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Steely Dan Chart recommendation (well, book actually)


Pat Azzarello

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I'm wondering whether any of you have a recommendation for a good Steely Dan book of charts/sheet music. Ideally it would have the right chords :) and some of the "signature" lines. I looked up on Amazon, but the "peek inside" feature doesn't actually show any music, just the TOC and covers (arghhh).

 

Any suggestions?

 

I seem to remember an old thread about this, but I searched for it but couldn't come up with anything.

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I got hold of "The Best Of Steely Dan"

Hal Leonard

ISBN 0-7935-3906-4

It has most of the Hits in standard notation, along with the guitar TAB. No bass clef. There may be a better one for keyboards, but this is all I could find at the music store.

Included songs:

Aja

Black Friday

Bodhisattva

Peg

Kid Charlemayne

Joise - My Personal Fav

Reelin In the Years

etc..

 

- Karl

 

 

 

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Being a HUGE Dan fan, I've own both the Complete for Piano/Vocal/Chords and the Best Of Guitar tab book, as well as The Art of Steely Dan from Hal Leonard. The Complete book is cool cause it has every track from Can't Buy A Thrill To Gaucho. But it sucks because man of the songs aren't harmonized properly, and you know how all these Piano/Vocal arrangements are always incomplete or flat out wrong. They simplify intros, leave out interludes or solo sections, or they just have the wrong chords.

 

The guitar tab book is MUCH better. All the guitar parts are properly transcribed, although not always notated in an intuitive guitar playing manner, but accurate nonetheless. Some of the keyboard parts are arranged for guitar so you could use some of these as a starting point, but not the best way to learn the keyboard parts.

 

The Art of Steely Dan book is an excellent read for any fan who also has an affinity for harmonic and formal analysis. It doesn't have any full transcriptions but it does have many excerpts notated to explain certain compositional techniques or devices used by the Dan. Lots of real analysis here and a some good insight into the style of one of the most unique brands of music you'll ever encounter.

 

Ian Benhamou

Keyboards/Guitar/Vocals

 

[url:https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTheMusicalBox/]The Musical Box[/url]

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Anyone have the keyboard book? I think it has "signature licks" and some solos.

 

Oh yeah? What is this book called, who publishes it, etc? I'd be very interested.

Ian Benhamou

Keyboards/Guitar/Vocals

 

[url:https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTheMusicalBox/]The Musical Box[/url]

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The keyboard book is Steely Dan - Just the Riffs for Piano.

 

Slightly OT there is also the DVD "Donald Fagen - Concepts for Jazz/Rock Piano" which sounds interesting. I also found this book about the album Aja. This negative review tells you all you need to know:

 

"Sadly an in-depth analysis of which chord and when...very useful for people who actually understand music scores, possibly less interesting for people who simply like the music.

 

I got the impression that this was written to show-off the writers knowledge, more than an analysis of the 'group'

 

Disappointed"

 

I don't have/haven't looked at any of these, just read the Amazon reviews, and based on that I would probably get the Aja book (I do have the classic album series DVD of Aja which is interesting, but not an in depth analysis).

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Hey Pat,

 

I have:

 

The Art of Steely Dan

Steely Dan Anthology

Steely Dan Complete

 

When would you drop by and pick them up?

 

Busch.

 

Yes, I'd love to borrow them. I'll give you a call and pop by at your convenience. I eventually want to buy some good ones too, so I'll probably only need them for a week or two (depends on how quickly Amazon can ship :) ).

 

Thanks -

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I have "Complete through Aja", which can be helpful, but don't rely on it for voicings. For example, it almost always renders a mu-major chord (2-3-5 voicing) as a major. But very helpful for clues. I got that back in 1977 or 1978; newer editions may be better.
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This book freaking rocks!!! I HIGHLY recommend it to Dan fans who have even a moderate interest in the band. There are loads and loads and loads of super accurate licks, from sick and challenging riffs that you never quite nailed 100% of, or those ridiculous Victor Feldman licks that you never had a chance of transcribing properly on 'I Got the News'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I recently picked up the Donald Fagen "Concepts for Jazz/Rock Piano" from Homespun Videos. It comes with a little book of sheet music. It is shrunk to fit in the DVD case. I un-shrunk it on a copier. It includes: Chain Lightning, Peg, Josie, On the Dunes and Teahouse on the Tracks. The charts seem dead on even though they are simple voicings for the most part. Josie is a hoot to play simple but very tasty voice leading going on in the chords. I have only spent a little time with the DVD so I can't comment too much on this part of the deal.

Meanwhile I clicked on the link for the SD solos book everyone was raving about, now Ive got $50 worth of books and DVDs coming from Amazon, had to get to the free shipping level?

Peace out.

When the last living thing has died on account of us how poetical it would be if Earth could say in a voice floating up perhaps from the Grand Canyon"It is done, people did not like it here."Vonnegut
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Have just ordered "..just the riffs" :-)

I can also recommend the little insert book that comes with DF's DVD - a nice bonus.

"I'm well acquainted with the touch of a velvet hand..."
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I have the "Best of Steely Dan- Transcribed Scores" (well, actually, it was loaned and I haven't seen it since December. Gotta call that guy again) and it has pretty detailed complete parts written out for ten tunes.

 

The keyboard riffs book is pretty good as well.

 

This guy has tons of SD material on his site and reviews the available songbooks.

 

http://jmdl.com/howard/steelydan/songbooks.html

aka âmisterdregsâ

 

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I have Complete. It's not super accurate with the chords, and even then, it's all in the voicings. It's a good starting point though.

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This book freaking rocks!!! I HIGHLY recommend it to Dan fans who have even a moderate interest in the band. There are loads and loads and loads of super accurate licks, from sick and challenging riffs that you never quite nailed 100% of, or those ridiculous Victor Feldman licks that you never had a chance of transcribing properly on 'I Got the News'.

 

That's quite an endorsement. I'm adding this to my Amazon cart pronto.

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I've actually found some pretty accurate midi files free on the net over the years, guitar solos, horns, etc. PM me and I'll send you the ones that are good.

 

If my memory serves me right, the most accurate ones were:

 

Josie

Babylon Sisters

Peg

Deacon Blues

Everyone's Gone To The Movies

Doctor Wu

Bad Sneakers

Do It Again

Ian Benhamou

Keyboards/Guitar/Vocals

 

[url:https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTheMusicalBox/]The Musical Box[/url]

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OT: Really cool to see a lot of Dan fans around here. Most musicians I play with think they're good but are not hardcore fans like me.

Ian Benhamou

Keyboards/Guitar/Vocals

 

[url:https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTheMusicalBox/]The Musical Box[/url]

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