Boston Foreplay on a Lowry Prestige

[J. Dan]

I've been learning Foreplay by Boston and am getting pretty close, so I thought I'd compare how I'm playing it to some Youtube videos for kicks.

 

I came across this guy doing in on a Lowry Prestige, which is kind of one of these Mall organ store, auto this and that, sort of things. I was impressed - he nailed a lot of the parts including guitar and bass parts. The drums have to be sequenced unless he's triggering them like an arpeggiator or something. But either way, pretty cool for a mall organ.

 

[video:youtube]

 

EDIT: Read some comments by a poster of another video and looked more closely. He is using his right foot to hit a start/stop switch for the hihat/cymbals, and you can tell at the end that he's triggering some drums with his right foot as well.

[Dave Horne]

I like them lights. Purdy!

[FJR]

We play that tune. People love it!

 

Always a great audience response!!

[Moonglow]

Hey 80's,

 

Foreplay is a fun song. I've heard it referred to as the "Eruption" for keyboard players. Below are the notes I use for the first part of the song. I apologize in advance for it being hard to decipher, especially regarding directionality of the notes (i.e., ascending/descending) or instances where a note repeats but is an octave lower/higher (e.g., F F; Ab Ab). Definitely need to invest in a scanner or transcription software! Anyhow, hope it's in the ballpark as I'm away from anything resembling a keyboard at the moment. For me, the "Descending lick" is the biggest bitch of the entire song. Let me know how this jives with what you or any of our keyboard brethren have come up with.

 

Main lick:

||: Db F Db Eb Ab C :||

 

Descending lick:

Db Bb F C Ab Eb Bb Db F Ab Eb C F Db F Eb C Ab Db Bb F C Ab Eb

 

Verse

||: Db F Db Eb Ab C F Db F Eb C Ab F Db Ab Ab Eb C Bb Eb G F Ab F Eb G Eb F Ab F F Bb Eb G Bb Eb F F C F Ab C F Ab C Ab C :||

 

[Sven Golly]

Wouldn't it make more sense to notate a flat with a lower-case B? I think Db is a heck of a lot easier to read/recognize than D*...

[Mogut]

Off thread topic, boston used a hammond M3 for foreplay. Anyone ever read the settings he used?

[DanS]

Wouldn't it make more sense to notate a flat with a lower-case B? I think Db is a heck of a lot easier to read/recognize than D*...

 

Yeah, D* makes me think of the Death Star.

[mcgoo]

I played Foreplay in a band years ago. When we learned it, the Guitarist swore up & down that the guitar part could not have been voiced the way it was in standard tuning. He figured they had played it in A-, but tuned up to Bb-. So we did it a 1/2 step down from the original recording, in A-. I almost made the mistake of accepting an invitation to sit in with a band to play that & realized just in time that they did it in Bb- instead of A-. That would have been just a tad embarrasing!.

[J. Dan]

I'm just sorting it out, but I came up with what's in red....

 

Main lick:

||: Db F Db Eb Ab C :|| - Yep

 

Descending lick:

Db Bb F C Ab Eb Bb Db F Ab Eb C F Db F Eb C Ab Db Bb F C Ab Eb

Db Bb F C Ab Eb Bb Db F Ab Eb C F Db Bb Eb C Ab Db Bb F C Ab F

 

Verse

||: Db F Db Eb Ab C F Db F Eb C Ab F Db Ab Ab Eb C Bb Eb G F Ab F Eb G Eb F Ab F F Bb Eb G Bb Eb F F C F Ab C F Ab C Ab C :||

 

||: Db F Db Eb Ab C F Ab F Eb C Ab F Db Bb Ab Eb C C Eb G F Ab F Eb Ab Eb F Ab F Db F Db Eb G Bb F C Ab F C Ab F C Ab :||

 

Then of course there's the variation on the "verse" that does:

 

(main lick) x2, then:

||: F Ab F Eb C Ab:|| x3

||: Db Bb F C Ab F Bb Gb Db Ab F Db G Eb Bb A F C Bbmin :||

 

 

Actually, being an organ novice, what I was really looking for on YouTube was an idea of the volume pedal, drawbar, and leslie operation. There are times that sound like a leslied palm gliss up, but I think it's the guitar going through a flanger. Also, it's pretty mellow sounding in the beginning and I got a great drawbar setting for it, but when he goes up higher it sounds brighter and I don't know if it's a change in drawbars or just the result of the higher volume giving more overdrive. Also, I'm playing LH bass through it which makes it hard to change the leslie speed. I don't know if he manages to hit the switch quickly between changes or if he isn't playing LH.

