Jazz+ Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Regarding playing recent pop hits on piano- I've done Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Usher, Taio Cruz, Bruno Mars and Britney Spears lately. The trick to making it work on piano for me is to put the songs all in the same key and then medley together just their 4 bar hook sections (usually the choruses) from each tune and therefore I usually leave out the boring verses, pre-choruses, bridges, filler, etc. I go straight to the hook melody and vamp it a while and then medley on to the next hook from the next song. I don't memorize this stuff I arrange lead sheets with Sibelius of 5 or 6 hooks from each artist on a single sheet. (I do sometimes include more than just the choruses if there is a decent melody in other section, for example: I include the intros from both Dynamite and DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love Again, and Just Dance. Also the verse from Paparazzi, and most of 'Till The End Of The World. For the rest of the tunes in the medleys it's just the choruses. And I never use the bass lines from the original recordings. I avoid following the recorded arrangements, I personalize it in my own contemporary pop piano style. Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Would be interested to hear a clip of you in action on that, Jazz+, or even a sneak at your lead sheets! Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non ce futuro Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Video or it didn't happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16251 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 +1 Still waiting to hear or see. AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I have two questions - In what context? In other words, what else are you playing in your set? Second, what does this do for you? If people recognize that you touched on [some hit] but not play the entire song nor more than a few bars, do they still seem to appreciate it, applaud, give you a tip? "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogmonkey Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I like the idea of it, and it occurs to me that 4 bars in a medley might be the only way to pull it off. Every time I try, I realize that there are only about 4 bars of useful material in modern pop songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Loving Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Good approach. Nice tip - thanks! "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Great idea. I think I'll try this. I imagine it could be good for about 6-8 minutes, then segway into something more interesting. Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro Home: Vintage Vibe 64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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