Recorded Solos You Just Had to Learn

[dementia13]

quote:

Originally posted by Music*aL:

Jon Lord's distorted B3 solo on "highway star" on Deep Purple's Made in Japan live album.

Oh man! I tried to learn that solo once. Those fast arpeggios are killers. A little too fast for me!

 

That solo's actually easier to play on guitar than on keyboard.

[BP3]

Kit Watkins solo on "Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo"!!

 

I got most of it, but the very last 20 secs of the song are a killer.

[Odyssian]

Oh man, that's an awesome solo!

[ELP71]

Originally posted by Jode:

I had the good fortune of being present at a friend's house the one and only time he ever completely NAILED ELP's "Trilogy" on piano. It gives you a whole new respect for that piece of music to watch it being played live in the room.

I learned the piano section of Trilogy my freshman year of high school. No piano lessons, just an ear and the little black ELP book. Basically, that book and a "Songs of Lennon and McCartney" book that my dad had were how I taught myself music. I too think of Trilogy as a "signature" piece although it's a little depressing to realize I played it better THEN.

 

Other solos I've HAD to learn (some sussess, some failure) -

 

EMERSON

Country Pie

Karella Suite (organ solo)

Blues Variation

Pirates (several of the GX1 solos)

Aquatarkus (extended live version)

 

COREA

Night Streets

My Spanish Heart

 

JOEL

"Scenes" break

Angry Young Man

Room of Our Own (off Nylon Curtain)

[PianoJazz1951]

...with a Farfisa Combo Compact organ in '66; I

mastered the organ solo to "House of the Rising Sun."

To show off and show up other keyboard players, (or "organists" in those days), I'd

switch between left and right handed leads during

the song.

Nothing like an ego-driven 14-year old...

[Llarion]

Well, I'm not a chops meister on keys, but I did learn Billy Joel's Scenes (not quite at full speed), Vienna, Stiletto, All For Leyna, Always A Woman, and Rosalinda's Eyes... The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby, and some others. On bass, I learned the XIIth Commandment bass solo on the Maginone Live at the Hollywood Bowl album very early in my playing life, and on drums I do a perfect Porcaro/Purdie "Rosanna" shuffle (Porcaro learned it from Bernard "Pretty" Purdie", and used it there, and at full speed on Lido Shuffle).

 

As a drummer playing in a cover band, I'd always try to do all the drums lick for lick. I figure that the guitarists and keyboard players are busting to learn it like the record, I damn well should give them the groove they expect. I always marveled watching other coer bands whose players all learned the tunes, except for the either lame or arrogant drummer who went his own way and spoiled the song.

 

Some great drum songs that always amaze the crowd when you do them lick for lick: Carry On, Wayward Son... What Would You Say (Dave Matthews), Long Time (Boston), Rosanna (Toto)

 

But I digress, this was about keyboards. I used to sub on drums for my late best friends band, and he scorched through a Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart/Roundabout (long version) medley on keys with no sequencing at all. What a blast!!

[Immo]

Wow, found this topic on google, not really looking for it per se.

 

This is exactly where I am right now, learning some of the keyboards on these classic tunes (most of the ones I'm working on have been mentioned, parts of Six Wives, Billy Joel stuff including dables in Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, ELP's Trilogy).

 

Any of you guys that have worked on Triligy have any tips for the second synth solo? I've gotten through the first solo (needs some touch up), but the part towards the second half of the second synth solo has multiple synth voices that sound like they overlap. Any tips on how to do this? I'm trying make sense of it from a midi transcription.

 

Thanks

[DafDuc]

Originally posted by ELP71:

EMERSON

Country Pie

 

Most of mine were mentioned already, maybe a few new ones:

 

Manzarek - Light My Fire, Riders

Lord - Hush (except I used to play it in Mickey's Monkey, LOL)

Winwood - Glad

Cavaliere - Good Lovin

Guess Who (Cummings?) - Albert Flasher

Emerson - From the Beginning, Nutrocker

Sugarloaf (who is that guy?) - Green-Eyed Lady

Les McCann - Compared to What

Gregg Rolie - Evil Ways, Soul Sacrifice

Herbie - As

Booker T Jones - Green Onions

 

I've also picked up some sax & flute solos: Phil Woods on Just the Way You Are, Joe Farrell on Spain, sax solo from Pick Up the Pieces, flute solo from Color My World (ecch!), etc.

 

Also HAD to learn that little two-voice lick from Cucumber Slumber - Zawinul mostly, but Shorter joined in at least once. It's the one that's part chromatic, part whole tone - very cool - helped make the tune more than just a bass jam. And note that above, although I picked up the Farrell solo, I left the Chick solo alone: if the nickname "slow hand" hadn't already been taken, I woulda been all over it, LOL...

