Do you take requests?

[Dave Bryce]

So, tell me...

 

What are some of your current favorite songs that you're playing right now?

 

Do you like to play it/them when you sit down at the piano? Maybe it's the song/songs that you look forward to the most when you gig...maybe it's the one that you've been practicing over and over to try and learn. maybe it's one that you've been playing for years, and you're still not sick of it.

 

Since I don't gig very much any more, most of mine are restricted to the piano. Here's a few that have been faves over the years that I still drag out when I wanna dust off my '70's chops:

 

"Thunder Road" - Bruce Springsteen

"One for the Vine" - Genesis

"Take a Pebble" - EL&P

"Doctor Wu" - Steely Dan

 

Recently, since my 4-year-old has gotten into Disney movies, I've been learning a bunch of those tunes. Sure, some of them are sappy, but a lot of them are really beautiful as well. My personal faves from the Disney library include:

 

"Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins

"Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid (gorgeous tune!)

"You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story

"Baby Mine" from Dumbo, which I play very bluesy, because I heard Bonnie Raitt do a killer blues version of it on a Disney cover album called "Stay Awake".

 

Oh, yeah, and I'll play pretty much any Beatles song that I can think of any chance I get.

 

Anyone else want to share?

 

dB

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

One For the Vine is great as an instrumental and I consider it Tony Banks' finest moment. I also play Many Too Many by Genesis.

 

I've always liked to play My Song by Elton John. It's a challenge to play it well and not make it sappy, because it's such a sentimental song.

[ksoper]

On my blues/funk gig I can't wait to play Bill Withers "Use Me," Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round In Circles," and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." All on the B-3. On my country gig with Joe Diffie I'm pretty much confined to Joe's tunes. There are some rollicking honky-tonk numbers that I had to shed carefully and love to perform. "Next Thing Smokin'," "If the Devil Danced," and "Good Brown Gravy," to name a few. He also covers "Behind Closed Doors" which has the perfect Nashville Classic Country piano part. Fantastic stuff. On the rare occasion I get to play the pipe organ, I love the Widor Toccata, and Fox's arrangement of Bach's "Now Thank We All Our God." Or anything Bach, for that matter.

And although I can't stand to hear myself play a solo piano lounge gig, my favorite tune is Gershwin's "Our Love Is Here To Stay." Varied enough for ya? K.

[joegerardi]

Whew, when I sit down to play these days, it's anything goes. Lately I've been resurrecting:

 

Firth of Fifth

The Cage Medley

A bunch of Enya (to bleed off stress from the workday.)

Bach- but then I always play Bach.

 

And when I really want to get frustrated and challenged, I'll play some Sondheim. I swear, that man HATES pianists. Try a song by him called "Being Alive" from "Company" and your fingers will end up all tied together worse than the Gordian Knot.

[Mark Zeger]

jazz tunes:

Spiral Dance, a Keith Jarrett tune from "Belonging" (what a great album)

My One & Only Love (my wedding song)

How Insensitive

Still Crazy After All These years - hearing Brad Mehldau play a jazz arrangement made me want to learn it

 

pop tunes:

Can We Still Be Friends - working on a MIDI arrangement w/Take 6 vocal samples

Comecar de Novo - my favorite song from Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins'

 

I've been plowing through the Pat Metheny Songbook for months (I've been a fan for over 20 years, so having his music in print is a joy). That and my well-worn Real Book (the illegal one) are always close by the piano.

 

 

dB: speaking of "Thunder Road", did you catch the HBO Springsteen cancert? I only saw the last hour. Roy Bittan still kills me!

 

And Disney music IS great stuff. Who can dispute "Someday My Prince Will Come" as a fine jazz tune (thanks, Miles). I still love "I Wanna Be Like You" from Jungle Book - wasn't that Phil Harris & Louis Prima? Christina Aguleira last (only?) moment of understated vocal ability was singing "Reflection" from Mulan. I was surprised the Oscar this year went to Bob Dylan over Sting only because songs from Disney animated movies have a virtual lock on Academy Awards. It's very tough not to like "the Mouse".

[Botch.]

My band recently put together a Styx medley "Renegade-Grand Illusion-Too Much Time" that's a lot of fun (I admit I can't play Bach or Keith Jarrett like some of you). Plus, the Elton John and Steely Dan songbooks are always being used.

[synthetic]

I play way too much Chicago for my own good. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/redface.gif I know it's cheeze, but those big Major 9/3rd in the bass chords just feel so nice after my 60-90 minute commute home. I also dig out Aja once in a while, and a few jazz standards.