 

 

EDIT: Actually, at the end of "verse", I'm playing F major, so A instead of Ab. I actually haven't listened to it for a while. I picked through it and once I got enough to start playing, I just went with it. I may have changed some parts up inadvertently along the way.

[NoahZark]

I've always wanted to take the time to learn that song but never did. Maybe I'll use this thread as the inspiration to finally push me over the top!

 

Noah

[Moonglow]

Cool, Dan. I'll give your version a spin. I see a couple of things that may make more sense than what I'm doing. It does become difficult to pick out the notes toward the end of the "verse."

 

What do you play for those 4-5 five drawn out chords at the end? I feel I'm missing something in one or two of them......

[Mogut]

this guys version of the first run down is right

 

[J. Dan]

If you're talking about the part that it does twice - once at the end of the "verse" before the second scale down, and once at the end before the slow part, I just play different inversions of Bbmin, Gbmin, Dbmin, and the last time it goes Bb, Ab, Gb, Gb, Fsus4-Fmaj

 

Now if you're talking about the very end where it lands on the Bb Major and then does it's thing, it holds the C in the bass and does:

 

Abmaj (with the Ab on top)

Move the Ab up to Bb, whatever that is

B minor diminished (B on top)

D minor diminished (D on top)

C sus 4 to C maj (Top is F to E)

 

Hold the C and let go of everything else

 

Ok, I'm getting tired of figuring out these chords (I'm not very strong technically as you may tell), so here are the notes bottom to top:

 

(while holding the high C)

C Eb Bb

C F A

Db F Ab

Bb Db F G Ab

C E G

 

[hookie]

I'm just sorting it out, but I came up with what's in red....

 

Also, I'm playing LH bass through it which makes it hard to change the leslie speed. I don't know if he manages to hit the switch quickly between changes or if he isn't playing LH.

 

 

 

 

Hope you're enjoying that CX3!

 

Actually, just use a simple foot switch to change the leslie speed - that's what I did, so it should still be set up that way.

[The Real MC]

It's a finger twister. I played it in at least three bands and it always got a great reaction, especially from fellow musicians who see the flying fingers.

 

I had written it out on staff paper and had scanned it - will upload later.

[J. Dan]

Yes hookie, as you can probably tell, I'm enjoying it immensely. I need to do that, I just didn't have one handy to hook up. I also want to try hooking up a pedal to do the motor break like in Boston's "Smokin".

 

Unfortunately, I won't be playing this out... it's 1976 and we do all 80's. I'm just learning it because I always wanted to play it. Maybe it'll be my sound check song

[Threadslayer]

I also want to try hooking up a pedal to do the motor break like in Boston's "Smokin".

 

I played 'Smokin' back when it was still popular. I played all the organ parts on my B3 except that one which I did on a synth - either a Jupiter 4 or JX-3P, I forget - with the pitch bender. I don't think anyone ever noticed.

[B3Nut]

Fun trivia: the pitch bend in Smokin' was done using....

 

...wait for it...

 

the tape machine. Bending pitch on a tonewheeler that smoothly with instant recovery is not possible. But play the trill and put a little drag on the supply reel, then let go of it. On playback, it sounds like an upward pitch bend (since it's starting to play back faster than it was recorded.) Scholz did that during the Hitch A Ride solo, too. Fun with a Scully...

 

Back to the topic at hand: Foreplay is a tricky little arpeggio to play cleanly at speed! Back to practicing...ouch!

[VegasGT3]

The solo was published in the 1980's. I bought the transcription. i have no idea what I did with it,but I will search for it.

[J. Dan]

Fun trivia: the pitch bend in Smokin' was done using....

 

...wait for it...

 

the tape machine. Bending pitch on a tonewheeler that smoothly with instant recovery is not possible. But play the trill and put a little drag on the supply reel, then let go of it. On playback, it sounds like an upward pitch bend (since it's starting to play back faster than it was recorded.) Scholz did that during the Hitch A Ride solo, too. Fun with a Scully...

