with several different bands.
The flamboyance for which he would later be noted began when a fight broke out during a performance in France by one of his early bands, the VIPs. Instructed by the band to keep playing, he produced some explosion and machine gun sounds with the Hammond organ, which stopped the fight. The other band members told him to repeat the stunt at the next concert.
"I wanted to do for the keyboards what Hendrix, a friend, was doing for the guitar. We talked about forming a band shortly before Jimi died, but it would have been too competitive."
"Jimi played the guitar behind his back or with his teeth. I took to riding the L-100 like a bucking bronco. It weighs 350 lbs [actual weight is 215 lbs]; when it's on top of you, you need the adrenaline rush you get onstage to chuck it around. I'd play Bach's Toccata and Fugue from behind the keyboard. I'd hold down chords with knives during our version of Dave Brubeck's Rondo."
"There were lots of funny moments among the broken ribs and blown-off fingernails. When we were touring as Emerson, Lake & Powell [in 1986, with the late Cozy Powell on drums], I was playing this very complex arrangement based on Holst's Mars. One section was hard to remember, so I had a monitor set up above the keyboards with the score. I'm playing away and look up only to see the monitor showing a heavy Swedish porn video..."
It was this band, Emerson, Lake & Powell, that produced one of Emerson's most beautiful melodies and chord progressions, "Lay Down Your Guns".
My new Emerson, Lake & Powell transcription:
Emerson, Lake & Powell - Lay Down Your Guns - Piano Part + Synth Solo
My 2018 transcriptions:
The Band - "The Weight" - Complete Piano Part - Garth Hudson, piano
The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Billy Preston, electric piano
Big Pun - "Still Not a Player" - Main 2-bar Phrase
Bill Payne - "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Time Is Tight" (Long Version) - Complete Organ Part
Brent Mason - "Hot Wired" - Piano Solo - Matt Rollings & Wil Houchens, piano
Chuck Berry - "You Never Can Tell" - Complete Piano Part - Johnnie Johnson, piano
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Leon Russell, piano
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Cold, Cold Heart" (1958) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Cold, Cold Heart" (1961) - Complete Piano Part
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Cold, Cold Heart" (1969) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - "It'll Be Me" (1957) - Complete Piano Part
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind" (both piano parts) - played by Jerry Lee Lewis & Tony Ashton
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind" - 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement by Elmo Peeler
Jerry Lee Lewis - "When the Saints Go Marching In" - Complete piano part
Jerry Lee Lewis - "You Win Again" (1957) - Complete Piano Part
Joe Cocker - "You Are So Beautiful" - Nicky Hopkins, pianist
Johnny Rivers - "Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" - played by Larry Knechtel
Jon Cleary - "Po' Boy Blues" - ascending chromatic piano run
Led Zeppelin - "All My Love" - SynthStrings & SynthBrass Solo + Live Strings & Misc. Bass
Leon Russell - "Roll Away the Stone" - Studio Version - Complete Piano Part
Loggins & Messina - "Your Mama Don't Dance" - Complete Piano Part - played by Michael Omartian
Loggins & Messina - "Your Mama Don't Dance" - Sax Solo - played by Jon Clarke
Marc Cohn - "Walking in Memphis" - Original Piano/Vocal Demo - Complete Piano Part
The Meters - "Cissy Strut" (1969) - The Two Main Organ Riffs - Art Neville, B-3 organ
Peter Frampton - "Baby, I Love Your Way (Live)" - Elec. Piano Solo - Bob Mayo, electric piano
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" Version 2/a>
Smiley Lewis - "I Hear You Knocking" - Piano Intro - played by Huey P. Smith
Stevie Ray Vaughan - "The House Is Rockin'" - Piano Intro & Solo - played by Reese Wynans
Toto (& Weezer) - "Africa" - Synth Solo - played by David Paich
Toto (& Weezer) - "Rosanna" - Synth Solo - played by David Paich & Steve Porcaro
Arpeggios, along with scales, form the building block of keyboard technique, and we've all spent time practicing the standard 1-3-5 arpeggios.
However, Keith Emerson found more creative ways to arpeggiate a chord. He wasn't the first; Liszt, Liberace and others have found ways to add a little 'zip' to arpeggios.
In Emerson, Lake & Powell's "Lay Day Your Guns" Keith Emerson used three non-standard arpeggiation techniques, all Right-Hand ascending. One of them, a particularly good variant, was used only once, in the 5th Chorus.
I've taken that method of arpeggiating a chord, and put it into every measure of a 10-bar phrase, based on "Lay Down Your Gun". By applying this specific technique to various chords and inversions, one can better understand how Emerson constructed it, and master it through repetition.
If you'd like to improve your technique while mastering a non-standard arpeggiation method - certainly one that Keith Emerson liked and used - this exercise should help. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 57 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Arpeggio Exercise in the Style of Keith Emerson's 'Lay Down Your Guns' -
Happy December 2018!
Born in Oklahoma as Russell Bridges, young Leon Russell began playing piano at the age of four. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the same 1959 class as David Gates ('Bread'). He and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencement.
At 14 Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. "Oklahoma was a dry state and consequently there was no liquor laws, and I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy."
At 17, in 1958, Russell moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles, where as a first-call studio musician he played on many of the most popular recordings of the 1960s.
When Leon began working with Joe Cocker in 1969, he was already a veteran of the L.A. studio scene, a member of 'The Wrecking Crew', playing on many of Phil Spector's 'wall-of-sound' hits, plus hits by The Byrds, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Bobby 'Boris' Picket, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell and many others.
In early 1970 Joe Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking Crew, the Delaney & Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began rehearsals.
Those rehearsals led to the live Fillmore East concert that was recorded and released as the MadDogs & Englishmen album, along with the 1971 movie, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" - a documentary of the Joe Cocker tour for which Leon served as Musical Director.
Shortly thereafter, jam sessions with Delaney & Bonnie led to Leon recording "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" with them - a late-night jam arrangement that's anchored by Leon's wonderful gospel-style piano accompanying Bonnie's plaintive voice.
And it was in August 1970 when Elton John gave his very first Los Angeles performance, with Leon sitting in the first row of the relatively small club, The Troubadour.
Leon described it, "Wed been trying to get Elton for Shelter Records [the US record company started by Russell in 1969], but we were about a week late. I knew about him before he came to America; I had heard him with Long John Baldry. I sat down in the first row at the Troubadour, and he was brilliant.
"Sometime after the first Troubadour show, Elton and Bernie came over to my house. They were both very shy and very English, and Elton told me I looked like a proper rock star. They liked a sign I had above the piano saying Dont Shoot The Piano Player. I think maybe that was where they got the idea for that album title."
Of that meeting, Elton remembers, "It was the most magical of times because here was my idol accepting me. Actually, he could eat me for breakfast [playing piano]. I came from England and being a huge fan of someone like him and to have him accept me and kind of take me under his wing and be really fantastic to me the whole time. It meant the whole world to me that someone could show me that generosity that you admired so much. It helped validate me by saying, "Well if he thinks Im alright then I must be alright because hes my hero."
"I saw him and my knees went zzzippp!. He invited me up to his house and I thought hes going to invite me up there and tie me to a chair and whip me and say, This is how to play the piano! I was really scared. I (had) heard the Delaney and Bonnie album [1969s Accept No Substitute, which featured Leon Russell on piano] and I just went through the roof. I nearly retired at that point. I figured there wasnt much point in playing anymore."
Few recordings have captured Leon as well as his studio version of "Roll Away the Stone" from that same momentous year of 1970: the Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs" tour, meeting Elton, and Leon's first solo album (which contained "Roll Away the Stone").
Here are my Leon Russell transcriptions:
Leon Russell - Roll Away the Stone -
Delaney & Bonnie - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Faded Love" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "A Song for You"
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Marc Cohn was born in 1959 in Cleveland, Ohio. While in junior high school he learned to play guitar and started writing songs, playing and singing with a local band called Doanbrook Hotel.
After graduating from a Cleveland suburban high school, he attended Oberlin College, where he taught himself to play the piano. He transferred to UCLA and began to perform in Los Angeles-area coffeehouses.
Cohn then moved to New York City and embarked on demoing songs for various writers, including Jimmy Webb, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Working initially as a backup artist in recording sessions, he established secure professional footing after assembling the Supreme Court, a 14-piece cover band, who played at Caroline Kennedy's wedding in 1986. In 1987, Cohn performed two songs ("One Rock and Roll Too Many" and "Pumping Iron") on the Phil Ramone-produced concept album of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express, Music and Songs from Starlight Express.
In 1989, Cohn was a backing pianist for singer Tracy Chapman on her second album. The job led to a contract with Atlantic Records in the early 1990s after label executives heard a demo disc featuring Cohn on piano and vocals.
Working initially with Chapman producer David Kershenbaum, and collaborating later with engineer Ben Wisch and producer John Leventhal, Cohn released his debut solo album, Marc Cohn, in 1991. Its hit single, "Walking in Memphis", was hugely successful, nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards.
In 2016 Cohn released a 6-track EP that contained the original piano/vocal version of "Walking in Memphis" that landed him his initial contract with Atlantic Records. Pianistically, this may be the very best version of that classic.
My Marc Cohn transcription:
Marc Cohn - "Walking in Memphis" - Original Piano/Vocal Demo
To 'twang' a note is to add a type of grace-note to it. The main difference between an ordinary grace-note and a 'twang' is that a twang also includes a higher harmony note (often played by the 5th finger).
Twanging a note is the same technique that Floyd Cramer introduced to Nashville during the 1950's, and is also the same technique used by every rock pianist from Nicky Hopkins to Billy Powell to Chuck Leavell to Paul Griffin.
Although the technique is simple, many players need just a little coaching to really understand the possibilities (high twang or low twang? 2-note or 3-note twang?).
The new exercise this month demonstrates how to add twang to a melody or a solo line.
The exercise is in three parts:
1) a simple 4-bar melody, without any twanging 2) that same melody but with twang added, plus a simple Left Hand accompaniment 3) the same as #2 but with fills added on beat 4
Performance Notes explain the principle behind 'twanging'.
If you'd like to get more comfortable playing 'twangs', this exercise will help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 56 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Twanging - How To Add 'Twang' to a Melody -
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Twanging - How To Add 'Twang' to a Melody
Happy November 2018!
Born with perfect pitch and blessed with a virtuoso keyboard technique, Billy Preston was probably the greatest keyboard genius in rock-and-roll history.
A child prodigy, he started playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap and played organ in church.
By age ten Billy was playing organ onstage backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch.
The Beatles met 16-year-o ld Preston in 1962 when he was touring Europe as part of Little Richard's band, and seven years later asked him to play on several of their songs, including "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "Something", "Let It Be" (the organ part), and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
Lennon once suggested that Preston join the Beatles, even using the term "Fifth Beatle", but the idea was dismissed by the others.
Billy Preston was the only artist to receive joint credit on a Beatles single. On the Let it Be album where Preston's performances are used the song credits list "with Billy Preston", clearly identifying him as separate from the main group, yet also giving him a level of individuality that separated him from studio session players.
Here are my Billy Preston transcriptions:
The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down - Billy Preston, electric piano -
Billy Preston - Will It Go Round in Circles (opening piano riff)
As many know, Jerry Lee Lewis was born into a farming family in eastern Louisiana that was dirtr-poor but very supportive. His father, like my own, was named Elmo.
His parents mortgaged their small farm to buy young Jerry Lee a piano, which he practiced constantly - hours every day.
And his daddy sold enough eggs to finance the 6-hour drive to Memphis for himself and Jerry Lee to meet Sam Phillips, already well-known as Elvis' producer.
The rest, as they say, is history. Jerry Lee was by far the most brilliant pianist on the new rock-&-roll scene - tremendous technique and terrific sense of rhythm. And he sold zillions of records.
Here are my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - When the Saints Go Marching In (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1961)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1958) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1969) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms
Jerry Lee Lewis - Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - It'll Be Me (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Lewis Boogie (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Woman Blues (Live)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - Both Piano Parts - Jerry Lee & Tony Ashton, pianos
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
Jerry Lee Lewis - What's Made Milwaukee Famous
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again (1957)
At the age of five Brent Mason taught himself to play guitar by ear, and went on to become one of Nashville's mostg brilliant session guitarists. In 1997 he released his first album, Hot Wired, an album of instrumentals.
The title song is an uptempo track (145 BPM) with virtuoso guitar licks, and an equally impressive piano solo by Matt Rollings, himself one of Nashville's A-list session players.
Born in 1964 in Connecticut, Rollings' family moved to Chicago when he was nine, where he began studying with Alan Swain, a well-known jazz pianist with a teaching studio.
At 15 he moved to Phoenix where he played Fender-Rhodes in his high school jazz band, later moving to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, convinced he was going to be a jazzer.
After getting a call from Lyle Lovett encouraging him to come to Nashville, Rollins moved there in 1986. Soon he began working for Jimmy Bowen, president of MCA Records, for double-scale.
Periodically going on tour with Lovett, Larry Carlton and Mark Knopfler, Rollings became one of Nashville's leading players.
Rollings' jazzy-C&W piano solo in "Hot Wired" is so remarkable that another Nashville session ace, Wil Houchens (Luke Combs, Billy Ray Cyrus), took the time to learn it and post his own version onto YouTube.
I've transcribed both Rollings' solo on Brent Mason's "Hot Wired" and Houchens' YouTube version of that solo.
Here is my Brent Mason transcription:
Brent Mason - "Hot Wired" - Piano Solo - Matt Rollings & Wil Houchens -
Jon Cleary, born in 1962, grew up in England. His father played guitar; but it was his uncle, returning from trips to America bringing recordings of Professor Longhair and others, who inspired his love for R&B.
Having lived and made music in New Orleans for decades, Cleary mastered the piano styles of Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, and Dr. John. His band, Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, won the Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Regional Roots Music Album, Go Go Juice.
On his 2016 album Live at Chickie Wah Wah, Cleary's "Po' Boy Blues" contains some terrific piano licks, including a challenging ascending chromatic run that sounds more like Franz Liszt than Professor Longhair.
Here is my Jon Cleary transcription:
Jon Cleary - Po' Boy Blues - Ascending Chromatic Run -
All pianists need strong fingers capable of playing perfectly even, lightning-fast runs. Scales and arpeggios can be very beneficial; but at a certain point we need to vary those arpeggios a bit, making them even more challenging, and thus obtain greater benefit.
This month's new exercise started out as a Left-hand-only exercise based loosely on a rippling descending run in Liszt's "Liebestraum". By changing it into triplets and thus staggering the accents, and looping it as an ascending/descending run, it's now a very good, somewhat challenging exercise that will increase the strength and independence of all fingers, certainly including the 4th and 5th.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 55 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Overlapping Arpeggiation in Triplets
Happy October 2018!
Nicky Hopkins - Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones called him 'the greatest rock 'n' roll piano player in the world', and the Kinks dedicated a song to him, "Session Man" on their 1966 Face to Face album.
He played piano with The Beatles ("Revolution") and John Lennon ("Imagine"), and for the Who, the Kinks, Jeff Beck, Jerry Garcia, Cat Stevens, Jefferson Airplane, the Steve Miller Band, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and many others.
Born in England in 1944, a year younger than George Harrison, Nicky began playing at age three, and started lessons at six. By the time he was eleven his solo performances were singled out in the local paper: "Eleven-year-old Nicholas Hopkins played his own composition, "Processional March"... The audience so applauded that Nicholas played the march again."
He learned to sight-read and progressed rapidly through the classical repertoire,and from age 12 to 16 he studied every Saturday morning at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was almost certainly a contemporary of eleven-year-old Reginald Dwight (Elton John) - both scholarship winners.
Also at age twelve, he later recalled, "It was the first time I remember being able to listen and then sit down at the piano and playing it. That's when I first started to understand music, beyond just having the ability to read it. Rock allowed me to experiment with new styles, but I never lost that classical element in my music. I was twelve when I first heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and those records made a fantastic impression on me."
However, Nicky rebelled against authority and by his own admission was only good at music and English, so he dropped out of school at sixteen to join his first band, Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages. Later in his teen years his always-frail health - Crohn's disease - necessitated a series of operations that made him bed-ridden for nineteen months, from May 1963 to December 1964.
Upon recovery, rather than joining bands, he concentrated on session work and became one of London's most in-demand session pianists, working extensively with leading UK producers Shel Talmy (the Who and the Kinks) and Andrew Loog Oldham (the Rolling Stones).
At 23 he joined the Jeff Beck Group with vocalist Rod Stewart, and at 25 recorded his own instrumental, the elegant "Girl from Mill Valley". Listen to it here on YouTube.
Since most of his recordings were accompanying tracks with the piano often buried in the mix under vocals, "Girl from Mill Valley", his own instrumental with up-front piano throughout, is an excellent study in gospel-rock generally, and Nicky Hopkins' style specifically.
The 'Girl' was the then-separated wife of a Quicksilver Messenger Service band-mate - one of shy Nicky's few romantic interests. Introduced by a mutual friend in California, he invited her to return to England with him, which she did, and met his parents. However, she kept it a platonic friendship and after ten days returned to Mill Valley. Nicky once said the song was "about nobody".
Nicky's piano sound was characterized by a certain bright percussiveness, always with clean, precisely-executed rhythms that could propel a rhythm track like drum fills. He had a great sense of classical-influenced melody, balance and proportion, and was equally at home in ballads ("You Are So Beautiful") and up-tempo rockers ("Revolution").
About "You Are So Beautiful" Joe Cocker says, "I'd been living in London and was a bit disillusioned with the whole business when Jim (Price) came in and played me that song, 'You Are So Beautiful,' which got me back in the studio; it was originally a gospel tune, but Jim kept saying, 'When I get Nicky Hopkins on this track, you'll understand what we're talking about' and of course, when he finally played it to me that way, I couldn't believe this piano part; that's when I did the vocal that stayed on the record. I sang it to wrap around that piano line. It would not have been that song without that piano part. Nicky's thing and the vocal just kissed each other; it was special. I was a latecomer on the scene and I kind of knew Nicky, but it wasn't like we did that session together. I'd still never met him at that stage."
And Nicky, who'd recorded the piano track without Cocker even present, consistently picked "You Are So Beautiful" as one of his own all-time favorite performances.
Here are my Joe Cocker transcriptions:
Joe Cocker - "You Are So Beautiful" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins -
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - Tommy Eyre, organ
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Live) - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Studio) - Artie Butler, piano
Joe Cocker - "That's Your Business Now" - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
And here are my other Nicky Hopkins transcriptions:
The Jeff Beck Group - "Girl from Mill Valley" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins
John Lennon - "Imagine" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow" - Piano Intro - Nicky Hopkins
As of 1976 Peter Frampton had been in successful rock bands for ten years, including Humble Pie, but he'd never had a hit on his own.
One reason for his solo success was a chance meeting with New York keyboardist/guitarist Bob Mayo in December 1975. Frampton asked Mayo to tour with him.
The tour began the following month - January 1976 - and was recorded, resulting in the release of Frampton's biggest hit ever, "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)", from "Frampton Comes Alive", certified six times platinum.
The album version was 14 minutes long, and contained one of rock's most creative and best-played Fender-Rhodes electric piano solos ever. At the end of the solo Frampton introduced Mayo with the words, "Bob Mayo on the keyboards... Bob Mayo".
So who was this Bob Mayo? He'd been a child prodigy, starting lessons at age 5, and performed in formal classical recitals and competitions during his childhood.
He had aspirations of attending Juilliard, but a serious auto accident the summer before his senior year in high school forced a change of plans.
Earlier in his teens, influenced by the British musical invasion, he had begun playing with various rock bands, and while recuperating, he taught himself guitar.
After joining Frampton's band, at age 24, and experiencing the enormous success of "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)", Mayo toured and recorded non-stop with Frampton for five years, including the "I'm in You" and "Where I Should Be" albums.
In 1980 Mayo took a break from touring with Frampton for some serious r & r, and recorded with Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale and Foreigner.
Subsequent years saw tours with Foreigner, Aerosmith, Robert Plant, Dan Fogelberg, and Hall and Oates.
In 1992 Bob re-teamed with Frampton, and recorded and toured with him until his untimely death from a heart attack during a Frampton world tour in Switzerland in 2004, at age 52.
His Fender-Rhodes electric piano solo in "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)" is testament to his exceptional talent. Almost a minute-and-a-half long, it's a complex jazz/rock extended improvisation that includes left-hand chords built in 4ths, alternating right-hand/left-hand conga-like rhythms, inverted left-hand voicings, and wonderful jazz scales and substitutions.
Mayo's Fender-Rhodes electric piano solo in "Baby, I Love Your Way" is less technically challenging, but a lovely, highly creative solo in its own right. Although it includes a 32nd-note run and a chord built in 4ths, its highlight is Mayo's excellent use of thirds, adding a lot of color.
Here are my Peter Frampton/Bob Mayo transcriptions:
Peter Frampton - "Baby, I Love Your Way (Live)" - Electric Piano Solo - Bob Mayo, piano
Peter Frampton - "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)" - Electric Piano Solo - Bob Mayo, Fender-Rhodes electric piano
Broken 6ths can be one of a rock pianist's most important elements, used by every pianist from Nicky Hopkins to Billy Powell.
New Orleans pianist Jon Cleary played a very long - and fast - descending run in broken 6ths on his recording of "Po' Boy Blues" that can be used as an effective exercise.
My new exercise this month is based upon Cleary's long, fast descending run, complete with fingering.
The Left Hand pattern is also very similar to Cleary's Left Hand pattern.
If you'd like to gain greater facility with broken 6ths, this exercise should certainly help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 54 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Po' Boy Broken 6ths Exercise - Jon Cleary Style
Happy September 2018!
Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, a prolific London-based session guitarist, who'd played on hit records since 1963 with artists as diverse as Petula Clark ("Downtown"), Marianne Faithfull ("As Tears Go By"), the Nashville Teens ("Tobacco Road"), and the Rolling Stones ("Heart of Stone").
After a stint in the Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck), Page decided to form his own group.
John Paul Jones, whose real name was John Baldwin, was born in 1946, two years after Jimmy Page. He started playing piano at age six, learning from his father, a pianist/arranger for big bands in the '40s and '50s. His mother was also in the music business and the family often performed together touring England as a vaudeville comedy act. His influences ranged from the blues of Big Bill Broonzy and the jazz of Charles Mingus to the classical piano of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Because of his parents' touring, Jones was sent to boarding school at a young age. A student at Christ's College in London, he formally studied music; and at the age of 14 Jones became choirmaster and organist at a local church. During that year, 1960, he also bought his first bass guitar, followed by multiple others until finally buying his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass, which he used until 1976. At 15 Jones joined his first band, The Deltas, and then played bass for the jazz-rock London group, Jett Blacks, a collective that included guitarist John McLaughlin.
In 1964 at 18 Jones began studio session work with Decca Records. From then until 1968 he played on hundreds of recording sessions and soon expanded his studio work by playing keyboards and arranging, working with the Rolling Stones on Their Satanic Majesties Request (Jones' string arrangement is on "She's a Rainbow"), Herman's Hermits, Donovan (on "Sunshine Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man", "Mellow Yellow"), Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, and numerous others.
During his time as a session player, Jones often crossed paths with guitarist Page, and in 1968 at a recording session, he approached Page, who later recalled, "I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music training, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him."
Vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham soon joined. Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds", the quartet soon became known as Led Zeppelin.
Always a cutting-edge musician, Jones acquired a GX-1, Yamaha's first big polyphonic analog synth, and used it in 1978 to record the Strings and the Synth-Brass solo in "All My Love". He later sold it to Keith Emerson.
Written by John Paul Jones and Robert Plant, "All My Love" was composed in honor of Plant's 5-year-old son who had died in 1977.
Released in 1979 "All My Love" was performed only 14 times - all during their 1980 European tour - as Led Zeppelin broke up two months after the tour with the passing of John Bonham.
Here are my Led Zeppelin transcriptions:
Led Zeppelin - "All My Love" - SynthStrings & SynthBrass Solo - John Paul Jones, keyboards
Led Zeppelin - "All My Love" - SynthStrings & SynthBrass Solo + Live Strings & Misc. Bass - John Paul Jones, keyboards & bass
Led Zeppelin - "Boogie with Stu" - Complete Piano Part - Ian Stewart, piano
Richard Tee was for years New York City's top session keyboardist, playing for all the biggest stars. And it wasn't because of his pleasing personality, which he had in abundance. It was because he was head and shoulders above all other players - he had great technique, improvising parts that most players couldn't play after weeks of practice. And great rhythm - Steve Gadd was his best friend and called him his Little Brother. Plus an encyclopedic knowledge of chords - just listen to his substitutions in "Happy Birthday".
Born in Brooklyn, Richard was classically trained for 12 years of his early life, attending the High School of Music and Art and the Manhattan School of Music.
After graduating from the High School of Music and Art he obtained a position at Motown Records as a 'house pianist', where his first recordings included a session with Marvin Gaye. As time progressed he became a staff arranger at Motown, and started playing more organ.
After returning to New York, he continued to work in the studio, and along with other leaders of the NYC studio scene, founded his own band, Stuff, which was the NYC equivalent of L.A.'s Wrecking Crew.
BTW, the drummer for Stuff, Steve Gadd, was a classmate of mine at the Eastman School of Music.
In 1984 Richard made an hour-long video tutorial, "Contemporary Piano", in which he demonstrates his amazing R&B/Gospel style. He uses "Happy Birthday" to show various ways it could be played, first changing it from its usual 3/4 meter to 4/4, and then playing it with very creative R&B/Gospel chord changes and rhythms. There was no song so simple that Tee couldn't transform into a masterpiece.
New this month is a second version of "Happy Birthday" by Richard Tee, drenched in Gospel/R&B.
Here are my Richard Tee transcriptions:
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" Version 2
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday"
By the way, if you want to learn some of Richard Tee's stylistic elements, these two exercises can be especially helpful, even though they are not transcriptions:
Descending R&B/Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston/Richard Tee Style
R&B/Gospel Elements Exercise, including Substitutions - Billy Preston/Richard Tee Style
One of the most important finger movements is the thumb moving under the 3d and the 4th fingers, encountered in scales, arpeggios, blues runs, etc.
The new exercise this month is very specific, addressing just the Left Hand, and is based upon one of piano literature's most famous left hand exercises, Chopin's 'Revolutionary' Etude.
