Stevie: superstition

[J. Dan]

So I know there's the other Stevie thread going on now,m I'm considering adding superstition to the list. I did it in the 90s, but not to the level of quality I would expect from myself these days. I've heard he overdubbed the clav on like 8 tracks, making it impossible to replicate live....which makes me feel a little better. So what do y'all do?

[Josh Paxton]

I've actually considered doing an instructional YouTube video on this, because all the ones I've seen just suck. Here's the deal...

 

The "8 Clav tracks" meme has become a common misunderstanding. On the original master tapes (or at least the bootleg version that circulated), it's true that there were 8 different tracks with Clav on them. BUT, there were only two actual Clav parts, which were spread out over those 8 tracks. The "main" part was recorded to (IIRC) 4 different tracks, each with different EQ settings, amp/direct combinations, etc. The "secondary" part was recorded to 2 tracks, again with different EQ/amp/whatever. The remaining two tracks were echo returns, one for each part (and they're effectively inaudible in the actual song). All those tracks were then panned to different spots in the stereo field, which provides a cool sense of space and motion.

 

Here's the main part, which is mostly what you hear (and what people tend to try and play):

 

http://s14.postimg.org/dqmeaq7g1/Part_1.png

 

I wrote "x" noteheads for chords that are so staccato you don't really hear the pitch; they're more like percussive jabs. They're all on the same Ebm7 voicing. Note that the fingering I wrote in is the way Stevie plays it, and his fingering can be, shall we say, idiosyncratic. If youd rather hit that low Gb with your thumb, theres no reason you shouldnt.

 

Here's the secondary part, which is much lower in the mix -- but once you hear it, the tune does't sound right without it:

 

http://s2.postimg.org/8afl50kix/Part_2.png

 

Note that these are just the most basic versions of the parts. There are many, many subtle variations throughout the duration of the tune (including the intro, which starts with sort of deconstructed versions of the parts and builds up to them). I've got some of the variations written out too, but I'll stick with the basics for the moment.

 

The only other section of the tune is the bridge. Here are both parts for it (written with the first part over the second part, because I'm too lazy to separate them like I did above):

 

http://s30.postimg.org/v63k5ck5d/bridge.png

 

Note the chord alterations (which I have never heard played right by a single cover band that I wasn't in, threatening the other members with bodily abuse if they didn't catch them): Bb7, B9(b5), Bb7, A9(b5), Ab9sus, Bb7(#5).

 

So then, what can you do with this information?

 

If you're fortunate (?) enough to be in a band with two keyboard players, then obviously one of you can take each part. That's how Stevie has done it live for quite a while now. In his live DVD from 2008(?) there are a couple good shots of the other keyboardist playing the secondary part.

 

The other 99% of the time, when you're the only keyboardist but you have a guitarist, you can play the main part and have the guitarist cop the secondary part as closely as he can. Of course he won't be able to get the low Eb's, but the rest is easily doable. Thats how Stevie used to do it live back in the day, before he had another keyboardist in the band. You can find old videos from when Micael Sembello was in the band, and he was doing just that. Note: Ive noticed that some guitarists will want to play it up an octave, for reasons I dont understand (maybe because they're not used to playing thirds on the two lowest strings, which this part requires?). At any rate, dont let them! Itll sound like crap!

 

If there is no guitarist, or if hes unable or unwilling to cop the secondary part (and youre sadly not in a position to fire him), you can incorporate the most crucial elements of both parts into a single part. To my ears, the most critical aspect of the secondary part is the first bar, lower staff, upper line that Bb, C, Db, C, Bb line. If you can incorporate those notes into the main part, that will get you pretty close (and put you above 99% of people who play the tune). Heres more or less how it comes out when I do it:

 

http://s7.postimg.org/xidrsbnp7/both.png

 

Thats cool, I hear you say, but what about the horns? Yes, its an unfortunate fact of life: synth horns suck, but sometimes we have to do them. The simple solution: play two distinct, complex Stevie Wonder keyboard parts simultaneously with just your left hand, while playing the horn part with your right. Or at least, come as close to that as you can.

 

In practice, for me that means playing the left-hand portion of the combined part above, along with the low Gbs from the right hand's part. That is, on beat 2 of the first bar, instead of just playing F and Db, I play Gb, F and Db. And on beat 2 of the second bar, I hit the Gb instead of resting. The x chords I dont play. Of course you lose something by not playing them, but thats the least crucial element.

 

Thus ends my dissertation/tutorial on this tune. As you can probably tell, its something I have devoted a lot of time and effort to. Hope its helpful!

[MAJUSCULE]

FKS, I bow down.

[MAJUSCULE]

I'm bookmarking this thread.

[J. Dan]

I'm doing this in a duo with a guitar player. Drums bass and horns sequenced. Your first post is relatively close to whAt I used to play. The second adds a lot.....not sure how to do it myself....maybe illicit help from my guitar compadre.

 

 

 

 

And thank you SOOO much, btw. I know it was no easy task to post what you did. This place is great and you went way beyond what should be expected. Awesome.

 

 

Biggest problem......I'm just not very funky

 

[stoken6]

I'm too slow on the draw, but +88 to everything FKS says.

