"It's too hard"

[The Real MC]

My former band is seeking a keyboard player after I moved away to a new job. They play southern rock and want someone to play the Billy Powell piano parts.

 

One player wrote back "Skynyrd piano... it's too hard"

 

I wrote back "I just checked your Facebook page on your jamming group, you describe it as classic rock and jazz. Jazz has its origins in New Orleans. Skynyrd piano has its origins in New Orleans. If you can play jazz then you can play Skynyrd piano. Get busy and PRACTICE."

 

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

[PianoMan51]

And that"s why I"m reading this post and not pracâ¦. Oh shit!

[ProfD]

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

Yep. Some are lazy too.

[drawback]

Maybe he means it"s too hard to justify learning all that material for a one-off hunnerdollargig.

[Iconoclast]

Sometimes a man's just gotta know his limitations...

[o0Ampy0o]

My former band is seeking a keyboard player after I moved away to a new job. They play southern rock and want someone to play the Billy Powell piano parts.

 

One player wrote back "Skynyrd piano... it's too hard"

 

I wrote back "I just checked your Facebook page on your jamming group, you describe it as classic rock and jazz. Jazz has its origins in New Orleans. Skynyrd piano has its origins in New Orleans. If you can play jazz then you can play Skynyrd piano. Get busy and PRACTICE."

 

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

This reminds me of someone in an office I once worked where a girl routinely sent herself a bouquet of flowers delivered to the office supposedly from her BF. (kidding but it does )

 

As a fan/audience all Skynyrd piano sounds like the town saloon in every Western. Unlike jazz, it is only one song at various tempos to master. Even if it truly isn't, one could play with this concept in mind and no one would notice or care. "Hey Skynyrd!" is all that matters when Skynyrd matters. Now if you were talking about the guitar parts this would not be the case.

 

[The Real MC]

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

Yep. Some are lazy too.

 

And too many are looking for shortcuts. There are plenty of shortcuts when playing guitar, but very few when playing piano.

[KuruPrionz]

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

Yep. Some are lazy too.

 

And too many are looking for shortcuts. There are plenty of shortcuts when playing guitar, but very few when playing piano.

 

 

I've played in cover bands for decades. So many songs simply cannot be duplicated. The Motown cover band I was in had 3 lead singers, one harmony singer (me), bass, drums, keys and guitar. An army of 6, total.

 

We didn't have a female singer but we still did some Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas. We played the signature licks, sang the choruses and filled the dance floor regularly. We didn't have strings, horns, vocal choruses, tamborine, congas or etc. and it didn't matter to the crowd. They danced and sang along, happy campers.

 

Musicians can be pretty picky, audiences in my experience not so much.

 

I've played Sweet Home Alabama more times than I care to know. I've never played it with anybody who sounded just like the record, I don't. And I don't care, at all. We hit the first time through on the chords and the dance floor fills.

I hate that song but it always makes everybody happy. So I smile and chug on through. I've never spent 5 seconds "learning" it and I never will. Some musician out in the audience has probably noted that it isn't authentic. Not my problem.

[El Lobo]

I don't get this thread. Skynyrd piano does not seem hard to me, and I'm a very limited piano player. And I don't practice unless I have a project in front of me. Call me lazy, I don't care. Was the original comment about Skynyrd piano being hard perhaps ironic? Granted, I've never tried to play those piano lines but listening to them now - and watching a few utoob vids about how to play them - I would say that if those lines are too hard, perhaps you should consider another instrument. Practice won't solve your problem.

 

We didn't have a female singer but we still did some Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas. We played the signature licks, sang the choruses and filled the dance floor regularly. We didn't have strings, horns, vocal choruses, tamborine, congas or etc. and it didn't matter to the crowd. They danced and sang along, happy campers.

 

Musicians can be pretty picky, audiences in my experience not so much. ... I've never played it with anybody who sounded just like the record, I don't. And I don't care, at all. We hit the first time through on the chords and the dance floor fills. ...

Agreed. My band does the J. Geils version of the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go." Nobody cares that we don't have female singers or that we do our own arrangement of the song. They dance, they sing along, they enjoy themselves. They are entertained. My work is done.

[brenner13]

I"ve never covered the recordings exactlyâ¦I"m just not that good. But I do initially learn them to sound recognizable and always strive to make it sound good. Slight embellishments keep most songs bearable to play for the bazzillionth timeâ¦even some of the most dreaded, over-played covers of the archival abyss, one of which KuruPrionz mentions above. If the audience likes it and is happy, we"ve done our job and that makes me happy.

 

Maybe I"m just super lucky to have found likeminded band mates that all like to improvise a bit. In 35 years of gigging all manor of genres, originals and covers, I"ve never had as much fun that comes from playing with this present group for the past four years. Granted, we"ve had a fantastic summer and one of the best ever gigs at a little outdoor venue last night, so I"m flying rather high right now.

 

This is why we bother with all of the gear hassles and all the years of practice, right?

[El Lobo]

I"ve never covered the recordings exactlyâ¦I"m just not that good. But I do initially learn them to sound recognizable and always strive to make it sound good. .... If the audience likes it and is happy, we"ve done our job and that makes me happy.

Yes. Egg-zackly.

[El Lobo]

one of the best ever gigs at a little outdoor venue last night, so I"m flying rather high right now.

Me too. Yesterday afternoon. It feels good to feel good.

[KuruPrionz]

I"ve never covered the recordings exactlyâ¦I"m just not that good. But I do initially learn them to sound recognizable and always strive to make it sound good. Slight embellishments keep most songs bearable to play for the bazzillionth timeâ¦even some of the most dreaded, over-played covers of the archival abyss, one of which KuruPrionz mentions above. If the audience likes it and is happy, we"ve done our job and that makes me happy.

 

Maybe I"m just super lucky to have found likeminded band mates that all like to improvise a bit. In 35 years of gigging all manor of genres, originals and covers, I"ve never had as much fun that comes from playing with this present group for the past four years. Granted, we"ve had a fantastic summer and one of the best ever gigs at a little outdoor venue last night, so I"m flying rather high right now.

 

This is why we bother with all of the gear hassles and all the years of practice, right?

 

We take requests whenever possible. If the band you are in has never practiced or learned "Rainy Night In Georgia" (for example and a recent request) but somebody can sing it, then we just figure it out on the spot. Both the bassist and I can read the hands of the lead singer / guitarist so it only takes a split second to know what's up. It's fallen on me many times, somebody wants Elvis and I'll play Little Sister and the band just has to learn it then and there.

 

That stuff happens, it's the real world. Turning down requests will shrink your tip jar among other things. ONE TIME, we had an unhappy audience member who wanted to hear Can't You See by Marshall Tucker band. Nobody could remember the lyrics except the chorus and she would not go away so I started in singing about pizza and car wrecks. She got pissed off and left.

 

That's the only time I can recall an audience member letting us know that we didn't make them happy. 40+ years of gigging, I can deal with one thumbs down.

[Dave Bryce]

Very few of my bands have ever tried to do the tunes we play the same way as the bands who originally recorded them.

 

For me, that"s a decent part of the fun, adding our own individual signatures to those tunes - especially the requests we figure out on the spot based on the way we remember them going. I refer to them as 'memory versions'.

 

dB

[The Real MC]

Musicians can be pretty picky, audiences in my experience not so much.

 

I've played Sweet Home Alabama more times than I care to know. I've never played it with anybody who sounded just like the record, I don't. And I don't care, at all. We hit the first time through on the chords and the dance floor fills.

I hate that song but it always makes everybody happy. So I smile and chug on through. I've never spent 5 seconds "learning" it and I never will. Some musician out in the audience has probably noted that it isn't authentic. Not my problem.

 

Yeah I'm not playing to the musicians I'm playing to the audience.

 

One out of 20 members of an audience is a fellow musician friend or discriminating musician with their arms folded "move me if you can". The other 19 are the ones dancing, sweating, getting thirsty, buying drinks, dance/sweat/thirst/buy drinks, dance/sweat/thirst/buy drinks, repeat ad infinitum. The more beer you sell, the better money you make. Those 19 are the ones I'm playing for and they're the ones putting money in my pocket. Sad to say, but when it comes down to it we're beer salesmen.

 

I can't help but be a stickler for authenticity when I play a song; it's a challenge for myself, impressing my musical peers is a side benefit not a goal. Not just playing the notes but nailing the synth/piano/organ sounds.

[The Real MC]

Very few of my bands have ever tried to do the tunes we play the same way as the bands who originally recorded them.

 

For me, that"s a decent part of the fun, adding our own individual signatures to those tunes - especially the requests we figure out on the spot based on the way we remember them going. I refer to them as 'memory versions'.

 

dB

 

I take liberties on some songs that are open to variations. I was in an R&B/funk/blues band that WELCOMED the variations.

 

Or goofy variations. "Everybody Wants You" has this Simple Simon quarter note piano solo; when that part comes around again at the end, I substitute the Batman theme nananananana....

 

Some songs HAVE to sound like the original in my book. Frankenstein, Tom Sawyer... if I don't hear the right synth sounds then I'm disappointed. It's just me.

[KuruPrionz]

Musicians can be pretty picky, audiences in my experience not so much.

 

I've played Sweet Home Alabama more times than I care to know. I've never played it with anybody who sounded just like the record, I don't. And I don't care, at all. We hit the first time through on the chords and the dance floor fills.

I hate that song but it always makes everybody happy. So I smile and chug on through. I've never spent 5 seconds "learning" it and I never will. Some musician out in the audience has probably noted that it isn't authentic. Not my problem.

 

Yeah I'm not playing to the musicians I'm playing to the audience.

 

One out of 20 members of an audience is a fellow musician friend or discriminating musician with their arms folded "move me if you can". The other 19 are the ones dancing, sweating, getting thirsty, buying drinks, dance/sweat/thirst/buy drinks, dance/sweat/thirst/buy drinks, repeat ad infinitum. The more beer you sell, the better money you make. Those 19 are the ones I'm playing for and they're the ones putting money in my pocket. Sad to say, but when it comes down to it we're beer salesmen.

 

I can't help but be a stickler for authenticity when I play a song; it's a challenge for myself, impressing my musical peers is a side benefit not a goal. Not just playing the notes but nailing the synth/piano/organ sounds.

 

Understood and I respect your freedom to play how you choose. If you take requests you will often be winging it, no 2 ways about it.

 

And I've always called it "babysitting alcoholics" which is more or less the same thing as beer salesmen. Just the truth, if the bar does well they book you again.

I've known a few so-so bands that had lots of friends and followers and they drew well, sold lots of drinks and gigged often.

 

Pre-Covid one larger local club would book 4 local college bands "this year's crop" because they could consistently fill the place, the college bands had nowhere else to play because not that good and not established (usually gone by the end of the semester). The club didn't pay them much and each got their own tip jar. Selling beer...

[El Lobo]

... "Everybody Wants You" has this Simple Simon quarter note piano solo; when that part comes around again at the end, I substitute the Batman theme nananananana ...

My harp player inserts the Flintstones theme into random solos.

[Delaware Dave]

My former band is seeking a keyboard player after I moved away to a new job. They play southern rock and want someone to play the Billy Powell piano parts. One player wrote back "Skynyrd piano... it's too hard"

 

Made my living doing exactly that... and Molly Hatchett, and Allmans and Blackfoot....... You know the routine.

 

Havent restarted the band since Covid. Want to now play less Southern and more classic rock. After 20 years the same 40 Skynyrd songs got old for me. Playing in a couple of bands that are scratching my itch....

 

www.dyinbreedband.com

[Delaware Dave]

This is why good players are hard to find today, they are so afraid of PRACTICE.

[video:youtube]

[o0Ampy0o]

My harp player inserts the Flintstones theme into random solos.

So does Johnny Hiland

[hardware]

Nothing is more fun than playing Southern Rock B3/Piano parts.

 

I do enjoy doing R & B + Hip Hop as it"s challenging using a multi zone controller and hitting Horn Sections + synths.

 

Vegas could really use a good Southern Rock Tribute.

I"d do it for peanuts just to have fun returning to my roots.

 

When I did it we had big anvil cases, CP80, Pianet M and B3/147s.

 

My entire rig now is a single Physis K4 and a 3U rack with a 2.1 RCF TT08A tree.

I set up and tear down in minutes and after 30+ years the sounds are close enough for a nod and smile.

 

So many good old Allman Brothers snd Skynard Tunes, it would take years to get bored.

Then I can rotate to a Disco tribute againâ¦