I've taken Chopin's runs that require the thumb to pass under either the 3rd or the 4th finger, and added a few twists and turns to really emphasize that motion.
The result is a brief but challenging 10-bar exercise that will improve strength, independence, and control in the 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers of the Left Hand.
As a test to find out whether you need or might benefit from this exercise, play a rapid, descending C major scale. Are the last, lowest five notes perfectly even and articulate, or do they sort of run together and tend to lose their evenness? If the latter, this exercise will help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 53 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Left Hand Exercise - based on Chopin's 'Revolutionary' Etude
Happy August 2018!
This month we're taking a look at Booker T. Jones.
In 1944 Booker T. Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and named after his father Booker T. Jones Sr., who had been named in honor of Booker T. Washington. Jones Sr. was a science teacher at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis.
Little Booker became interested in music as a toddler, when he received his first dime store drum. At age five he taught himself chords on a ukulele and an old piano, and in the third grade his parents bought him a clarinet. Booker's mother and father were both musically inclined, (his mother was a lead soprano in their church choir, and his father sang).
As a fourth grader, Booker found his way into Memphis' Porter Junior High School Band by playing the oboe, a difficult woodwind instrument that no one else wanted to tackle.
Spending evenings after school in the bandroom, Booker eventually learned to also play the saxophone and flute, then later moving to the brass instruments, trombone and baritone horn, at Booker T. Washington High School.
A musical prodigy, he went on to play string bass, guitar and organ, which he played at church.
At 14 Booker T. was sneaking into Memphis clubs to play music. And around this time while hanging around a Memphis record shop (next to Stax), he met a record clerk named Steve Cropper, who played guitar.
By the time he entered high school, he was recognized as the most talented musician there, and was appointed director of the high school band for four years.
Isaac Hayes and Maurice White ("Earth, Wind & Fire") also attended the same high school, where White was Booker T.'s first drummer.
Booker began working sessions at Stax Records in 1960 at age 16, introduced to the Stax team by high school pal David Porter. His first professional recording gig was playing bari sax on Rufus & Carla Thomas' "Cause I Love You".
He and Cropper went on to become half of the Stax house band, that recorded the backing tracks for all Stax artists. The other half included Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist, and the incomparable Al Jackson, Jr. on drums.
One day Stax' owner Jim Stewart heard them jamming on an instrumental organ riff. He hit the 'Record' button, and released the jam as "Green Onions", giving 17-year-old Booker T. a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B chart and selling a million records.
From 1962 through 1966, in addition to working in the Stax rhythm section, Booker T. attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Driving the 400 miles to Memphis on weekends, and flying from Indianapolis' airport for gigs, Booker finally earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree, completing his senior recital on trombone (a bit of trivia - he played trombone on "Skinny Legs and All" by Joe Tex).
Perhaps surprisingly to some, Booker T.'s favorite recording is 1969's "Time Is Tight", which was composed for the movie UpTight. It was the second biggest hit of their career and became a signature song for the band.
Here are my Booker T. Jones transcriptions:
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Time Is Tight" (Long Version) - Complete Organ Part - Booker T. Jones, organ
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Green Onions" - Complete Organ Part - Booker T. Jones, organ
Albert King - "Crosscut Saw" - Complete Piano Part - Booker T. Jones, piano
The new exercise this month contains in one 8-bar phrase three important elements commonly found in R&B and Funk genres:
1) the use of the flat-third/major-third with a flat-seven tritone
2) the two most common substitutions in R&B, blues and rock - often used by Richard Tee
3) the V7(#5) chord - a Dr. John favorite
There are many ways that great players incorporate these elements into their music. This 8-bar exercise concisely demonstrates some of the most common voicings.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 52 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Exercise - 3 Common Elements of R&B-Funk - Tritones, Substitutions, V7#5 Chord - An 8-bar phrase demonstrating funky tritones, Richard Tee chord substitutions, plus a nice, fat, New Orleans way of playing a V7 chord
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - Exercise - 3 Common Elements of R&B-Funk - Tritones, Substitutions, V7#5 Chord
Happy July 2018!
Garth Hudson, keyboardist for The Band, was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1937, his parents both musicians. As a child he was given classical piano lessons, writing his first song at eleven. And at twelve he played his first pro gig with a dance band.
He studied music at the University of Ontario for a year before dropping out.
At 21 Garth joined his first rock band, and at 24 was asked to join Ronnie Hawkins' back-up band, the Hawks.
Fearing that his parents would think he was squandering his years of music education by playing in a rock group, Hudson joined the band on the condition that he be given the title "music consultant" and that his bandmates each pay him $10 a week for music lessons ($65/week in today's U.S. money).
One of very few rock organists who eschewed Hammond organs, he also negotiated a new Lowrey organ as part of the deal. His original Festival(FL) console was replaced by a Lincolnwood TSO-25 in 1969, and later a horseshoe console H25 model, as depicted in The Last Waltz.
In 1963 when he was 26, the Hawks split from Hawkins, recorded two singles, and played lots of bars and clubs, calling themselves Levon & the Hawks.
In the summer of 1965 Bob Dylan was looking for a backup band for his first U.S. 'electric' tour. On the recommendation of his manager's secretary, Dylan checked out the band at a Toronto club and hired them. After less than a year of touring, in July 1966 Dylan had a motorcycle accident that sidelined the band until February 1967 when he invited them to join him in Woodstock, NY.
Hudson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel moved into a large pink house five miles from Woodstock, paying $125/month rent. The current address for that property is 56 Parnassus Lane, Saugerties, NY 12477, if you want to Google Earth it. And it's been known ever since as Big Pink.
The band rehearsed its material at Big Pink, but did not actually record the tracks there, but in NYC and L.A. However, Bob Dylan's "Basement Tapes" had been recorded at Big Pink on Hudson's recorder.
When Music from Big Pink was released in 1968, the band did not tour in support of it until May of 1969. The following month the movie "Easy Rider" was released with "The Weight" included as part of the soundtrack. Then in August The Band performed at the Woodstock Festival ((not included in the film for legal reasons).
And the rest is history. Hudson never left The Band, performing with it until it finally broke up after Rick Danko's death in 1999.
Although usually Richard Manuel played piano and Hudson played organ, their roles were reversed on "The Weight", which is Garth Hudson's finest, most legendary piano track. Manuel's organ part was not used in the final mix.
Here are my two The Band transcriptions:
The Band - "The Weight" - Complete Piano Part - Garth Hudson, piano
The Band - "Caledonia Mission" - John Simon, piano
Keyboardist/singer Art Neville was born the same year as Garth Hudson, 1937, but 1700 miles further south, in New Orleans.
He started on piano and began performing with his brothers at an early age, influenced by James Booker, Booker T. Jones, and Professor Longhair.
In high school he joined and led The Hawketts. Note that Garth Hudson's group was originally the Hawks.
At 17 he recorded "Mardi Gras Mambo", which became a New Orleans carnival anthem.
In the early 1960's Neville formed the Neville Sounds, which evolved into The Meters in 1965. Allen Toussaint used them as his house band, backing up Lee Dorsey, Betty Harris, The Pointer Sisters, and many others.
Released as a single from their debut album, The Meters, "Cissy Strut" reached #4 on the R&B chart. It has since become a funk/groove classic.
The Meters are considered originators of funk, their work influencing many other bands.The band had a strong sense of tight rhythmic grooves, and over time the band's style came to represent New Orleans funk.
Here is my first transcription of The Meters:
The Meters - "Cissy Strut" - The Two Main Organ Riffs - Art Neville, B-3 organ
Here are my Allen Toussaint transcriptions:
Allen Toussaint - Early Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.1
Allen Toussaint - Later Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.2
Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time - Electric Piano Part - Allen Toussaint, electric piano
Ernie K-Doe - Hello My Lover - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - Mother-in-Law - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - Popeye Joe - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - She's Waiting - Allen Toussaint, piano
The new exercise this month is intended to develop one's facility in understanding and playing diatonic broken 6ths, a very common technique in many genres of pop music: rock, blues, C&W, etc.
Most players love 6ths and want to use them more often, but aren't confident in which notes to use when descending or ascending.
This exercise includes two versions of broken 6ths, one starting on the higher note and the other on the lower, and demonstrates them descending and ascending over I and IV chords.
If you want to become more comfortable with 6ths, this exercise should be of help.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 51 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Exercise in Diatonic Broken 6ths - Two 8-bar phrases
Happy June 2018!
This month we're taking a look at one of Johnnie Johnson's best recordings, "You Never Can Tell".
Born in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1924, Johnnie Johnson was raised by his aunt, who bought a piano when he was 4 or 5.
"It just seemed so natural to touch those keys. I climbed right up on the stool and started playin' 'Chopsticks.' Everyone in the room recognized the song, and Momma (Aunt Cora) just burst into tears. She said I had a gift from God."
He taught himself by ear, copying Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters records and falling to sleep listening to Count Basie, Glenn Miller, and other big bands on late-night radio.
"I loved Avery Parrish from the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, especially when he did 'After Hours.' I learned to play that song just like him. And Meade Lux Lewis. I didn't know his name then but I knew his music. You talk about a boogie pianist, boy, he was something else."
"I learned to listen to a song and hold it in my head 'til I could get to the piano. While I was hearin' it I was seein' the keys in my head and figurin' out where the music was. The next mornin' I'd get up and play the songs I'd heard the night before, and nobody could figure out how I knew them without practicin'. I told them I practiced in my head, but they didn't believe me 'til I started doin' it all the time. I'd come up with new songs every mornin'; just sit right down and play them after breakfast. After that it wasn't no surprise to them at all."
By the time he was eight, little Johnnie was playing for neighborhood parties and performed on the local radio station.
However, the Depression was in full swing and at eleven he had to move in with his real father, who had no piano, in a different town. Away from the piano for three years, he returned to his practicing to discover that his hands had grown much larger.
"Having big hands gives me a heavier sound when I play an lets me get around the keys a little easier. When I was little there was just some things I couldn't play 'cause I couldn't stretch far enough or fast enough to make it sound right. It wasn't nothing I had control over, but it sure helped me to become a better piano player."
At 18, at the outbreak of WWII, he joined the Marines and became a member of Bobby Troup's all-serviceman jazz orchestra, the Barracudas - an elite group featuring members from the Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie orchestras. Johnnie was the only musician who couldn't read music.
After WWII, he moved to Detroit, Illinois and then Chicago, where he sat in with many notable artists, including Muddy Waters and Little Walter.
In 1952 he moved to St. Louis, MO and immediately assembled a jazz/blues group, the Sir John Trio, with drummer Ebby Hardy and saxophonist Alvin Bennett. The three had a regular engagement at the Cosmopolitan Club, in East St. Louis.
On New Year's Eve 1952, Bennett had a stroke and could not perform. Johnson, searching for a last-minute replacement, called a young man named Chuck Berry, the only musician Johnson knew who, because of his inexperience, would probably not be playing on New Year's Eve. Although then a limited guitarist, Berry added vocals and showmanship to the group. When Bennett was not able to play after his stroke, Johnson hired Berry as a permanent member of the trio.
In 1955 Berry took one of their tunes to Chess Records. The Chess brothers liked the song, and soon the trio were in Chicago recording "Maybellene".
Berry got signed as a solo act, and Johnson and Hardy became part of Berry's band. Said Johnson, "I figured we could get better jobs with Chuck running the band. He had a car and rubber wheels beat rubber heels any day."
Over the next 20 years, the two collaborated on many songs, including "Roll Over Beethoven", "Carol", "Nadine" and "School Days". The song "Johnny B. Goode" was Berry's tribute to Johnson, with the title referring to Johnson's behavior when he was drinking.
Aside from songwriting and performing with Chuck Berry, Johnson made many significant contributions to blues & rock-and-roll, not the least of which as the leader of Albert Kings 's rhythm section during King's most prolific and musically significant period. Johnson also served as one of the cornerstones of the St. Louis blues scene.
Here is my first Johnnie Johnson transcription:
Chuck Berry - "You Never Can Tell" - Johnnie Johnson, piano
Jerry Lee Lewis' very first single, "Crazy Arms", was released in 1956 - showing off his outstanding country/honky-tonk piano style complete with a rolling, tremolo-filled solo.
Then in 1957 Jerry Lee had the hit that would break his career open and catapult him to the top of the charts - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - complete with the most electrifying piano solo that had yet been recorded.
The B-side of "Whole Lotta Shakin'" was "It'll Be Me", performed at a blisteringly fast speed of 220 BPM!
That same year he also released the biggest hit of his career, "Great Balls of Fire", with "You Win Again" as the B-side. Both contained terrific piano solos.
The following year, 1958, Jerry Lee recorded "Cold, Cold Heart" but didn't release it (until 1983). In 1961 he re-recorded a different arrangement of it, and released it as a single. In 1969 he recorded a third version of it, released as an album track. All three versions contain excellent piano solos.
Here are all 18 of my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1961)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1958) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Cold, Cold Heart (1969) - Piano Solo
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms
Jerry Lee Lewis - Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - It'll Be Me (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Lewis Boogie (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Woman Blues (Live)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - Both Piano Parts - Jerry Lee & Tony Ashton, pianos
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
Jerry Lee Lewis - What's Made Milwaukee Famous
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
A week ago, on May 24th, Weezer announced that they've recorded and released their own version of Toto's "Rosanna". Then three days ago, on May 29th, they announced the release of Toto's "Africa", which fans have been requesting for almost a year.
BTW, even as I'm typing this, Brian Bell (Weezer's lead guitarist) just sent me a video link about the female fan that campaigned to get them to record these two songs.
I've been fortunate to have had as students some of the most talented musicians in today's music, including members of Vampire Weekend, Incubus, Weezer and others.
Back in March I was told that Weezer was going to record these two songs, and was asked to help by transcribing the synth solos for the project, so that the end result could be note-perfectly true to the originals.
Now that they've been officially released, I can encourage everyone to check out Weezer's covers of these two classics:
Weezer - "Africa" (YouTube)
Weezer - "Rosanna" (YouTube)
Even if you don't plan on recording these two songs, you might want to check out my transcriptions of their excellent synth parts. These are my scores from which Weezer worked:
Toto - "Africa" - Synth Solo
Toto - "Rosanna" - Synth Solo
The new exercise this month is intended to develop coordination when playing polyrhythmic tremolos against a straight-eighth left hand - similar to the technique Johnnie Johnson used in Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell".
It also shows how thirds can be used effectively, both solid and broken (tremolos).
This includes two versions of the same phrase, one faster than the other, and demonstrates how many tremolo notes should be played per beat and how that number changes as the tempo increases.
The second part of the exercise is in the same key and exactly the same tempo as Johnnie Johnson's piano part in "You Never Can Tell" and uses the same number of notes in its tremolos as he does.
Every note is written out, including precise notation of the tremolos.
If you want to become more comfortable with tremolos in the context of boogie patterns, this exercise combines some good, important elements into two 17-bar phrases - and it's fun to play.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 50 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Boogie Exercise - Tremolos & Thirds - Johnnie Johnson Style - Two 17-bar phrases demonstrating tremolos and thirds commonly found in boogie styles, including that of Johnnie Johnson -
Happy May 2018!
Over 82 years ago Jerry Lee Lewis was born to a poor Louisiana couple, Elmo and Mamie Lewis, who clearly had music in their genes. Jerry Lee's first cousins also played piano - Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.
Jerry Lee's natural talent on the piano was obvious as early as age five, and his parents mortgaged their modest home to purchase him a piano, which he practiced diligently.
He played both gospel and "the Devil's music", as his mother, a Pentecostal preacher, called it. When he was 14 she sent him to Southwest Bible Institute so that he could only play evangelical songs.
However, he performed a boogie-woogie version of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly one evening and was expelled from school the next morning.
Nicknamed "The Killer" in high school, by the time he was 21, he believed that it was important for Sam Phillips to hear him, so his very supportive dad sold 30 dozen eggs to pay for an automobile trip to Memphis - a distance of 330 miles.
Although Sam Phillips was out of town, his assistant at Sun Records not only agreed to meet with Jerry Lee but also recorded a couple of songs to play for Phillips when he returned.
The rest, as they say, is history. Sam Phillips immediately recognized the powerful, primal talent of Jerry Lee and started using him as a session pianist for other Sun artists such as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.
His very first single, "Crazy Arms", was released in 1956 - showing off his outstanding country/honky-tonk piano style complete with a rolling, tremolo-filled solo.
Then in 1957 Jerry Lee had the hit that would break his career open and catapult him to the top of the charts - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - complete with the most electrifying piano solo that had yet been recorded.
And on the B-side of "Whole Lotta Shakin'" was "It'll Be Me", performed at a blisteringly fast speed of 220 BPM!
Curiously, when Jerry Lee's very first album was released the following year, 1958, it contained "It'll Be Me", but a completely different, slower version that lacked the power and electricity that the original 1957 version had.
That same year he also released the biggest hit of his career, "Great Balls of Fire", and the old honky-tonk classic, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", which contained not just one piano solo but two - both cleanly played with classic licks by "The Killer". Jerry Lee's playing was still at its best in 1957.
Although Lewis' playing deteriorated as he got older, his early recordings remind us that in his prime Jerry Lee Lewis was the baddest, most rockin' virtuoso of the 88's not only of early rock, but until Elton came along, himself very influenced by JLL.
Here are all of my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - "It'll Be Me" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Crazy Arms"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Lewis Boogie" (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Mean Woman Blues" (Live)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind" - Both Piano Parts - Jerry Lee & Tony Ashton, pianos
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind"- 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
Jerry Lee Lewis - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
Big Pun, widely regarded as one of the best rappers ever, was the first Latino rapper to have a platinum album, Capital Punishment in 1998.
Born Christopher Lee Rios on November 10, 1971 in the Bronx in NYC, to parents of Puerto Rican descent, he grew up in the South Bronx neighborhood of the city. He regularly played basketball and trained in boxing for a while.
He moved out of his mother's house at the age of 15, and was homeless for a period of time in the late 1980s. Rios received a large settlement from the city stemming from an incident in 1976, where a five-year-old Rios had broken his leg while playing in a park. Using the settlement money, Rios married his high school sweetheart, Liza, and the two moved into a home together.
Rios struggled with depression stemming from his turbulent childhood, and turned to food as a way of coping with it. Between the ages of 18 and 21, Rios' weight ballooned from 180lbs to 300lbs, and Rios became so large he was unable to tie his own shoes. He died of a heart attack in 2000 at a weight of 698 pounds. Big Pun's most successful single was "Still Not a Player" in 1998, based on an infectious, repetitive 2- bar phrase.
My new Big Pun transcription:
Big Pun - "Still Not a Player" - main 2-bar phrase
A brand-new exercise this month demonstrates several R&B/Gospel techniques used by Billy Preston and Richard Tee.
This 10-bar exercise demonstrates the two most important chord substitutions in R&B, gospel, rock and blues. Richard Tee used them so much they helped to define his sound.
It also demonstrates how a "Hendrix chord" can be used instead of a regular dominant V7.
And it shows how to set up a V7 chord by means of a flat-VI 9th chord.
Plus, it further illustrates an important Left Hand Gospel pattern along with Billy Preston-style chordal walk-downs.
If you want to learn more about Gospel & R&B, this exercise combines a lot of important elements into a 10-bar phrase - and it's a lot of fun to play.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 49 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
(to hear it, click here)
Happy April 2018!
In 1972 Loggins & Messina had a huge hit with "Your Mama Don't Dance (& Your Daddy Don't Rock & Roll)", which they themselves wrote. The most important instrument on the recording was the terrific piano part by L.A. session ace Michael Omartian.
Born in 1945 in Evanston, IL with perfect pitch, Michael began playing piano at age 4 and drums a year later. As an adolescent he studied percussion, composition and theory, and was composing and arranging original songs by age 16.
While playing in several club bands around Chicago, Omartian fell in love with the Beatles.
"The Beatles had become a huge influence in my life," says Omartian, "and that opened the world of pop music to me. I noticed that all of these albums, which I studied in minute detail, were recorded in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and different parts of England. Since very little commercial recording was done in Chicago, I boarded a plane for L.A. as a 20-year-old, with $3,000 in savings (the equivalent of ~$20,000 in 2018), no prospects of any kind and just the idealistic enthusiasm of youth."
"I just made myself available from the very beginning," Omartian recalls, "and was taught by veteran musicians and producers who went before me to be humble, willing to work for nothing in order to get started and have a cooperative attitude."
By the time he met Kenny Loggins in 1970, he was already one of L.A.'s leading session keyboardists/arrangers. Their first band together was Gator Creek, which lasted only a year. Then Loggins met Jim Messina, formerly of Poco and Buffalo Springfield, formed the duo, and Omartian played on their first three albums.
In 1972 Omartian not only played on "Your Mama Don't Dance" but also played piano and arranged the strings for Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains in California", plus arranged/produced/played on "I've Found Someone of My Own" by The Free Movement.
During the 1970's Omartian played for Steely Dan, The Four Tops, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Seals & Croft, and many others.
In 1980 he was nominated for 10 Grammies and won 3, including Producer of the Year.
In 1985 he was arranger and one of the keyboard players on "We Are the World" (USA for Africa).
Omartian is the first record producer to have #1 records in three consecutive decades - the 70's, 80's, & 90's - and has contributed his talents to over 350,000,000 albums sold worldwide as a producer, composer, arranger, artist or musician - including seventeen Grammy nominations.
My only Michael Omartian transcription:
Loggins & Messina - "Your Mama Don't Dance" - Complete Piano Part - Michael Omartian, piano
Toto was formed by keyboardist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro, both of whom had attended the same high school in the L.A. suburb of Van Nuys.
They both shared a similar background in that their fathers were very successful jazz musicians.
David's father Marty Paich was one of L.A.'s leading arranger/pianists, having worked with Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, and many others. Marty was the arranger on Ray Charles' landmark 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, that contained "I Can't Stop Loving You", "Born To Lose", "You Don't Know Me", etc.
Jeff Porcaro's father is noted session percussionist Joe Porcaro, who recorded with Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Freddie Hubbard, Don Ellis, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, and many others.
Paich says, "I think being the son of a great jazz musician, first of all, you take music very seriously. It's not just a hobby. You take music seriously, almost like how classical musicians take it, except that it's jazz. To play jazz correctly, you have to study at least a little bit of classical music on a harmonic and technical level."
Paich, who wrote both "Africa" and "Rosanna", says, "In terms of songwriting, I think you need to make sure you get a good foundation in English literature. All the great lyricists like Jimmy Webb, Bernie Taupin and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were English lit guys. I tell kids, 'Go to school, go to college and read as much stuff as you can 'cause it helps you with your lyrics writing."
By the time Paich and Porcaro decided to start their own band, they were already very successful L.A. studio musicians, having recorded with Steeley Dan, Boz Scaggs, Seals and Croft, Cher, and many others.
They brought in fellow session veterans bassist David Hungate and guitarist Steve Lukather, plus Jeff's brother Steve on second keyboards and synth programmer. And for lead singer they hired Bobby Kimball.
Toto's first album was released in 1978, but it was their fourth album in 1982, Toto IV, that had the most success, winning four Grammies: Album of the Year, plus three for "Rosanna" - Record of the Year, Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices, and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals.
My new Toto transcriptions:
"Africa" - synth solo - played by David Paich
"Rosanna" - synth solo - played by David Paich & Steve Porcaro
Also new this month is one new exercise. In order to achieve rippling, perfectly even runs, it can help to practice double-notes, e.g., double-thirds or double-sixths (Chopin actually used chromatic double-fourths in the Intro of his famous A-flat Polonaise).
Practicing/playing double-notes can impart greater independence to the fingers, and in doing so, benefit single-note runs.
My new exercise this month is a challenging exercise in double-sixths that will benefit the 1st, 2nd, 4th, & 5th fingers, making them more independent, while also strengthening the hand in general.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 48 exercises available.)
My latest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in 6ths
Happy March 2018!
Larry Knechtel was a key member of the Wrecking Crew, the L.A.-based studio musicians that re-wrote pop music history in the 1960's and 70's. He also was a member of the multi-platinum group, Bread.
Knechtel was arguably the ultimate session player because he played bass, guitar and harmonica as well as he did piano. He played piano on "Bridge over Troubled Water", B-3 on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album; played bass guitar on the Doors' first album, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "If I Can Dream" by Elvis Presley; and played the wah-wah guitar on "The Guitar Man" by Bread.
Born in Bell, California in 1940 with perfect pitch, he took piano lessons in his pre-teen years, and started playing by ear, picking out early rock-and-roll and blues aired on local R&B radio stations. He bought 45's of black R&B artists, studied them intently, and joined an inner-city youth band which included players from central L.A.
He recorded his first original single at 16, "Pigeon-Toed", an instrumental, which became a local hit and paid some modest royalties. At 17 he joined L.A.-based Kip Tyler & the Flips, and often played on demo sessions for other local artists.
After high school he studied electronic engineering at a local college, but his heart wasn't in it; and when Duane Eddy offered him a job touring with The Rebels in 1959, he quit school and hit the road. Larry borrowed a bass guitar from Duane Eddy and taught himself to play it. Soon Duane fired the bass player and Larry became bassist for both tours and recording.
After four years of touring/recording with Duane Eddy, he got his big break, when called to play on the Ronnettes' Christmas album, produced by Phil Spector. From that point on, Knechtel played on many of Spector's 'wall-of-sound' sessions, plus other leading producers' recordings.
In 1964 he became the bassist in the house band for the TV show Shindig!, and for awhile was playing bass on more sessions than keyboards. Knechtel became a first-call session player alongside Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Hal Blaine, Joe Osbourne, Carol Kaye, and other members of the rhythm section later dubbed The Wrecking Crew. Larry, Hal and Joe formed a tight rhythm section that recorded the hits for the Fifth Dimension, the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, the Monkees, and many others.
He appeared with 4 different artists at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and played bass for Elvis Presley's 1968 'Comeback' TV special. In 1970 he won a Grammy for his work on "Bridge over Troubled Water". In 1971 David Gates asked him to join Bread, with whom he performed keyboards and bass on Bread's next two albums, Baby I'm A Want You and Guitar Man - also playing the distinctive guitar solos on "Mr. Guitar Man", when some of L.A.'s leading session guitarists had been unable to satisfy Gates.