 

BTW, what's the best Steely Dan songbook to get? I transcribed Aja and Peg myself, but I would like to get my hands on some other of their tunes.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

The Best of Steely Dan by MCA Music Publishing is a great book. It has the keyboard parts, plus transcrictions of backing vocals, horns, guitar, bass, etc. I learned so much about arrangements from that book. I still can't figure out what scales can be played in the Deacon Blues saxiphone solo....it's a little over my head.

[Mark Zeger]

Chicago was my first favorite rock band in my youth...largely because playing Zepplin licks are very uncool when you play trumpet (exception: hearing the horn section of Zappa's band play the Stairway to Heaven solo!). I still refer to Chicago, along with EWF and TOP, for horn arrangement ideas for jingles.

 

The Best of Steely Dan book is excellent (love playing the Deacon Blues changes when auditioning Rhodes samples in stores). This thread has prompted me to look for my old Weather Report book so I can reconnect with "A Remark You Made". It had all the individual parts transcribed.

[Gus Lozada]

Hello there !

 

Well... there are a lot of my fave songs I love to play. However I must segregate them in two arenas: Live playing or house jamming.

 

For the live shows, I like to play (actually, to sing also) "A Little Respect" from Erasure, "Against all Odds" from Phill Collins and "Night Birds" from Shakatak. I also love to play "Unforgettable" (Nat King Cole) and Sinatra's "New York". Hey, It's great too to play Van Halen's "JUMP" live. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

When I play "new agey" gigs as a soloist, I like to play Yanni, Enya, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis... sweet things.

 

For "house jamming" I like to play acoustic versions of any rock song at the piano. Some of my faves are "November Rain" (G&R´s), "Sad Songs" (Elton J.), "Can't live" (M. Carey -?-)...

 

This does not mean I'm a good Piano player. I do love techno sounds and technique, but that's not for relaxing... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

Have a nice day

GusTraX@yahoo.com

[synthetic]

So I got the Steely Dan songbook from MCA, but a lot of the chords seem to be "rounded off", and some of the songs are in the wrong key! Maybe my Mobile Fidelity CD copy of Aja runs a bit slow, but I transcribed "Aja" (the song) in B, and this book has it in C. Ditto with "Peg", Db instead of C. Bummer.

 

Also, this book shows the first chord of "Aja" in the right hand as E-G-B with C in the bass. I figured out the first chord as F#-A#-C#-D# with B in the bass. After that, it's not even close.

 

There are a bunch of things like that. The intro of "Sign in Stranger" doesn't resolve up like the book says, it stays on the C and there is a trill they missed. I was hoping this book would be a step above the average piano book, like the transcriptions in Keyboard or Guitar Player, but it's not. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif Oh well, at least it's fun to jam to the changes.

 

-jl

[Dave Bryce]

Yeah, you're right. It has Josie in Fmin when I'm pretty sure that it's in Emin as well... http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/confused/fie.gif

 

What's up with that? There oughta be a law...

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/violent/smileydies.gif

 

dB

[joegerardi]

Oh, hell. Music books, except for rare occasions, are always the worst when it comes to anything close to an accurate transcription. They change keys to make it easier to play, they don'y include solo passages, and they basically just give you a rough structure, mainly chords under a melody.

 

Look at the "The Best of ELP" songbook: They have a transcription of Karn Evil 9 - 1st Imp., second half that is positively laughable.

 

One would almost think Dave B. did the transcribing. (Flame war traversing threads!)

 

 

 

This message has been edited by joegerardi on 04-20-2001 at 05:31 PM

[Mark Zeger]

I always assume books like the Steely Dan one simplify some of the chord structures (so does my Weather Report book). I never noticed the discrepancies never having transcribed the tunes from the record. It's interesting how accurate the Pat Metheny Songbook is because Pat himself maintained creative control over the publishing, something that kept it from release for years.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

synthethic- I think Peg is in G major. The book I have doesn't include Sign in Stranger or Josie. It's called The Best of Steely Dan-Transcribed Scores.

[synthetic]

The verses in Peg are definitely in G major. The choruses, I have no bloody idea. E minor? The sheet music is probably written with no sharps or flats because every other chord changes key.

 

Peg chorus:

 

Cmaj9 Gmaj9/b | A-7 E-7add11 | (repeat two bars) |

 

A/C# Cmaj7 | E-/G F#7 | B-7 E-7 | A-7 Dsus4

 

-jl

[Graham English]

Yeah, the mistakes I find in music transcription books are amazing. I always have a pen handy when I first go through them. Who QCs this stuff?

