Gimme Some Lovin' in F# ??

[JeffLearman]

I like this tune. I said we can play it in any of these keys: E, G, A, or C.

 

Our guitarist insists on playing it in F#.

 

Admittedly, he's singing it, but he can cover it in E or G. He just liked the tone better in F#.

 

Anyone got a 2x4 I can borrow?

 

Yeah, he's the whacko primmadonna arteeeest in the band. But he is a lot of fun and comes up with lots of great tunes to play so we don't want to replace him.

 

But really ... F# ??? I hate to use the transpose button.

[wjwilcox]

I hate to use the transpose button.

 

Don't we all. However, it is just another tool to build the music we want. If it gets the guitarista the results he wants but lets you rock out in the key you're comfortable with, go for it.

[kanker.]

I think F# is where Winwood is playing it these days. You can do it man, just practice it for 10 minutes and you'll have it.

[Karl Sutton]

I admit that's the one key I've used the transpose button for - I just can't wrap my brain around those shapes

[Bobadohshe]

Just take three or for signature licks that you can use as essentials, and shed them in that key. Yeah the fingers will be foreign, and ridiculous, but after 20 minutes, they'll feel much less so.

 

Think of it as a challenge.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

I learned it by the record when it first came out in G. Haven't listened to the record with a guitar in my hand since the 60s.

[JeffLearman]

The problem with playing it in F# is that I'm playing both piano and organ and the transitions are hard on me already. With 2 keyboards it's easier but I'm still just beginning to learn to play one atop the other. With just the NE2, I have to nail the transitions because the damn thing takes a half second to switch between them. I hate adding yet one more hurdle.

 

And thanks for the support, you bastids. All I needed was a little guitarist hate speech. C'mon already! ;-)

 

And I know what'll happen if I use the Transpose button. "Try a little tenderness" will come next, and we'll be into the 2nd verse before anyone finds out I'm a half step off! Can you spell "train wreck"? ;-)

 

I'm getting tired of always being the one to change keys, when especially there's no reason to. We learned several songs in a nice meddley. He decided we needed to change a couple of them a half step or two and we needed to rework all the transitions. And in this case, the bass player was the singer and didn't care one way or another.

 

Upside -- I'm getting practice in weird keys like F# and Ab, not to mention the ones in horn keys, which we're playing in horn keys, and rightly so. (The horn section is quite accomodating about keys, with a few exceptions where the fingering just wouldn't work. But we play 'em in the horn keys unless the vocals need a transpose.)

[Bill H.]

I always put the song in the key that the singer asks for. But then again I'm usually the singer.

 

Seriously - there's a huge difference between hammering your vocal cords with continuous Bb's or B's. It's just one itty bitty half step, but that step feels a mile high if it's in the upper end of your full range. If he's at all like me, he's probably just making sure that he has a voice left for the rest of the night.

 

He probably hates playing his guitar in F# as much as you hate playing your keyboard in that key. But actually F# wouldn't be that much of a finger twister for this particular song in any event.

 

If an NE2 takes that long to switch between sounds, you may end up having to bring another keyboard along to avoid losing it onstage out of sheer frustration. I wouldn't be able to stand it personally.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

tune his guitar a half step high.

[yorgatron]

The problem with playing it in F# is that I'm playing both piano and organ and the transitions are hard on me already.

why do you need piano on that song,are you doubling the "dah dah dah dah dah DUM" part?

 

That lick was one of the first things I learned,once I realized itr was used on hundreds of different songs,with slight variations.

I call it "the ol' I-IV-VII"

[kanker.]

The problem with playing it in F# is that I'm playing both piano and organ and the transitions are hard on me already.

why do you need piano on that song,are you doubling the "dah dah dah dah dah DUM" part?

The verses are all piano

[David Loving]

Just work it out in F#. It'll be good for you. All the keys players in the crowd will marvel. Don't get into that bad habit of using the transpose button. For that matter, you should not even be using a board that HAS a transpose button!

[ksoper]

Think about poor Reese Wynans playing all that blues in completely #$%ked-up keys...

 

Take your medicine and learn it in F#

[lerber3]

Try it in G flat.

[The Real MC]

I have no trouble transposing songs in my head. Once you know the I-II-IV-V patterns, it's easy.

 

I have played "gimme some loving" in at least three bands and had the solo spot every time. I play the main motif of ELP's "Hoedown" for the solo. I was winging it one day and that's what I pulled out so it stuck. Certainly raises some eyebrows initially, but it works

[JeffLearman]

Try it in G flat.

That's it! Gb would be SO much easier. ... only, no, the guitarist would complain. He *really* wants it in F#. ;-)

[JeffLearman]

tune his guitar a half step high.

Good idea. :-)

 

He often has his guitar tuned down 1 or 2 semitones. That's lead to some interesting moments at practice, when he's forgotten. Fortunately, never on stage.

[Chris Link]

And I know what'll happen if I use the Transpose button. "Try a little tenderness" will come next, and we'll be into the 2nd verse before anyone finds out I'm a half step off! Can you spell "train wreck"? ;-)

 

Been there, done that. Really, really embarrassing. Especially if your first response is "What in the **** is wrong with you people?"

 

One suggestion for making quick changes on the NE2 is to have a bank of programs all with the identical piano and basic B3 (888000000) sound. That way you are only one tap away from your Gimme Some Lovin' 888888888 and a basic piano sound for the verses.

 

The program bank on the NE3 is a step backwards from this set-up IMHO. I have the NE2 set up with one bank each of the two Rhodes, the clavi, the wurli, etc. as well as the basic piano and B3 up and down in every slot in #4 and #8.

[Joe Muscara]

What's so weird about A flat?

 

[Steve Nathan]

I tend to prefer sliding off of black keys over climbing up to them, so I'm not usually a fan of the key of F#. But when you play songs with vocals, the singer gets to decide what key sounds best. That's just the way it is, and frankly, that's the way it should be.

As I read this post, I reached over to my nearest board to see how it felt under my fingers in F#, and I gotta say, what's the big deal. It seems to lay reasonably comfortably. I can think of plenty of tunes that would be much harder to flow in that key than this one. Buck up my friend. You'll be better for it.

[jimmymio]

G is an insanely high key in which to sing that song. I'm surprised it's not being lowered more that a half tone.

JP

[MuzikTeechur]

We do that song. I sing it in the Blues Brothers' key: E.

The original key, G, is insanely high as someone else pointed out. F# isn't much better.

[SpaceNorman]

So he insists it be played in F# eh? Learn it in F# (granted its a shitty key since gravity doesn't work in you favor for any of the bluesy grace notes) - then plot your revenge by refusing to wait for a second for him to shift to whatever non-standard tunings he reaches for in the course of the night (it won't be much of a wait - all them guitar player types do it...). Then insist a few of his guitar faves that he just has to flog an A or E get transposed to something more to your liking.

[SMcD]

I like the F# blues scale. Now Ab; THAT'S a bitch.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I do understand well, out WL, guitarist has a couple of songs that he just HAS to do in F# (which he couldn't play in himself if it weren't for his almighty CAPO. I just figure you oughta come up with a few songs that YOU sing where you can sing them in good keyboard keys that guitardists hate - like F or Eb or C minor. Besides, if you ever get a horn player in the band, they will just love those songs. After all - singer sets the key, right?

 

[ewall08530]

I've sung this song for years in F. That feels good on the keyboard and it's still plenty high enough for my voice...plenty! lol

 

edwall.biz

[allan_evett]

Think about poor Reese Wynans playing all that blues in completely #$%ked-up keys...

 

Take your medicine and learn it in F#

 

Great advice, ksoper...

 

I played in a 'roadhouse' band years ago that did "..House is a-Rockin.." in C. The next band I played in did it in B, which from the recording I had seemed to be the correct key; but I decided to use the transpose button. Wrong move. On the first gig I forgot to turn off the transpose button, and the next song in the set was "Pretzel Logic": verses based in Am blues, chorus goes to a completely different place with lots of changes. So I started the tune in Ab minor... The guys were all pros, and got through it OK; though the guitarist said later that the solo gave him fits.

The next day I took about a half hour and worked out the "House..." key parts/solo in B. While I was at it, I started practicing blues scales/riffs in F# and C# (hadn't done that since taking a blues class in college, in which we had to comp and solo in all keys). It paid off: A few months later I got called for a record date on which the first track was a rock tune in C#, and the artist wanted "Bob Seger style piano"- bluesy octave riffs,etc. I've noticed, especially with the country tunes over the past four or five years, a shift to songs that are done in the 'odd' keys. I just force myself to work out the different hand and finger placements. Still not where I want to be with all keys equally comfortable, but am working on it... Never know when an important call might come, and they want 'Neal Doughty style piano' in Ab

[VegasGT3]

I agree if not G, then use F. I like F# as the blues scale lays out nicely. The Chords are too bad. Better that than B or Ab for me anyway!!

[David Loving]

Heck he's a singer. Just play it in F and tell him it's F#!

[Bill H.]

I've sung this song for years in F. That feels good on the keyboard and it's still plenty high enough for my voice...plenty! lol

 

edwall.biz

 

I'll sing it in F if I'm sharing lead vocals that night. If it's mostly me, I'll take it all the way down to E.

 

This is one of those "red flag" songs because throughout both the verse and chorus you are hammering your vocal cords at the top of their range without letup except for the organ riff. The whole melody is in the stratosphere.

 

Just a "heads up" to you guys who've never sung this thing.