In 1972 Knechtel played piano on Johnny Rivers' version of "Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu", laying down an extraordinary piano part that included two 8-bar solos. BTW, legend has it that it was done on the first take.
In the late 70's the financial success of Bread allowed Knechtel to buy and move to a ranch in rural Washington. In 1988 he moved to Nashville, but in 1995 moved back to his NW Washington ranch, and then to Yakima, from where he continued working with producer Rick Rubin and others.
In 2007 he was inducted into the Musicians' Hall of Fame, along with other members of the Wrecking Crew. At the induction ceremony Vince Gill sang "Bridge over Troubled Water" with only Larry Knechtel accompanying him; they received a standing ovation.
Sadly, he passed away in 2009 of an undiagnosed heart condition. Loved by many for his character, he was honest, humble, hard-working, and charismatic. A student of western lore and history, an outdoorsman, a farmer, and a loving, devoted family man, he preferred a simple rural lifestyle and valued the quality of life. And he left behind some of the most elegant piano tracks ever recorded.
My only Larry Knecthel transcription:
Johnny Rivers - "Rockin' Pneumonia" - Piano Part - Larry Knechtel, piano
In 1972 Loggins & Messina released "Your Mama Don't Dance", which included a terrific sax solo, played by Jon Clarke on a baritone sax in its higher register. This is a note-for-note transcription of that 12-bar sax solo, written out for piano with the bass guitar part in the Left Hand.
Also included is the transposed score for sax in case you want to play it on the sax. And in addition to the bari sax score, scores for both tenor and alto saxes are also included for a total of four scores: piano/bass, bari, tenor and alto saxes.
My new Sax Solo transcription:
Loggins & Messina - Your Mama Don't Dance - Sax Solo & Bass - for Piano (also for Sax)
Also new this month are two exercises. Exercises don't always have to be finger exercises - they can also be important riffs or phrases that rock/blues/gospel pianists need in their repertoire. One important riff would be a walk-down from the IV chord down to the I chord, e.g., F down to C, in the key of C - which is sometimes tacked onto the end of a piece. It can be played quite chromatically, not just IV-iii-ii-I. And when it is, Dr. John refers to it as the "Ray Charles ending". This exercise gives four versions of this chromatic walk-down ending, to be practiced in every key.
Also new this month is a more traditional finger exercise, in double-thirds to strengthen and increase the independence of fingers 2,3,4 & 5 (especially the 4th finger). (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 46 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise - Ray Charles Ending (Extended Walk-down)
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Double-thirds plus Thumb
Happy February 2018!
As many know, Jerry Lee Lewis was born into a farming family in eastern Louisiana that was dirt-poor but very supportive. His father, like my own, was named Elmo.
His parents mortgaged their small farm to buy young Jerry Lee a piano, which he practiced constantly - hours every day.
And his daddy sold enough eggs to finance the 6-hour drive to Memphis for himself and Jerry Lee to meet Sam Phillips, already well-known as Elvis' producer.
The rest, as they say, is history. Jerry Lee was by far the most brilliant pianist on the new rock-&-roll scene - tremendous technique and terrific sense of rhythm. And he sold zillions of records.
But by 1973 his career had evolved away from R&R and into C&W, and when he was offered a lot of cash to travel to London to record a new album with younger, long-haired English rock musicians, he accepted the offer.
The producer lined up England's best session musicians to accompany The Killer: Albert Lee, Alvin Lee (Ten Years After), Peter Frampton, Gary Wright ("Dream Weaver"), Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum), Klaus Voorman, Kenny Jones, and Tony Ashton, a pianist who'd worked a lot with Jon Lord.
The sessions were tense, partly because Lewis had rarely recorded outside of Tennessee and, feeling out of his comfort zone and surrounded by a bevy of long-haired musicians. "I seen all these cats standing around, real long hair and everythin'. I turned to Junior and I said, 'Boy, have I made a mistake comin' over here.'" His temper, always infamous, was on display. And although the musicians were reverential, Lewis' flippant attitude comes across. "So much for that," he says wearily at the conclusion of "Sea Cruise." "Next?"
Lewis would later admit that he had been impressed by the British musicians. "I sat down at the piano, put the headphones on and started to record. These kids, there wasn't any one of them smokin' pot, takin' any pills or liquor. They were clean. Real nice, and they were the greatest musicians I ever heard."
The album became "The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists" and became his highest-charting album since 1964's "Golden Hits" album.
One of the songs on the album was the 1924 blues classic, "Trouble in Mind", which Jerry Lee turned into an almost-6-minute-long powerhouse (5:47 to be precise), complete with three piano solos - two by The Killer himself and one by Tony Ashton, second-piano on the recording.
After the third and last solo, a virtuoso performance complete with rapidly alternating hands, Jerry Lee turns to Ashton and gloats, "What do you think about that piano break, my boy?" The Killer was not known for taking prisoners.
My Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind" - Both Piano Parts - Jerry Lee & Tony Ashton, pianos
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind"- 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms
Jerry Lee Lewis - Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Lewis Boogie (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Woman Blues (Live)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
Jerry Lee Lewis - What's Made Milwaukee Famous
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Reese Wynans was born in 1947 and grew up in Sarasota, Florida, starting piano lessons at an early age.
In the late 1960's Wynans was a member of the Second Coming, which, included two future members of The Allman Brothers Band: guitarist Dickey Betts and bassist Berry Oakley.
Wynans was involved in the initial jam session with Duane Allman, Betts, Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe that led to the formation of the Allman Brothers Band, but was eased aside in favor of vocalist Gregg Allman, as founder Duane Allman did not want two keyboardists, two guitarists and two drummers all in the same band.
In 1985 Wynans had toured for 5 years with Delbert McClinton and given his notice, intending to straighten up his chaotic family life. On the very last day he received a call to do a recording session with Stevie Ray Vaughan in Dallas, showing up at 1 am.
SRV had been in the studio for 3 or 4 days and had set up his entire live gear in the studio - blaringly loud - so loud that Wynans could hardly hear a note that he played, ending up recording the piano part as an overdub.
Then SRV left the studio and Reese was asked to stay around and play organ on "Say What!", an instrumental shuffle. And right after that, "Change It" - three keeper tracks the first night he was there.
Since they had not been nailing the new recordings very fast before Wynans arrived, they asked him to return the next night, when they nailed two more keeper tracks. Then they asked Reese to join the band. It took him one day to decide not to retire from the road after all, and a week later they had their first show, in Dallas. Their second concert was ChicagoFest for 75,000, and their next gig was Montreux, where they recorded "Live Alive" - only his third concert with SRV's Double Trouble band.
On their classic "This House Is Rockin'" Reese kicks it off with a driving Piano Intro, and then returns with a very cool honky-tonk solo. Wynans' playing truly added another outstanding element to an already terrific 3-piece band. Thank goodness for that 1 am recording session in Dallas in the summer of 1985.
My new (& first) Stevie Ray Vaughan transcription:
Stevie Ray Vaughan - "The House Is Rockin'" - Piano Intro & Solo - Reese Wynans, piano
Bill Payne, founder of Little Feat, has been a first-call L.A. session player since the early 1970's.
His mother introduced him to piano-playing by sitting him on her knee at a large old upright piano in the basement, while playing "Vaya Con Dios" from sheet music. She would play a few notes and then show him what notes to play.
At five or six, he began taking lessons from Ruth Neuman, playing the theme from "Davy Crockett" for her at his very first lesson. She said, "The next time you come in I'll have this written out for you. I'll show you what you actually played." She encouraged him to play by ear but taught him how to read music also, and guided him through a study of the classics until he was 15 - Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms.
(BTW, by striking coincidence, Davy Crockett was the very first piano piece that my daddy taught me at age 6. It seems to have been a big hit among 5 & 6 year-old pianists in the mid-1950s.)
In a video Payne talks about his first lesson and plays his more grown-up version of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" - a brief, 26-second gospel-flavored rendition that would blow the socks off Fess Parker and his sidekick Buddy Ebsen.
My Bill Payne transcriptions:
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" - Bill Payne, piano
Lari White - "Lead Me Not" - Complete Piano Part - Bill Payne, piano
Little Feat - "Willin'" - Piano Solo & End Run - Bill Payne, piano
Also new this month are two exercises.
It doesn't matter whether you play rock, pop, jazz or Bach, all ten fingers need to be strong, independent, and theoretically at least, equal in ability.
One does not have to play Stravinsky's Petrushka to know the importance of strong, capable 4th and 5th fingers. The NYC R&B studio ace Richard Tee makes a point in his tutorial video "Contemporary Piano" that one should even be able to trill with the 4th & 5th fingers - and demonstrates that he can, which he attributes to classical training in his youth.
If your 4th and 5th fingers can stand a little improvement, this month there are two new, helpful exercises to continue developing those two weakest fingers. They are similar but different enough to each bring significant benefit.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 44 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-4-1 Exercise for the 4th & 5th Finger -
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-2-1 Exercise -
Holy Cowabunga, Batman, can you believe it? - ManyMIDI finally has MIDI files!
Some keyboard players have asked me to provide not only sheet music but also MIDI files, as an additional way to learn my transcriptions. This might be helpful for those who don't sight-read music notation very well. Your suggestions are welcome.
Jerry Lee's "Trouble in Mind" was recorded with two pianos, which I've not only transcribed but also merged into an arrangement for one piano. To better help you hear it and learn it, I've created a MIDI file of my 2-pianos-in-1 arrangement, complete with tremolos, glissandi, solos - the best of everything that Jerry Lee and Tony Ashton dish out, all-in-1.
Also, a MIDI file is available for my transcription of the Piano Intro & Solo for Stevie Ray Vaughan's "The House Is Rockin'".
And Bill Payne's rendition of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" has such a great gospel feel that a MIDI is available for it, also. Perhaps it'll help poor sight-readers to learn it more easily.
And in case MIDI files might help someone learn the two new technical exercises, they too are available as MIDI files.
Pricing for note-for-note-perfect MIDI files is $4.95 - 12.95, according to length/complexity.
My MIDI files:
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Trouble in Mind" - 2-Pianos-in-1 Arrangement
(Click here to hear the MIDI file)
Stevie Ray Vaughan - "The House Is Rockin'" - Piano Intro & Solo
(Click here to hear the MIDI file)
Bill Payne - "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"
(Click here to hear the MIDI file)
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-4-1 Exercise for the 4th & 5th Fingers
(Click here to hear the MIDI file)
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-2-1 Exercise
(Click here to hear the MIDI file)
Happy New Year - January 2018!
Born in Oklahoma, Little Russell began playing piano at the age of four. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the same 1959 class as David Gates ('Bread'). Russell and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencement.
At 14 Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. "Oklahoma was a dry state and consequently there was no liquor laws, and I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy."
At 17, in 1958, Russell moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles, where as a first-call studio musician he played on many of the most popular recordings of the 1960s.
When Leon began working with Joe Cocker in 1969, he was already a veteran of the L.A. studio scene, a member of 'The Wrecking Crew', playing on many of Phil Spector's 'wall-of-sound' hits, plus hits by The Byrds, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Bobby 'Boris' Picket, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell and many others.
In early 1970 Joe Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking Crew, the Delaney & Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began rehearsals.
Those rehearsals led to the live Fillmore East concert that was recorded and released as the MadDogs & Englishmen album, along with the 1971 movie, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" - a documentary of the Joe Cocker tour for which Leon served as Musical Director.
Shortly thereafter, jam sessions with Delaney & Bonnie led to Leon recording "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" with them - a late-night jam arrangement that's anchored by Leon's wonderful gospel-style piano accompanying Bonnie's voice.
My Leon Russell transcriptions:
Leon Russell - "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "Faded Love" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "A Song for You"
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Born in 1913 near Lake Charles, R&B singer/guitarist Smiley Lewis in his mid-teens hopped a slow-moving freight train with some friends, who jumped off when the train began to speed up. Lewis alone remained on the train, getting off when it reached its stop in New Orleans.
He found boarding with a Caucasian family in the Irish Channel neighborhood and eventually adopted their surname, Lewis.
In 1955 he was the first to record "I Hear You Knocking", later to become a hit for Fat Domino. Dave Bartholomew wrote it and produced Lewis' version at J&M Studios in New Orleans, using Huey 'Piano' Smith on piano.
In 1955 Smith, who two years later would write/record "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie-woogie Flu", was a busy 21-year-old session pianist in New Orleans, becoming the piano player with Little Richard's first band in sessions for Specialty Records, plus recording with Lloyd Price, Earl King and Smiley Lewis.
At the age of eight young Huey had written his first song on the piano, "Robertson Street Boogie". And at 15 he began working in clubs and recording studios. At 18 he signed a recording contract with Savoy Records and released his first single, "You Made Me Cry".
"I Hear You Knocking", Smiley Lewis' big hit, starts out with Smith's rollicking, tremolo-laden piano Intro, heavily influenced by Fats Domino's style.
My "New Orleans piano-style" transcriptions:
Smiley Lewis - "I Hear You Knocking" - Piano Intro - Huey 'Piano' Smith, piano
Albert King - "Crosscut Saw" - Booker T. Jones, piano
Allen Toussaint - Early Professor Longhair - Riff No.1
Allen Toussaint - Later Professor Longhair - Riff No.2
Ernie K-Doe - "Hello My Lover" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Mother-in-Law" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Popeye Joe" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "She's Waiting" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Also new this month are two exercises.
"Hold-down" exercises can be extremely beneficial in achieving finger independence. To find out if you need this exercise, simply play C, D and F with your right hand, using 1,2 & 4 fingers. Hold down those three keys, and while holding them down play E, then G, then E, then G, etc. - all legato - with your 3rd & 5th fingers. If your 4th finger has a tendency to stop holding down the F and to start rising up, then you will greatly benefit from this exercise.
Whether one plays Bach fugues or Elton John, a piano or an organ, independent fingers are an essential part of keyboard technique. This little exercise may prove to be one of the most beneficial.
My other new exercise is called the Raindrops Exercise because in the higher registers it sounds like raindrops. It will strengthen your right hand's 5th finger, improve 1st- & 2nd-finger coordination, and generally increase your articulation.
Based upon the beautiful slow section of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz where the melody sounds almost liquid, this technique can be applied to most melodies. This exercise demonstrates that technique, complete with fingering, of course.
Use this exercise to improve your technique, while learning a new 'trick' you can use during your own solos.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 42 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Hold-down Exercise -
Elmo Peeler - Raindrops Exercise -
Happy December 2017!
Dr. John, born in New Orleans as Mac Rebennack, grew up in the Third Ward listening to minstrel tunes.
He didn't take music lessons before his teens, and only endured a short stint in choir before getting kicked out. His father, the owner of an appliance store and record shop, exposed him as a young boy to prominent jazz musicians like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong.
Throughout his adolescence his father's connections enabled him access to the recording rooms of burgeoning rock artists such as Little Richard and Guitar Slim. From these exposures he advanced into clubs and onto the stage with varying local artists, most notably, Professor Longhair.
When he was about 13 or 14 years old, Rebennack met Professor Longhair, which started a period in his life that would mark rapid growth as a musician and the beginnings of his entry into professional music.
At age 16 he was hired by Johnny Vincent as a producer at Ace Records. There, he worked with artists like James Booker and Earl King, his musical experience expanding notably.
He struggled through intermittent years of high school. While a student at Jesuit High School, he was already playing in night clubs, something the Jesuit fathers disapproved of. They told him to either stop playing in clubs or leave the school. He chose the latter. This was the seed of his classic, "Right Place, Wrong Time."
In late 1950s New Orleans, Rebennack originally concentrated on guitar, but that changed around 1960, when his left ring finger was injured by a gunshot at a Jackson, Mississippi gig. After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument.
During the 1950s, he sold narcotics and even ran a brothel. Arrested on drug charges and sentenced to two years in a federal prison at Fort Worth, Texas, when his sentence ended in 1965 he left for Los Angeles, where he became a "first call" session musician - part of the so-called "Wrecking Crew" stable of studio musicians.
My Dr. John transcriptions:
"Right Place, Wrong Time" - Electric Piano Part - Allen Toussaint, elec. piano -
"Pine Top Boogie" - Complete Piano Part - Dr. John, piano
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" - B-3 Organ Solo - Dr. John, organ
My other "New Orleans piano-style" transcriptions:
Albert King - "Crosscut Saw" - Booker T. Jones, piano
Allen Toussaint - Early Professor Longhair - Riff No.1
Allen Toussaint - Later Professor Longhair - Riff No.2
Ernie K-Doe - "Hello My Lover" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Mother-in-Law" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Popeye Joe" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "She's Waiting" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Born in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Michael McDonald played in several local high school bands, including Mike and the Majestics, Jerry Jay and the Sheratons, the Reebtoors and The Guild.
He was 'discovered' while playing with a group called Blue and moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1970.
In 1974, McDonald became a member of Steely Dan's touring group, singing lead and backing vocals. He also became one of the many in-studio adjunct members of the band, providing backing vocals on tracks for 1975's Katy Lied.
He appeared on subsequent Steely Dan recordings including 1976's The Royal Scam and 1977's Aja. He also played keyboards on some Steely Dan tracks. McDonald continued to provide backing vocals for Steely Dan through their 1980 release, Gaucho.
McDonald was recruited by the rock band The Doobie Brothers in 1975, initially as a temporary replacement for their lead vocalist Tom Johnston after he had become ill during a national tour, but his work with the band proved so successful that they decided to retain him as a full-time member.
After the Doobies' first farewell tour, in 1982 McDonald released the first of his nine solo studio albums.
My new Doobie Brothers transcription:
"What a Fool Believes" - Intro (Main Piano Riff) - Michael McDonald, piano -
Also new this month are two exercises.
One of the most common R&B/Gospel licks is a descending series of chords that Billy Preston, Richard Tee and other R&B players used over and over.
It can be a little tricky to pick out - and to play - so I've created an exercise that contains this lick in a fun-to-practice 8-bar phrase, complete with suggested fingering (and a cool chromatic walk-up in the Left Hand).
My other brand-new exercise is in the style of Elton John, and will help with finger independence in general, and strengthening the 4th finger of the right hand.
This "Elton Exercise" is based upon a pattern that Elton often uses, that is itself based upon classical piano techniques of the Romantic era.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 40 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style -
Elton Exercise No.1 - Finger Independence & Strengthen the 4th Finger -
Happy November 2017!
Dr. John, born in New Orleans as Mac Rebennack, grew up in the Third Ward listening to minstrel tunes. He did not take music lessons before his teens, and only endured a short stint in choir before getting kicked out. His father, the owner of an appliance store and record shop, exposed him as a young boy to prominent jazz musicians like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong.
Throughout his adolescence his father's connections enabled him access to the recording rooms of burgeoning rock artists such as Little Richard and Guitar Slim. From these exposures he advanced into clubs and onto the stage with varying local artists, most notably, Professor Longhair.
When he was about 13 or 14 years old, Rebennack met Professor Longhair, which started a period in his life that would mark rapid growth as a musician and the beginnings of his entry into professional music.
At age 16 he was hired by Johnny Vincent as a producer at Ace Records. There, he worked with artists like James Booker and Earl King, his musical experience expanding notably.
He struggled through intermittent years of high school. While a student at Jesuit High School, he was already playing in night clubs, something the Jesuit fathers disapproved of. They told him to either stop playing in clubs or leave the school. He chose the latter. This was the seed of his classic, "Right Place, Wrong Time."
In late 1950s New Orleans, Rebennack originally concentrated on guitar, but that changed around 1960, when his left ring finger was injured by a gunshot at a Jackson, Mississippi gig. After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument.
During the 1950s, he sold narcotics and even ran a brothel. Arrested on drug charges and sentenced to two years in a federal prison at Fort Worth, Texas, when his sentence ended in 1965 he left for Los Angeles, where he became a "first call" session musician - part of the so-called "Wrecking Crew" stable of studio musicians.
As for how he became "Dr. John", he says, "Well, there was a guy the name of Dr. John, a hoodoo guy in New Orleans. He was competition to Marie Laveau. He was like her opposite. I actually got a clipping... about how my great-great-great-grandpa Wayne was busted with this guy for runnin' a voodoo operation in a whorehouse in 1860. I decided I would produce the record with this as a concept."
Rebennack imagined that this character could front an interesting stage show, while serving as an emblem of New Orleans heritage. And, Dr. John was born - one of the greatest rock keyboardists of the rock era.
My Dr. John transcriptions:
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" - B-3 Organ Solo - Dr. John, organ -
"Pine Top Boogie" - Complete Piano Part - Dr. John, piano
My other "New Orleans piano-style" transcriptions:
Albert King - "Crosscut Saw" - Booker T. Jones, piano
Allen Toussaint - Early Professor Longhair - Riff No.1
Allen Toussaint - Later Professor Longhair - Riff No.2
Ernie K-Doe - "Hello My Lover" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Mother-in-Law" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "Popeye Joe" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Ernie K-Doe - "She's Waiting" - Allen Toussaint, piano
Born in Savannah, Georgia, Billy Currington failed an audition at age 16 for a spot at Nashville's Opryland.
After high school he moved to Nashville but ended up working for a concrete company and as a personal trainer.
He started writing songs, eventually having cuts by George Strait, Tracy Byrd, and Marty Raybon. He signed to Mercury Records in 2003.
Since then he has recorded six albums, with 18 singles and 11 number one hits.
On his first album in 2003, Currington used a Nashville session pianist, Gary Prim, who has recorded with Alan Jackson, Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Randy Travis, Billy Ray Cyrus, Oak Ridge Boys and others.
Gary was born in Kingston, Tennessee, and learned to play piano "by ear" as a child in his local church. He moved to Nashville to pursue music in 1977, and toured with gospel groups until the early 1980's.
In 1981, he began his career in the Nashville recording studio. Norro Wilson (formerly A&R at RCA Records) gave Gary his biggest break, hiring him for master recording sessions with top country artists including Charley Pride, Eddy Arnold, Mickey Gilley, and Charley McClain.
My "Nashville and C&W piano-style" transcriptions:
Billy Currington - "Growin' Up Down There" - Verse 3 (Piano Solo) - Gary Prim, piano
Asleep at the Wheel - "Boot Scootin' Boogie"
The Browns - "The Three Bells" - Floyd Cramer, piano
Carrie Underwood - "Undo It"
The Charlie Daniels Band - "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - Taz DiGregorio, piano
'Crazy' (YouTube Version, by "zzipizape")
The Dillards - "There Is a Time"
Dolly Parton - "Sittin' on the Front Porch Swing" - Floyd Cramer, piano
Elvis Presley - "I Really Don't Want To Know" - Floyd Cramer, piano
Engelbert Humperdinck - "Am I That Easy To Forget" - Floyd Cramer, piano
Floyd Cramer - "Could I Have This Dance"
Floyd Cramer - "Last Date"
Hank Williams Jr. - "La Grange"
The Highwaymen - "Me and Bobby McGee" - Bobby Emmons, piano
Jonny Lang - "Still Rainin'" - Bruce McCabe, piano
Lari White - "Lead Me Not" - Bill Payne, piano
Little Big Town - "Girl Crush"
Mary Chapin Carpenter - "I Feel Lucky" - Jon Carroll, piano
Paul Brandt - "The Highway Patrol" - Steve Rosen, piano
Ricky Skaggs - "Country Boy"
Toby Keith - "American Soldier"
Willie Nelson - "Good Hearted Woman" - Bobbie Nelson, piano
Also new this month are two excellent finger exercises. For all the wonderful rhythms in rock and pop piano/organ playing - and some is very rhythmic, almost like playing drums on a keyboard - one still needs excellent fingers to really get the job done. Just listen to those cleanly articulated runs of Nicky Hopkins.
These two new exercises are especially for developing agile, dexterous, nimble, speedy fingers.
Each exercise is based upon a particularly difficult single-note run in classical piano literature, one by Chopin and the other by Liszt.
Over the years I've used these runs - with my own variations on them - to improve my own technique, and want to share them with others who really want to polish their 'chops'.
These are not the easiest exercises, but they are concise - no wasted time - and they yield significant benefits. Plus, they are fun to learn, as you watch yourself overcoming their challenges.
And after 1000 practice hours your rock-and-roll playing will sound a little bit more like Nicky Hopkins. :)
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 38 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Finger Exercise inspired by Chopin's 'Winter Wind' Etude
Elmo Peeler - Finger Exercise inspired by Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.6
Happy October 2017!
The month of September saw the transcription of the piano part on "Ramblin' Man", a classic, smokin'-hot track by the Allman Brothers, played by a 20-year-old Chuck Leavell who would go on to play with the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
Also new is the wonderful lilting piano solo on Jonathan Edwards' "Shanty". If that jazz-tinged solo sounds familiar, it's because Van Morrison's "Moondance" had the same pianist, session ace Jeff Labes.
And for those lovers of serious Delta blues, I've transcribed "Come Back Baby" (an early hit for Ray Charles in 1954) as played on Wurlitzer electric piano by Eli 'Paperboy' Reed. I've also arranged Reed's Wurly part for acoustic piano, throwing in some extra goodies and taking his version up a notch.
Plus, a new Gospel Rhythm exercise is available.
Chuck Leavell's background is interesting. He learned piano by listening to his mother play the family spinet, and by age six was sitting at the piano with her, beginning to learn.
While his mom did housework, Chuck would sit on the piano stool and pick out little melodies and harmonies.
She would ask him what would the piano sound like if he woke up angry, or if there were a storm outside, or if he felt really good. She was getting him to think about music as feelings and emotions, not just notes on a page.
At the encouragement of his parents he began taking lessons but quit after six months. His cousin taught him guitar chords; he played tuba in the Jr High School band; and then started his own band, the Misfitz, playing every Friday night at the local YMCA.
He started out playing guitar but soon added a Farfisa Combo Compact organ, then a Wurlitzer electric piano, and began concentrating on keyboards.
By 15 he was doing recording sessions, making $25 a day playing demos in Birmingham & Muscle Shoals.
After moving to Macon, GA at age 17 in 1969, he played with artists including the Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Wet Willie, Bobby Whitlock, and Bonnie Bramlett.
And then in 1972 at the age of 20 Chuck was asked to join the Allman Brothers Band. And ten years later he was touring with the Rolling Stones. Not bad for a Georgia tree farmer.
My Chuck Leavell transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - "Ramblin' Man" - Piano Part - Chuck Leavell, piano - NEW!
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Complete Piano Part - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Solo from Tutorial Video
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Solo - 1973/2007 'Hybrid'
The Allman Brothers Band - "Southbound" - Chuck Leavell, piano
Eric Clapton - "San Francisco Bay Blues" - Chuck Leavell, piano
My other Allman Brothers Band transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - "Midnight Rider" - Electric Piano Riff - Gregg Allman, Wurlitzer E. Piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Stormy Monday" - Organ Solo - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
The Allman Brothers Band - "Whipping Post" - Complete Organ Part - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
Jeff Labes has been a pro keyboardist since 1967. Living in New York City, he was a composer and arranger for the Saturday Night Live band, and a member of the house band at Catch a Rising Star.
He later moved to Los Angeles, working as a studio musician. Currently living in Marin County, California, he is the musical director of 4 or 5 musical theater shows each year.
Over the years he has toured and recorded with many top artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Elvin Bishop, Jesse Colin Young and Van Morrison.
That's Labes playing the piano part on "Moondance".
One of the artists he's worked with is Jonathan Edwards, of "Sunshine (Go Away Today)" fame. His solo on Edwards' "Shanty" - on the same album as "Sunshine" - is somewhat reminiscent of his "Moondance" solo, with it's jazz-influenced rhythms.
My Jeff Labes transcriptions:
Jonathan Edwards - "Shanty" - Piano Solo
Van Morrison - "Moondance" - Piano Solo
A native of Massachusetts, Eli 'Paperboy' Reed moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi after graduating from high school to immerse himself into the juke joint culture of the Deep South.
After spending a year there he moved to Chicago where he played piano and organ in the South Side Chicago church of soul/gospel singer Mitty Collier.
"Come Back Baby", a slow blues song written in 1940 by blues singer/pianist Walter Davis, was recorded by Ray Charles in 1954, peaking at #4 on the R&B singles chart.
My Eli 'Paperboy' Reed transcriptions:
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed - "Come Back Baby" - Complete Wurlitzer Elec. Piano Part Click here to listen to me playing my acoustic piano arrangement of Reed's "Come Back Baby".
Also new this month is an excellent exercise in gospel rhythm. Gospel piano-playing is nothing if not rhythmic.
This month's new exercise is based on one of the most common - and important - rhythm patterns in gospel music, dating back many generations. Every pianist from Leon Russell to Richard Tee to Nicky Hopkins played this rhythm at one time or the other.
Bill Payne recorded this common riff on Lari White's "Good Good Love". This is a transcription of that 2-bar gospel piano riff. Also included are three variations on the original, demonstrating how other left hand patterns can be used without altering the right hand riff.
This exercise will clarify this gospel/rock rhythm, and allow you to add an important pattern to your repertoire of gospel elements.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 37 exercises available.)
My latest exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Gospel Rhythm Exercise (in the style of Lari White's "Good Good Love")
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed - "Come Back Baby" - arranged for Acoustic Piano
Elmo Peeler - Coordination Exercise No.2 - Billy Preston-style
Elmo Peeler - Allman Brothers Exercise No.1 - Triplets Riff on I & ii Chords
Elmo Peeler - Thumb-under Exercise
Click here to listen to my new Gospel Rhythm Exercise.
Happy September 2017!
Don McLean's 8:33-long "American Pie" contains one of rock's most amazing piano tracks ever recorded. You can know the chords in the song and still not have a clue as to how to make the piano part sound like the record because of its amazing rhythms, non-standard right hand fills and left hand that isn't just octaves.
What's "In the News!" is that it has now finally been revealed, note-for-note, both hands - all of it. The pianist on the record is not a familiar name to most, although he was New York City's leading session pianist for decades, laying down the piano parts for a wide range of artists: from the Isley Brothers, the Shirelles, and Chuck Jackson to Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick, Van Morrison, Paul Simon and Steely Dan to Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine and Cal Tjader.
That was Paul Griffin, keyboard genius.
Growing up in Harlem during the 1940s he had no male role models "except the junkies, the pimps and the numbers runners," as he himself said.
But his mother made sure that he was in church every Sunday - and up front. At Paradise Baptist Church on 135th Street, young Paul's regular seat for years was in the pew right behind the church pianist. The youngster would pay more attention to the pianist's hands than to the service. This went on for years. One day after church, while still a child, Paul slid onto the piano bench and began doodling around on the keyboard. After a few more times, he found he had a knack for it. When the church's pianist eventually died, Paul took her place.
As an eighth-grader, his dream was to attend New York's prestigious High School of Music and Art. Unfortunately a short-sighted guidance counselor, perhaps observing either Griffin's humble station or mindful of Music and Art's high academic requirements, assured him he would never be admitted.
Griffin slumped out of her office and began weeping quietly in the hall. At just that moment, a teacher who had befriended Griffin happened by.
"Why are you crying ?" he asked.
Through tears, Griffin explained. The teacher was appalled at the guidance counselor's insensitivity and promised Paul that he would not only reprimand the counselor but that Paul would audition for Music and Art just like anyone else. Griffin passed the audition; and four years later, in 1953, he graduated from the High School of Music and Art.
In the late 1950s King Curtis offered Paul his first opportunity to record and he never looked back. If you listened to the radio in the 60s & 70s or have an 'oldies' mp3 collection, you've heard Paul's piano- and organ-playing - a lot.
Including on all of Dionne Warwick's hits - yes, even though Burt Bacharach was/is an excellent pianist, he always insisted that Griffin play on his sessions. Although Paul said he never understood why, Bacharach said it was because Paul's timing was so much better than his own.
And also on many of Bob Dylan's biggest hits, including "Like a Rolling Stone", "Positively Fourth Street", and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Everybody Must Get Stoned)".
Al Kooper, who played organ on some of Dylan's tracks, said "the piano-playing on (Dylan's) "One of Us Must Know" is quite magnificent. It influenced me enormously as a pianist. It's probably Paul Griffin's finest moment. It's great, two-fisted, gospel piano-playing, played with the utmost of taste."
With all respect to Kooper, as outstanding as all of Griffin's Dylan tracks are, the pinnacle of Paul Griffin's discography is "American Pie", for several reasons.
One, the length of the track - 8:33 - is extraordinarily long, requiring great creativity to keep coming up with outstanding piano licks/ideas. Yet he achieved it, without any exact repetitions of previous sections.
Two, his left hand part is truly amazing. Rather than rely on just playing octaves (although he includes some great octave walk-ups), he uses his left hand far more creatively, throwing in all sorts of lines, frequently with a 'bouncy' calypso influence (BTW, his "Brown Eyed Girl" organ track also used calypso-influenced fills).
Three, perhaps the single most outstanding aspect of this track is his rhythm. Paul Griffin's piano track for "American Pie" is one of most rhythmic, highly-syncopated piano parts ever recorded.
Four, his overall conception of the long piece was pitch-perfect, i.e., the way he voiced the slow, out-of-strict-time verses, using low 5ths in the left hand, and then brilliantly segueing into the highly rhythmic sections.
Five, his accuracy is excellent. Even though it's to be expected of such a fine professional player, it's still remarkable that in the entire 8.5 minutes he missed only four notes (nothing major, of course) and smudged the complex rhythms very slightly only twice.
If you'd like to read more about one of rock's greatest players, there is an excellent article about Paul on Steely Dan's web site here.
My Paul Griffin transcriptions:
Don McLean - "American Pie'" (Long Version) - Complete Piano Part - played by Paul Griffin - NEW!
Bob Dylan - "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" - Complete Piano Part - played by Paul Griffin
Van Morrison - "Brown Eyed Girl" - Complete Organ Part - played by Paul Griffin
When Jerry Lee Lewis traveled to Hamburg, Germany in 1964 to perform at the Star Club, he had no idea that the recording would come to be regarded as one of the greatest live concert albums ever made - by anyone.
Recorded during his "wilderness years" following the fallout after his 1958 marriage to his thirteen-year-old first cousin once removed Myra, the album showcases Lewis's phenomenal skills as a pianist and singer, which had been honed by relentless touring.
In a 5-out-of-5-stars review, Rolling Stone raved that "Live At The Star Club, Hamburg is not an album, it's a crime scene: Jerry Lee Lewis slaughters his rivals in a thirteen-song set that feels like one long convulsion. Recorded April 5th, 1964, this is the earliest and most feral of Lewis' concert releases from his wilderness years".
Q Magazine commented "This might be the most exciting performance ever recorded".
The album was included in Mojo's "The 67 Lost Albums You Must Own!" - "An unbelievably seismic document of rock 'n' roll so demonic and primal it can barely keep its stage suit on. It's up there with James Brown's great live albums."
AllMusic said of the album: "Words cannot describe - cannot contain - the performance captured on Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, an album that contains the very essence of rock & roll. Live at the Star Club is extraordinary - the purest, hardest rock & roll ever committed to record. He sounds possessed, hitting the keys so hard it sounds like they'll break, and rocking harder than anybody had before or since. Rock & roll is about the fire in the performance, and nothing sounds as fiery as this; nothing hits as hard or sounds as loud, either. It is no stretch to call this the greatest live album ever, nor is it a stretch to call it the greatest rock & roll album ever recorded. Even so, words can't describe the music here - it truly has to be heard to be believed."
In the 2014 book Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story Rick Bragg deems Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, to be "one of the grittiest, most spectacular pieces of recorded music ever made."
And rock writer Joe Bonomo calls "Mean Woman Blues", the opening number on the album, as "nothing short of a concert in itself".
That very recording, "Mean Woman Blues", and his early studio version of "Lewis Boogie" are brand-new transcriptions this month.
My Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Mean Woman Blues" (Live at the Star Club, Hamburg 1964)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Lewis Boogie" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Crazy Arms" (1956)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)" (1964)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun" (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous" (2006)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" (1957)
Plum Nellie (not to be confused with the 1970s psychedelic band) is a two-man band from the UK, comprised of a great singer, Sam Dean, and an equally great keyboard player, Joe Glossop - a first-rate London session player who specializes in old-style Hammond B-3 and Ray Charles/Leon Russell-style piano.
In 2013 Plum Nellie recorded several excellent videos of just the two performing several classic songs, including "That Lucky Old Sun", which was done as their homage to Ray Charles, who often performed it himself.
Glossop's gospel-blues piano is outstanding, including licks straight out of Ray's own pianistic vocabulary.
The duo has also done an excellent video of "A Love Like Yours", a Holland-Dozier-Holland classic first recorded by Martha & the Vandellas in 1963 and then in 1966 by Ike & Tina Turner (produced by Phil Spector).
This time on Hammond organ through a great-sounding Leslie, Glossup accompanies Dean with an exquisite, gospel-rock organ part that either Billy Preston or Booker T would've been proud of.
Watch "That Lucky Old Sun", the piano homage to Ray Charles, here.
And watch the really beautiful gospel/rock Hammond organ version of "A Love Like Yours" here - with excellent drawbar registration changes during the performance.
This month I've transcribed both these outstanding performances, plus created a piano arrangement of the "A Love Like Yours" gospel-influenced organ part, which you can listen to here.
My Plum Nellie transcriptions:
Plum Nellie - "A Love Like Yours" - Complete Organ Part - Joe Glossop, organ
My other transcription of "That Lucky Old Sun":
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun" (1989)
Also new this month is an exercise to improve a very important aspect of piano-playing: Left/Right independence and coordination between the hands. Years ago when I studied Billy Preston's style to see how he achieved his 'sound', I found that he played one rhythmic octave lick more than any other - four 16th-notes with the last one tied forward. And I subsequently discovered that playing that riff, and its variants, significantly improved Left/Right independence and coordination. This exercise distills Billy Preston's signature lick into a 4-bar exercise that should help you: 1) improve your Right/Left coordination 2) sound more like Billy Preston when you want to (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 36 exercises available.) My newest exercise:
Elmo Peeler - Coordination Exercise No.2 - Billy Preston-style
Happy August 2017!
By 1976 a senior product design engineer for Polaroid had recorded in his home-made basement recording studio an album's worth of material. But for five years he'd experienced complete rejection in submitting his demos to national record labels.
However, when CBS/Epic decided to give his recordings a chance, the album became the biggest-selling debut album in history. And Tom Scholz' band, Boston, was born.
Himself born in 1947 in Ohio, young Tom loved tinkering with everything from go-carts to model airplanes, and was always building and designing.
As a child he studied classical piano, and as a teen he taught himself to play guitar, bass, and drums. In 1965 he won a full scholarship to M.I.T., graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering, and became an inventor holding 34 U.S. patents, including for the Rockman, a portable guitar amp used not only by Scholz himself but also by Ian Hammer in his "Miami Vice" scores to make a synth sound like a guitar. Click here to hear my own recording of "Dixie" using a DX7 through a Rockman (recorded in 1985 as an homage to Jimi Hendrix' "Star-spangled Banner"). Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while at M.I.T. Upon graduation he went to work for Polaroid in Boston, using his day-job savings in the early '70s to build a recording studio in his basement and to rent professional studio time to record song demos. Although he could play all the instruments, he needed a good singer and auditioned many before finding Brad Delp in 1970.
For five years they did a lot of basement recording but received zero recognition locally and complete rejection by national labels. In 1976 when their first album, "Boston", was released, they became the first band in history to make their New York City debut at Madison Square Garden.
(BTW, I myself have had the good fortune to have performed six concerts at Madison Square Garden with two different Hall-of-Fame artists - three sold-out nights with the Beach Boys, and three sold-out nights with Rod Stewart - a long way from the cinder-block juke-joints in rural Mississippi where I started playing at age 15.)
Boston's recordings have always been those of a two-man band, Scholz and Delp, with supporting musicians necessary for live concerts chosen by Scholz. Only the drum tracks on the albums have not been played by Scholz (even though he does play drums also).
So far Boston has released six studio albums and sold over 75 million records. In 1987 Scholz became seriously involved in philanthropy and charity work, setting up the DTS Charitable Foundation to support causes such as the environment, animal rights, food banks, homeless shelters and children. He strongly supports the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Earth Island Institute.
My new Boston transcription:
Boston - "Smokin'" - Complete Organ & Clavinet Parts
Born in 1949 in Waco, TX, Bill Payne at the age of two moved to Ventura, in Southern California, where he grew up in a house in the hills built by his father, with big picture windows in the kitchen and living room affording tremendous views of the Pacific Ocean and the Channel Islands. His mother introduced him to piano-playing by sitting him on her knee at a large old upright piano in the basement, and playing "Vaya Con Dios" from sheet music. She would play a few notes and then show him what notes to play.
At five or six, he began taking lessons from Ruth Neuman, playing the theme from "Davy Crockett" for her at his very first lesson. She said, 'The next time you come in I'll have this written out for you. I'll show you what you actually played.' She encouraged him to play by ear taught him how to read music also, and guided him through a study of the classics until he was 15 - Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms.
(BTW, by striking coincidence, Davy Crockett was the very first piano piece that my daddy taught me at age 6. It seems to have been a big hit among pianists in the 5 to 6 year-old range in the mid-1950s)
While growing up, and hearing his older sister listening to Elvis Presley, Bill began listening to a lot of radio.
When he was about ten, Mrs. Neuman taught him to play pipe organ, which, in his words, "included playing one hand on the keyboard at the bottom rung and my right hand lets say at the top level. While making changes, using your feet to play the pedals and all that stuff. It was a really good education for me."
Later, in his teens, he rebelled by dropping acid, smoking marijuana, and playing rock-and-roll piano. "Piano was a refuge for me," Payne has said. "I was a teen with a ton of angst, and bands helped me get through it."
At the age of twenty he placed a call to Frank Zappa's record company, basically, saying, "Uh, I play keyboards... It took several calls to sort of get this person, this lady on the other end of the line, to take me seriously enough - or maybe she felt sorry for me - to put me in touch with Jeffrey Simmons, who said, 'Oh, well, I play keyboards, too, and this might kind of destroy what I'm doing, but there's this guy Lowell George that I really think you ought to try and reach.' "I got to his house and there was a cool girl sitting on the floor, 18, 19 years old. She's listening to some Erik Satie, that's a composer. 'Oh you must be Bill, Lowell is expecting you. He'll be back in about four or five hours.'"
He and Lowell hit it off and decided to work together, and then he met Zappa, all within a month. Soon afterward he began playing with the GTOs, a Zappa band, and session work took off from there. He and Lowell, whom he considers his mentor, founded Little Feat, which so far has released 16 studio albums.
One of the many artists that Payne has recorded with is Lari White, who was a back-up singer in Rodney Crowell's band in 1991. Two years later RCA released her debut album, "Lead Me Not", produced by Crowell. All but one of the tracks use Bill Payne on piano.
The title song, "Lead Me Not", is a gospel-flavored track in 9/8 meter (a waltz within a waltz), with an excellent country-gospel piano part containing lots of walk-ups, octave fills, #IV-diminished chords, high strums, and other fun gospel techniques, plus a whole-step-up modulation. If you don't remember it, click here to listen to it on YouTube.
My Bill Payne transcriptions:
Lari White - "Lead Me Not" - Complete Piano Part - Bill Payne, piano Scales should be perfectly legato and even, like a glissando. If your scales are not perfectly legato (connected), a 'skip' or a 'hop' may occur. This is almost always because of a flaw in moving the thumb under the 3rd and 4th fingers during a Right Hand ascending scale or a Left Hand descending scale - the thumb doesn't arrive on time, causing an audible break. In fact, the thumb's ability to move smoothly under the 3rd and 4th fingers is the most important finger motion in piano-playing. This new exercise concentrates on that motion of the thumb moving under those two fingers, by concentrating on a range of only 4 or 5 notes. Included are three exercises for the thumb-under-3rd-finger motion and three for the thumb-under-4th-finger. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 34 exercises available.)
Happy July! Richard Tee was for years New York City's top session keyboardist, playing for all the biggest stars. And it wasn't because of his pleasing personality, which he had in abundance. It was because he was head and shoulders above all other players - he had great technique, improvising parts that most players couldn't play after weeks of practice. And great rhythm - Steve Gadd was his best friend and called him his Little Brother. Plus an encyclopedic knowledge of chords - just listen to his substitutions in "Happy Birthday".
Born in Brooklyn, Richard was classically trained for 12 years of his early life, attending the High School of Music and Art and the Manhattan School of Music.
After graduating from the High School of Music and Art he obtained a position at Motown Records as a 'house pianist'. His first recordings there included a session with Marvin Gaye.
As time progressed he became a staff arranger at Motown, and started playing more organ.
After returning to New York, he continued to work in the studio, and along with the other leaders of the NYC studio scene, founded his own band, Stuff, which was the NYC equivalent of L.A.'s Wrecking Crew.
BTW, the drummer for Stuff, Steve Gadd, was a classmate of mine at the Eastman School of Music.
In 1984 Richard made an hour-long video tutorial, "Contemporary Piano", in which he demonstrates his amazing R&B/Gospel style. He uses "Happy Birthday" to show various ways it could be played, first changing it from its usual 3/4 meter to 4/4, and then playing it with very creative R&B/Gospel chord changes and rhythms. There was no song so simple that Tee couldn't transform into a masterpiece.
Click here to listen to Richard Tee's "Happy Birthday".
My new Richard Tee transcription:
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" -
Far from Brooklyn, down in Oklahoma, another little boy was born a year after Richard Tee, and that was Russell Bridges - whom we all know and love as Leon Russell - rock pianist extraordinaire. Little Russell began playing piano at the age of four. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the same 1959 class as David Gates ('Bread'). Russell and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencement.
At 14 Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. "Oklahoma was a dry state and consequently there was no liquor laws, and I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy."
At 17, in 1958, Russell moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles, where as a first-call studio musician he played on many of the most popular recordings of the 1960s.
In early 1970 Joe Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking Crew, the Delaney & Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began rehearsals.
Shortly thereafter, jam sessions with Bonnie & Delaney led to Leon recording "Faded Love" with them - a very spare arrangement that's most just Leon's gospel-style piano and Delaney's voice.
My Leon Russell transcriptions:
Bonnie & Delaney - "Faded Love" - Complete Piano Part - Leon Russell, piano -
In 1965 in San Jose, California, high school friends formed People! (yes, the exclamation point is part of their name) - a classic one-hit wonder band.
One of their members, Larry Norman, went on to become an influential pioneer of Christian rock music.
They had a lot of regional success, including opening for major artists, and in February 1968 released their big hit, "I Love You", originally written and recorded by The Zombies. By the summer of '68 it was #1 in Japan, Israel and Italy, and a huge smash in the U.S., Canada and the UK. People! appeared on lots of TV shows of the day, including Dick Clark's American Bandstand and Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
"I Love You" was on both Billboard's and Cashbox's Top 100 songs for 1968.
The recording contained a keyboard solo that was actually two keyboards playing the same notes: a piano and a Hammond organ. If you like Retro and/or the 1960's 'sound', you might like "I Love You".
To listen to the keyboard solo, click here.
People! - "I Love You" - Piano/Organ Solo, plus Bass Guitar -
This month there is a new exercise for those that like
the Allman Brothers, Chuck Leavell, or want to improve their chops in general - or all the above.
This exercise is designed to increase your facility with chord inversions, show you how to harmonize a scale (or at least 6 of the 7 notes) using just I and ii chords (good for both Southern rock and gospel), and hopefully help your sense of rhythm while doing it. The pattern is a group of 6 phrases, before repeating and then changing direction, that are sometimes grouped 3 + 3, and sometimes grouped 4 + 2. The exercise contains both patterns, including fingering. They both sound a lot like something Leavell might play with The Allman Brothers. (BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 33 exercises available.)
Happy June! Gregg Allman was born and spent much of his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee before moving to Daytona Beach, FL at age 12.
When he was only two, a hitchhiker shot and killed his father. Almost destitute, his mother placed Gregg and his older brother Duane into a military academy while she studied to become a CPA.
Gregg worked as a paperboy to afford a Silvertone guitar, purchased at Sears, and with Duane formed his first 'real' band, The Escorts, who evolved into the Allman Joys.
It was with the Allman Joys that he got his first keyboard, a Vox organ.
After moving to St. Louis, and then to Los Angeles, Gregg returned to Jacksonville, FL and founded the Allman Brothers Band. The rest is history.
Gregg's favorite song that he was most proud of was "Midnight Rider". Written at a rented farmhouse on a lake near Macon, Georgia, the song came to him quickly and out of nowhere. He completed a rough draft in just over an hour of writing.
My Allman Brothers transcriptions:
Gregg Allman - Midnight Rider (from "Laid Back" album) - Electric Piano Riff -
If there were a Hall of Fame for background vocalists, Merry Clayton would be in it.
She began her recording career at the age of 14, singing a duet with Bobby Darin, "When I Can't Count on you".
Merry went on to sing with Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Neil Young, Burt Bacharach and many, many others.
She sang a duet with Mick Jagger on "Gimme Shelter", sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", sang on Ringo Starr's "Oh My My", and was one of Ray Charles' Raelettes - plus many others.
In 1971 she released her own eponymous album, which contained Bill Withers' song, "Grandma's Hands". A particularly funky/R&B piano solo is in it. Merry Clayton - "Grandma's Hands" - Piano Solo
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, his father nicknamed him Bocephus after a Grand Ole Opry ventriloquist's dummy.
After his father's death when he was 5, a number of contemporary musicians visited the family and influenced Hank Jr., including Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Earl Scruggs, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
He first stepped onto a stage and sang his father's songs at age 8, and at 17 made his recording debut with "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", on of his father's classic songs.
In 1983 he recorded the ZZ Top hit, "La Grange", on his "Strong Stuff" album. The song contains a powerful piano solo that is more rock than country. Hank Williams Jr. - "La Grange" - Piano Solo
Bobby "Blue" Bland was born in the small town of Barretville, Tennessee. Shortly afterward, his father abandoned the family.
Never graduating from school his mother moved to Memphis when he was 17, and he began singing with local gospel groups and hanging out on Beale Street, where he became friends with B.B. King, Junior Parker, Johnny Ace, and other aspiring bluesmen.
At Ike Turner's suggestion, Bland recorded for Sun Records, unsuccessfully, and was then drafted for two years into the U.S. Army, during which time he performed in a band with Eddie Fisher.
When Bland returned to Memphis at age 24, he signed a recording contract that gave him just half a cent per record sold, only 25% of the industry standard.
At age 25 his first single for Duke Records was released, and by age 27 started having chart success. By 31 he was having #1 hits, including "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "Turn On Your Love Light".
In 1975 he recorded "I Take It On Home", which starts with a wonderful piano 'flip', then modulates up a half-step after two verses with another piano flip. Bobby 'Blue' Bland - "I Take It On Home"
Three things that contribute to good technique is Left/Right-hand coordination, facility with 4-note triads, and finger independence.
This month there are two new exercises for just those needs.
I've taken Roy Bittan's piano part for Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" and made it into a simple exercise in coordination that also gives practice for 4-note chords and how to 'weight' those chords for a brighter, more exciting sound. Two exercises are included, the second only slightly more challenging.
Also, to address finger independence, e.g., getting the 4th finger to function more independently of the 3rd and 5th fingers, I've taken the old "horn 5ths" voicing (as in hunters' horns or early valveless French horns) and made it into a 4-octave double-note exercise for the Right Hand. Not only will it help your technique but also it is a commonly-used voicing that all pianists should know. You've probably heard "horn 5ths" without realizing they had a name.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 31 exercises available.)
Elmo Peeler - Right Hand Double-note Exercise - 'Hunting Horns'
Happy May!
Dr. Ethel Caffie-Austin is West Virginia's "First Lady of Gospel Music".
Born in Bluefield, WV on February 11,1949, she was immersed in gospel music literally before she could walk - her father was pastor of the local Pentecostal Church.
At age three she began singing with the choir, and at six began playing piano.
By nine she was accompanying church services, and at age ten directing the choir.
At fourteen she assembled with singers from ten parishes what has become the Mass Choir of West Virginia State.
She graduated from Mount Hope High School, and founded the Black Sacred Music Festival at West Virginia State University. Also, she has been appointed the Minister of Music for the State of West Virginia.
A wonderful pianist, vocalist, and teacher, she has performed in prisons, schools, housing projects, and festivals across North America and Europe.
Widely respected for her teaching and for her gospel workshops, after the death of Mahalia Jackson, Ethel has become known as the First Lady of Gospel Music.