 

I actually bookmarked the original thread when this came up previously, and saved down those score excerpts.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[marczellm]

Would you share the sheet music for those excerpts in some editable/importable format? MusicXML for example.

[nadroj]

Have played it a couple of times a week for the past 3 years now and was gonna post what I do, but anything posted after FunKeyStuff's magnificent post will just be wasted words.

 

Damn son.

[Six-string-man]

FKS, WOW!!!!......Just WOW!!!!!!

 

 

SSM

[DanL]

ha FKS- I play those changes right!

 

As far as melding all those other parts together- I just get close to the riff and have fun with it.

[Doerfler]

Here's the deal...

 

what am incredibly awesome post.

Can't wait to see the video if it gets done.

Cheers to you, FKS.

[richforman]

I just play something very close to the left-hand part in the first example in FKS' post, on a clav patch with my left hand, and the horn line with my right. When a gig comes up where I'll be doing the song, I usually practice it at home the day before to get that two-handed pattern back down. Those voicings for the bridge are really helpful, I do a simpler version of those chords but am going to try to adapt something much closer to that, thanks Funk.

 

[mate stubb]

Time to bust out the audio again.

 

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/sounds/2.mp3

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/sounds/6.mp3

 

not useful, but fun:

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/sounds/7.mp3

[Joe Muscara]

FKS, I bow down.

I'm bookmarking this thread.

Seriously, man. Me too. Nice work, FKS.

[EscapeRocks]

I'm not worthy.

 

Dang FKS..... That's some serious work right there!!!

 

Nice

 

[ChrisDespo]

Very cool post ... thanks FunkKeyStuff ... never was satisfied with the way I tried to pull it off a few years ago but gonna have to see if I can revisit this great song again and try to pull it off using your awesome tips ... all thumbs up ... DEFINITELY bookmarking this like the others have said!

[Musicale]

Thank You Sir,

 

I have always wanted to be able to play this tune, but I'm not that skilles ( after 50 years of playing). So This will take me probably 6 months to learn, so I'll give it a whirl. Let us know if you do a video, I can't wait.

 

Musicale

[J Graul]

My problem with playing the song is that I haven't heard a patch on the Kurzweil that will get the staccato'd percussive jabs correctly. You can hear every note.

 

 

[Theo Verelst]

Without the need to emphasize the separation between the music teacher boys and men, it's a cool song, which I'm glad the pretty scores and solid mp3's do justice.

 

I'm probably not the fully right example because I'd open some heavy registers on some Cp4/Pc3 patches I made, and funk away, neglecting rules about playing nice in a cover band or introducing the Hendrix hard line to the audience. However, I can lend you some advice, first of all that besides having thoroughly enjoyed the return of the disciplined but heavy funk in for instance Bbc specials, it is pretty cool to do a decent rendering of these types of songs if they get close to the originals, with only some spice in the sound, and neatly played. Playing neat is of course a triviality, but also something to easily forget.

 

Further: I was playing with tuning a Linux Dx simulation program the other day, a synth I played those riffs on for sure, and I am sure it would pay to use the Kronos Sy simulation to mix in some variation with a sample based clav sound, if you can.

 

Making the Stevie mid averaged funky layer trick work might be hard, but variation in the sound so you can actually "play" it might be welcome to the audience.

 

T.

[Bob L]

Please please post an update when you have a video posted. For the video, play the bits in time, and then a lot slower than you think makes sense. Players like me have a hard time putting funk parts together! Excellent that you worked this stuff out. I look forward to "upgrading" my version of this tune with my band!

[Shamanczarek]

Every band I've played this with does it in the key of Em as guitar players don't like playing in Ebm. The keyboard part probably loses something in the fingering and feel when transposed.

[richforman]

Yeah, think I've done it in both E and Eb. If anything playing it in E instead would probably make the fingering easier.

[RABid]

Wow FunKeyStuff, why didn't you post this 30 years ago? You could have saved a lot of people a lot of heartache while trying to learn this song.

[zxcvbnm098]

It's hard enough to sing it in Eb, let alone moving it up a half step....

[Steve Nathan]

I've heard he overdubbed the clav on like 8 tracks, making it impossible to replicate live.

 

If you're fortunate (?) enough to be in a band with two keyboard players, then obviously one of you can take each part. That's how Stevie has done it live for quite a while now.

 

While this all may be true, and certainly FKS's post is most impressive, I also know for a fact that Stevie can perform this song with only his own two hands, and it is also impressive, convincing and authentic sounding. It may not have every single grace note from the record, but no one in the room appeared troubled by the clav part.

I literally saw and heard him do this in Detroit nearly 40 years ago when he came up on stage with my band, sang and played it on my Clav while I played the Rhodes that the clav was sitting on.

 

I struggle to understand why we often aim or Xerox like focus on the "tree" while missing the spirit of the "forest" in which the music was created.

 

[BernMeister]

I struggle to understand why we often aim or Xerox like focus on the "tree" while missing the spirit of the "forest" in which the music was created.

 

Because dissection is the key to better ear training.

 

However, I agree with your notion of "missing the spirit of the forest". Though I don't think that's anyone's intention here.

[Brettymike]

I've actually considered doing an instructional YouTube video on this, because all the ones I've seen just suck. Here's the deal...

 

The "8 Clav tracks" meme has become a common misunderstanding. On the original master tapes (or at least the bootleg version that circulated), it's true that there were 8 different tracks with Clav on them. BUT, there were only two actual Clav parts, which were spread out over those 8 tracks. The "main" part was recorded to (IIRC) 4 different tracks, each with different EQ settings, amp/direct combinations, etc. The "secondary" part was recorded to 2 tracks, again with different EQ/amp/whatever. The remaining two tracks were echo returns, one for each part (and they're effectively inaudible in the actual song). All those tracks were then panned to different spots in the stereo field, which provides a cool sense of space and motion.

 

Here's the main part, which is mostly what you hear (and what people tend to try and play):

 

http://s14.postimg.org/dqmeaq7g1/Part_1.png

 

I wrote "x" noteheads for chords that are so staccato you don't really hear the pitch; they're more like percussive jabs. They're all on the same Ebm7 voicing. Note that the fingering I wrote in is the way Stevie plays it, and his fingering can be, shall we say, idiosyncratic. If youd rather hit that low Gb with your thumb, theres no reason you shouldnt.

 

Here's the secondary part, which is much lower in the mix -- but once you hear it, the tune does't sound right without it:

 

http://s2.postimg.org/8afl50kix/Part_2.png

 

Note that these are just the most basic versions of the parts. There are many, many subtle variations throughout the duration of the tune (including the intro, which starts with sort of deconstructed versions of the parts and builds up to them). I've got some of the variations written out too, but I'll stick with the basics for the moment.

 

The only other section of the tune is the bridge. Here are both parts for it (written with the first part over the second part, because I'm too lazy to separate them like I did above):

 

http://s30.postimg.org/v63k5ck5d/bridge.png

 

Note the chord alterations (which I have never heard played right by a single cover band that I wasn't in, threatening the other members with bodily abuse if they didn't catch them): Bb7, B9(b5), Bb7, A9(b5), Ab9sus, Bb7(#5).

 

So then, what can you do with this information?

 

If you're fortunate (?) enough to be in a band with two keyboard players, then obviously one of you can take each part. That's how Stevie has done it live for quite a while now. In his live DVD from 2008(?) there are a couple good shots of the other keyboardist playing the secondary part.

 

The other 99% of the time, when you're the only keyboardist but you have a guitarist, you can play the main part and have the guitarist cop the secondary part as closely as he can. Of course he won't be able to get the low Eb's, but the rest is easily doable. Thats how Stevie used to do it live back in the day, before he had another keyboardist in the band. You can find old videos from when Micael Sembello was in the band, and he was doing just that. Note: Ive noticed that some guitarists will want to play it up an octave, for reasons I dont understand (maybe because they're not used to playing thirds on the two lowest strings, which this part requires?). At any rate, dont let them! Itll sound like crap!

 

If there is no guitarist, or if hes unable or unwilling to cop the secondary part (and youre sadly not in a position to fire him), you can incorporate the most crucial elements of both parts into a single part. To my ears, the most critical aspect of the secondary part is the first bar, lower staff, upper line that Bb, C, Db, C, Bb line. If you can incorporate those notes into the main part, that will get you pretty close (and put you above 99% of people who play the tune). Heres more or less how it comes out when I do it:

 

http://s7.postimg.org/xidrsbnp7/both.png

 

Thats cool, I hear you say, but what about the horns? Yes, its an unfortunate fact of life: synth horns suck, but sometimes we have to do them. The simple solution: play two distinct, complex Stevie Wonder keyboard parts simultaneously with just your left hand, while playing the horn part with your right. Or at least, come as close to that as you can.

 

In practice, for me that means playing the left-hand portion of the combined part above, along with the low Gbs from the right hand's part. That is, on beat 2 of the first bar, instead of just playing F and Db, I play Gb, F and Db. And on beat 2 of the second bar, I hit the Gb instead of resting. The x chords I dont play. Of course you lose something by not playing them, but thats the least crucial element.

 

Thus ends my dissertation/tutorial on this tune. As you can probably tell, its something I have devoted a lot of time and effort to. Hope its helpful!

 

I polish your shoes , I roll out the red carpet

 

Brett

[HammondDave]

Excellent work! I have played this song incorrectly for 40 years!

[keyman27]

The multitracks/'stems' are a real revelation and a lot of fun. It's interesting how non-precise the synth bass part is. There is a killer triplets lick buried in one of the clav parts in the 2nd half of the song. It's great to hear the isolated vocals.

[J. Dan]

I struggle to understand why we often aim or Xerox like focus on the "tree" while missing the spirit of the "forest" in which the music was created.

 

Because dissection is the key to better ear training.

 

However, I agree with your notion of "missing the spirit of the forest". Though I don't think that's anyone's intention here.

 

My approach is always to nail the details first, then embellish AFTER. That prevents me from taking shortcuts and/or making excuses, and I think enhances my ability to portrait the spirit of the forest. After all, the tree is part of the forest.