Stevie: superstition

[Joe Muscara]

Well, I'm trying. Going back and forth between the original and the way I play it, you'd never know, though.

[Stokely]

We play a more rockin' version, since our guitarist is kind of our centerpiece.

 

Agreed that there's no way to really play the clav parts exactly, since they sound like many simpler parts together. My philosophy is always "get the feel right" and don't sweat exact parts. Nobody will care, but they will care if the band isn't having fun and isn't grooving.

 

That said, I need to sit down and work out on this a bit. It's one of those tunes that I kind of "limp by" on and don't have the confidence I should have. I have never played clav or even clav-like parts in general, that's the reason.

[Josh Paxton]

Hey, a blast from the past! Yeah, the video idea fell by the wayside after the Vulfpeck guy did his. Funny, I recently played the tune with a cover band after not having done it for a good while, and found that my 2-parts-in-one lick was no longer under my fingers the way it once was. Things you lose if you don't practice them...

[Music Bird]

When I made a sequence of Superstition, I admit, I used synth horns. I never had a problem using them. But the clav was the weaker sound since it was a Synth1 sound. So more like the Stevie Ray Vaughan version.

[bdub10]

On 1/16/2015 at 7:01 AM, Josh Paxton said:

I've actually considered doing an instructional YouTube video on this, because all the ones I've seen just suck. Here's the deal...

 

The "8 Clav tracks" meme has become a common misunderstanding. On the original master tapes (or at least the bootleg version that circulated), it's true that there were 8 different tracks with Clav on them. BUT, there were only two actual Clav parts, which were spread out over those 8 tracks. The "main" part was recorded to (IIRC) 4 different tracks, each with different EQ settings, amp/direct combinations, etc. The "secondary" part was recorded to 2 tracks, again with different EQ/amp/whatever. The remaining two tracks were echo returns, one for each part (and they're effectively inaudible in the actual song). All those tracks were then panned to different spots in the stereo field, which provides a cool sense of space and motion.

 

Here's the main part, which is mostly what you hear (and what people tend to try and play):

 

http://s14.postimg.org/dqmeaq7g1/Part_1.png

 

I wrote "x" noteheads for chords that are so staccato you don't really hear the pitch; they're more like percussive jabs. They're all on the same Ebm7 voicing. Note that the fingering I wrote in is the way Stevie plays it, and his fingering can be, shall we say, idiosyncratic. If youd rather hit that low Gb with your thumb, theres no reason you shouldnt.

 

Here's the secondary part, which is much lower in the mix -- but once you hear it, the tune does't sound right without it:

 

http://s2.postimg.org/8afl50kix/Part_2.png

 

Note that these are just the most basic versions of the parts. There are many, many subtle variations throughout the duration of the tune (including the intro, which starts with sort of deconstructed versions of the parts and builds up to them). I've got some of the variations written out too, but I'll stick with the basics for the moment.

 

The only other section of the tune is the bridge. Here are both parts for it (written with the first part over the second part, because I'm too lazy to separate them like I did above):

 

http://s30.postimg.org/v63k5ck5d/bridge.png

 

Note the chord alterations (which I have never heard played right by a single cover band that I wasn't in, threatening the other members with bodily abuse if they didn't catch them): Bb7, B9(b5), Bb7, A9(b5), Ab9sus, Bb7(#5).

 

So then, what can you do with this information?

 

If you're fortunate (?) enough to be in a band with two keyboard players, then obviously one of you can take each part. That's how Stevie has done it live for quite a while now. In his live DVD from 2008(?) there are a couple good shots of the other keyboardist playing the secondary part.

 

The other 99% of the time, when you're the only keyboardist but you have a guitarist, you can play the main part and have the guitarist cop the secondary part as closely as he can. Of course he won't be able to get the low Eb's, but the rest is easily doable. Thats how Stevie used to do it live back in the day, before he had another keyboardist in the band. You can find old videos from when Micael Sembello was in the band, and he was doing just that. Note: Ive noticed that some guitarists will want to play it up an octave, for reasons I dont understand (maybe because they're not used to playing thirds on the two lowest strings, which this part requires?). At any rate, dont let them! Itll sound like crap!

 

If there is no guitarist, or if hes unable or unwilling to cop the secondary part (and youre sadly not in a position to fire him), you can incorporate the most crucial elements of both parts into a single part. To my ears, the most critical aspect of the secondary part is the first bar, lower staff, upper line that Bb, C, Db, C, Bb line. If you can incorporate those notes into the main part, that will get you pretty close (and put you above 99% of people who play the tune). Heres more or less how it comes out when I do it:

 

http://s7.postimg.org/xidrsbnp7/both.png

 

Thats cool, I hear you say, but what about the horns? Yes, its an unfortunate fact of life: synth horns suck, but sometimes we have to do them. The simple solution: play two distinct, complex Stevie Wonder keyboard parts simultaneously with just your left hand, while playing the horn part with your right. Or at least, come as close to that as you can.

 

In practice, for me that means playing the left-hand portion of the combined part above, along with the low Gbs from the right hand's part. That is, on beat 2 of the first bar, instead of just playing F and Db, I play Gb, F and Db. And on beat 2 of the second bar, I hit the Gb instead of resting. The x chords I dont play. Of course you lose something by not playing them, but thats the least crucial element.

 

Thus ends my dissertation/tutorial on this tune. As you can probably tell, its something I have devoted a lot of time and effort to. Hope its helpful!

 

 

Does anyone have these images? When I click on them nothing shows up.
 

[Morrissey]

27 minutes ago, bdub10 said:

 

 

Does anyone have these images? When I click on them nothing shows up.
 

 

Welcome to the forum, bdub10.  Paging @Josh Paxtonfor you in case he can oblige.  I can attest that his chart is fantastic.  I downloaded it to a previous computer and used it to learn the tune (correctly), but unfortunately no longer have the file.

[pinkfloydcramer]

I played a gig for a singer that expected me (not knowing any better) to cover both  the clav part and horns at the same time. I couldn't do it on demand but after that I started working on it and now I'll try it at some gigs. Not a natural at hand independence.     

[jejefunkyman]

Would be also interested by the chart 😁 If Josh would be so kind to make them available again to the community 🙏

By the way, synth horns don’t suck when played by the Korg Vox Conti 😁

[nadroj]

 

[jerrythek]

I have 3 out of the 4.

 

Jerry

[KuruPrionz]

Great song, used to cover it in a band with electric guitar (me) and acoustic guitar. Didn't sound "just like the record but who can sing like Stevie anyway?

 

Without reading the entire thread, I just want to add that Superstition was written by Stevie for Jeff Beck. 

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

I don't think Josh would mind this. I took what he wrote above and made a PDF out of it with the images embedded in it. 

 

FunkKeyStuff (Joshua Paxton)'s Dissertation on Superstition by Stevie Wonder.pdf

[Morrissey]

53 minutes ago, Joe Muscara said:

I don't think Josh would mind this. I took what he wrote above and made a PDF out of it with the images embedded in it. 

 

 

This looks very familiar.  @Joe Muscara -- did you create this PDF way back when?  I think this was the document I used to learn @Josh Paxton's tricks.

[16251]

This thread has three pages, so I hope u won't mind I ask about another Stevie song. In particular the interlude in Superwoman. Anyone ever put it under a microscope? I have slowed it down and still find it hard to separate the voices and time. Thanks.

[MathOfInsects]

Josh's work on this is cool AF, and I remember downloading either his reduction or Joe's bootleg copy of it and getting it under my hands as a "secret weapon," back when the world was new.

I do think Superstition is one of those songs you generally have to play wrong to play right, at least if you're sitting in with anyone new. If that drummer kicks off those four bars, and you're not in with the slimline two-groups-of-seven-notes, bare skeleton of a riff--basically, the Stevie Ray Vaughan extraction of that iconic part--most cats are going to wonder what in the world you're playing. Even on the recording, Stevie doesn't hit the left-side part until the band's in, and unless I can predict what the guitar player is going to play, the "real" part has proven to be too much to do in a live setting.

I think the men-from-the-boys/women from the girls element is actually those muted clav stabs that he punctuates the main riff with. If you can get those sounding right, and in the right spots, particularly right up front when it's just you in your altogether, you are golden.

Of course, that all depends on the guitar player not deciding he or she wants to do the SRV/Jeff Beck thing and steal your line, in which case all bets are off. I usually just switch to organ and play something closer to the LH-side part then.

[nadroj]

23 minutes ago, MathOfInsects said:

Of course, that all depends on the guitar player not deciding he or she wants to do the SRV/Jeff Beck thing and steal your line, in which case all bets are off. I usually just switch to organ and play something closer to the LH-side part then.

You just described 90% of my sit in gigs. 

[nadroj]

Just now, nadroj said:

You just described 90% of my sit in gigs. 

Saying that I’ve played with more than a couple of bands who do that because their keys player won’t learn the riff.

 

”usually he just messes around on a clav sound until the singer comes in”is what I’ve heard

 

though in all fairness that’s what it could sound like if they were actually doing the proper riff, ghosts notes and all…

[Joe Muscara]

2 hours ago, Morrissey said:

This looks very familiar.  @Joe Muscara -- did you create this PDF way back when?  I think this was the document I used to learn @Josh Paxton's tricks.

It’s possible. I’d have to look at the date on the file vs. his post on this thread.

[MathOfInsects]

1 hour ago, nadroj said:

Saying that I’ve played with more than a couple of bands who do that because their keys player won’t learn the riff.

 

”usually he just messes around on a clav sound until the singer comes in”is what I’ve heard

 

though in all fairness that’s what it could sound like if they were actually doing the proper riff, ghosts notes and all…

This used to drive me crazy--I'd always think, why bother putting this song on the setlist in a band you hired a keyboard player for, if you're just going to play the line yourself anyway?

But then one day I realized: it's only US it's a keyboard song for. For guitarists, it's a Jeff Beck or Stevie Ray Vaughn tune. :mind blown emoji:

Sometimes you can tell by the key choice: if it's E, that's usually because the guitar player is going to play the riff. If it's Eb...tee up the clav and wait for everyone to turn and look at you expectantly after bar 4 of the drums.

[Baldwin Funster]

1 hour ago, MathOfInsects said:

......Of course, that all depends on the guitar player not deciding he or she wants to do the SRV/Jeff Beck thing and steal your line, in which case all bets are off. I usually just switch to organ and play something closer to the LH-side part then.

In a world where jams usually have too many guitarists and few to none clavists, guitar players HAVE TO steal this part or the  song doesnt happen. And when a clavist (did I invent a word?) does appear at the jam, the guitarist has no idea what else to play because there really isnt another part except the horns. And I'm SURE the horns dont want the G player playing their stuff either.

[AnotherScott]

7 minutes ago, Jr. Deluxe said:

And when a clavist (did I invent a word?) does appear at the jam, the guitarist has no idea what else to play because there really isnt another part except the horns. 

 

The how-to-play video (very cool!) shows the RH playing a percussive hit for that "high chord" but, unless there's another track, those hits actually often should be played full, not just as an almost atonal pluck. Listen to those chords coming in at about 22 seconds in, they come in with some real substance to them... 

 

 

So getting back to what a guitarist can do live, Stevie would give that chord to the guitar. Skip to about the 45 second mark in the video below to see the guitarist playing it, and once you see/hear that and are locked into what you're listening for, you can go back earlier in the song and hear that he's playing that again starting at about 22 second, and that works well as a guitar part. Good to know in case you're in a band and the guitarist says, "hey, if you're doing the riff, what should I play?" ;-) That's basically how my band does it, except when we don't have a horn section, when I come in with the fake horns, I have the guitarist take over the main riff just for those parts.

 

 

[Steve Nathan]

See this thread is resurrected.  Here's a pic of the man and my Clav (the one I still own with the Midnight Special backstage pass on it)the night I stood next to him and saw how he played it live.

 

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, MathOfInsects said:

This used to drive me crazy--I'd always think, why bother putting this song on the setlist in a band you hired a keyboard player for, if you're just going to play the line yourself anyway?

But then one day I realized: it's only US it's a keyboard song for. For guitarists, it's a Jeff Beck or Stevie Ray Vaughn tune. :mind blown emoji:

Sometimes you can tell by the key choice: if it's E, that's usually because the guitar player is going to play the riff. If it's Eb...tee up the clav and wait for everyone to turn and look at you expectantly after bar 4 of the drums.

"Sometimes" would be the operative word here. Eb ain't no thing, the last band I was in played it in D since that suited the singer best. It's just moving up or down a fret or two, same fingering on a guitar. Bassist and I took turns playing some of the horn lines, even though guitar and bass don't sound like horns. I had a bit of auto-wah on my guitar, gave it a quack which is close enough to clavinet for the alcoholics we ended up babysitting. 🙂

 

It's a song Stevie wrote for Jeff Beck, who played guitar on Talking Book. Jeff's version with Beck, Bogart and Appice was supposed to come out first but it didn't end up that way and Stevie had a huge hit on his hands. So it's BOTH a Stevie Wonder song and a Jeff Beck song.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_(song)

"Jeff Beck was an admirer of Wonder's music, and Wonder was informed of this prior to the Talking Book album sessions. Though at this point he was playing virtually all of the instruments on his songs by himself, Wonder preferred to let other guitarists play on his records, and he liked the idea of a collaboration with Beck. An agreement was quickly made for Beck to become involved in the sessions that became the Talking Book album, in return for Wonder writing him a song.

Between the album sessions, Beck came up with the opening drum beat. Wonder told Beck to keep playing while he improvised over the top of it. He improvised most of the song, including the riff, on the spot. Beck and Wonder created a rough demo for the song that day.^[10][11]

After finishing the song, Wonder decided that he would allow Beck to record "Superstition" as part of their agreement. Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that "Superstition" would be a huge hit and greatly increase the sales of Talking Book, Wonder released the song as the Talking Book lead single months ahead of Beck's version, the latter being issued in March 1973 on the Beck, Bogert & Appice album.^[12]

The funky clavinet riff played on a Hohner Clavinet model C, the Moog synthesizer bass and the vocals were also performed by Wonder. In addition, the song features trumpet and tenor saxophone, played respectively by Steve Madaio and Trevor Lawrence.^[13]"

[TommyRude]

Here's a guy with a take (note I'm attempting to copy a YouTube via mobile... not sure if it's working)

 

https://youtu.be/OYk-kfiLeJ4

[Josh Paxton]

Geez, I'm gone for a couple days and people start talking about me behind my back!

 

I had completely forgotten posting all that, but I'm glad it was captured and people are still getting something out of it.

[Cliffk]

Thanks again, Josh. This for me was a definitive thread. 

[Spider76]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:42 AM, Josh Paxton said:

Geez, I'm gone for a couple days and people start talking about me behind my back!

 

I had completely forgotten posting all that, but I'm glad it was captured and people are still getting something out of it.

Wow Josh, I just discovered this topic and your transcription and tutorial are pure gold!!!

Thanks SO MUCH for sharing such detailed info!

I took the freedom to re-organize your tutorial in a more compact 3-page layout, and also to condense only the keyboard parts in a 2-page gig-ready music sheet. In both files I put you as the author, to give due credit where it's due.

I attach them here for all to use but of course if there's any problem with that just tell me, and I'll remove them immediately.

 

Stevie Wonder - Superstition tutorial.pdf Stevie Wonder - Superstition.pdf

[TommyRude]

 

[musicbysterling]

Years and years ago when I worked in music retail, we had an ancient hard drive that contained some obviously bootleg tales from Motown sessions. How they were procured from s a mystery. Superstition was one of the tunes and as I recall, there were 4 Clavinet tracks. One of things I distinctly remembered was the EQ settings on each individual track was noticeably different …

[HammondDave]

For the Rick Beato fans here…