 

Back to the topic at hand: Foreplay is a tricky little arpeggio to play cleanly at speed! Back to practicing...ouch!

 

WOW, that's really interesting! I had ALWAYS heard that he did that with the motor break. In fact, I read a CX-3 review that criticized it because the recovery from the brake was not fast enough compared to THAT song.

 

Not that I don't believe you (I do), but can you cite sources?

[Jim Alfredson]

You think that's cool, kanker can play the whole thing with his wang.

[midinut]

That first video reminded me of this clip. Some may remember it and some may not...

 

 

I always wanted to do Foreplay as well. Killer tune!

[loxley11]

Yeah, I had done the same thing a while back with Transcribe! Had it all notated out in Cakewalk too. There's a left hand baseline also.

 

most of what I see above is correct, only I think the Bdim/C mentioned earlier has a G, making it a G/C or G7/C; then it does move to a full dim7. Very much in the baroque style.

 

I used to practice on the big organ at our church, and every now and then, when no one was around, I would pull that one out. Sounds pretty awesome on a giant pipe organ

 

The initial drawbar setting sounds like something simple, 888400000 or even 888000000.

 

Regards,

Drew

[J. Dan]

The initial drawbar setting sounds like something simple, 888400000 or even 888000000.

 

I've been playing it 888420000 just because it seems like the higher parts are missing a little sparkle when it gets going, but I agree that at the very beginning 888000000 sounds about right.

[FJR]

That first video reminded me of this clip. Some may remember it and some may not...

 

 

I always wanted to do Foreplay as well. Killer tune!

 

Another tune we play that gets excellent response from the crowds! I keep telling the bandleader, that we should just turn into a "classic-rock-that-nobody-else-ever-plays-tribute-band"

 

 

[kad]

You think that's cool, kanker can play the whole thing with his wang.

 

NOW it makes sense! That would explain whole "chords don't exist" thing.

[DanL]

That first video reminded me of this clip. Some may remember it and some may not...

 

 

I always wanted to do Foreplay as well. Killer tune!

 

Holy crap!!!

[B3Nut]

 

WOW, that's really interesting! I had ALWAYS heard that he did that with the motor break. In fact, I read a CX-3 review that criticized it because the recovery from the brake was not fast enough compared to THAT song.

 

Not that I don't believe you (I do), but can you cite sources?

 

It was a long thread on the Hamtech list many years ago, I'll have to dig the archives to find them. Realistically, it's the only way one *could* have pulled that off, since anyone who's ever turned a Hammond off and on (either non-self-starting like the M-3 on the record or a self-starting instrument like the L-100) knows how the pitch goes up and down several times afterward, and not as cleanly as the bend effect on the record. And engaging the start motor while the organ is on causes a really loud hum in the output.

 

Nowadays you'd just cobble an effects loop in the Hammond and patch a Whammy pedal in...

[lerber3]

I played Foreplay in a band years ago. When we learned it, the Guitarist swore up & down that the guitar part could not have been voiced the way it was in standard tuning. He figured they had played it in A-, but tuned up to Bb-. So we did it a 1/2 step down from the original recording, in A-.

 

'bout 30 years ago I joined a band who had Long Time/Foreplay in their set list. I had a few weeks to learn the tune before going on the road... the band did a final tour with old keyboardist while I laboriously learned Foreplay on an upright piano listening to a cheap tape deck.

 

First rehearsal with band we play Foreplay & I rip into Foreplay on my Crumar organ... It ROCKED until the band joined in. I guess the piano was flat or the tape deck was sharp, cuz I learned Foreplay in Bm.

 

Anyways, to my eternal shame I never learned the song in the correct key... Every night I carefully transposed the KB a semi flat before Foreplay.

 

Well, maybe I forgot once or twice (cringe).

 

I almost made the mistake of accepting an invitation to sit in with a band to play that & realized just in time that they did it in Bb- instead of A-. That would have been just a tad embarrasing!.

 

Yes, it was.

[EscapeRocks]

The solo was published in the 1980's. I bought the transcription. i have no idea what I did with it,but I will search for it.

 

I bought it way back when. It is part of a best of Boston book with transcriptions for many of their hits.