 

Daf

[Andre Lower]

On the list of "OK, I play this one":

 

- Genesis' Follow You, Follow Me (sweet, lovely Minimoog)

- Deep Purple's Black Night (live version. John Lord's B3 in a rare quieter, groovy mood)

 

On the list of "Oh boy, will I ever play it?":

- Deep Purple's Pictures of Home (John Lord on fast track)

- Burn (Idem)

 

By the way, some snobbish critics say John Lord is kind of limited. Hmmm, I wish I was that limited too ...

[robmix]

Billy Joel intro to Angry Young Man, Genesis The Cage, so many Rush solos - all simple but great melodies. All the Lyle Mays OB-4 voice melodies - again simple but beautiful. And can't forget a little Zep - All Of My Love.

[marino]

When I was about 15, I struggled (and learned!) a lot by figuring out things like "Blues Variations" (the Moog theme), "Rondo", "America", and "Hoedown". I also learned to play a substantial chunk of "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", but I din't transcribe that on paper, so it's mostly gone by now.

Of course, Emerson's adaptations of classical pieces also pushed me to check the originals, like "Allegro Barbaro" and "Pictures at an Exhibition", two favorites of mine to this day!

 

I've transcribed quite a few jazz solos, but never really struggled to play them note-for-note... What I really got from this kind of work is a sense of the player's thinking, his harmonic direction, his timing... BTW, I remember figuring out solos by

 

Bud Powell - Celia

Tommy Flanagan - Giant Steps (the later trio version)

Warren Bernardth (some Steps Ahead tune I can't remember)

Eliane Elias (ditto!)

Herbie Hancock ( One Finger Snap, plus various fragments from the Davis period)

Gordon Beck (some original tune)

Billy Childs (as above)

Keith Jarrett (Autumn Leaves)

Chick Corea (Windows, many fragments)

And a few others.

 

I also have many transcriptions, and I learned really a lot from them. I know that a few people are against transcriptions, saying that you're supposed to develop your ear by doing it yourself, but I don't agree. I would have been a worse musician without them! My reasoning:

 

- You have to be a good reader. If you aren't, you lose the sense of the whole phrases. Being a decent reader myself (and moreso 20 years ago than now ), I could read big amounts of music.

 

- You have to have the source recordings. Without them, playing the transcriptions in almost useless.

 

- There's no way I could have transcribed myself the huge amount of music I learned by reading commercial transcriptions (all those notes in McCoy Tyner's solos!). Yes, there are mistakes occasionally, but I couldn't care less - As I said, I look for a sense of the player's thinking.

[drawback]

Keyboard solos:

Roundabout - Yes

Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf

In My Life - that baroque solo by George Martin

Home At Last, Do It Again - Steely Dan

My Own Way to Rock - Burton Cummings

 

Solos by other instruments:

Just The Way You Are - sax by Phil Woods

My Old School - the 2nd guitar solo

 

One of these days's I'll tackle a Bruce Hornsby - I've played The Valley Road and Walk In The Sun in a band but I haven't learned the solos note for note.

 

Hornsby. What a player. I think he's a bluegrass player, actually. I can't remember ever hearing him play a blue note.

[RABid]

Spooky - Atlanta Rhythm Section. Back then I thought I was jamming. Now it seems pretty simple.

 

Sweetheart - Frankie and the Knockouts. A bit frustrating because it is an overdubbed, dual part solo but not really hard to turn into a single part.

 

Politics of Dancing - Reflex. New Age simple but a lot of fun. The album version of this song has a nice, extended break blending a lot of synths with a feedback guitar part. No hot licks but a lot of nice sounds. Our guitarists used a Roland guitar synth to cover the sustained bass synth line, and I used a Chroma to cover the screaming guitar part. This was one break that I used my entire rig at once and relaxed enough to enjoy it.

 

Hold Your Head Up - Argent. Ive learned parts but I need to finish it up some day. It was one of the first songs that made me want to play an organ on stage. It makes me want a dedicated B3 clone.

 

Robert

[billyb]

[/qb]

 

Sugarloaf (who is that guy?) - Green-Eyed Lady

 

Daf[/QB]

 

Jerry Corbetta

[Canoehead]

Boston:

Foreplay, Smokin',

 

Toto:

Rosanna, Africa.

[Steve in KS]

Originally posted by Hartmann:

On the list of "OK, I play this one":

 

- Genesis' Follow You, Follow Me (sweet, lovely Minimoog)

...

Tony Banks never used the Minimoog. He was strictly an ARP guy. Probably the Pro Soloist or maybe a modular in the studio.

 

-the nitpicker

[Andre Lower]

Originally posted by Steve in KS:

Originally posted by Hartmann:

On the list of "OK, I play this one":

 

- Genesis' Follow You, Follow Me (sweet, lovely Minimoog)

...

Tony Banks never used the Minimoog. He was strictly an ARP guy. Probably the Pro Soloist or maybe a modular in the studio.

