Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Piano Man intro


Vagabond

Recommended Posts



  • Replies 30
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I have a billy joel keyboard book and it doesnt have the transcription for the intro.

 

i grabbed it on holidays and assumed it would so hadnt checked inside when i purchased and as it was a 6 hour drive to return it I was stuck with it.

Now i make do with my rendition of it...although id love to know how close I am to it.

there was a thread recently on this but if I remember rightly no one came forth with any resolve to this question.

I guess ill make do with my version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Vagabond:

No, that's not it. The VERY beginning.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60O5x4e5p2c

 

00:00-00:07

thanks vagabond

 

ive been using a computer with no sound for 2 years...ive just this week startted using a mac with sound and your link is the first ive tried with this machine...and yes I have got the intro very close just by hearing it on the radio...I ve searched for ages to find a copy in my old tapes to no aVAIL.

thanks to your link ive now addressed a nagging issue of am i close to the intro...happily yes.now i can tidy it up...although i reckon billy plays it differently every time and a little improv is expected of a song that tells the story of a piano man.who for the sake of trying not to bore himself would in reality change the intro often.

cheers vagabond the transcription really is not needed once you have the song in front of you.

.should have bought a recording instead of looking for my old ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i too have looked for a midi file with the intro on it...i thought it would resolve my issue on the intro...but have not found one either...

 

including a billy joel compelation midi file disk [ulti Mid] that i purchased and ironically no intro on it...fortunately sold cheaply as a throw away price due to aussie shops not able to sell midi files anymore since the advent of the internet...and hence i try to buy up Tune 1000s,Ulti Mid and similar discs cheaply...gives me a large catalogue of quality files cheaply....files i can trust.

 

although Ive never used the piano man file live... I prefer to play that one as a piano only solo.Though I play just the way you are witth a file sometimes.

 

if you are just wanting it as a transcription of the intro you will pick it up easily by listening to that download...but if you actually want the complete file to play..whynot use a file without the intro and add the intro yourself via a sequencer.if no file presents itself.

find the previous thread on the subject it gives some advice.

cheers thanks to your thread ive resolved a nagging dought.

cheers aussie keys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/18/t/017961.html#000000

 

try this link to the other thread

although it only helps with a rough idea of the intro no file.

some other stuff in search on this site...check it out.

 

god... this imac computer is slow still

downloading the joel link....

ah....... old hand me down computers...

too slow to allow me to enjoy downloads...

oh well at least i have the intro now

cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why the need for a MIDI file? It's not hard to play, just break it down into small pieces and start practicing at a slow speed, and go faster as you get familiar with it.....

"Oh yeah, I've got two hands here." (Viv Savage)

"Mr. Blu... Mr. Blutarsky: Zero POINT zero." (Dean Vernon Wormer)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Nordude:

My 0,02. The first upwards run might be incorrect (as is the notation on some details), but I think it's a useful image nonetheless.

 

http://members.chello.nl/g.hurenkamp/images/pianomanintro_72dpi.jpg

Going from memory and not having a keyboard in front of me, the chords on that chart look accurate. I've always played a dm, and then a G7. But (and I could be wrong), I don't think that initial run is correct. I think (if I remember correctly) always started off on a d to do that run.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The Piano Man intro;

 

chord 1 -

left hand plays - Dm7 ( d,f,a,c )

 

then right hand plays - gsharp, a, c, e, g

then runs chromatically from the g down to the nearest b note(note before middle c)

 

chord 2-

left hand plays - Ddim7 ( d,f,gsharp,b )

 

then right hand plays - (asharp, b, c)x2

then asharp ,b, g, gsharp, a, g, e, g.

 

Hope this helps as its the way i play it live.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no way he's using a real acoustic piano on 12 Gardens Live - if you check out some of the better YouTube videos of those shows, you can see he's playing the songs in their original key on piano, but they're actually sounding a semitone or whole-tone (depending) lower.

 

David

My Site

Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...