She was the subject of a 1997 Goldenseal magazine article, "Hand-Clapping and Hallelujahs: A Visit with Ethel Caffie-Austin", and a 1999 documentary film entitled "His Eye Is On the Sparrow".
Her solo piano performance of "Amazing Grace" has had over 130,000 hits on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, treat yourself. Just click here.
After watching it you might want to learn it. The good news is that now you can - note-for-note. The CrowdFunding appeal last month was a success, and allowed the creation of this brand-new transcription.
If you haven't heard Ethel Caffie-Austin's wonderful performance of "Amazing Grace", listen to it here on YouTube.
My gospel-style piano transcriptions:
Two of the most important elements of old-time gospel piano are the knowledge of how to voice chords and to know how to segue from one chord to another.
One of the many ways to voice gospel-style chords is to play the melody with two hands, with a chord in-between - sort of like George Shearing's two-handed block-chord jazz style, but less complicated. My new Gospel Chord Exercise No.1 explains exactly how to do it. Please listen to the example, which illustrates this technique on both piano and organ.
Near the end of Ethel Caffie-Austin's performance of "Amazing Grace", she pauses right after a wonderful gospel riff, and says that she plays that riff more than any other - that it must be her signature. It is indeed a very important old-time gospel riff, mostly used for leading from one chord into another, sort of a transition line.
My other brand-new exercise addresses exactly Ethel's "signature lick", explains exactly what it is, and gives a 7-bar phrase (fun to play!) to clearly illustrate exactly how it's transcriptions:
Back in the 1970's and 1980's when I was touring with The Beach Boys, The Sweet Inspirations, and Ricky Nelson - color photographs from outer space became available for the first time in history, thanks to NASA's satellite exploration of our own solar system.
The color NASA photographs were beautiful and inspiring, but not easily acquired for wall art - I wanted to put some of them onto the walls of my home studio. So I started a company, Woodstock Products, to make them available to the public.
As my musical career progressed, I had no time for the lithograph company, and shut it down in 1981.
Over the years I've been asked many times to make these classic lithographs available again. The recent fly-by of Saturn's rings has finally convinced me. If you'd like to order any of these prints, here are important details:
My NASA Outer Space Photography High-Quality Lithographs:
Happy April!
Growing up in Chicago, Dennis DeYoung, a self-taught keyboardist, began his career as a vocalist at age 14 in 1961 when he teamed up with his two 13-year-old neighbors in a three-piece combo. The trio later added two guitarists to form the band Tradewinds in the late 1960s, and then renamed itself TW4 in 1968 before becoming Styx in 1970.
Before the band met with success, DeYoung spent time as an elementary school teacher in the southern suburbs of Chicago, where he taught music at a variety of schools.
During this period, the band played a number of small venues and school auditoriums, refining their craft before the song "Lady" propelled them to stardom.
I've already transcribed both synth solos in"Fooling Yourself", one of their biggest hits, and have recently completed transcribing all the keyboard parts for the entire song.
Here are my four synthesizer transcriptions:
Jonny Lang, a talented blues/rock guitarist from North Dakota, heard his first blues band at age 12.
Afterward, he asked the lead guitarist to teach him guitar; and after only a year of lessons, the band asked him to join them, changing their name to Jonny Lang & The Big Bang.
At 15 he recorded his first blues album, and at 17 his third album, "Wander This World", was nominated for a Grammy.
"Still Rainin'", a driving rocker with an edge, was written by Bruce McCabe, who also played piano on it.
McCabe's favorites include Otis Spann, Lafayette Leake, and Memphis Slim.
This month the entire piano part on "Still Rainin'" has been transcribed.
Don Henley, the co-founder of the Eagles in 1971, was their drummer until they broke up in 1980, whereupon Henley started a solo career.
His band included pianist Jai Winding, son of jazz trombonist/composer Kai Winding. A talented pianist with a good flair for gospel/rock, Winding eventually became one of Los Angeles' most successful real estate agents.
On October 13, 1986 Henley performed at the Bridge School Benefit at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.
His set list included the 1961 Stax Records R&B classic by William Bell, "You Don't Miss Your Water".
Jai Winding played a wonderful gospel/rock piano part on it. In 9/8 meter, it's similar to a waltz within a waltz. Winding made good use tremolos in 3rds and 6ths, octaves, and other gospel-piano techniques, including a solo halfway through. This song has never been included on a Don Henley album, but sometimes appears on YouTube.
This month I've transcribed Winding's entire piano part, exactly as it was played. If you enjoy gospel-rock, you'll like this track.
My songs by Don Henley and the Eagles:
In 1825 Franz Schubert composed "Ave Maria", one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs ever written.
In 2010 Rick Wakeman recorded it on his "Always with You" CD.
This month I've transcribed Wakeman's "Ave Maria".
If you haven't heard Wakeman's 2010 version of "Ave Maria", listen to it here on YouTube.
My Rick Wakeman transcriptions:
Rick Wakeman - "Ave Maria" (2010) - Complete Piano Part
Happy March!
Last month Rick Wakeman's musical background was discussed. So this month we'll look at his new CD, and only briefly cover his background. Born in 1949 in London, Wakeman began playing piano at the age of five and began weekly lessons at seven.
At eleven he entered his first of many music competitions held around London, often winning.
Wakeman played in his first band, a traditional jazz band, at age 12.
At 13 he began taking church organ lessons, and at 14 joined a local blues group, the Atlantic Blues.
At 17 he joined another band, the Concordes, using the money to buy his first electronic instrument, a Hohner Pianet.
At 19 he secured a place at the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano, clarinet, orchestration, and modern music, with the intention of becoming a concert pianist. He stayed about a year, leaving for session work.
Last year Wakeman said, "I've been wanting to do a piano album for years, really, of classic songs, a mixture of music, some classical, all done in the only style I know how to play really.
"I spent quite a bit of time looking at everything from almost straight classical pieces to some stuff that I'd played on in the past like 'Morning Has Broken'... plus pieces of music that I thought would work really, really well, like 'Stairway to Heaven'. "I came in here and there were four Model D Steinways (9' Concert Grands), this being one of them, there's another one up there, there's two over there, there's pianos everywhere, I've never seen so many pianos in my life... And this particular piano I literally fell in love with.
"When I was five, my music teacher she taught me that music was color, you were painting pictures.. I see pictures, I paint pictures. I can't imagine my life without music, I can't really imagine life without playing, without being able to play. It is monstrously important to me in my life."
If you haven't heard Wakeman's 2017 version of "Morning Has Broken", listen to it here on YouTube.
My Rick Wakeman transcriptions:
Liberace was born in Wisconsin in 1919, and like Elvis, had a twin who died at birth. He began playing piano at age four, and was capable of memorizing difficult pieces by age seven.
He idolized Paderewski and upon meeting him at age eight said, "I began to practice with a fervor that made my previous interest in the piano look like neglect."
Local music teacher Florence Kelly oversaw Liberace's musical development for 10 years.
He began playing in theaters, on local radio, and for weddings and dance classes (which requires good sight-reading).
At 15 he played jazz piano with a school group, "The Mixers", and soon started performing in cabarets and strip clubs. Using the stage name Walter Busterkeys he made a tidy living during tough Depression times, despite the disapproval of his parents.
At 20 he performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to good reviews, and toured the Midwest.
Between the ages of 23 and 25 Liberace moved away from straight classical performances to "pop with a bit of the classics".
At 24 he appeared in his first Soundies (precursor to music videos), and at 25 made his first appearances in Las Vegas.
By 26 he was playing for the best private parties, including those at the Park Avenue home of J. Paul Getty, but chose not to pursue a career in radio, believing radio unsuitable given his act's dependency on the visual.
His first show on local TV in Los Angeles was a smash hit, which he parlayed into a sold-out appearance at the Hollywood Bowl, which in turn led to a 1952 summer replacement program for the Dinah Shore TV show, The Liberace Show.
His first two years in TV earned him the equivalent of $63,000,000 in 2017 dollars, and he went on to become the highest paid entertainer in the world for many years.
One of his most-requested pieces was "Bumble Boogie" - and also one of his most difficult. It has never before been available as an accurate, note-for-note transcription, until now.
If you haven't heard Liberace's "Bumble Boogie", watch him play it here on YouTube.
My Liberace transcriptions:
Also new this month is a new exercise - a two-handed repetitive, syncopated piano riff that's fun for audiences not only to hear but also to watch, as the hands alternate rapidly, almost in a blur to the viewer. This type of riff, rather athletic in nature, has been used by lots of rock pianists, including Billy Joel. It is based on the Left Hand vs Right Hand suncopation of a drummer's paradiddle. This 10-bar exercise will help improve your sense of rhythm and Left Hand vs Right Hand coordination as well as strength and stamina.,. My newest exercise:
Happy February!
Born in 1949 in London, Rick Wakeman began playing piano at the age of five. At seven he began weekly lessons with Dorothy Symes, which were to continue for eleven years - until he was accepted by the Royal College of Music. Symes noted that Wakeman "passed everything with distinction" and was an "enjoyable pupil to teach, full of fun and with a good sense of humor", but noted his lack of self-discipline when it came to practicing.
At age 11 Wakeman entered his first music competition, and went on to win many awards, certificates and cups in contests held around London. At 13 he began taking church organ lessons, while continuing to win more festivals.
Wakeman played in his first band, a traditional jazz band, at age 12, and at 14 joined a local blues group, the Atlantic Blues.
At 17 he joined another band, the Concordes, and used the money earned to buy his first electronic instrument, a Hohner Pianet.
At 19 he secured a place at the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano, clarinet, orchestration, and modern music, with the intention of becoming a concert pianist. To enter, he was required to pass eight music exams. His teacher, Ms. Symes, bet him 10 shillings that he would not succeed. His mother recalled that he put in "two years' work in ten months", but he won the bet, and joined the Royal College on a performers course before a change to the teachers course. But he quickly found out that "everyone there was at least as good as me, and a lot of them much better."
Wakeman's first time in a recording studio was as organist and brass arranger for the Ike & Tina Turner band. During that session he met producers Tony Visconti, Gus Dudgeon and Denny Cordell, who would go on to produce, respectively, David Bowie, Elton John, & Joe Cocker.
At 20 he left the Royal College of Music to become a full-time session musician, playing an average of 18 sessions per week, and gaining the nickname, "One Take Wakeman".
However, he soon tired of session work, saying "I was getting good bread, but I wasn't getting a chance to be part of the music."
His big break came in July 1970 at a performance with his band the Strawbs, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which was recorded for their live album. The set included an extended organ solo and Wakeman's piano piece, "Temperament of Mind", which received a standing ovation. After that concert, Wakeman appeared on the cover of Melody Maker, being called "tomorrow's superstar".
He continued performing with the Strawbs for another year, and playing on sessions, including "Morning Has Broken" for Cat Stevens.
After leaving the Strawbs, in July 1971 he was confronted with "one of the most difficult decisions" of his career - on one single day he was offered both a chair in David Bowie's new backing band, The Spiders from Mars, and an invitation from Chris Squire to join "Yes". Believing that Yes offered better career opportunities, he declined Bowie's offer.
Then Yes made their new album "Fragile" in five weeks to help finance a new set of keyboards for Wakeman. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Wakeman's newest release is "Piano Portraits", released in January 2017, an album featuring his own sublime arrangement of one of rock's most legendary songs, "Stairway to Heaven" - a stunning arrangement for solo piano that's over six minutes long.
If you've never heard Wakeman's version of "Stairway to Heaven", listen to it here on YouTube.
My Rick Wakeman transcription:
Happy New Year - January 2017!
Born as Reginald Dwight in 1947 near London, Elton John began playing piano at the age of three. At four he was overheard by his mother picking out Winnifred Atwell's version of "The Skater's Waltz".
(I'd like to interject that I can not find that recording by Atwell. If anyone has it, or knows where it can be found, please drop me a note.) After performing at parties and family gatherings, at age 7 young Reggie started formal piano lessons. He showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions.
At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. According to one of his instructors, young Reginald promptly played back, like a "gramophone record", a four-page piece by Handel that he had heard for the first time.
For the next five years, he attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London, and has stated that he enjoyed playing Bach and Chopin and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not otherwise a diligent classical student.
"I kind of resented going to the Academy", he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practising and still pass, scrape through the grades." He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube.
However, several instructors have said that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he took lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.
At the age of 15 he became a weekend pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles, as well as songs he had written himself.
In 1967, he answered a magazine adplaced by Ray Williams, the A&R (Artists & Repertoire) director for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave him a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. He wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, beginning a partnership that still continues.
If you've never heard Elton's live TV performance of "Tiny Dancer" with just solo piano, listen to it here on YouTube.
My Elton John transcriptions:
Elton John - "Tiny Dancer" - Studio Version - Complete Piano Part
Orleans was a band formed in Woodstock, New York in 1972 that played a lot of New Orleans music, so they named themselves after the Louisiana city. Their co-founder was Larry Hoppen, who played keyboards and co-wrote "Love Takes Time", which reached #11 in 1979.
This is a note-for-note transcription of the 16-bar Piano Intro, which has some chord voicings that can be difficult to pick out exactly. While this is only the Intro, it does reoccur later in the song. This will allow you to play the Intro precisely as it was recorded, and learn some new voicings in the process.
My new Orleans transcription: Orleans - "Love Takes Time" - 16-bar Piano Intro - Larry Hoppen, piano
Happy December 2016!
Born in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1942, Leon Russell began playing piano at the age of four. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the same 1959 class as David Gates ('Bread'). Russell and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencement.
At 14 Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. "Oklahoma was a dry state and consequently there was no liquor laws, and I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy."
At 17, in 1958, Russell moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles, where as a first-call studio musician he played on many of the most popular recordings of the 1960s.
In early 1970 Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking Crew, the Delaney and Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began rehearsals. Those rehearsals led to the live Fillmore East concert that was recorded and released as the MadDogs & Englishmen album, along with the 1971 movie, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" - a documentary of the Joe Cocker tour for which Leon served as Musical Director.
Elton John says, "I've always called him the master. When anyone says, 'Who's your favorite piano player?' I always said, 'Well, the master is Leon Russell.'"
Which made it especially nerve-racking when Elton looked out in the audience at a Los Angeles club, as he made his U.S. debut in 1970.
"I'm in the middle of 'Burn Down the Mission'", he recalled, "and I look to my right, and there's only 250 people in the Troubadour, and in the second row, I see this long mane of silver hair, and these glasses, and you know, Leon was a pretty handsome guy!
"But he was also, you know, he was kind of scary-looking, 'cause he was under these glasses and this hair. And I thought I'm gonna have to meet him afterwards and he's gonna tell me how to play the piano."
Leon was indeed the master, and one of the most influential pianists for me personally.
To honor his memory I've transcribed his 1970 performance of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me".
I chose it because it is an excellent example of his "white gospel" style that he picked up as a child in Oklahoma and incorporated so well into his own gospel-rock style.
Very few have even heard it because it wasn't released until 1995, and then only as a bonus track on the "Leon Russell & The Shelter People" Deluxe CD re-issue.
If you've never heard Leon's "She Belongs to Me", listen to it here on YouTube.
My Leon Russell transcriptions:
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Complete Piano Part
John Elefante was the lead singer and songwriter of Kansas from 1982 through 1984.
After leaving Kansas, Elefante formed his own band with his brother Dino - Mastedon. "Shine On", released in 1989 on their "It's a Jungle Out There" album, was one of their bigger hits, with an ABBA-influenced sound. If you don't remember it, click here to listen to it on YouTube.
My new Mastedon transcription:
Mastedon - "Shine On" - Piano Solo & Outro + Detailed Chord Chart - John Elefante, piano
Happy November 2016!
Nicky Hopkins - Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones called him 'the greatest rock 'n' roll piano player in the world', and the Kinks dedicated a song to him, "Session Man" on their 1966 Face to Face album.
He played piano with The Beatles ("Revolution") and John Lennon ("Imagine"), and for the Who, the Kinks, Jeff Beck, Jerry Garcia, Cat Stevens, Jefferson Airplane, the Steve Miller Band, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and many others.
Born in England in 1944, a year younger than George Harrison, Nicky began playing at age three, and started lessons at six. By the time he was eleven his solo performances were singled out in the local paper: "Eleven-year-old Nicholas Hopkins played his own composition, "Processional March"... The audience so applauded that Nicholas played the march again."
He learned to sight-read and progressed rapidly through the classical repertoire,and from age 12 to 16 he studied every Saturday morning at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was almost certainly a contemporary of eleven-year-old Reginald Dwight (Elton John) - both scholarship winners.
Also at age twelve he later recalled, "It was the first time I remember being able to listen and then sit down at the piano and playing it. That's when I first started to understand music, beyond just having the ability to read it. Rock allowed me to experiment with new styles, but I never lost that classical element in my music. I was twelve when I first heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and those records made a fantastic impression on me."
However, Nicky rebelled against authority and by his own admission was only good at music and English, so he dropped out of school at sixteen to join his first band, Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages. Later in his teen years his always-frail health - Crohn's disease - necessitated a series of operations that made him bed-ridden for nineteen months, from May 1963 to December 1964.
Upon recovery, rather than joining bands, he concentrated on session work and became one of London's most in-demand session pianists, working extensively with leading UK producers Shel Talmy (the Who and the Kinks) and Andrew Loog Oldham (the Rolling Stones).
At 23 he joined the Jeff Beck Group with vocalist Rod Stewart, and at 25 recorded his own instrumental, "Girl from Mill Valley". The 'Girl' was the then-separated wife of a Quicksilver Messenger Service band-mate - one of shy Nicky's few romantic interests. Introduced by a mutual friend in California, he invited her to return to England with him, which she did, and met his parents. However, she kept it a platonic friendship and after ten days returned to Mill Valley. Nicky once said the song was "about nobody".
Nicky's piano sound was characterized by a certain bright percussiveness, always with clean, precisely-executed rhythms that could propel a rhythm track like drum fills. He had a great sense of classical-influenced melody, balance and proportion, and was equally at home in ballads ("Angie") and up-tempo rockers ("Revolution").
Since most of his recordings were accompanying tracks with the piano often buried in the mix under vocals, "Girl from Mill Valley", his own instrumental with up-front piano throughout, is an excellent study in gospel-rock generally, and Nicky Hopkins' style specifically.
If you've never heard the elegant "Girl from Mill Valley", listen to it here on YouTube.
My Nicky Hopkins transcriptions:
The Jeff Beck Group - "Girl from Mill Valley" - Complete Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins, piano -
Chuck Leavell learned piano by listening to his mother play the family spinet, and by age six was sitting at the piano with his mother, beginning to learn. While his mom did housework, Chuck would sit on the piano stool and pick out little melodies, and harmonies.
She would ask him what would the piano would sound like if he woke up angry, or if there were a storm outside, or if he felt really good. She was getting him to think about music as feelings and emotions, not just notes on a page.
At the encouragement of his parents he began taking lessons but quit after six months. His cousin taught him guitar chords; he played tuba in the Jr High School band; and then started his own band, the Misfitz, playing every Friday night at the local YMCA.
He started out playing guitar but soon added a Farfisa Combo Compact organ, then a Wurlitzer electric piano, and began concentrating on keyboards.
By 15 he was doing recording sessions, making $25 a day playing demos in Birmingham & Muscle Shoals.
After moving to Macon, GA at age 17 in 1969, he played with artists including the Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Wet Willie, Bobby Whitlock, and Bonnie Bramlett.
And then in 1972 at the age of 20 Chuck was asked to join the Allman Brothers Band. And then ten years later he was touring with the Rolling Stones. Not bad for a Georgia tree farmer.
My Chuck Leavell transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Complete Piano Part - Chuck Leavell, piano - My other Allman Brothers Band transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - "Stormy Monday" - Organ Solo - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
Happy October 2016! In the mid-1960's Gregg Rolie started playing rock piano in his Palo Alto, California high school after the Beatles exploded onto the scene. The best band in the high school asked him to join, so he began playing a Vox Continental organ and trying to sound like Paul Revere & The Raiders.
A friend from Palo Alto saw Carlos Santana play and said, Im gonna go find this guy! So he drove 30 miles up to San Francisco and asked someone at the Fillmore how he could find Carlos. They told him that he worked at a hamburger stand called Tick Tocks on Columbus Street. My friend found him there and said, I want you to come jam with Gregg Rolie down in Palo Alto. So he brought Carlos down and we played together in a little farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. This was of course, back in the days of heavy marijuana usage, and someone evidently called the cops because of the noise. I turned to Carlos and said, Weve gotta get out of here! But coming from the streets of Tijuana, he was way ahead of me. We all ran out of the farmhouse and hid in a tomato patch until the cops left! And thats how it all started.
Rolie became a co-founder of Santana, and played keyboards and sang lead on "Black Magic Woman", "Oye Como Va", and "Evil Ways".
As he says, "I bought my first Hammond B-3 organ from a little old lady in Menlo Park, California. It was absolutely beautiful and only cost me $1,100 with a 122 Leslie, which was a total steal at the time. This was around 1966 or 67, when I joined Santana. In the beginning, that organ sounded really clean. But as the years went on, and from it being constantly loaded in and out of vans, the sound got dirtier."
His other keyboard with Santana was a Stage model Fender Rhodes 73 with a wah-wah pedal.
After leaving Santana in 1972 because of musical differences, he co-founded Journey.
Since 2012 Rolie has toured as a member of Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band.
My Gregg Rolie and Santana transcriptions:
Santana - "Black Magic Woman" - Gregg Rolie, electric piano - Jackson Browne is one of rock's best singer-songwriters, and plays both guitar and piano. After early professional frustrations, Browne sent an audition tape to David Geffen and left town to check out communes in Colorado and New Mexico. When he returned to L.A. three months later, Geffen signed him and released his first album, "Jackson Browne", which contained the classics, "Jamaica Say You Will", "Doctor My Eyes", and "Rock Me on the Water". However, Browne says that his favorite songs on that album are the "low-intensity" songs, including "Looking into You", an early song on which he himself plays piano.
My Jackson Browne transcriptions:
Jackson Browne - "Looking into You" - Jackson Browne, piano - A student recently asked me to combine the Right Hand part for Chuck Leavell's piano solo in "Jessica" (1973) with his Left Hand part in a 2007 instructional video. The results came out surprisingly well, so perhaps some Allman Brothers and Chuck Leavell fans might be interested in this one-of-a-kind transcription.
My transcription of the original 1973 solo does not include the left hand. But if you'd like to play that original solo with a genuine Chuck Leavell left hand accompaniment, this new 'hybrid' transcription is just what you need. It sounds terrific - click here to listen. My Allman Brothers Band transcriptions:
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - Piano Solo - 1973 Album Right Hand + 2007 Video Left Hand -
Brian Bell, lead guitarist for "Weezer", has used my orchestral arrangements and piano-playing on his own projects for years. Currently on tour promoting Weezer's new album, The White Album, he and Rivers Cuomo mentioned my transcriptions, my arranging, and the lessons they took with me on a nationally-broadcast radio show, "2 Hours with Matt Pinfield".
Click here to listen to Rivers Cuomo and Brian Bell of Weezer characterize my Brian Wilson transcriptions as "exact, perfect".
My Brian Wilson transcriptions:
The Beach Boys - "California Girls"
Happy September 2016! It always surprises me that so few know who British blues singer 'Long John' Baldry was, even though he was respected enough by Reggie Dwight to use his first name as Reggie's last, when Reggie changed his name to Elton John. Indeed, in 1966 Elton (as Reg Dwight) had been keyboard player in Baldry's band, Bluesology. Elton's song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was written after Elton attempted suicide in 1969 because of relationship problems with a woman. Baldry and Bernie Taupin found him, and talked him out of marrying the woman.
'Long John' Baldry had a history of performing with rock's best keyboard players, starting in 1963 with Nicky Hopkins (the Cyril Davis R&B All Stars).
In 1964 Rod Stewart and Baldry were the singers in Baldry's band, Hoochie Coochie Men, which became Steampacket in 1965, with Brian Auger on organ and Julie Driscoll as the female singer.
In 1964 fantastic Scottish pianist Ian Armitt joined Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men and stayed with Baldry as his right-hand man until at least the early 1970's. During that time Rod Stewart and Elton John produced two of Baldry's albums, including his 1971 "It Ain't Easy", where Rod produced the 'A' side and Elton produced the 'B' side, himself playing on many of the tracks.
Rod chose to use Baldry's pianist, Ian Armitt, and produced as the first track on the album: "Conditional Discharge", a pianistically amazing 3:16-long introduction that is nothing but piano and a (very humorous) spoken vocal.
After the relaxed, laid-back "Conditional Discharge" introduction, the piano breaks into high-energy rock & roll with the entire rhythm section for another 3:23 on "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock & Roll" - including a terrific, hard-driving 35-second piano solo.
BTW - a little bit of important pianistic trivia - during the piano solo, Armitt often plays the exact same Left Hand chord voicings used by Artie Butler and Chris Stainton on their versions of "Feelin' Alright" with Joe Cocker. All of that is, of course, notated in the transcription.
My 'Long John' Baldry, Elton John and Rod Stewart transcriptions are:
'Long John' Baldry - "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock & Roll" -
Lee Michaels was one of rock's greatest Hammond B-3 players. Born in Los Angeles, Michaels began his career with The Sentinels, formed with drummer Johny Barbata (later of The Turtles, Jefferson Airplane & Jefferson Starship).
After moving to San Francisco in the 1960's Michaels - called "the ultimate power organist" - began doing session work, including for Jimi Hendrix, and performing as a two-man band: himself on organ and playing bass on the pedals, and a drummer, 'Frosty'.
His most legendary album, 'Lee Michaels' (1969), was recorded live in the studio with just organ and drums, and includes a 20-minute version of Percy Mayfield & Ray Charles' "Tell Me How Do You Feel".
A 43-second section from that recording captures some of Lee Michaels' signature organ licks. My new transcription, which includes the bass pedals, will help you to better understand this organ virtuoso's style and 'sound'.
My new (and first) Lee Michaels transcription:
Lee Michaels - "Tell Me How Do You Feel" - 17-bar B-3 Organ Phrase -
A couple of years a video was posted onto YouTube titled "Crazy Random Guy Rocks Out in Hardware Store", and has received almost 3,000,000 views!
The pianist with the backwards red cap wailing on "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" is Jacob Tolliver, and the hardware store is Market Street Hardware in Portsmouth, OH. He is currently performing in the Las Vegas production of the Million Dollar Quartet, portraying Jerry Lee Lewis.
In late 2014 Jerry Lee was asked by Keyboard Magazine about Jacob Tolliver, and the Killer replied, "He's pretty good isn't he? I think he's great."
Because Tolliver really is talented and his version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' has made so many ripples, from YouTube to American Idol to Las Vegas, I've transcribed his entire Hardware Store performance.
If you haven't seen/heard it, click here to watch it on YouTube. Here is my new "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" transcription plus other Jerry Lee Lewis' songs:
Jacob Tolliver - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - Entire Piano Part - Happy August
2016! Lynyrd Skynyrd started out as a guitar-oriented Southern rock band, but when Ronnie Van Zant discovered that one of their roadies could play their songs on piano - and play them very well - things took a different turn. After two years of schlepping gear as one of their roadies, Billy Powell sat down at a piano during a break at a 1972 show at a Jacksonville, Florida prom and played his piano-based version of "Free Bird" for Van Zant.
Astonished at his roadie's pianistic talent, Van Zant said, "You mean to tell me you've been playing the piano like that and you've been workin' for us for a year (as a roadie)?" Billy replied, "Well, you know, I've been classically trained most of my life." He was then told that the band was looking for a keyboardist and was offered that position.
In April of the following year, 1973, they recorded "Free Bird", which became their signature song, used as a finale at their live concerts. Powell's cross-handed piano Intro became a classic, although few could pick it out and play it accurately.
Two months later, in June 1973, they recorded "Sweet Home Alabama". Released a year later in June 1974, it became the band's highest-charting hit. Propelled by Powell's catchy up-tempo piano riffs and ending with one of rock's greatest piano solos, "Sweet Home Alabama" became the song that every pianist tried to play but few came close to Powell's high-energy original version.
After Billy Powell's passing in 2009, Lynyrd Skynyrd asked pianist Peter Keys to be Powell's successor.
In 1996 Keys had replaced Bernie Worrell in the original P-Funk line-up and did a lot of work with George Clinton.
In his role as Lynyrd Skynyrd's keyboardist, Keys generally sticks pretty closely to Billy Powell's original piano parts. However, his versions of "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" vary enough from Powell's to make them valuable when studying these rock piano classics.
My Lynyrd Skynyrd transcriptions:
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama" - complete Billy Powell piano part (including Solo) -
Happy July
2016! The 1960's were the era of the combo organ and electric piano, and nearly every band traveled and recorded with a keyboard by Farfisa, Vox, Hohner, Wurlitzer, Gibson or Lowrey.
A Hammond B-3 was too heavy and too expensive to easily transport, so the lighter combo organs were the perfect substitute.
And none was more prestigious than the Vox Continental, played by The Animals, the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Iron Butterfly, the Doors, and other leading bands of the day.
In 1966 a Bay City, Michigan garage band - the Mysterians - recorded one of their original songs, at first called "Too Many Teardrops", in their manager's basement studio.
Written four years earlier by Rudy Martinez (Question Mark), the song was supposed to be the B-side, but Martinez insisted that "96 Tears" be the A-side, and aggressively promoted the single across Michigan, encouraging radio stations to play it.
Propelled by a catchy riff on the Vox Continental, the song became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and an especially huge hit among U.S. troops in Viet Nam.
There are three different sections in each Verse, each with its own organ part - the famous unison organ line is one of those three. Another of those sections - the legato chord part - is rarely played correctly. This transcription shows exactly how the Mysterians recorded it.
Another of the biggest retro classics from the mid-1960's is "Louie Louie" - the world's most recorded rock song, with over 1600 versions.
It's similar to "96 Tears" in that a local garage band recorded it, and rode its fame to the top of the charts.
In 1963 a Portland, Oregon band split the $50 cost of recording "Louie Louie" in a local studio. Even though they had rehearsed it by performing a 90-minute version the night before in a local bar, they were still nervous enough to make two errors while recording it.
The singer came in two bars early after the guitar solo, throwing off the rhythm section; plus, the drummer dropped a stick at :53 into the song, and let slip an 'F-bomb' (it's on the recording but not very audible).
The keyboard player, who used a Hohner Pianet L electric piano, was Don Gallucci, who six years later would lead the prog rock band, Touch. Even though "Louie Louie" is one of retro rock's greatest classics, you might wonder why I bothered to transcribe it. It's because there are two places in the electric piano part that keyboard players almost never get right. They are specifically addressed in the Performance Notes at the end of the transcription.
Also included in the transcription for comparison is how The Kingsmen performed "Louie Louie" after Don Galluci left - using a different rhythm pattern in the Verses.
My 1960's classic Retro-Rock transcriptions:
Question Mark & the Mysterians - "96 Tears" - Organ Part
Other recent news... Brian Bell, guitarist for Weezer, has his own band on the side, The Relationship, and has almost finished his new CD. Brian asked me to arrange the orchestra for two of his new songs, "Hawthorne" and "This Year's Children".
This past Monday we recorded the orchestra at historic Valentine Studios in N. Hollywood, with Nic Jodoin producing and engineering. First violinist Eric Gorfain led The Section, and I conducted. Eric and I originally met 20 years ago while I was touring Japan conducting Rod Stewart's 'Unplugged' orchestra; and I encouraged him to move back to California, which he did, with great success.
I also played piano on "Hawthorne", which uses some Brian Wilson-style chord changes and piano voicings. The album by The Relationship is now being mixed in New York City, and will be released soon.
Happy June! As early as age five Jerry Lee's natural talent on the piano was so obvious that his parents mortgaged their modest home to purchase him a piano, which he practiced diligently.
He played both gospel and "the Devil's music", as his mother, a Pentecostal preacher, called it. When he was 14 she sent him to Southwest Bible Institute so that he could only play evangelical songs.
However, he performed a boogie-woogie version of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly one evening and was expelled from school the next morning.
When he was 21, he believed that it was important for Sam Phillips to hear him, and his dad sold 30 dozen eggs to pay for a trip to Memphis.
Sam Phillips immediately recognized the powerful, primal talent of Jerry Lee and started using him as a session pianist for other Sun artists such as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.
His very first single, "Crazy Arms", was released in 1956 - showing off his outstanding country/honky-tonk piano style complete with a rolling, tremolo-filled solo.
Then in 1957 Jerry Lee had the hit that would break his career open and catapult him to the top of the charts - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - complete with the most electrifying piano solo that had yet been recorded.
That same year he also released the biggest hit of his career, "Great Balls of Fire", and the old honky-tonk classic, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", which contained not just one piano solo but two - both cleanly played with classic licks by "The Killer" - his playing was still at its best in 1957.
Here are my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions: Jerry Lee Lewis - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - Entire Piano Part And here is an excellent new exercise for mastering a classic Jerry Lee Lewis piano riff: Elmo Peeler - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Exercise (Jerry Lee Lewis Style) If you're a fan of Carrie Underwood, you might be interested in the Electric Piano riff from one of her biggest hits, "Undo It".
The guitar, bass, and electric piano kick off the song with a funky riff that underpins every Verse.
The chord voicings are not the usual, and can be a little tricky to pick out.
Here is my new Carrie Underwood transcription: Carrie Underwood - "Undo It" - Electric Piano Riff Happy May!
In 1970 Ian Anderson, the leader of Jethro Tull, talked his friend, classically-educated pianist John Evan, into quitting school - King's College London - and joining his band. Evan made it clear that he would only stay for one or two years at most.
During his first year with the band, Evan composed the classic piano introduction to "Locomotive Breath", having achieved this task in the studio while some of the other band members were out to lunch.
But he must have enjoyed the gig, as John Evan was the rock-solid keyboardist for Tull for the next ten years, until 1980.
Famous for his outfit in concerts - white suit, yellow shirt underneath and pink-and-yellow polka dot tie - Anderson would refer to him as "everyone's favorite ice cream salesman" during band introductions in concerts.
Evan would do lots of theatrics during concerts and he certainly had a lot of onstage presence, but apparently once he left his piano, he was an extremely introverted and shy man.
After leaving Jethro Tull in 1980, Evan gave up music professionally and started his own construction company. He is now retired and living in Australia. Here is my new Jethro Tull transcription: Jethro Tull - "Locomotive Breath" - Piano Intro
If you're a fan of Toby Keith, you might be interested in a very accurate and detailed chord chart for one of his songs, "American Soldier".
This chord chart is perfect if you're in a cover band and would like to accurately perform the song. Not only does it contain all the correct chords (not the watered-down inaccuracies in lead sheets), but it also includes some of the more important instrumental lines, such as strings, chimes, guitar and piano. My new Toby Keith chord chart:
Toby Keith - "American Soldier" - Chord Chart Also new this month is my Arpeggio Exercise that will help reduce the amount of time spent practicing arpeggios: Elmo Peeler - Arpeggio Exercise (All 3 Positions) Happy April! Richard Penniman - destined to become Little Richard - was born and raised in Macon, Georgia, one of twelve children in a very religious family.
Always musical, Richard sang in church at an early age, and was very influenced by gospel performers, including Mahalia Jackson and his favorite, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. When he was 14, Tharpe heard him sing and asked him to open for her at a Macon concert - his first paid public performance - and it was of all gospel songs.
In his mid-teens, Richard was ordered to move out of the family home by his father, a church deacon who owned a nightclub and bootlegged moonshine. Taken in by a white family who owned a club in Macon, Richard eventually began performing and honing his talent.
Although Richard had begun recording in 1951 at age 19, he had still not yet had a hit as of 1955.
Lloyd Price, who had written and recorded the #1 R&B hit "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", suggested that Richard send a two-song demo to Price's label, Specialty Records. Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty, teamed Richard with producer 'Bumps' Blackwell, and nine months later "Tutti-Frutti" was a smash hit - the first of many.
Richard's electrifying piano style used jackhammer-fast triplets - both octaves and chords - and often his Right Hand would descend the keyboard in clusters. As a piano-player, he was very much for real.
Years later, in 1994, Little Richard and Lloyd Price appeared together on the Sally Jesse Raphael TV Show, and performed "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" together - Price's song whose success had made both their careers possible.
Price's original recording used Fats Domino on piano, but Richard's more driving piano style brings a new level of energy to "Miss Clawdy".
Here are my Little Richard transcriptions:
Little Richard - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" - entire song, complete piano part - Little Richard - "Great Gosh A'Mighty" - entire song, complete piano part If you're a fan of Horace Silver, the great hard-bop jazz pianist, you might be interested in a little snippet of one of his songs, "Señor Blues".
Someone asked me to transcribe just the very first two-bar Left Hand phrase that starts the piece - 22 fun notes in all, in 12/8.
My new 'snippet' of Horace Silver:
Horace Silver - Señor Blues - Opening 2-bar Piano Riff - And if you're intrigued by the difficult technique of fast repeated notes on the piano, check out my new exercise to teach you exactly how it's done. My newest exercise: Elmo Peeler - Repeated Note Exercise - Happy March! Although Peter Frampton had been in successful rock bands for ten years, including Humble Pie, he'd never had a hit on his own until 1976. One reason that changed was a chance meeting with New York keyboardist/guitarist Bob Mayo in December 1975. Frampton asked Mayo to tour with him. The tour began the following month - January 1976 - and was recorded, resulting in the release of Frampton's biggest hit ever, "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)", from "Frampton Comes Alive", certified six times platinum.
The album version was 14 minutes long, and contained one of rock's most creative and best-played Fender-Rhodes electric piano solos ever. At the end of the solo Frampton introduced Mayo with the words, "Bob Mayo on the keyboards... Bob Mayo".
So who was this Bob Mayo? He'd been a child prodigy, starting lessons at age 5, and performed in formal classical recitals and competitions during his childhood.
He had aspirations of attending Juilliard, but a serious auto accident the summer before his senior year in high school forced a change of plans.
Earlier in his teens, influenced by the British musical invasion, he had begun playing with various rock bands, and while recuperating, he taught himself guitar.
After joining Frampton's band, at age 24, and experiencing the enormous success of "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)", Mayo toured and recorded non-stop with Frampton for five years, including the "I'm in You" and "Where I Should Be" albums.
In 1980 Mayo took a break from touring with Frampton for some serious r & r, and recorded with Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale and Foreigner.
Subsequent years saw tours with Foreigner, Aerosmith, Robert Plant, Dan Fogelberg, and Hall and Oates.
In 1992 Bob re-teamed with Frampton, and recorded and toured with him until his untimely death from a heart attack during a Frampton world tour in Switzerland in 2004, at age 52.
His Fender-Rhodes electric piano solo in "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)" is testament to his exceptional talent. It's a solo that contains three sections: a 5-bar Intro to the Solo, the 24-bar Solo itself, plus a 9-bar Coda at the end of the solo, as Frampton introduces him and resumes singing - almost a minute-and-a-half of an extraordinary jazz/rock extended improvisation that includes
left-hand chords built in 4ths, alternating right-hand/left-hand conga-like rhythms, inverted left-hand voicings, and wonderful jazz scales and substitutions.
My Peter Frampton transcription:
Of all the musicians that Bruce Springsteen has played with, he played longest with Danny Federici - 40 years, from 1968 to 2008. When Federici was seven, he started to play accordion, which he learned from watching The Lawrence Welk Show.
A prodigy, he won Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour", and as a teen began playing in bands, playing everything from polkas to rock-n-roll.
When he was 18, he met Bruce Springsteen, who was only four months older, and invited him to join his band.
"This skinny guy with long hair and a ratty T-shirt was an incredible guitar player and a good singer, so we asked him to join," Federici recalled.
They played in various bands together until Bruce's E Street Band was formed in 1972, and the rest is history.
Springsteen said, "Danny was the most intuitive player I've ever seen. His style was slippery and fluid, drawn to the spaces the other musicians in the E Street Band left... He brought with him the sound of the carnival, the amusements, the boardwalk, the beach, the geography of our youth and the heart and soul of the birthplace of the E Street Band."
"Hungry Heart" was Springsteen's first Top Ten single, in 1980, and was voted Best Single of the Year by various polls and critics. One of the song's highlights is Danny Federici's B-3 organ solo.
In the key of C, the song modulates up to E-flat for Danny's organ solo, and then modulates back to C right after the solo. During those 8 bars in E-flat Danny's solo soars above the track - a joyous and uplifting organ 'ride' that has become one of rock organ's classic solos. And it all started with Lawrence Welk.
Here are my Bruce Springsteen transcriptions:
Bruce Springsteen - "Hungry Heart" - Organ Solo - Danny Federici, organ Here are all of my Roy Bittan transcriptions:
Bob Seger - Roll Me Away - Roy Bittan, piano Stevie Wonder is, of course, one of the greatest talents of the last 60 years. A multi-instrumentalist child prodigy with perfect pitch, he signed with Motown at age 11, had his first #1 hit on the Hot 100 chart at 13 (the youngest ever), and since then has recorded more than 30 Top Ten hits, won 25 Grammys, and has sold over 100 million records.
In 1973 Wonder recorded his "Innervisions" album, on which he plays most of the instruments, making the album essentially a one-man band.
One of the most successful tracks on it was "Living for the City", on which Wonder played all the instruments, including two electric piano tracks mixed together.
My Stevie Wonder arrangement:
Stevie Wonder - "Living for the City" - Stevie Wonder, electric piano Happy February! Eighty years ago Jerry Lee Lewis was born to a poor Louisiana couple, Elmo and Mamie Lewis, who clearly had music in their genes. Jerry Lee's first cousins also played piano - Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. Jerry Lee's natural talent on the piano was obvious as early as age five, and his parents mortgaged their modest home to purchase him a piano, which he practiced diligently.
He played both gospel and "the Devil's music", as his mother, a Pentecostal preacher, called it. When he was 14 she sent him to Southwest Bible Institute so that he could only play evangelical songs.
However, he performed a boogie-woogie version of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly one evening and was expelled from school the next morning.
At 21, he believed that it was important for Sam Phillips to hear him, and his dad sold 30 dozen eggs to pay for a trip to Memphis.
Although Sam Phillips was out of town, his assistant at Sun Records not only agreed to meet with Jerry Lee but also recorded a couple of songs to play for Phillips when he returned.
The rest, as they say, is history. Sam Phillips immediately recognized the powerful, primal talent of Jerry Lee and started using him as a session pianist for other Sun artists such as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.
His very first single, "Crazy Arms", was released in 1956 - showing off his outstanding country/honky-tonk piano style complete with a rolling, tremolo-filled solo.
Then in 1957 Jerry Lee had the biggest hit of his career, "Great Balls of Fire", which sold a million copies in the first 10 days of release, and eventually almost 6 million.
That same year he recorded the old honky-tonk classic, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", which contained not just one piano solo but two - both cleanly played with classic licks by "The Killer" - his playing was still at its best in 1957.
Here are all of my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1957) - NEW! It has been said that of all the keyboard players who rose to fame in the 1970s, Max Middleton just might be the most important one you've never heard of. Starting out with the Jeff Beck Group on 1971's Rough and Ready and peaking with Beck's seminal Blow By Blow album, Middleton gained the notoriety to play with a wide variety of artists, including the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band movie soundtrack. Born in the UK in 1946, Middleton only had a few lessons at age 14, but possessed a strong affinity for jazz, especially Thelonius Monk and Erroll Garner.
In the spring of 1971 he met Jeff Beck, who asked him to record on his "Rough and Ready" album.
Middleton was the only member to make the jump from the second version of The Jeff Beck Group to the third.
Beck has described the pianist as his most significant collaborator during the most commercially successful period of his career. Middleton's fluency in jazz chords forced the blues-rock guitar virtuoso to extend himself and his music in new and unexpected directions.
In 1972 The Jeff Beck Group recorded their final album, which contained "Going Down", destined to become a rock classic. The song starts with just a solo piano Intro, beginning free form and then riffing through several rhythmic sequences and changing keys, after which Middleton establishes the Right Hand tremolo figure supported by a powerhouse boogie-woogie Left Hand pattern rarely used since the 1930's (perhaps because of its difficulty).
Here are my Max Middleton transcriptions:
The Jeff Beck Group - "Going Down" - Piano Intro - NEW! Taz DiGregorio was born in Massachusetts in 1944, where as a teenager he taught himself piano, learning tunes by Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley. At age 16 he was a member of "Paul Chaplain and his Emeralds", and had a regional hit, selling 250,000 albums in 1960. At age 18, he left home and began traveling with various bands.
In 1964 Charlie Daniels asked Taz to join his band, The Jaguars. After being drafted and serving time in the army, he resumed his career with Daniels. By 1970 the band had changed their name to The Charlie Daniels Band, and in 1979 scored a #3 hit with "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which Taz co-wrote. If you've ever heard Charlie Daniels, then you've heard Taz, who played with Daniels' band for 47 years until his passing in 2011.
My Taz DiGregorio transcription:
The Charlie Daniels Band - "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - First Chorus - Piano Part - NEW! Happy New Year
2016! It would be hard to overstate the influence of Henry 'Roy' Byrd - Professor Longhair - not just in New Orleans-style piano but also pop music in general.
Ernesto Lecuona was one of Cuba's leading composers, most famous for his composition "Malaguena", but composer of over 600 other works in his 68 years.
Happy December!
This month I want to honor the memory and achievements of Allen Toussaint, a true giant of New Orleans piano, with transcriptions of four of his very best piano solos, plus the classic 12-bar Professor Longhair riff that profoundly influenced Toussaint as a child. "My background in New Orleans music started at the age of consciousness. A piano was brought to my house for my sister to take lessons. I walked over to it... I fell in love at first touch."
Allen Toussaint has no memory of a time when music was not part of his life. When his sister got a piano for lessons, he started learning it by ear, picking out songs off the radio.
He began writing "very innocent pieces, duets, and limited lyrics. I quickly understood the way the piano was set up. because I was so much in love I spent all my waking hours on the piano."
His mother arranged for young Allen to take piano lessons, but that didn't work out, because he greatly preferred playing boogie-woogie by ear.
Instead, Allen found his own teacher, professor Ernest Penn - a local blues/boogie pianist who always smelled of alcohol - who was very patient with him, slowing the boogie-woogies down and showing young Allen the notes one by one. When Allen would wake up in the morning he'd go over and sit on Penn's porch until he awakened, and then tell him, "Come on, let's go and show me something else today." As Toussaint said later in life, "He just had so much, and I just wanted it all."
Around the age of eight, he heard Professor Longhair for the first time and was profoundly influenced. Throughout his life he always remembered Longhair's 12-bar phrase that had so impressed him at such a young age.
Toussaint always made clear that Professor Longhair was his greatest influence. And when asked what is the main characteristic of New Orleans music, he said, "syncopation."
Around this time in his youth, he thought that a piano player could play everything written for piano: blues, boogie, jazz, classical - literally everything. So when his family got a new phonograph that came with a free record of Grieg's Piano Concerto, Allen picked that out and learned it, too. Any song that he heard, he thought that he was the only one that didn't know it yet.
At age 13, Allen formed a band called The Flamingos, and started performing at high schools and bars out in the country where they "were too young to be."
When he was 17 he began playing in New Orleans clubs, including the famous Dew Drop Inn, where Little Richard had gotten his start.
At 19 he was the leading session pianist in town, could imitate very well other pianists' styles, and was asked to record a couple of Fats Domino piano parts, while Fats was on tour. He also recorded some Huey 'Piano' Smith tracks.
His first success as a producer also came that year, 1957, with Lee Allen's "Walking with Mr. Lee".
The next year, 1958, at the age of twenty he was asked to record his first album, an album of instrumentals, which he wrote in a week. One of those would later become the smash hit "Java", recorded by trumpeter Al Hirt.
The years from 1960 to 1963 were extraordinarily successful for the young pianist-arranger-producer-songwriter. In 1962 he wrote and produced "Mother-in-Law", a #1 smash hit on both the pop and R&B charts for Ernie K-Doe.
And he wrote songs that would be recorded by The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Hollies, Ringo Star, the O'Jays, Otis Redding, the Yardbirds, Warren Zevon, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raitt, Glenn Campbell, and many others.
A remarkably humble individual, Toussaint helped spearhead the efforts at restoring New Orleans after Katrina struck, destroying his home, his Steinway, his studio (Sea-Saint), his manuscripts, his archives - everything.
Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2013 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the President.
Not bad for a little boy who fell in love with his sister's piano and picked out songs off the radio. Here are my brand-new Allen Toussaint transcriptions:
Ernie K-Doe - "Mother-in-Law" - Piano Solo - NEW! How were these particular piano solos chosen? I personally chose these because I believe that they are simply Toussaint at his finest.
Since he was a very young child Allen Toussaint grew up playing Professor Longhair's music. As he said in a 1988 interview, "As simple as it might appear now, it was monumental at that time. For a kid eight years old, that is very exciting, I want you to know!... It knocked my socks off.
"I don't leave home without Professor Longhair in my head or somewhere in my anatomy - head or heart or soul."
In an NPR interview with Elvis Costello in 2012, Toussaint played the entire 12-bar Professor Longhair piano riff that had so influenced him as a child. This is a note-for-note transcription of that riff.
If you want to learn how to play like Professor Longhair, why not start where Allen Toussaint started, with this very same riff?
Allen Toussaint - Early Professor Longhair Piano Style Exercise - The exact Professor Longhair 12-bar piano riff that was so influential on Allen Toussaint as a child.
Happy November! About 76 years ago, when Ramsey Lewis was only four, he started taking piano lessons, and at fifteen joined his first jazz band, a seven-piece combo. Six years later, at age twenty-one Ramsey formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with drummer "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young.
The trio became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, and recorded for Chess Records, usually selling between 5,000 and 7,000 copies of each album. In 1965 they were set to record a live album in a leading Washington, DC nightclub over a 3-day period, Thursday through Saturday. Between performances in a coffee shop trying to think of one last, fun, 'up' song to add to their set list. A waitress suggested they work up their own version of a contemporary hit, Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd".
Holt and Young had heard the recording and liked it. The waitress played it on the jukebox for Ramsey, and he liked it also. So the trio worked up their own more "snappy" arrangement of the song, but had not performed it until, at the end of their second show, Holt looked over at Ramsey and said, "What about that new song? What about that new song?"
Over half of the crowd were staunch jazz fans that were skeptical when the new song kicked off, but by the middle of it everybody was up on their feet, going wild with enthusiasm, much of it caught on the recording, which was quickly released by Chess.
Soon, Chess called Ramsey and told him that they had a real hit on their hands. Ramsey thought that maybe he meant 1000 more records than usual would be sold. Soon Chess called back to say that sales had reached 20,000, then 100,000, and then 500,000. The success on Pop radio and record sales of Ramsey Lewis' "The 'In' Crowd" was historic. The DJ's were playing it directly from the album until singles could be pressed.
Here is my brand-new Ramsey Lewis transcription:
The Ramsey Lewis Trio - "The 'In' Crowd" (1965) - Entire Piano Part - NEW!
By 1978 Bob Seger had sold lots of records but had never had a #1 album. So he decided to make a totally commercial album, hopefully with three hit singles on it.
After two years in the making, the album was released and Seger did everything he could to push it. He told his manager to accept every engagement, that he would perform every night.
His strategy worked. "Against the Wind" was the first and only Bob Seger album to hit #1. Seger has said that the song itself came about from his days as a high-school cross country runner, and that the line "Let the cowboys ride!" towards the song's end is a reference to the closing lyrics of Van Morrison's song "Santa Fe/Beautiful Obsession".
Bob Seger is himself a pianist - he played on "Still the Same", and has used some of rock's best session pianists on his recordings. For the "Against the Wind" piano part he used Paul Harris (whose credits include the great Wurlitzer electric piano part on B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone").
Harris' haunting, wistful piano part starts off the song, and includes a well-constructed piano solo that builds very nicely, starting with just single notes, then progressing to thirds, then to octaves, then to sixths, throwing in quarter note triplets and pianistic flourishes along the way - a beautiful piano solo - a real classic.
Here is my new Bob Seger transcription:
Bob Seger - "Against the Wind" - Piano Intro & Solo - NEW!
Born with perfect pitch and blessed with a virtuoso keyboard technique, Billy Preston was probably the greatest keyboard genius in rock-and-roll history.
A child prodigy, he started playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap and played organ in church. By age ten Billy was playing organ onstage backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch.
The Beatles met 16-year-old Preston when he was touring Europe as part of Little Richard's band, and seven years later asked him to play on several of their songs, including "Get Back", "Something", "Let It Be", and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which led to him being called "the fifth Beatle".
One of his trademark licks is the descending gospel chord riff at the very beginning of "Will It Go Round in Circles". It can be tricky to pick out accurately, and to play cleanly.
Billy Preston - "Will It Go Round in Circles" - Opening Piano Riff - NEW!
The composer for the Gothic horror/drama Penny Dreadful TV series, Abel Korzeniowski, creates some very atmospheric music for the TV show that "takes the macabre to new heights", as one reviewer described it.
Born into a musical family in Poland, classically-educated Korzeniowski, whose instrument is cello, studied with legendary composer Penderecki.
"I Was Never Going To Go to Africa" is included on the Penny Dreadful soundtrack CD. A little over three minutes long, this slow, beautiful composition is based around an acoustic guitar-like or lute-like instrument backed by a string section, brass choir (French horns) and percussion.
This is a note-for-note arrangement for solo piano of this orchestral score.
I Was Never Going To Go to Africa (Penny Dreadful soundtrack) - Transcribed & Arranged for Piano by Elmo Peeler - Every note of the original orchestral composition was transcribed, and then all of those notes were 'translated' onto the piano keyboard. If you'd like a recording of me playing my own piano arrangement of "I Was Never Going to Africa", click here.
Happy October! Little Richard was born Richard Penniman and raised in Macon, Georgia, one of twelve children in a very religious family, despite the fact that his father was a church deacon who owned a nightclub and bootlegged moonshine. Richard sang in church at an early age, and was very influenced by gospel performers, including Mahalia Jackson and his favorite, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Richard's mother recalled that he was "always musical" and that when he was young, he would always "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans and pots and pans, or whatever, while singing." He was so quick at learning to play the saxophone that he was allowed to play with the high school's marching band immediately.
When Little Richard was 14, his favorite singer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, heard him sing and asked him to open for her at a Macon concert - his first paid public performance. He sang gospel songs, as secular music, considered "the Devil's music", was forbidden in his home.
In his mid-teens, Richard was ordered to move out of the family home by his father, because of his early signs of homosexuality. He was taken in by a white family who owned a club in Macon, where Richard eventually began performing and honing his talent. Richard
Little Richard plays "Great Gosh A'Mighty"
started recording in 1951 at age 19, but it was 1955 before he had his first major hit, "Tutti-Frutti". Over the next three years he churned out 18 hit singles, including "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Ready Teddy", "The Girl Can't Help It", "Lucille", "Jenny, Jenny", "Long Tall Sally", and "Good Golly Miss Molly". However, by 1957 Richard quit rock-and-roll and began performing only gospel music. In 1964 he resumed playing rock until 1977, when he again retreated into gospel-only performances.
In 1985 Richard returned to rock performing and accepted a role in the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He and Billy Preston wrote the faith-based rock-and-roll song, "Great Gosh A'Mighty" for its soundtrack.
A high-energy rocker, "Great Gosh A'Mighty" contains many of the same elements of his earlier dynamic hits: a droning, pounding Left Hand, a driving, mid-register Right Hand, and occasionally using the high registers for pneumatic-hammer-fast octave triplets and runs.
Bobbie Nelson was born two years before her brother Willie. Both were raised from early childhood by their paternal grandparents, who had taught singing. Bobbie's grandmother started teaching her to play keyboards at the age of five, on a pump organ. When she was six and performed for the first time before an audience of 1,000 at an outdoor gospel convention, her grandfather bought her a piano for $35. Three years later she began playing pop and gospel songs with seven-year-old Willie on guitar. Soon the Nelsons were performing at school functions and the local Methodist church (which Willie bought in 2006 to prevent it from being torn down).
At age 14 Bobbie turned pro, playing piano for a preacher who traveled throughout Texas.
During her teens and twenties she played in honky-tonks, worked in a TV repair shop, and was employed by the Hammond Organ company in Ft. Worth demonstrating their organs.
At thirty-four Bobbie moved to Nashville, playing in restaurants and upscale nightspots for eight years.
Then, in 1973, Willie called and asked her to fly to New York to record with him, which led to her very first airplane flight, and performances on Willie's albums The Troublemaker, Shotgun Willie, Phases and Stages, and Red Headed Stranger.
She joined his band in the mid-1970's and has played and toured with him ever since.
Plum Nellie - "That Lucky Old Sun'" - Complete Piano Part - Joe Glossop, piano
Little Feat - "Willin'" - Piano Solo & End Run - Bill Payne, piano
Elmo Peeler - Thumb-under Exercise -
Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me" - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Elmo Peeler - Allman Brothers Exercise - 'Triplets Riff on I & ii Chords' -
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - Entire Piano Part - played by Chuck Leavell
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - Piano Solo from Tutorial Video - played by Chuck Leavell
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - Piano Solo - 1973/2007 'Hybrid' - played by Chuck Leavell
The Allman Brothers Band - Southbound - Piano Part without Solo - played by Chuck Leavell
The Allman Brothers Band - Stormy Monday - Organ Solo - played by Gregg Allman
The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post - Entire Organ Part - played by Gregg Allman
Elmo Peeler - Coordination & 4-note Triad Exercise - 'Hungry Heart' Style
Ethel Caffie-Austin - Amazing Grace - Complete Piano Part
Leon Russell - She Belongs to Me - Complete Piano Part
Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars" - Complete Piano Part
Elmo Peeler - Gospel Chromatically Descending Riff Exercise - Ethel Caffie-Austin's Signature Lick
Elmo Peeler - Gospel Chord Exercise No.1
Saturn - October 1980
Rings of Saturn - August 17, 1981
Lunar Earthrise - July 31, 1969
Orion Nebula - March 1978
Jupiter - February 5, 1979
Styx - "Fooling Yourself" - Complete Song - All Keyboard Parts
Styx - "Fooling Yourself" - Synth Solo No.1
Styx - "Fooling Yourself" - Synth Solo No.2
The Cars - "Bye Bye Love" - Synth Solo
Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water" - Entire Piano Part, played by Jai Winding
The Eagles - "Desperado" - Entire Piano Part, played by Glenn Frey
The Eagles - "Please Come Home for Christmas" - Entire Piano Part, played by Glenn Frey
Rick Wakeman - "Morning Has Broken" (2017) - Complete Piano Part
Cat Stevens - "Morning Has Broken" - Complete Piano Part
Rick Wakeman - Morning Has Broken (2017) - Complete Piano Part
Cat Stevens - "Morning Has Broken" - Complete Piano Part
Liberace - "Bumble Boogie"
Liberace - "Boogie Woogie"
Liberace - "Chopsticks"
Elmo Peeler - Paradiddle Exercise No. 2 - 'Billy Joel-style'
Cat Stevens - "Morning Has Broken" - Complete Piano Part
Elton John - "Tiny Dancer" - Live TV Version (Solo Piano) - Complete Piano Part
Elton John - "Levon" - Chord Chart & Important Piano Fills
Leon Russell - "A Song for You"
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
John Lennon - "Imagine" - Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins, piano
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow" - Piano Intro - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Eric Clapton - "San Francisco Bay Blues" - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Southbound" - Chuck Leavell, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - "Whipping Post" - Complete Organ Part - Gregg Allman, B-3 organ
Santana - "Oye Como Va" - Gregg Rolie, organ -
Santana - "Evil Ways" - Gregg Rolie, organ
Santana - "Smooth" - Chester Thompson, piano
Jackson Browne - "I Thought I Was a Child" - Jackson Browne, piano
Jackson Browne - "Rock Me on the Water" - Craig Doerge, piano
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica Solo from Tutorial Video
The Allman Brothers Band - Southbound
The Allman Brothers Band - Stormy Monday
The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post
The Beach Boys - "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" (Brian's Instrumental Demo)
The Beach Boys - "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" ("Pet Sounds" Version)
The Beach Boys - "God Only Knows"
The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations"
The Beach Boys - "Sail On, Sailor"
'Long John' Baldry - "Conditional Discharge" - Ian Armitt, piano
Elton John - "Levon"
Rod Stewart - "Handbags and Gladrags" - Mike D'Abo, piano
Rod Stewart (with Jerry Lee Lewis) - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous" - Jerry Lee Lewis, piano
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Crazy Arms (1956)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee (1957)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire (1957)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire (1989)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama" - Solo by Peter Keys -
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Intro by Peter Keys -
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Solo by Peter Keys -
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Solo by Billy Powell -
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me the Breeze" (Solo)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me the Breeze" (Verses)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "I Know a Little"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Poison Whiskey"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Simple Man"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "T for Texas"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Tuesday's Gone"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Workin'"
The Kingsmen - "Louie Louie" - Electric Piano Part
The Animals - "The House of the Rising Sun"
The Animals - "Bring It on Home to Me"
The Alan Price Set - "I Put a Spell on You"
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Green Onions"
Floyd Cramer - "Last Date"
Percy Sledge - "When a Man Loves a Woman"
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say"
The Rolling Stones - "Cool, Calm and Collected"
The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow"
Sopwith Camel - "Hello, Hello"
Steppenwolf - "Magic Carpet Ride"
Them (Van Morrison) - "Gloria"
The Zombies - "She's Not There"
The Beach Boys - "California Girls"
The Beach Boys - "Don't Talk" (demo)
The Beach Boys - "Don't Talk" (Pet Sounds)
The Beach Boys - "God Only Knows"
The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations"
The Beach Boys - "Sail On, Sailor"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Crazy Arms" (1956)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun"
Jerry Lee Lewis (with Rod Stewart) - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous"
Bruce Springsteen - "Because the Night" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (Album version) - David Sancious, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" ('Live in NYC' version) - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - Because the Night - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run ("Live in NYC" version) - Roy Bittan, piano
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms" (1956)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old Sun"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "What's Made Milwaukee Famous"
The Jeff Beck Group - "Going Down" - Left Hand Piano Part
Longhair, born in 1918, was a key figure in bridging the 1930's world of boogie-woogie and the 'new' (1940's) style of rhythm-and-blues.
By the 1940's Longhair, then in his 20's, was playing with Caribbean musicians, listening to a lot of mambo records, and absorbing and experimenting with merging the genres.
Having begun recording in 1949 at the age of 31, he blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with rhythm-and-blues in his early recordings.
Longhair was revered among New Orleans musicians, and greatly influenced the next generation, including Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who said that Longhair was his greatest influence.
Toussaint had begun teaching himself piano at age six, and first heard Longhair on the radio when he was eight, saying it "knocked my socks off".
In all the interviews he gave throughout his lifetime, Toussaint emphasized that Longhair originated about six 'inventions' - and would often illustrate at the piano the two most important to his own development. He called the Longhair riff that he'd heard at age eight "early Longhair" and then would play a second, slightly more evolved riff that he called "later Longhair".
1) In 1988 Toussaint was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR, and he played both the 'early' and 'later' Longhair riffs.
2) Then in 2006 the BBC produced a video documentary called "The Allen Toussaint Touch", in which Toussaint again played both those two Longhair riffs.
3) Then again in 2012 Elvis Costello interviewed Toussaint on NPR's 'Piano Jazz' program, and once again Toussaint played the two important Longhair piano riffs.
When playing riff #1 - 'early' Longhair - Toussaint was quite consistent. However, when he played riff #2 - 'later' Longhair - he would play it with subtle variations.
To best understand that important Longhair riff #2, I've transcribed note-for-note the examples that Toussaint played in those three interviews. One was in the key of C, another in F, and the third in G.
Then I 'distilled' all three down into one complete 12-bar phrase, keeping all the important commonalities.
Here are my transcriptions of Professor Longhair piano styles:
Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff #2" - 'Later Longhair' - NEW! - (Listen)
Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff #1" - 'Early Longhair' - (Listen)
Here are my Allen Toussaint transcriptions:
Ernie K-Doe - "Mother-in-Law" - Piano Solo by Allen Toussaint - (Listen)
Ernie K-Doe - "Hello My Lover" - Piano Solo by Allen Toussaint - (Listen)
Ernie K-Doe - "Popeye Joe" - Piano Solo by Allen Toussaint - (Listen)
Ernie K-Doe - "She's Waiting" - Piano Solo by Allen Toussaint - (Listen)
Here is my Dr. John transcription:
Dr. John - "Pine Top Boogie" - Piano Solo by Dr. John - (Listen)
A child prodigy who composed his first song at eleven, Lecuona was a classically trained virtuoso pianist with a special talent for improvisation, graduating at sixteen with a gold medal from the National Conservatory of Havana.
He stands as a link between the virtuoso pianistic tradition of the late 19th-century and the widened musical expression of the modern era, incorporating jazz and Latin American dance rhythms.
A prolific composer of songs for stage and film, in 1942 his hit song, "Always in My Heart" was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (it lost to "White Christmas").
Perhaps his most widely-known composition is "Malaguena", written for piano in 1928 at age 33. The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards said in his autobiography that it was his mother's favorite piece, and that he learned it early on to please her.
In 1954 Lecuona recorded an original piece that he never notated, a beautiful, impassioned Romantic ballad for solo piano, "Por Eso Te Quiero" ("That's Why I Love You"). I've carefully transcribed it note-for-note, exactly as Lecuona himself recorded it sixty-two years ago.
If you perform "Malaguena", a wonderful virtuoso piece, this beautiful Romantic ballad is a perfect compliment to it.
Ernesto Lecuona - "Por Eso Te Quiero" ("That's Why I Love You") - Piano Solo - NEW! (Listen)
January's New Exercise - The Ganz Double-note Boogie!
Increase Your Fingers' Strength & Independence
The Ganz double-note exercises are some of the best technical exercises available for finger independence and strengthening.
To make these important exercises a bit more fun to practice, I've incorporated a similar pattern into the Right Hand part of a boogie-woogie.
This isn't meant to be a replacement for the original Ganz exercises, but rather a supplement for the pop/rock/boogie pianist that would like to approach them from a different angle, i.e., with a boogie beat.
The Ganz Boogie (Double-note Exercise) - Nothing but Double-notes in the Right Hand while the Left Hand plays a boogie-woogie pattern - Excellent for Finger Independence - NEW! (Listen)
Here are the original (non-boogie) versions of the Ganz exercises:
Rudolph Ganz - Exercise No.1 (Double-notes: Diminished 7ths) - (Listen)
Rudolph Ganz - Exercise No.2 (Double-notes: Dominant 7ths) - (Listen)
Rudolph Ganz - Exercise No.3 (Double-notes: Diminished & Dominant 7ths) - (Listen)
Rudolph Ganz - Exercise No.4 (Single-notes) - (Listen)
Ernie K-Doe - "Hello My Lover" - Piano Solo - NEW!
Ernie K-Doe - "Popeye Joe" - Piano Solo - NEW!
Ernie K-Doe - "She's Waiting" - Piano Solo - NEW!
Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style" Exercise - NEW!
Here is my brand-new Little Richard transcription:
Little Richard - "Great Gosh A'Mighty" - entire song, complete piano part - NEW!
Here is my new Bobbie Nelson transcription:
Willie Nelson - "Good Hearted Woman" - 8-bar piano solo, played by Bobbie Nelson - NEW!
Plus, here is an exercise to help you master "Hammered Fourths", a very common lick in Blues ad Rock piano:
Elmo Peeler - "Blues Exercise No.9 - "Hammered Fourths"" - Very fast repeated 4ths, 5ths, & octaves are used a lot in Golden Age Rock n' Roll. This specifically address 4ths. Fingering is included. - NEW!
Happy September!
The Animals were - along
with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles - among the most important bands of the
British invasion of the mid-1960's.
Like The Rolling Stones, The Animals began as a blues band inspired by American
blues classics. In their first incarnation before singer Eric Burdon, they were
known as the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo.
Their leader, Alan Price, was a very talented and versatile keyboardist who
played not only terrific blues and rock but also jazz and show tunes. When he
invited Eric Burdon to become their singer, they changed their name to The
Animals.
One of the most creative eras in modern music was the 1960's. Price and Burdon
decided to take an old folk-song, "The House of the Rising Sun", and give it a
bluesy spin, complete with a Vox Continental organ solo. The result was one of
the biggest and most influential hits of the 1960's.
Price continued working his keyboard magic with subsequent hits by The Animals,
including "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Boom Boom", and "Bring It on Home to
Me". However, less than 18 months after their first hit, Price left the band,
exhausted from, and tired of touring. He went to his mother's house and slept
for 36 hours.
Apparently his recovery was
speedy, as he soon formed the Alan Price Set and released "I Put a Spell on
You", the old blues classic by Screaming Jay Hawkins. In an inspired moment he
gave the old minor-key blues song a classical twist, starting with an organ
Intro that Bach might have played, and then evolving over several verses into a
full-blown rock powerhouse, including a terrific, virtuosic B-3 solo. At the
very end the Baroque organ reappears for a brief Coda, ending with a Picardy
third.
Although not as widely known to the general public as Procol Harum's "A Whiter
Shade of Pale", "I Put a Spell on You" is one of pop music's most creative
mergers of classical and rock - a keyboard classic.
Alan Price is an amazing, eclectic musician whose recordings helped define the
1960's organ sound.
Here are my Alan Price transcriptions:
The Alan Price Set - "I Put a Spell on You" - Intro, Solo, Coda, chord chart -
Alan Price, organ - NEW!
The Animals - "Bring It on Home to Me" - Complete song - Alan Price, piano -
NEW!
The Animals - "The House of the Rising Sun"
- Complete song - Alan Price, organ
The Atlanta Rhythm Section started out as session musicians in Georgia, who in 1971 started their own band,
and had hits with "Spooky", "Imaginary Lover", and "So Into You", their biggest
hit.
Released in 1976, "So Into You", is built around a Wurlitzer electric piano,
played by Dean Daughtry, a founding member who still tours with the band. "So
Into You" begins with a haunting, atmospheric 4-bar Intro played on a Wurlitzer
electric piano, slightly detuned using a Lexicon Harmonizer H910. Although it's
not a difficult part to play, the Intro can be a little tricky to pick out, as
it uses some unusual chord voicings. Very rarely do cover bands get the Intro
just right.
Happy August!
One of the most creative
eras in modern music was the 1960's. And when many of the hits of that decade
are analyzed, they have something in common - Booker T. & the MG's - either the
MG's played on them, co-wrote them, or influenced them.
From the piano arpeggios in Otis Redding's first hit, "For Your Precious Love",
to the building drama of "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)", to the
rhythmic suspended piano chords in his last hit, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the
Bay" - in fact, all of Redding's recordings - that's Booker T. you're hearing.
While hanging around a Memphis record shop, Booker met a record clerk named Steve Cropper, who played guitar. Within a year they were session musicians at Stax, where owner Jim Stewart heard them jamming on an instrumental organ riff. He hit the 'Record' button, and released it as "Green Onions", giving 17-year-old Booker T. a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B chart and selling a million records.
Last month I published
transcriptions of two early Jerry Lee recordings: "Crazy Arms" (1956)
and his piano solo in "Great Balls of Fire" (1957), plus a piano solo
from his 1989 re-recording of "Great Balls of Fire".
This month I've transcribed a more recent recording by The Killer - his
2006 duet with Rod Stewart, "What's Made Milwaukee Famous" - a
sawdust-on-the-floor honky-tonk piano as only Jerry Lee could play it.
Also new this month is my transcription of the second Piano Solo in the
1989 re-recording of "Great Balls of Fire" that comprises the Out
Section. This second solo has been combined with my transcription of the
first solo.
-
"She Was My Baby (He Was My
Jerry Lee Lewis - "That Lucky Old SunI've never before offered chord charts
but thought that these two charts should prove helpful.
Chord charts usually contain just the chord symbols, plus the bass notes if
the chords are not in root position, e.g., A/E, meaning an A chord with an E
in the bass.
If you've tried to pick out the chords for either "Still Crazy After All These
Years" or"Makin' Whoopee", you know that they can be a little tricky. These
chord charts are just what you need to play the chords exactly as recorded.
Happy July!
Almost 80 years ago Jerry Lee
Lewis was born to a poor Louisiana couple, Elmo and Mamie Lewis, who clearly had
music in their genes. Jerry Lee's first cousins also played piano - Mickey
Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.
Jerry Lee's natural talent on the piano was obvious as early as age five, and
his parents mortgaged their modest home to purchase him a piano, which he
practiced diligently.
He played both gospel and "the Devil's music", as his mother, a Pentecostal
preacher, called it. When he was 14 she sent him to Southwest Bible Institute so
that he could only play evangelical songs.
However, he performed a boogie-woogie version of "My God Is Real" at a church
assembly one evening and was expelled from school the next morning.
When he was 21, he believed
that it was important for Sam Phillips to hear him, and his dad sold 30 dozen
eggs to pay for a trip to Memphis.
Although Sam Phillips was out of town, his assistant at Sun Records not only
agreed to meet with Jerry Lee but also recorded a couple of songs to play for
Phillips when he returned.
The rest, as they say, is
history. Sam Phillips immediately recognized the powerful, primal talent of
Jerry Lee and started using him as a session pianist for other Sun artists such
as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.
His very first single, "Crazy Arms", was
released in 1956 - just his vocal lead and outstanding country/honky-tonk piano
complete with a rolling, tremolo-filled solo.
Then in 1957 Jerry Lee had the biggest hit of his career,
"Great
Balls of Fire", which sold a million copies in the first 10 days of release,
and eventually almost 6 million.
"Great Balls of Fire"contained
a high-energy rolling, driving solo with plenty of the repeated, pounding Right
Hand chords that 'The Killer' is now known for, along with, of course, his
trade-mark glissandi.
Thirty-two years later, in 1989, he re-recorded "Great Balls of Fire" for the
Dennis Quaid movie of the same name. In it, he played a similar but different
piano solo, opting for less 'rolling' and more high-energy pounding.
In fact, the 1989 version is 14 BPM
faster than the 1957 version, as if 'The Killer' is saying, "Watch this. I may
be 32 years older, but I can still ramp it up a notch."
Although Lewis' playing did deteriorate as he got older, we have his early
recordings to remind us that in his prime Jerry Lee Lewis was the baddest, most
rockin' virtuoso of the 88's not only of early rock, but until Elton came along,
himself heavily influenced by JLL.
Here are all of my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Crazy Arms
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
(1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
(1989)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He
Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
Plus, here is an exercise to help you master one of Jerry Lee Lewis' most common Left Hand patterns:
Left Hand Rock Pattern No.1 - Jerry Lee Lewis Style
Happy June!
Almost
90 years ago a baby was born in a small shack out in the country between two
small Mississippi towns. As he grew up, B.B. "Blues Boy" King" taught himself to
play blues guitar so well that the greatest rock guitarists studied his style,
his famous 'vibrato', his unique phrasing, and paid homage to B.B. as one of The
Greats.
In the wonderful BBC documentary, "The Life of Riley", B.B. said that in his
youth he had plowed fields behind a
mule enough to have plowed a furrow literally around the world.
But it was a guitar, not a plow, that would take B.B. around the world many
times, often performing 350 days a
year, year after year for almost 70 years.
During those decades B.B. left behind a large and extraordinary recorded legacy,
some with classic piano tracks.
Here are my B.B. King transcriptions:
B.B. King - "Rock Me Baby" -
piano
B.B. King - "Blue Shadows" - piano
B.B. King - "The Worst Thing in My Life" - piano
.JPG)
Leon
Russell, simply put, is the God of rock-n-roll piano-playing. Even the amazing
Elton John has called Leon his hero.
When Leon began working with Joe Cocker in 1969, he was already a veteran of the
L.A. studio scene, a member of 'The Wrecking Crew', playing on many of Phil
Spector's 'wall-of-sound' hits, plus hits by The Byrds, Gary Lewis & The
Playboys, Bobby 'Boris' Picket, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell and many others.
In early 1970 Cocker needed to put together a band quickly for a U.S. tour and
hired Russell to recruit the musicians. Russell hired members of The Wrecking
Crew, the Delaney and Bonnie band, and Cocker's Grease Band, and began
rehearsals.
Those rehearsals led to the live Fillmore East concert that was recorded and
released as the MadDogs & Englishmen album, with "The Letter" hitting
the Top 10. Few knew that a studio version of "The Letter" had been recorded
during those rehearsals in 1970, until it was released on the Deluxe Edition of
the 35th Anniversary released of Mad Dogs & Englishmen.
Here are my Leon Russell &
Joe Cocker transcriptions:
Joe Cocker - "The Letter" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "A Song for You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady"- Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - Tommy Eyre, organ
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Studio) - Artie Butler, piano
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Live) - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "That's Your Business Now" - Chris Stainton, piano
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" - Leon Russell, piano
When
Ravi Shankar wowed the world with his virtuoso sitar playing back in the
Beatles' era, no one could've foreseen his other major contribution to music
literally a generation later - his daughter, Norah Jones.
At the age of 23 she released her first album, "Come Away with Me". which sold
26 million copies.
The following year Norah formed an "alternative country" band, The Little
Willies, who have released two albums. The most recent, in 2012, featured a
Lefty Frizell classic, "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time", on which
Norah plays a very tasty 10-bar piano solo.
Norah Jones (The Little Willies) - If You've
Got the Money, I've Got the Time
The
Tractors is a country-rock band formed in 1994 whose first album went
double-platinum. The single from it was "Baby Likes To Rock It", which hit #11
on Hot Country Songs.
The keyboardist in the band is Walt Richmond, whose rocking piano Intro sets the tone for his later honky-tonk piano solo that smokes with "yodeling 6ths", octaves, and a boogie-woogie Left Hand.
The Tractors - Baby Likes To Rock It
 |
|
Ian Stewart, the Stu in
"Boogie with Stu" |
 |
| The Original Rolling Stones, including Ian Stewart (far left) |
Jimmy Page tuned his mandolin
down to try to match the out-of-tune piano, John Bonham improvised the
drums, and fortunately for posterity the tape was rolling.
That jam, which started as a solo piano boogie straight out of the
imagination of Ian Stewart, ended up four years later, with overdubs and
a lead vocal, on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album.
This transcription reverse-engineers
"Boogie with Stu" so that once
again it is only Stu, by himself, making an 'unplayable' piano sound
like no one else could. And now you can make your piano sound like Ian
Stewart is playing it.
Here are my Ian Stewart transcriptions:
Led Zeppelin - "Boogie with
Stu" - Ian Stewart, piano -
The Rolling Stones -
"Key to the Highway" - Ian Stewart, piano
The Rolling Stones - "2120 South
Michigan Avenue" - Ian Stewart, organ
 |
 |
|
Donald Fagen & Walter
Becker |
In 1973 on their second studio album, Countdown to Ecstasy, "My Old School" included elements of both jazz and rock - not to mention a terrific guitar solo by Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter.
In the verses Fagen takes a very common chord progression
(I-vi-IV-V), and transforms
it with some very creative not-so-common chords and rhythms.
And unusually, Fagen's left hand in the verses is not the same as
Becker's bass line - there's a type of counterpoint going on between
them. Both the piano and bass during the verse have been
transcribed.
 |
|
Spooner Oldham |
 |
| Percy Sledge |
The recording starts with an
8-chord Intro played on a Farfisa organ by Spooner Oldham, the legendary
sideman who also played on Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally", Aretha's "I
Never Loved a Man", and Neil Young's Harvest Moon album.
With his writing partner Dan Penn, Spooner is half of one of R&B's most
legendary writing teams, having written "I'm Your Puppet", "Cry Like a
Baby", "Sweet Inspiration", and many others.
Even though the Intro in "When a Man Loves a Woman" sounds very simple,
it has some notes that are never played correctly - in both the organ
and the bass. See if you can guess where mistakes are most commonly made
during those important 15-seconds in R&B history.
Happy April!
Writing credit went to Clapton and Gordon with no mention of Coolidge, who didn't press for credit perhaps because she'd been given a black eye by Gordon, was afraid of his violent side, and wanted nothing further to do with him.
She was wise, considering that a few years later Gordon would become schizophrenic, murder his mother and be sent to prison, where he is now and probably will be for the rest of his life.
Here
are my Eric Clapton transcriptions:
Derek & the Dominos - "Layla" -
Jim Gordon, piano -
Eric Clapton - "Cocaine" - Chris Stainton,
piano
Eric Clapton - "Lay Down Sally" -
Chris Stainton, piano
Eric Clapton - "San Francisco Bay
Blues" - Chuck Leavell, piano
And here is Leon Russell's song he wrote for Rita Coolidge:
Joe Cocker - "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell,
piano
Jackson Browne plays both guitar and piano, but on his classic "Rock Me on the Water" he chose to use Craig Doerge, a first-call L.A. session player, as the pianist. Doerge's studio band was The Section, and included drummer Russ Kunkel and the great-bearded bass genius, Leland Sklar. The track was unusual in that there was no guitar on it, only piano, bass and drums. Doerge emulated Browne's own piano style and added his own polish to it, recording one of rock's outstanding gospel/rock piano tracks.
Here are my Jackson Browne transcriptions:
Jackson Browne - "I Thought I Was a Child" -
Jackson Browne, piano
Jackson Browne - "Rock Me on the Water"
- Craig Doerge, piano -
Everyone knows that Aretha Franklin is one of the most talented singers ever,
but many are not aware that she is also an outstanding pianist, bringing a
wonderful gospel flavor to some of her early recordings.
As the daughter of one of the leading preachers of the day, she had the
opportunity to meet and watch Rev. James Cleveland play piano.
When she expressed a desire to learn, Cleveland showed her a few things, and she
went on to develop her own buoyant gospel style.
"Don't Play That Song" was a hit by Ben E.
King but Aretha covered it eight years later with her own version where she
accompanies herself on piano. Her solo piano Intro sets the tone for the entire
track.
When Dennis DeYoung, a founding member of Styx, recorded "Fooling Yourself" in
1977, it contained not one but two extraordinary synthesizer solos, both showing
Keith Emerson's influence.
The second solo is longer and even
more virtuosic than the first solo,
using 32nd- and 64th-notes to blaze away all the way into the fade out.
Here are my three synthesizer solo transcriptions:
Styx - "Fooling Yourself" - Synth Solo
No.1
Styx - "Fooling Yourself" - Synth Solo
No.2 -
The Cars - "Bye Bye Love" - Synth Solo
Happy March!
It
always surprises me that so few know who British blues singer 'Long John' Baldry
was, even though he was respected enough by Reggie Dwight to use his first name
as Reggie's last, when Reggie changed his name to Elton John. Indeed, in 1966
Elton (as Reg Dwight) had been keyboard player in Baldry's band, Bluesology.
Elton's song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was written after Elton attempted
suicide in 1969 because of relationship problems with a woman. Baldry and Bernie
Taupin found him, and talked him out of marrying the woman.
'Long John' Baldry had a history of performing with rock's best keyboard
players, starting in 1963 with Nicky Hopkins (the Cyril Davis R&B All Stars).
In 1964 Rod Stewart and Baldry were the singers in Baldry's band, Hoochie
Coochie Men, which became Steampacket in 1965, with Brian Auger on organ and
Julie Driscoll as the female singer.
In 1964 fantastic Scottish pianist Ian Armitt joined Baldry's Hoochie Coochie
Men and stayed with Baldry as his right-hand man
until at least the early 1970's.
During that time Rod Stewart and Elton John produced two of Baldry's albums,
including his 1971 "It Ain't Easy", where Rod produced the 'A' side and Elton
produced the 'B' side, himself playing on many of the tracks.
Rod chose to use Baldry's pianist, Ian Armitt, and produced as the first two
tracks on the album a pianistically amazing 3:15-long
"Intro: Conditional Discharge", that is
only piano and a (very humorous) spoken vocal that serves as a lead-in, without
any pause, to "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock & Roll".
"Intro: Conditional Discharge" is one of rock's most outstanding piano tracks. If you haven't heard it, click here to hear it on YouTube. Your ears will be glad you did.
Here are my Elton John & Rod Stewart transcriptions:
Elton John - "Levon"
Rod Stewart - "Handbags and Gladrags"
Happy February!
Fifty-nine years ago, in 1956,
a 12-year-old Joe Cocker sang in public for the first time. By the time his
legendary voice was stilled a little over a month ago, he had recorded
twenty-two studio albums and played in thousands of concerts - he and his voice
were loved around the world.
When Denny Cordell produced Cocker's very first album in 1968, he and Joe met
with Artie Butler, a 26-year-old session pianist from Brooklyn, and asked him to
lead the rhythm section in "Feelin'
Alright", a Dave Mason song. Over several days of thought Artie evolved a
unique Latin-influenced piano part where his hands played the piano keyboard
like conga drums, rarely hitting both hands together at the same time.
Artie assembled a killer rhythm section of Carole Kaye on bass guitar - who looked like an ordinary housewife but was a bass genius - and Paul Humphrey on drums, a first-call jazz-influenced drummer who later played on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" album. What they recorded became one of rock's true classics - and one of the hottest rhythm tracks ever recorded.
Over the years Cocker would use some of the best rock keyboardists in the business. When Leon Russell began working with him in 1969 they recorded some of rock's most classic tracks, including Leon's own song, "Delta Lady", which had been inspired by Rita Coolidge.
Cocker's soulful voice is underpinned by Leon's rock-solid, driving gospel piano, straight out of the church.
Rita must have been pleased.
That same album, Cocker's second, contained "That's Your Business Now", which he had co-written with Chris Stainton, his longtime right-hand man, who plays a wonderful honky-tonk tack piano solo on it.
Stainton began working with Cocker in 1966, three years before the release of Cocker's first album. And when Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart shared the same bill on large outdoor European concerts in the 1990's (I was Musical Director for Rod's 'Unplugged' orchestra), Stainton was still playing piano for Joe.
Another outstanding keyboard player of Cocker's was Tommy Eyre, who was the keyboard player for Cocker's original Grease Band (Stainton played bass until Eyre left). The terrific organ solo on the Intro of "With a Little Help from My Friends" was played by Eyre.
Also on Cocker's first album was "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", which The Animals had recorded four years earlier, in 1965. Cocker's version featured a highly-creative, jazz-influenced 24-bar organ solo - a full minute of inspired soloing, choosing many notes outside of the standard 'blues scale'.
Eyre would later record the piano part on Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and most of George Michael's Wham! hits.
Here are my Joe Cocker transcriptions:
Joe Cocker
- "Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker - "Don't Let Me Be
Misunderstood" - Tommy Eyre, organ
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright"
(Live) - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Studio)
- Artie Butler, piano
Joe Cocker - "That's Your Business Now" -
Chris Stainton, piano
Here are all of my Leon Russell transcriptions:
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - "Monster Mash" -
Leon Russell, piano
Joe Cocker -
"Delta Lady" - Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "A Song for You" - Leon
Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "I Put a Spell on You"
- Leon Russell, piano
Leon Russell - "Tryin' To Stay 'Live"
- Leon Russell, piano
Here are all of my Chris Stainton transcriptions:
Eric Clapton - "Cocaine" - Chris Stainton,
piano
Eric Clapton - "Lay Down Sally" - Chris Stainton,
piano
Joe Cocker - "Feelin' Alright" (Live) - Chris Stainton, piano
Joe Cocker -
"That's Your Business Now" - Chris Stainton, piano
In 1977 Dennis DeYoung, a
founding member of Styx, recorded a synth solo in "Fooling Yourself" using a
most unusual meter, 7/4, showing Keith Emerson's influence.
Created in three sections, each with its own guitar rhythmic pattern, the synth
solo builds dramatically using 16-note arpeggios, and is one of the iconic synth
solos from the 70's.
Happy New Year 2015!
Fifty
years ago,
in July
1964, an 18-year-old Van Morrison and his band, Them, recorded
"Gloria". He had written it himself, and it
was his first hit of many to come.
Originally released as a B-side, it went on to become a garage-band staple, covered by The Doors, AC/DC, Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, and Rick Springfield.
The keyboard player for Them was Patrick John McCauley, but the producer considered him too inexperienced and brought in 41-year-old session keyboardist Arthur Greenslade. Older than most rock musicians at the time, he had a background as pianist/arranger with big bands going back to the 1940's.
Some of the chord voicings he used on "Gloria" - more than simple triads, surprisingly - seem to reflect his knowledge of arranging.
Three years later, Van Morrison - without Them - went into a New York studio with producer Bert Berns and some studio musicians, and recorded a rock classic - "Brown Eyed Girl", widely considered to be one of the best songs ever written.
The keyboard player hired for that 1967 session was the late, great Paul Griffin, who recorded some of rock's finest keyboard tracks including the piano tracks on Don McLean's "American Pie", and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", "Positively Fourth Street", and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35".
Here are my transcriptions of recordings by Van Morrison:
Them (Van Morrison) - Gloria - Arthur
Greenslade, organ
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl - Paul
Griffin, organ
Van Morrison - Moondance - Piano Solo - Jeff Labes, piano
In
1992 Mary Chapin Carpenter asked Jon Carroll to play piano on her next
single, "I Feel Lucky", which
reached #4 on the charts.
Carroll's solo, which ends the
song, is a Country/Pop knucklebuster that uses octaves, country cliches,
and Rockin'-Pneumonia flips to make "I Feel Lucky" go out with a bang.
Mary Chapin Carpenter - I Feel Lucky - Piano
Solo
Paul Brandt is a Canadian country music artist who had a hit in 2011 with "The Highway Patrol". His co-producer, Steve Rosen, happens to be a crack pianist who laid down a virtuosic piano solo on the track.
After leaving Berklee College of Music in 1991 and moving to Nashville, Rosen worked as a music producer, songwriter, and keyboardist for over fifteen years with three CCMA Album of The Year Awards, two number one singles, two top five singles and four top ten singles. He has worked with Reba McEntire, Neil Diamond, Keith Urban, Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, Debbie Gibson, and Martina McBride.
His solo on "The Highway Patrol" is blazing. Give a listen to it here:
Paul Brandt - The Highway Patrol - Piano
Solo
Happy December! Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!
Thirty-six
years ago, in November 1978, the Eagles released a holiday single that was to
become a Christmas-time classic: "Please
Come Home for Christmas," with the main instrument being the wonderful
gospel-influenced piano part by Glenn Frey.
Although it had been released in 1960 by its
writer, Charles Brown, the Eagles changed one important chord that ends every
section - they changed the V7 chord to a V augmented. The rest, as they say, is
roc
k
history.
Although he's primarily known for his singing and guitar playing, Glenn Frey has contributed some important piano parts, including "Desperado."
Learn some classic Glenn Frey piano licks and voicings by asking Santa to bring you this brand-new note-for-note transcription of the entire piano part for one of rock piano's holiday classics, "Please Come Home for Christmas."
Here are my transcriptions of recordings by
the Eagles:
"Please Come Home for Christmas" - Glenn
Frey, piano
"Desperado" - Glenn Frey, piano
And don't forget Dan Fogelberg's timeless Christmas classic, "Same Old Lang Syne" - five-and-a-half minutes of holiday heartbreak. BTW, Fogelberg never revealed the true identity of the woman in the song. However, after his death she came forward. Play this beautifully romantic Christmas gem yourself, exactly as Fogelberg wrote and recorded it.
Happy November!
Forty-five
years ago this week, in November 1969, The Allman Brothers Band released their
first album, with a heavy emphasis on the blues/gospel-tinged Hammond organ
sound of Gregg Allman.
That album ended with a song of Gregg's about the frustrations he'd felt in the music industry, "Whipping Post."
Over the years he'd record many other classic rock songs, including "Midnight Rider", "Please Call Home", "Not My Cross To Bear", "Stormy Monday", and many others.
Learn some classic Gregg Allman organ licks
and voicings by feasting on a brand-new
note-for-note transcription of the entire organ part for one of blues/rock
organ's true classics.Whipping
Post".
Here are my transcriptions of recordings by The Allman Brothers Band:
The
Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
The Allman Brothers Band -
Jessica Solo from Tutorial Video
The Allman Brothers Band - Southbound
The Allman Brothers Band -
Stormy Monday
The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post
* * * Happy Halloween! * * *
Enjoy these new note-for-note transcriptions of some of Halloween's 'Monster' hits:
Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - Monster Mash (Leon Russell, piano)
Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London
The
Zombies - She's Not There (new 1998 Rod Argent solo)
The Beatles - Come Together
In May 1962 Leon Russell
wasn't Leon Russell yet. He was still Russell Bridges, a first-call Los Angeles
session player from Oklahoma. He'd just turned twenty the month before, and
showed up late for a recording session produced by the singer/co-producer of the
novelty hit "Alley Oop". He more than made up for it by laying down one of the
catchiest piano tracks in pop/rock music - the classic "Monster Mash" piano riff
- often imitated but never played exactly right. When it was released three
months later by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, it climbed to the #1 spot on the Hot 100
chart, just before Halloween 1962.
Learn some classic Leon Russell piano 'Tricks' by 'Treating' yourself to a brand-new note-for-note transcription of the entire piano part for Halloween's most fun pop song ever recorded, "Monster Mash".
And since one of everyone's favorite monsters is the werewolf, Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" is in the house. With a brand-new transcription of "Werewolves of London" you can play Zevon's piano part note-for-note while baying at the October moon.
And no Halloween could be complete without Zombies, so Rod Argent has brought back to life his immortal 1962 classic "She's Not There" in a 1998 Dutch documentary. In his home studio Argent sits at his Hammond B3-type organ and plays an instrumental version of the entire song, including a brand-new keyboard solo halfway through it! So now we can all marvel at not only the original 1962 solo - one of the finest in rock history - but also his newer solo, 36 years later. Breathe a little life into your performances of this timeless classic and incorporate both of Rod Argent's solos, 1962 and 1998!
The Beatles also make an appearance this Halloween with their minor-key, atmospheric "Come Together". Back in the day when Paul-Is-Dead rumors were swirling, some read into the lyrics, "Come together over me," as referring to the surviving Beatles' coming together at Paul's grave. Fortunately Paul was very much alive and composed the Electric Piano part on "Come Together." John Lennon wrote the song and is often credited with having played the electric piano part, which he supposedly learned from Paul. However, in December 1984 Paul told a Playboy magazine interviewer that he himself had played the part. Put this tasty morsel into your Bag of Goodies and learn to play one of The Beatles' most-recognized Electric Piano solos.
And to keep your Halloween rockin', Billy Powell's piano part for "Call Me the Breeze" is now available. His piano solo was already available but now the non-solo piano part, i.e., the rhythmic comping during the Verses/Choruses, is also available. He uses a Left Hand/Right Hand technique similar to playing paradiddles on a conga drum - rarely do his hands strike the keys at the same time. Once mastered, this rhythmic, swinging, driving style can be used in many other songs and jams.
I've been wanting to transcribe "Key to the Highway" for years, and
finally, this month, have done so. Here are my Rolling Stone
transcriptions:
The
Rolling Stones - Key to the Highway - Ian Stewart, piano -
Instrumental
The Rolling Stones -
2120 South Michigan Avenue - Ian Stewart, organ - Instrumental
The
Rolling Stones - Cool, Calm and Collected - Jack Nitzsche, piano
The Rolling
Stones - She's a Rainbow - Nicky Hopkins, piano
Note that the two instrumentals are particularly helpful in studying Ian Stewart's style.
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Jerry Lee Lewis on the Steve Allen Show (1957)
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The summer of 1957 was an important one for rock-and-roll, as Jerry Lee Lewis was introduced on TV to America for the first time by Steve Allen, himself a pianist and awed by Jerry Lee's primal virtuosity.
Last month I posted a transcription of his "Real Wild Child", and this month I'm making available an Exercise for learning one of Jerry Lee's most frequently-used Left-Hand patterns. Here are my Jerry Lee Lewis transcriptions:
Jerry Lee
Lewis - Left-Hand Pattern Exercise
Jerry
Lee Lewis - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Jerry Lee Lewis - She Was My Baby (He
Was My Friend)
Jerry Lee Lewis - That Lucky Old Sun
The Wilshire Ebell Theatre, built in 1927, is
one of Los Angeles' most beautiful and most historic musical venues. It is where
Glenn Gould abruptly ended his live performing career at the age of 32 in 1964.
It's where Judy Garland was discovered as a child performing with her two
sisters and mother.
When a former student of mine was elected to be the Ebell Club's new president,
she asked me to play for the induction ceremony.
To set an appropriately 'classy' tone, Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor
had everything needed to kick off the proceedings - a large dynamic range, from
the soft opening section to the triple-forte two-fisted chords of the finale,
and intricate finger work in the middle section.
George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" followed - beautiful melody, soaring
chords, some cool Cuban rhythms thrown in for good measure.
Then it was time for something more relaxing and elegant. Duke Ellington's
favorite piece by Billy Strayhorn was "Lotus Blossom". My arrangement is based
upon Ellington's solo piano recording.
The pianistic proceedings concluded with
"Josie's Boogie", my own minor-key
boogie-woogie that is the Mephisto Waltz of boogie-woogie - devilishly difficult
and very dramatic, ending in an ascending alternating double-octave run.
Later that day the club's new president wrote me "You were phenomenal!"
Thanks, Marjorie, for the opportunity to perform at the Ebell.
In other news, I recently spent a few hours with an old friend in the publishing biz, Bo Goldsen, head of Criterion Music Corporation, that was acquired last year by Universal.
Larger-than-life photos of Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, and others line the walls at Universal Music Publishing Group in Santa Monica.
Many Gold and Platinum Records also line the walls, such as "Green Onions",
"Soul Man", "Hold On I'm Coming" and "Who's Making Love".
Bo publishes songwriters including Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Roseanne Cash,
Rodney Crowell, Charlie 'Bird' Parker, and many others.
The Blüthner PH Grand Piano
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I recently paid a visit to Kasimoff Pianos in Los Angeles, after getting word that they had a Blüthner PH Grand Piano on display in the window.
The PH Grand Piano was designed in 1931 by Poul Henningsen - over 80 years ago - and yet still looks as if it belongs to the future. This piano is a wonderful combination of German quality and Scandinavian design.
I met the owner Helga Kasimoff and her son Kyril, who could not have been friendlier.
Here's the link to their website: https://www.kasimoffpianoslosangeles.com/ https://www.kasimoffpianoslosangeles.com/
Helga Kasimoff was the subject of a newspaper article that recounts her truly inspiring story on "how she kept the Blüthner pianoforte legend alive, through tumultuous times."
Read it here: The Warmest Sound in the City of the Angels The Warmest Sound in the City of Angels
Jason Schwartzman has been a long time Piano Student of mine. When he got the news that he had been cast as Richard Sherman in "Saving Mr. Banks", he gave me all of Sherman's original 1959-1960 demos to transcribe all of the music exactly as Sherman himself played these now-classic songs during Walt Disney's production of Mary Poppins in 1961.
Here's an excerpt from Jason's interview in Collider:
Jason Schwartzman Talks SAVING MR. BANKS, Learning to Play MARY POPPINS Songs, and What He Learned Musically from the Composer He Plays
Jason Schwartzman:
I want to be able to play these songs to the
best of my abilities for real... I went and got a Mary Poppins songbook
- I just ordered it - and when you look at it you realize it says "For piano,
guitar, vocals." It's sort of what a novelization is to a movie, someone has
listened to the final product of Mary Poppins and kind of generalized
it so that anybody can play it. But I wanted to play the songs in the way
that Richard would have in the room because those songs have strings and all
that stuff but when Richard's demonstrating a song, it's a different style of
playing. So, he gave me all of his early demos from 1959-1960 where he's
literally saying, "Jolly Holiday Take 1." It's just him with one microphone
and his brother. I got those and the P.L. Travers, the hours and hours of -
and he's playing [5:48?] sing your songs and I gave those demos to my piano
teacher - he's this guy Elmo Peeler, he's the greatest.
He sat down for days and days and days and listened to some very crude recordings - at times - and transcribed all of the music as it would've been played in 1961 as opposed to '66 or '65. I learned all the songs in that style, so they're a bit more raw and they're voiced differently. My feeling was, if Tom Hanks is going to learn how to talk like Walt Disney, this is Richard's equivalent of talking. So I have to talk like Richard and I'm gonna do the accent, which in this case is the way he plays piano and that's what I focused on the most. That was a great way into the thing because when he said to me, "Just love music," what I got from that was, "Focus on the music."
Read the rest of Jason's interview
here on Collider.
Here is the link to that very Sheet
Music from Saving Mr. Banks (all exactly as played by Richard
Sherman, their composer):
ManyMIDI Products started in 1986 and quickly grew to become one of the leading synth patch developers in the world. Our web site began in 1996. And now we offer the very best in:
Sheet Music - note-for-note accurate transcriptions of some of rock's greatest keyboard classics, and classic boogie-woogies
Musical Services - need an arranger? a pianist? piano lessons? songwriting lessons?
Synthesizer patches - large, highly-organized sound libraries for most classic synthesizers
Having been in the business of "combining music and computers" for 28 years as of 2014, the Summer of 1996 marked our entrance onto the WWW stage. Let us know how we can better help you to have the very best sounds in your synthesizer that it's capable of producing.
We've completely revised our Yamaha TX81Z/DX11 sound library. Version 2.0 contains AfterTouch, which supposedly isn't available on the TX81Z - we found a way! As with all our sound libraries, we guarantee that this is, by far, the best TX81Z patch library available anywhere!
Our Korg M1 Set #1 (Rhythm Section, Percussion, Special Effects) is now available in SysEx format!
If you have a Korg M3r, ManyMIDI should absolutely blow your mind with our two new M3r sound libraries. Check out the Korg M3r page for complete information.
Here are some music - or MIDI-related links that may be of some help to you (in alphabetical order):
Cipoo.net - free public domain choral/piano and voice musicDave Benson's DX7 PageM-ProjectM1LibEd Home PageM3rLibEd Home PageMark Lanoszka's synthesizer editors! For Korg Wavestation and O1/WThe MIDI FarmMIDI SpaceMusic Instruction, Software & LessonsMusica Viva: free sheet musicSound Quest Inc.Synth ZoneTerzoid Software (NoiZe Editor/Librarian)UBIK MUSIC ProductionsThe Yamaha TX81Z Homepage - excellent support page for the TX81Z synthesizerOther (non-MIDI) Links:
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Woodstock Products - Large (3' x 2'), high-quality, Full-Color prints of NASA's most beautiful outer-space photography, ideal for display in the studio, home, office, dorm room and classroom! |
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Unfortunately, there's very sad news in the world of rock-and-roll. Carl Wilson, founding member of the Beach Boys, passed away February 6, 1998, from cancer at the age of 51. |
| Pictured above are, from left to right,
Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson,
Billy Hinsche, and Elmo
Peeler. Blessed with an angelic voice, Carl sang lead on their biggest hit, "Good Vibrations", on "God Only Knows", "Darlin'", "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows", "I Can Hear Music", "Good Timin'", "Trader", "Girl Don't Tell Me", "This Whole World", "All This Is That", and others. Moreover, as the most emotionally stable member of the group, Carl was their chosen leader. In the 1970's, Carl invited me to his Malibu beach house for the afternoon. After a day of jogging on the beach, discussing music, and channel-surfing with his family around the TV, Carl asked me if I had anything planned for the next couple of months; he was inviting me to join the Beach Boys' rhythm section as keyboardist! For the next few years I was to have the pleasure of working and traveling with one of the world's most talented rock bands. When Carl produced an album on his close friend, Ricci Martin (Dean Martin's son and whose sister was to become Carl's next wife), he asked me to arrange the orchestra (strings, woodwinds, French horns). During our discussion of the arrangement, he mentioned several specific things he wanted, including a Gershwin-influenced 4-bar break. However, we had diametrically opposed opinions on whether the orchestra on one song should soar up during the Chorus, or go down into the midrange. To give us the most flexibility, I wrote two arrangements: his way (down) and mine (up). At the recording session, I asked Carl which version he'd like to hear first; he asked for mine. After the assembled orchestra (so large that the French horns and the woodwinds had to be put into other rooms, including a broom closet!) played through my version, soaring high through the Chorus, Carl loved what he heard and did not even want to hear the other version, his own! Rarely have I known a creative artist who was so able to overcome his own ego in his pursuit of art. Carl's contribution to America's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band was enormous, second only to his brother Brian. Although he couldn't read music, he left a rich musical legacy that will be remembered as long as mankind celebrates its musical culture. Carl was that rarest of human beings: irreplaceable. Thank you, Carl, for having lived and loved.
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Carl Wilson introducing Elmo Peeler to Brian Wilson.
ManyMIDI Products
Beverly Hills, CA
323-650-6602
info@manymidi.com
