Saturday, October 31
Freak on a Leash [koRn]
This is likely doable as a piano-vocal. I plan to try it.
Korn - Freak on a leash (vocal / piano cover)
freak on a leash piano rendition
korn freak on a leash - cover by sz-he
Freak On A Leash
Korn - Freak on a leash (vocal / piano cover)
freak on a leash piano rendition
korn freak on a leash - cover by sz-he
Freak On A Leash
Soundtrack for video is a repeating chord sequence vi - IV - I - V
If you listen to the soundtrack on the following video, you're going to hear vi - IV - I - V over and over again yet it provides enough of a background to "fill in" the narration. Pay attention to the music, not the narration... by the way-- Happy Halloween.
Friday, October 30
Wednesday, October 28
Tuesday, October 27
Happy Birthday Sing-Along and Beatles Birthday by Rick & Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Hour for your Retirement Residence
MEMO
To: Activity Directors at Retirement Residences in the Phoenix AZ area.
From: Rick Potvin (rick_potvin@yahoo.com)
Have you considered "birthday party concerts" as a way to entertain your residents? Dorothy and Rick's Piano-Keyboard Hour provides a rousing birthday sing along in the middle of their performance that is sure to reinforce a positive and uplifting feeling among your residents with birthdays in any particular month.
Monday, October 26
Brown Eyed Girl
Interesting performance here of what's become a duelling piano bar standard worldwide including cruise ships everywhere-- Van Morrison's 1967 Brown Eyed Girl. Duelling piano bars encourage shouting and acting up that destroy tunes but this performance is in a restaurant where I'm more used to playing. I asked the performer if he's got an ipad/laptop on the music rack and where his bass is coming from-- his foot or a computer recording... or possibly the left hand on a digital piano inlaid on the grand piano case.
Saturday, October 24
Inversions
Chord Inversions for the Left Hand
Rules
1. Chord inversions are different positions of the chord.
2. Root position of the chord is built on tone 1 of the chord.
3. First inversion of the chord is built on tone 3 of the chord.
4. Second inversion is built on tone 5 of the chord.
5. Exercises can be played using fingers 5-3-1 or 5-2-1 of the left hand.
6. Play or complete the following, then play, the following chord inversions.
Position root 1st inv. 2nd inv.
C MAJOR C-E-G E-G-C G-C-E
F MAJOR F-A-C A-C-F C-F-A
G MAJOR G-B-D B-D-G D-G-B
D MAJOR _________ __________ ___________
A MAJOR
E MAJOR
B MAJOR
7. How to use inversions in songs: Keep the common note of the new chord as the bottome of the old chord.
Example 1:
C to F to C will be played as
CEG (root pos'n of C) to
CFA (2nd inversion of F) to
CEG (root position again)
Example 2:
C to G to D
CEG (root pos'n of C) to
DGB (2nd inv.) to
D F# A (root pos'n of D)
8. If there is no common note in the new chord with the note on the bottom of the old chord, go to the closest note of the new chord to the old chord.
Example 3:
D to A to E
D F# A (root) to A C# E (2nd Inv) to E G# B (root)
Friday, October 23
Benghazi music playlist
I found this playlist with music about and from Benghazi mildly interesting due to all the focus on mainstream media's coverage of Hillary and the apparent disaster there a few years ago at the CIA hangout. It turns out, judging by the video below, that Benghazi is a very large city. I find it strange that gangster rap type music and moves have translated themselves to their culture. I find that weird. I would have thought there would be modern day updates of indigenous dances and music-- but nope. I've not seen a piano on any the 200 videos yet. We'll see.
Chakra music & explanation may be a way "up" & "out" of "lower dimension" troubles.
I'm not as much into "music" per se as soundscapes that accompany explanations of important things, lately. This is an example: an explanation of chakras to a meditative soundscape composed on keyboard synthesizers and a multi track computer.
Tuesday, October 20
We Are the Champions [Queen] piano cover by Rick Potvin by request
Queen
Tone: F
Cm Gm7/C
I ve paid my dues
Cm Gm7/C
And time after time
Cm Gm7/C
I ve done my sentence
Cm Gm7/C
But commited no crime
Eb Ab
And bad mistakes
Eb Ab
I ve made a few
Eb Bb/D Cm
I ve had my share of sand kicked in my face
F7 Bb C
But I ve come through
F Am Dm Bb C
We are the champions, my friend
F Am Bb D/F#
And we ll keep on fighting till the end
Gm Bbm Bbo
We are the champions, we are the champions
F Eb/G Ab6 Bb7 Cm7
No time for loosers cause we are the champions
( Fm7 Gm7/C )
Of the world
Cm Gm7/C
I ve taken my bows
Cm Gm7/C
And my curtain calls
Cm
You brought me fame and fortune
Gm7/C
And everything that goes with it
Cm Gm7/C
I thank you all
Eb Ab
But it s been no bed of roses
Eb Ab
No pleasure cruise
Eb
I consider it a challenge
Bb/D Cm
Before the whole human race
F7 Bb C
And I ain t gonna lose
LESSON POINTS
1. The key center for the whole song is actually best thought of as C major.
2. Simply think of the I-chord as a "minor'd one chord" and the Gm as a "minor'd V-chord". That way, you won't have to transpose anything in your head but rather simply think of the minored chords as subsitutes for the major.
3. From C, the Eb and Ab are simply the common rock-oriented flat III and flat VI chords. The Bb/D is a Bb chord first inversion and it's thought of as a common rock-oriented bVII.
4. The chorus is indeed transposed, there's no way around it. Note that F is I, Am is iii, Dm is vi, Bb is IV and C is V.
The D/F# is a majored VI chord.
The Bbm is an altered Bb chord.
Both of these are quite common.
Eb and Ab are bVII and bIII respectively, again commonly used.
The Cm is a transition back to key center C.
5. Note the vocal is done first, then the instrumental.
6. Note I'm using a vocoder AND that my pitch is lower than the original making it possible for the audience to sing along. Professional singers are mostly singing too high and this makes most recordings impossible for regular people to sing along. It's crazy. I'm not a trained vocalist-- just an ordinary person trying to sing as I think most people should get training in.
7. Note too that I'm not a "duelling piano" player which I find to be anathema to the piano business. Piano vocals in the tradition of the bars in the early 20th century are of interest to me but not two pianos and shouting as at the Shout House and similar venues.
Monday, October 19
Hello Goodbye [Beatles]
Hello Goodbye chords The Beatles Dm C You say yes, I say no G7 Am G7 You say stop and I say go, go, go Am G7 Oh, no G7 G F C You say goodbye and I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Dm C I say high, you say low G7 Am G7 You say why, and I say I don't know Am G7 Oh, no G7 G F C You say goodbye and I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello C G7 Why, why, why, why, why, why Am Do you say good bye G Am Goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye Am G7 Oh, no G7 G F C You say goodbye and I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Dm C You say yes, I say no G7 Am G7 You say stop and I say go, go, go Am G7 Oh, no G7 G F C You say goodbye and I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C I say hello Hello, hello F G# I don't know why you say goodbye C G# F I say hello hello o C helllloooo C Hela, heba helloa C Hela, heba helloa
AMAZING ROMAN NUMERALS
Ok time for Roman Numerals. Look at the first stanza.
Dm C
You say yes, I say no
G7 Am G7
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Key center is what? C? You're right. The Dm is ii, the C is I, the G7 is V7. Whoever heard of a song starting on ii? The Beatles, that's who!
Now, look at this flat 7...
F G#
I don't know why you say goodbye
C
I say hello
On the internet based chord charts, they SAY it's G# but that's because they don't know any better. It's actually A flat and it's a flat VI chord.
UPDATE-- My personal instruction video has been added to
the playlist around video #5. Notice how simple it sounds
compared to the original Beatles version. Yet the Beatles
version uses precisely the same chord changes. This in itself
is a "lesson". Never be fooled by fancy sounds. The chords
are the foundation.
Sunday, October 18
Simple Man (Lynard Skynard) cover by Rick Potvin
Key center is Am... look at it from that point of view. It's a minor one chord. Move to C which is the flat III chord. Then the G would be the flat seven chord. The minor scale obviously is the same scale as C major but rather than memorize chord progressions from a minor scale point of view, I like to look at it from the point of view of a major scale with a flat 3 and flat 7 because key centers in many songs change often... and you can't redo roman numerals back and forth in the middle of a song when the key center changes.
So here we have the repeating progression i - bIII - bVII - i. That's sweet. Take it into any key you want that way and it'll work fine.
Simple Man
By: Lynyrd Skynyrd Tabbed by: Benney60 Tuning: E standard Intro: C , G , Am , Am7 C G Am Am7 Mama told me when I was young C G Am Am7 Come sit beside me, my only son C G Am Am7 And listen closely to what I say C And if you do this G Am Am7 It'll help you some sunny day. Oh Yah! Fill: C , G , Am , Am7 C G Am Am7 Oh, take your time... Don't live too fast, C G Am Am7 Troubles will come and they will pass. C G Am Am7 You'll find a woman, yea yea, you'll find love, C And don't forget son, G Am There is someone up above. C G Am Am7 And be a simple, kind of man. C G Am Am7 Oh be something, you love and understand. C G Am Am7 Baby be a simple, kind of man. C G Oh, won't you do this for me son, Am Am7 If you can? C G Am Am7 Forget your lust, for the rich man's gold C G Am Am7 All that you need, is in your soul, C G Am Am7 And you can do this, oh baby, if you try. C G All that I want for you my son, Am Is to be satisfied. C G Am Am7 And be a simple, kind of man. C G Am Am7 Oh be something, you love and understand. C G Am Am7 Baby be a simple, kind of man. C G Oh, won't you do this for me son, Am Am7 If you can? Guitar solo: C , G , Am C G Am Am7 Boy, don't you worry... you'll find yourself. C G Am Am7 Follow your heart, lord, and nothing else. C G Am Am7 And you can do this, oh baby, if you try. C G All that I want for you my son, Am Is to be satisfied. C G Am Am7 And be a simple, kind of man. C G Am Am7 Oh be something, you love and understand. C G Am Am7 Baby be a simple, kind of man. C G Oh, won't you do this for me son, Am Am7 If you can? C G Am Am7 Baby be a simple, be a simple man. C G Am Amy Oh be something, you love and understand. C G Am Am7 Baby be a simple, kind of man. (Fade ou
Thursday, October 15
Sunday, October 11
Videography of live guitar using zoom X on old Canon camera at Sunnyslope Artwalk 2015
I work at Guitar Center in Peoria so if you see this post and you're local, drop by and say hello. - Rick
 |
| Here's Dan who I worked with in Auto Upholstery in the late 1990's around the corner at Dave Pizer's auto upholstery shop. Dan is now with the City of Phoenix running their mixing board for concerts. He recognized me before I recognized him. I haven't seen him in over 10 years at least. |
Friday, October 9
Sunday, October 4
Steve Robinson, Multimedia Prof at Confederation College, Thunder Bay co-produced "Sunglasses at Night"
Steve is a first cousin of mine on my Mom's side-- Rick.
quote
quote
Shortly after graduation, Steve headed to Toronto and worked his way up the production ladder to be Technical Producer on many concert events and Major League Baseball broadcasts. As a Senior Editor, he worked on countless national commercials, TV series such as SCTV and Music Videos – including 2 Juno’s Best Video Award Winners - Corey Hart “Sunglasses at Night” and "Gowan – A Criminal Mind”.
unquote (source- Confederation College webpage)
Here is Steve's original video
Here is the latest performance of the song by Corey Hart in Montreal in 2014.
Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart *PLEASE NOTE! This is transposed down a 1/2 step (1 fret) so you can play these chords with a capo on the 1st fret, or click the up arrow to transpose it to the actual key!* I play it in Am to save my voice. Am Am Am6 I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 So I can, So I can F G Am Am Watch you weave then breathe your story lines Am Am Am6 and I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 So I can, So I can F G Am Am Keep track of the visions in my eyes ------ F G While, she's deceiving me, F G It cuts my security (has) F G she got control of me F G I turn to her and say ------ Am Am F G Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades; oh no Am Am F G Don't masquerade with the guy in shades; (oh no) I can't believe it Am Am F D** You got it made with the guy in shades; oh no ------ Am Am Am6 I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 So I can, So I can F G Am Am Forget my name while you collect your claim Am Am Am6 and I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 So I can, So I can F G Am Am See the light that's right before my eyes ------ F G While, she's deceiving me, F G It cuts my security (has) F G she got control of me F G I turn to her and say ------ Am Am F G Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades; oh no Am Am F G Don't masquerade with the guy in shades; (oh no) I can't believe it Am Am F G Don't be afraid of the guy in shades (oh no) Am Am F G You got it made with the guy in shades; oh no ------ -Guitar Solo- Am Am Am6 Am6 F G Am Am I Said ------ Am Am I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 Am6 I wear my sunglasses at night F G I wear my sunglasses at night Am Am I say to ya now Am Am I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 Am6 I wear my sunglasses at night F G I wear my sunglasses at night Am Am I cry to you Am Am I wear my sunglasses at night Am6 Am6 I wear my sunglasses at night F G I wear my sunglasses at night Am Am
PIANO and Piano-vocal "covers" or renderings.
1. Pretty good all-piano version where you can see the chords being played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu4Rmt1O8FU
Corey Hart - Sunglasses at night (Piano Cover) - YouTube
2.Wrong chords on this one.
Corey Hart - "Sunglasses at Night" (Piano Cover) - YouTube
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