 

-the nitpicker

Allright, I did not know that, and it sounded like a Moog to me. Thanks for the input!

 

Oh, I forgot to add a real nut: Marillion's "Incommunicado". Always thought Mark Kelly did his parts on the studio one at a time, which is already hard enough. Then I saw a live video of him doing the left hand organ AND the mercurial MiniMoog (OK, this one I've seen with my eyes nitpicker )on his right hand, and it gave me the feeling his right hand must have at least three extra fingers !

[DafDuc]

Oh yeah, forgot:

 

Chuck Leavell - Jessica

 

I just pulled that one outta nowhere at www.homerecording.com 's 4th annual jamfest last weekend. Only parts of it for the jam, cos we were just doing the I-IV thing, but there was a time...

 

A couple more spring to mind, too:

 

Rod Argent - She's Not There

Ray Charles - What'd I Say

Hollies - Bus Stop (harpsichord)

Manzarek - Love Me 2x

 

and once I sat down and figured out all of Whammer Jammer on synth harmonica (TX-7, breath control). Wish I remembered it now...

 

Daf

[tarkus]

Being multi - I've had to learn lots of different solos on different instruments. When I got into synths it was a little more just to get the 'sound' and then learn the melody or lead.

 

First: The Cars - Just What I Needed (on a home-made theremin - just awful).

 

ELP:

Lucky Man - I still can't get it quite right.

1st Impression Part 2 - (I learned the guitar solo first then was able to get a real good lfo thingy for the segway on my Kawai K-3)

Tarkus: Just the trumpet thing

 

Zep: Kashmir - All of My Love - In The Evening

 

Floyd: Comfortably Numb - Run Like Hell (what synth is that btw?)

 

Jeff Beck - Freeway Jam

 

Frank Zappa - Easy Meat

[MIDIdiot]

in addition to some already mentioned:

 

Moondance (never got it 100%)

School (Supertramp)

Bohemian Rhapsody

Backstreets intro

Jungleland intro

a lot of the intros on Asia's 1st album on poly-61

[DafDuc]

Originally posted by tarkus:

First: The Cars - Just What I Needed (on a home-made theremin - just awful).

I bet that's fun on Theremin. I forgot that one - used to play it on my Arp Axxe, 'cept I think I had the band rechart the solo break in one place so I could play Telstar instead...

 

Even more fun, but no keyboard soloing involved in this part: reworked Green Onions so that we segued into Floyd's Money in the middle, just the guitar solo parts (i.e., the 4/4 parts): but when the guitar solo finished, we'd go to the 7/4 vamp until we got to the IV chord, then return to Green Onions. Once we finally worked it out, it was SO COOL, even if our girlfriends were the only ones to ever hear it...

 

Daf

[Dave Pierce]

Well, I've played in a few rock/pop cover bands, and for the most part I don't try to nail solos note-for-note. I typically try to grab a "signature lick" from the original solo, and then do my own thing with it.

 

But from time to time I find a solo that I really want to learn, either just to please myself, or because I really want to cop it when covering it. Here's a few that come to mind:

 

Evil Ways (Santana)

Oye Como Va (Santana)

Highway Star (Deep Purple)

Call Me The Breeze (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

 

There are probably another dozen that aren't coming to mind right now...

 

--Dave

[Michelle ggurl]

Well, I'm with Marino on this in that I really don't generally meticulously copy a person's solos.

 

However, a few come to mind:

 

Tori Amos, "Happy Phantom" because I just like to sing/play that song at the pye-aner

 

Santana, "Evil Ways", "Oye Como Va," the little EP passage in the intro of "Black Magic Woman" (I was playing a gig with one of the original Santana percussionists, who recorded those songs, so what can I say, it had to be authentic)

 

Rush, "Subdivisions," "Losing It," "Tom Sawyer" ... easy enough stuff, important parts of the song, more signature melodies than solos anyway

 

Van Halen, "Jump" ... yes, I, too, am guilty of playing that in a garage band in high school

 

ELP, "Lucky Man" I like the bends and ports in that.

 

As far as pieces of solos that are things I like to chew on, here are a few:

 

Return to Forever, "Hymn from the 7th Galaxy", various (for Chick-isms)

 

Herbie Hancock, "The New Standard," various (for Herbie-isms)

 

Joe Sample, "Did You Feel That?", various (some nice soulful phrasing)

 

I know there's more, and I have three lifetimes of study ahead of me, at least, to even approach where I'd like to be.

[Mike Rhodes]

Alan Parson's "The Raven."

[Cap]

Red Garland's solo on "Bye Bye Blackbird" from Miles Davis' classic "Round Midnight" album was the first one I transcribed note for note, picking up his single-note lines and then his chords. Now I sound more like Red than anyone else. He's a major player but accessible. Players like Art Tatum and Bud Powell, on the other hand, were too complex and overwhelming for me to try to copy them. Add to those last two Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans.

 

Cap