[Laurie Z.]

May I jump in here?

 

Good grief - it's more what DON'T I play? I love the insanity of following a tune by the Goo Goo Dolls with Nat King Cole, Alanis Morissette with Billie Holiday, then there's always the Collective Soul/Brubeck combination, etc.....

 

And yes, music books suck and are usually wrong. That's why I don't buy 'em.

 

Lately, been in a Beatles mood (must be dB influencing me) - hey, you ever hear "Come Together" on piano? ;-)

 

lz

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by lauriez@lauriez.com:

Lately, been in a Beatles mood (must be dB influencing me) - hey, you ever hear "Come Together" on piano? ;-)

 

No - but I'd love to hear what you do with it... I did, however, record a Cameo/funk version of Come Together during the '80s...at least, I think I did...hard to remember much of what I did during the '80s... http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/happy/flash.gif

 

I did just record a piano-based version of "She's Leaving Home" for the album on which I'm working right now, though...

 

dB

[Laurie Z.]

Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

No - but I'd love to hear what you do with it... I did, however, record a Cameo/funk version of Come Together during the '80s...at least, I think I did...hard to remember much of what I did during the '80s... http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/happy/flash.gif

 

I did just record a piano-based version of "She's Leaving Home" for the album on which I'm working right now, though...

 

dB

 

OMG - would love to hear that version of Come Together - was it recorded? (oh that's right - you probably don't remember) ;-)

 

lz

 

[Laurie Z.]

duh- of course, you said it was recorded. I have to wake up first before I post!!!!!

 

What I meant was - recorded for whom, and do you have a copy?

 

lz

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by lauriez@lauriez.com:

OMG - would love to hear that version of Come Together - was it recorded? (oh that's right - you probably don't remember) ;-)

 

No, I remember... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

...and yes, we did record it...you and Michael should come up for dinner one evening, and we can swap versions.

 

dB

[Laurie Z.]

Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

No, I remember... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

...and yes, we did record it...you and Michael should come up for dinner one evening, and we can swap versions.

 

dB

 

Sounds cool, dB - e-me and we'll set it up. Do I hear dueling pianos or what? :-)

 

I wanna hear your album in progress too!

 

Here's a question for the forumers (sounds like foreigners) - does anybody else learn their tunes by ear or do you all buy books????

 

lz

[musicman1ovation.net]

Originally posted by lauriez@lauriez.com:

Sounds cool, dB - e-me and we'll set it up. Do I hear dueling pianos or what? :-)

 

I wanna hear your album in progress too!

 

Here's a question for the forumers (sounds like foreigners) - does anybody else learn their tunes by ear or do you all buy books????

 

lz

 

It's been a while since I gigged, but I've gigged on and off since the early seventies. All my "copy tune" learning has been by ear. Basically, I have the record, tape or CD and listen. Frankly, lately I've been telling myself that whether I gig or not, I need to be learning from recordings again just for the exercise and learning experience. When I don't gig, I generally have little reason to play any new tune. Virtually all of my playing is original stuff - BUT - to hear something cool and find the harmony and lines tends to feed the creative machine, so I should get back to the exercise program.

 

In bands it would be a case of having to learn the songs; and not just the general chord layout, but often specific part transcriptions, which I sometimes would write out for other players. My main reason for not learning from books is that my musical literacy is not so hot. I can read music, but I can't site read worth beans. I can write music (and I mean transcribe the actual parts on score paper... different keys for the horns, etc.) quite a bit faster than I can read it. I mean if I wrote something down a few months ago and then decided to play it, I'd be struggling along with it just like I would if I'd picked up something new off the shelf.

 

I'm not exactly sure what I do is playing by ear, though. I've seen some players that can listen and mimic... chords, melodies, everything... without ANY idea of what they are playing. They don't know keys, chords, or time signatures. Utterly illiterate. And yet, they can hear something and play it back. With me, I have a fairly knowledgeable grasp of music theory. Naming intervals and chord types upon hearing them, and knowing what to call the time signatures of really off-beat music (although sometimes it can be called more than one thing, sort of like the occasional chord) comes very easily for me. But put some early piano student music in front of me (more bass clef than treble) and I'll be counting with my fingers and scratching my head and working it out on the keyboard a little while before actually playing it, and when I do play it, there will be with no reference to the printed music.

 

How did I ever come to this? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif