To walk into any packed pub with a piano, dust off the lid, roll up your sleeves, crack those knuckles - then knock out this fire-fingered piece of piano hammering magicness..The Allstars - L.A. Breakdown
The Allstars are.....
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Jimmy Page - guitar
Cliff Barton - bass
Carlo Little - drums
11 comments:
I'm a pretty good singer, a good guitarist, can knock out a decent bassline and know my way around a vintage synth, but I'd swap it all to be able to play piano or Hammond the way some of the great players can.
It's one of those things that if I had a time machine I would do: go back and tell my younger self to take up piano lessons rather than guitar. Oh and what I should say to Rachel Clarke to get her to go out with me.
I'm a sort of get-by guitarist (and bass).But keys are different world aren't they..Nicky Hopkins is a ledge, and plinked and plonked with the heaviest of hitters including The Who, classic period Stones and The Beatles..other faves are
Billy Preston this is one of his funkiest moments..
Mick Weaver (Wynder K Frog), who jammed on this TV theme
Speaking of vintage synths - have you checked these out - I've got both and they are fab...
Microkorg
Roland SH 32
Both of those came out just as I rediscovered guitars. I've a Korg prophecy which was pretty much the first of the 'new' synths to attempt to recreate the vintage ones. I like the Novation synths - the Supernova is probably one of my favourites, very very easy to program. I've never splashed out on real vintage, I've used a few quite a lot in the past, but to be honest I can't tell the difference in the sound and the new models have the modern features like decent memory and a huge choice in filters and stuff that make them so so lovely.
Apparently plug-ins are the way to go, my brother's remixed/made these tunes on his laptop and doesn't even have a single synth in the house..
Standing In The Way Of Control (Tronik Youth Remix)
The Gossip: Listen Up
Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die
I get nervous about having everything on a computer; I've killed many a computer over the years. The thought of having my synth power locked in there...but yes, there are some absolutely amazing synth plug ins. And the amount of them you have is only limited by the power of the machine.
Nicky Hopkins was fantastic. Didn't he have a minor hit in the UK with a version of the Kinks 'Mr Pleasant'?
I'll be posting a tune by one of my fave piano players at Iron Leg next week.
That was awesome. I took piano lessons when I was growing up, but I never got all that good. I would love to have been able to hit the keys like that. I remember I would imagine that one day I would become the next Jerry Lee Lewis. lol
I know so many people that have sold banks of synths and gone the plug-in route - But I prefer that tactile aspect myself. Have you checked out Kaoss Pads Simon - self contained little units, that do almost everything I've got version 2 well worth a go..
Hey hey Larry F16 (the king of crate-diggers) don't know about that, but have got his solo album The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins - great version of Satisfaction on there...
Speaking to people I know who've had lessons Keith, they seem to get bogged down with theory - Mrs PM bought a piano last year, and I suggested she learnt guitar style - practice a few classic songs with simple chord changes (Rolling Stones and some Beatles)and gradually build from there - one year on, and she can play almost anything now..
bummer, when i were a kid, my mum and dad paid for me to have piano lessons. They even got a second hand piano for me too. My teacher reckoned i was a natural too... but i wernt interested - don't think the clasical based training helped. As soon as i was able I kicked it into touch. I can still hear my mum and dad saying "you'll regret that son"... guess what??? just about every day :-(
P
you should do it P - seriously! Get yourself a chord shapes book, and a couple of songbooks - you'll be off in no time (electric piano's can be picked up for peanuts)
Here's a couple of songbooks, that could right up your alley..
Punk songs
Beatles
Bowie
Many years ago (20) I made some demos and friends made comments about my great keyboard ability...
Sadly I should have owned up....
1) I owned a guitar synth at the time and many parts were played on that.
2) Via the guitar synth, or keyboard I played in parts to an Alesis sequencer and then built up in layers a complete part, often chords on keyboard then bass on guitar. You then play it back at tempo and it sounded like I was great....
Never mind...
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