Elmo Peeler Note-for-Note Piano Transcriptions | | |
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Dear Elmo,
Today is the first day of June 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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Meat Loaf - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" | |
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I'm back! - and with four truly exceptional offerings. And am accepting new transcription requests - email me your wish list.
My favorite new offering this month is the historically long, complex - and quite amazing - piano track on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," played by Roy Bittan of Springsteen's E-Street Band. My note-for-note transcription also contains the complete clavinet part.
Also brand-new is Ray Charles' "Mess Around," the outstanding, rare 1953 rehearsal demo with Ahmet Ertegun that wasn't released until 2005 - a great piano track by a true musical genius.
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Also new this month is a transcription of Richard Tee improvising his own boogie-woogie version of "Happy Birthday" from his 1984 tutorial video Contemporary Piano.
And the new exercise this month is a study in chord inversions in the Allman Brothers' style.
And a big Thank You to everyone who sent supportive notes during my ailment. I'm healthy again, thank goodness. Now show me how much you care by downloading lots of my transcriptions! ;) (I really have worked hard since recovering to make them better than ever.)
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.
Elmo Peeler
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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! - Meat Loaf, Roy Bittan, & Ray Charles
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday Boogie-Woogie"
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In 1975 Meat Loaf and his partner/composer Jim Steinman chose Todd Rundgren to produce their first album, Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977 and becoming one of the best-selling albums in history - over 43 million albums sold, and still selling about 200,000 copies per year.
Rundgren chose Roy Bittan (of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) to play piano on the album.
Born in 1949 in Queens, New York City, Bittan said that music first entered his life when, as a child, he saw an accordion player, Dick Contino, on the Ed Sullivan Show.
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"I said, 'I want to play that.' He was pre-Elvis; from like 1949 to 1952, he was one of the biggest entertainers in the U.S. - very Italian-looking guy, muscular. Women in those days would throw their hotel room keys at him."
I was too little to understand that part, but I loved the instrument, so I wanted to take accordion lessons, and my parents indulged me. I studied the accordion."
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Ray Charles - "Mess Around" | |
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Born in 1930 Ray Charles was blind by the age of seven; one of the last things he saw was his younger brother drown in his mother's laundry tub.
His destitute, grieving mother sent seven-year-old Ray to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945.
Gifted with perfect pitch, he was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven using braille music.
While Charles was happy to play classics, he was more interested in the jazz, blues, and country music he heard on the radio.
On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies at which Charles would play piano and sing popular songs.
On both Halloween and George Washington's birthday, the black department of the school held socials at which Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys" and sang his own arrangement of "Jingle Bell Boogie." During this time, he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine.
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Ray Charles' mother died in the Spring of 1944, when Ray was 14. Her death came as a shock to him; he later said the deaths of his brother and mother were "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles returned to school after the funeral but was expelled in October for playing a prank on his teacher.
After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa, and then at 17 bought a one-way bus ticket to Seattle, Washington. After getting a regular 1-to-5-AM club gig, he recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart. While in Seattle, he met 'Bumps' Blackwell and Quincy Jones, who encouraged him to move to Los Angeles, which he did in 1950.
Two years later Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records bought his contract for $2,500 (almost $30,000 in today's money), and immediately started recording him.
In 1953 with Ahmet Ertegun standing feet away in the NYC Atlantic studio, Ray recorded an instrumental version of "Heartbreaker", using only an acoustic piano - no other instruments, no vocals whatsoever - just young 22-year-old Ray Charles revealing his genius to the world through his piano. This piano-only version was not released until 2005 on Pure Genius - The Complete Atlantic Recordings.
Also in 1953 "Mess Around" (like "Heartbreaker", written by him with lyrics by Ertegun) hit #3 on the R&B charts, and then "I Got a Woman" reached #2 on the R&B chart in 1954.
After other modest successes, his big break-through hit came in 1959 with "What'd I Say", followed in 1960 by "Georgia" which garnered four Grammy Awards.
In 1962 his album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was released, where he interpreted some of C&W's greatest songs through his own R&B prism, and the result was a stunning artistic (and commercial) success. "I Can't Stop Loving You" was the #1 Pop song for five weeks, and the #1 R&B record for ten weeks.
In November 1964 Ray released "Makin' Whoopee" as a single, with a vocal version on the 'A' side and an Instrumental version on the 'B' side, recorded 'Live'.
One of the 20th century's greatest musicians, Ray Charles was not only an extraordinary singer but also a master of the keyboard, capable of playing jazz on the highest levels with the most talented jazz artists.
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Richard Tee was for years New York City's top session keyboardist, playing for all the biggest stars.
And it wasn't just because of his pleasing personality, which he had in abundance.
It was because he was head and shoulders above all other players - he had great technique, improvising parts that most players couldn't play after weeks of practice. And great rhythm - drummer Steve Gadd was his best friend and musical soulmate. Plus an encyclopedic knowledge of chords - just listen to his substitutions in "Happy Birthday".
Born in Brooklyn in 1943, Richard was classically trained for 12 years of his early life, attending the High School of Music and Art and the Manhattan School of Music.
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Richard Tee's hands while playing
the E-flat 9th chord in
"Happy Birthday Boogie Woogie"
(in the key of F)
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After graduating from the High School of Music and Art he obtained a position at Motown Records as a 'house pianist', where his first recordings included a session with Marvin Gaye.
As time progressed he became a staff arranger at Motown, and started playing more organ.
After returning to New York, he continued to work in the studio, and along with other leaders of the NYC studio scene, founded his own band, Stuff, which was the NYC equivalent of L.A.'s Wrecking Crew.
BTW, the drummer for Stuff, Steve Gadd, was a classmate of mine at the Eastman School of Music.
In 1984 Richard made an hour-long video tutorial, Contemporary Piano, in which he demonstrates his amazing R&B/Gospel style. He uses "Happy Birthday" to show various ways it could be played, first changing it from its usual 3/4 meter to 4/4, and then playing it with very creative R&B/Gospel chord changes and rhythms, and finally playing it in a classic broken-octave boogie-woogie style. There was no song so simple that Tee couldn't transform into a masterpiece.
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June's New Transcriptions - Meat Loaf - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", Ray Charles - "Mess Around", Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday"
Note-for-Note Accuracy
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This month I'm pleased to offer three new transcriptions, each with a truly outstanding piano part.
My own favorite is Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" - a complex, platinum hit recording of almost symphonic drama, beautifully played by Roy Bittan (of Springsteen's E-Street Band) at his best.
Over the course of this very long song - almost nine minutes - there are many sections and tempo changes, as there are in "Bat Out of Hell".
And as in "Bat Out of Hell" Bittan plays a different style in almost every section, from terrific rocking in the fast sections to beautiful, almost classical stylings in some of the slower sections.
It is unclear who played the very funky, rhythmic clavinet part (if not Bittan then perhaps Jim Steinman or Roger Powell). I've transcribed both the complete piano part and the complete clavinet part, and included them in this definitive transcription.
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And one of the most legendary musicians of the 20th century was Ray Charles. Blind and with perfect pitch, Ray knew every note, every riff, every chord that he heard, and brought his genius to everything that he recorded. "Mess Around" is an example of his ability to turn a three-chord blues song into a blues classic.
Written by Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Ray to Atlantic Records in 1952, "Mess Around" was released in 1953 as a single, charting at #3 on the R&B charts that year. However, an outstanding recording was made during a rehearsal session with just Ray playing and Ertegun singing. Also recorded in 1953, it was not released until 2005 on Ray Charles: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952 - 1959). This is the very best recording of "Mess Around".
The studio release of "Mess Around" contained an excellent Ray Charles piano solo, so that solo is also included in my transcription, which has two solos - the original rehearsal solo plus the studio single solo.
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My third new transcription this month is one of my favorite players improvising his own boogie-woogie version of "Happy Birthday" - yep, that would be the great session player, Richard Tee.
In Tee's 1984 tutorial video, Contemporary Piano, he is asked to play "Happy Birthday" in several different styles, including boogie-woogie.
He smiles broadly at the interviewer and says, "You ask some hard questions," and then immediately launches into this version, performing the left hand walking octaves as though he'd been practicing them for days.
This toe-tapping "Happy Birthday" boogie would be a fun addition to every pianist's repertoire.
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Two options are available for every transcription: sheet music and a MIDI file.
Meat Loaf - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" - Piano & Clavinet Parts - Roy Bittan, piano
(transcribed by Elmo Peeler) - NEW!
(to hear on YouTube, click here)
Ray Charles - "Mess Around" - 1953 Rehearsal with Ahmet Ertegun - Ray Charles, piano
(transcribed by Elmo Peeler) - NEW!
(to hear on YouTube, click here)
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday Boogie-Woogie" from Contemporary Piano
(transcribed by Elmo Peeler) - NEW!
(to watch on YouTube, click here)
My other Roy Bittan transcriptions:
Meat Loaf - "Bat Out of Hell" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bob Seger - "Roll Me Away" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Because the Night" - Roy Bittan, piano
Bruce Springsteen - "Jungleland (Live 1980 - Piano Interlude)" - Roy Bittan, piano
My other Ray Charles transcriptions:
Ray Charles - Boogie Woogie (1953 Instrumental) - Piano
Ray Charles - "Heartbreaker" (1953 Instrumental Version) - Piano
Ray Charles - "Makin' Whoopee" - Piano
Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars" - Piano
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say" - Verses 1 & 2 - Electric Piano
Ray Charles & Billy Joel - Baby Grand (2-piano duo) - piano
If you haven't heard "Sweet Sixteen Bars" and you like blues or gospel piano, you owe it to yourself to listen to it here - an amazing recording.
Also, Dr. John liked to play what he called the 'Ray Charles Ending', a cool walk-down progression that can sometimes be tacked onto the end of a piece as a coda (listen to it here).
My other Richard Tee transcriptions & exercises:
Richard Tee - Contemporary Piano - First Piece
Richard Tee - Happy Birthday - Version 1
Richard Tee - Happy Birthday - Version 2
Exercise - Harmonize a Scale Richard Tee-style
Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style
Propulsion Exercise (Forward Momentum) - Richard Tee Influenced
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This exercise will help gain facility with the three basic Right Hand chord inversions: root position and first and second inversions.
The exercise is in two sections. In the 'A' section a 4-bar phrase is played in first inversion, then up to second inversion, and then up to root position. Then a second inversion chord descends more quickly through all the inversions. This completes the first 14-bar section.
The 'B' section repeats the first section but as a slightly enhanced variation, i.e., a couple of extra pick-up chords have been added leading into the original phrases.
Not only will this help you become more comfortable with chord inversions, it might also give you some insight into the Allman Brothers style.
Two options are available, sheet music and a MIDI file.
BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out all of the 100 exercises
available.)
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Gospel Corner - Say 'Amen' Somebody
The Hangout Place for Gospel Classics
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You don't have to be from the Deep South to love Gospel piano, nor do you need to belong to any particular religion. All you have to have is a love for wonderful old-time, swinging, uplifting piano-playing.
Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Richard Tee and Ray Charles, some of the greatest keyboard players ever, loved the style and infused their own performances with Gospel licks and rhythms.
Inspired by the wonderful playing of the portly Associate Pastor/Musical Director of my childhood's Baptist Church deep in the piney woods of Mississippi, in recent years I've transcribed and/or arranged a few Gospel classics.
This little corner of my newsletter is where I'll keep you informed of my latest efforts to share that old-time Gospel sound.
Here are my Gospel transcriptions and/or arrangements, plus some exercises:
Full-blown Gospel:
Heavily Gospel Influenced:
Moderately Gospel Influenced:
Gospel-related Exercises:
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MIDI Corner - Transcriptions Turned into MIDI Files
Helpful for Those that Don't Read Sheet Music Well
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Most of my transcriptions have heretofore been available only as sheet music in PDF's. That is gradually changing - some are now also available as MIDI files, which can be especially helpful for those who would prefer to listen to them than to read the sheet-music notation.
This section of my newsletter is where I'll keep you informed of which transcriptions and exercises are available as MIDI files.
BTW, if you'd like my sheet music in a MIDI file, just let me know which one(s).
Here are the currently available MIDI files of my transcriptions, arrangements, and exercises:
MIDI Files of Rock, Pop & Classical Transcriptions:
Meat Loaf - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" (with Tempo Map) - NEW!
Ray Charles - "Mess Around" - NEW!
Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday Boogie-Woogie" - NEW!
Donald Fagen - Standard 12-bar Blues (in A Major) transcr/arr. by Elmo Peeler).mid
Meat Loaf - "Bat Out of Hell" (with Tempo Map).mid
Bach - Violin Concerto, BWV 1042 - 2nd Mvmt - For Synth/Sampler or Piano.mid
Bach - Double Violin Concerto, BWV 1043 - 2nd Mvmt - For Synth/Sampler or Piano.mid
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Chinese Checkers".mid
Dave 'Baby' Cortez - "Rinky Dink".mid
Richard Tee - Contemporary Piano - First Piece.mid
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Hip Hug-Her".mid
Billy Vera & the Beaters - "At This Moment".mid
The Beatles (with Billy Preston) - "I've Got a Feeling" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Floyd Cramer - "One Day at a Time (Sweet Jesus)" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Gerry & the Pacemakers - "How Do You Do It" - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Glenn Frey - "Route 66" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Billy Preston & The Beatles - "Without a Song" (gospel jam)(transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Ray Charles - "Makin' Whoopee" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Bonnie Raitt - "I Can't Make You Love Me" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
The Beatles (with Billy Preston) - "Get Back" (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Mavis Staples - Hard Times Come Again No More (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Elvis Presley - