Elmo Peeler Note-for-Note Piano Transcriptions |
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Greetings!
Today is the first day of February, and time again for my monthly newsletter, to keep you informed of recent transcriptions and other news of the last month.
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This month I've transcribed Bob Dylan playing Gospel-influenced solo piano back in 1965.
Also brand new is a beautiful performance of "Adiemus", a romantic and flowing piano piece by a very successful YouTube pianist, Laurent Callens.
Plus, a brand-new exercise that shows how to play several important elements of Gospel-style piano: walk-ups, walk-downs, IV-chord bumps and strums.
BTW, to make sure that my email doesn't end up in your Spam folder, please add me to your Contact list and/or mark my email as "Not Spam".
Note that every Title Heading is clickable.
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ALL of the Sheet Music listed on my website has been personally transcribed by me, and guaranteed to be note-for-note perfect.
Whether you:
- have a cover band and want to get your keyboard parts exactly correct,
- are a professional who wants to study the styles of rock's greatest keyboard players, or
- are a hobbyist that wants to learn how to play pop/rock and great piano music,
...these note-for-note transcriptions will prove extremely helpful.
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In the News! - Bob Dylan's "Piano Mood" & Laurent Callens' "Adiemus"
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Bob Dylan was born in 1941 as Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised from the age of six in Hibbing, MN, where his father ran a furniture and appliance store.
In his early years he listened to the radio—first to blues and country stations broadcasting out of Shreveport, Louisiana, and later, when he was a teenager, to rock and roll.
In high school Dylan formed several bands, including the Golden Chords, in which he performed songs by Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Their performance of Danny & the Juniors' "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" at their high school talent show was so loud that the principal cut the microphone. In 1959, Dylan's high school yearbook carried the caption "Robert Zimmerman: to join 'Little Richard'." That year, as Elston Gunnn, he performed two dates with Bobby Vee, playing piano and clapping.
In college at the University of Minnesota he gravitated more to folk music, began performing at the Ten O'Clock Scholar, a coffeehouse a few blocks from campus, and became involved in the folk music circuit.
During this period, he began to introduce himself as "Bob Dylan". In his memoir, he said he had considered adopting the surname Dillon before he unexpectedly saw poems by Dylan Thomas and decided upon that less common variant.
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At the end of his first year of college he dropped out and moved to New York City.
The rest is rock-and-roll history. His love of classic literature led him to write lyrics that redefined pop/rock lyrics. Dylan is simply the most respected songwriter in the history of music.
And although many think of Dylan as a guitar player, he has played piano since childhood and still does.
Around 1965 someone filmed him jamming on an upright piano, a video that has been posted onto YouTube under the title of "Piano Mood". It contains some gospel elements, including 'walk-ups' in the left hand, and I've transcribed part of the video, which can be seen here. |
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My new Bob Dylan transcription:
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"Adiemus", a World-music song written in 1994 by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, premiered in a 1994 Delta Air Lines television advertisement, and was also used in Delta in-flight videos. It was officially released on Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary in 1995.
The main idea was to create a modern song using classical forms, such as rondo and ternary. Written in D minor, it's a mix of African-tribal and Celtic-style melodies.
The song was also used as a soundtrack within the Italian TV programme Ciao Darwin.
"Adiemus" is often misattributed to Enya, primarily due to a television advertisement for Pure Moods, the first United States release of a series of compilation albums of new-age music released by Virgin Records, featuring both Karl Jenkins' "Adiemus" and Enya's "Orinoco Flow".
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A remarkable self-taught French pianist, Laurent Callens, has posted onto YouTube his own piano solo arrangement of "Adiemus" - a very Romantic version with flowing arpeggios, tasteful rubato, and a wide dynamic range from pianissimo to fortissimo.
Callens, who began practicing 2 or 3 hours a day at the age of 21, has become the 3rd-most-listened-to French musician with more than five million views.
Check out his video of "Adiemus" here. |
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My new Laurent Callens transcription:
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Laurent Callens' "Adiemus" (YouTube)
Note-for-Note Accuracy
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Bob Dylan playing the 88's |
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Bob Dylan, a true literary genius, is known for his song-writing. But he has loved rock, blues and gospel piano since his childhood.
Someone posted onto YouTube a video of him playing a gospel-influenced extemporaneous jam that's never been released on an album.
Although very brief - only about a minute-and-a-half - it shows a side of Dylan that many have not been exposed to. It's not folk-influenced, nor does it have a "pop" music feel. If one had to describe it, gospel is perhaps the best description.
This brief piano jam, mostly in 4/4 time, also contains some odd meters thrown into it - bars of 3/8, 5/8 & 7/8.
Drawn to it by its gospel approach, I've transcribed the main 50-second section - note-for-note.
But because it does contain those odd meters that prevent one from tapping a foot to it, I've also made my own arrangement of it, where I've kept Dylan's notes but smoothed-out the timing, with nothing but 4/4 bars in it.
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Both versions - Dylan's original improv plus my own smoothed-out arrangment of it - are included together in this month's new transcription of Dylan at the piano way back around 1965. For lack of a better title, I've used the YouTube title, "Piano Mood".
If you haven't heard it, click on the YouTube link to hear it and to watch him play it. |
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Also new this month is my note-for-note transcription of Laurent Callens' wonderful arrangement and performance of the Romantic ballad, "Adiemus", which combines a pop song with classical elements to create a lovely - and dramatic - piece for piano solo.
Starting softly with the melody in single-notes, it builds to a very dramatic fortissimo climax with Left-hand arpeggios supporting Right-hand octaves and full 4-note chords, which then slowly ebbs away into a subdued Coda, ending with a whisper.
And one doesn't need to be conservatory-trained to play it. Callens himself didn't start teaching himself piano until he was 21 years old, but it's remarkable what he's achieved with 2 or 3 hours per day of practice.
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( click here to hear & see Dylan's original improv on YouTube) ( click here to hear my Arrangement of Dylan's improv)
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My other Bob Dylan transcriptions:
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Improve Your Gospel-related Bag of Pianistic Tricks
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My new exercise this month will help you learn a few important elements used in Gospel, Gospel-Rock, Pop, and Country & Western.
Primarily focused on Walk-ups & Walk-downs, it will show you how to voice the chords as you move from a I-chord up to a IV-chord, then back down again, plus the voicings when you walk-down from a I-chord to a V-chord, then back up again.
All pianists love the sound of those walk-ups & walk-downs, but many aren't sure of exactly what notes to play. This exercise will show you how.
Also included are examples of IV-chord bumps - that's when a chord a perfect-fourth up from the root of the current chord is briefly struck, as a way of increasing harmonic interest and keeping the ear from getting bored with the current chord. Even IV-chord bumps of a IV-chord bump are included.
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Plus, 'strums' are also demonstrated - another important element.
This exercise is in four parts - the first section shows the basic voicing of the walk-ups and walk-downs.
The other three sections progressively add a little more rhythm to the walk-ups and walk-downs.
(BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, pleases check out the other 83 exercises available.) |
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BTW, if you like Gospel piano, this is one of the very best versions of "Amazing Grace". |
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'Custom' (to-order) transcriptions can be expensive because of the time required. And when a recording is particularly long and/or complex, the expense can be too much for one person.
The way it works is simple: No contributor will be allowed to pay in advance, but only after the transcription is finished and distributed to all the contributors and everyone is happy with it.
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The way it works is simple: No contributor will be allowed to pay in advance, but only after the transcription is finished and distributed to all the contributors and everyone is happy with it. |
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if you'd like to suggest a recording.
My 'CrowdFunded' transcriptions to-date:
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If you're using a vintage synthesizer, please check out our synth patches here.
These are the most highly-organized and best-sounding synth patches available anywhere, guaranteed.
Ensoniq
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Even if you don't use the actual hardware synthesizers, there are software emulations that will allow you to play some of these patches on your computer, as VSTI's in your sequencer. These include:
Korg Legacy Digital Edition (for M1 & T1 synths)
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SQ8L (for ESQ-1 synths)
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Whether you love rock-and-roll, boogie-woogie, Country-&-Western or the classics - or all of them, as I do, embrace your passion and musical talent.
I've had the good fortune to have taught some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, and if you're serious about learning, I'll be happy to help you, too.
By means of Skype lessons (or in-person if you're in L.A.), I can coach you and help you to improve your technique, your rhythm, your ability to improvise, your knowledge of music theory, your sight-reading, and to develop relative pitch.
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- The Beach Boys
- Rod Stewart - All 'Unplugged' Concerts
- Ricky Nelson - Stone Canyon Band
And I've also won classical piano competitions performing Beethoven, Rubinstein and Saint-Saens' Piano Concerti. See me playing here. "Josie's Boogie" is quite the virtuoso dramatic minor-key showpiece; check out the ascending double-octave run at the ending... :)
Thanks to the internet, I can help you play piano better - rock or classical, by ear or by note.
Perhaps all you need is just an hour on Skype discussing rock keyboards.
1) Your musical background
2) Where you are currently, musically-speaking
3) Your musical goals
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My students include members of:
- Weezer (Rivers & Brian)
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Vampire Weekend (Ezra & newest addition, Greta)
- Incubus (Mike)
- The Strokes (Nick)
- Rooney (Robert)
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Jason Schwartzman (Mozart in the Jungle)
- Courteney Cox
- Pablo Dylan
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"THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO! I pray someday in my lifetime I have the opportunity to meet you.
I've been purchasing from you for years, but this last purchase (Loggins & Messina, Long John Baldry, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Michael Martin Murphey, Orleans, Ramsey Lewis, Ray Charles, Richard Tee, Stevie Nicks, Styx, Willie Nelson, Young-Holt Unlimited) I am very excited about, since we're all locked down. Good practice times!
Happy holidays, looking forward to the next round."
- Kathy J.
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Los Angeles, CA
323-650-6602
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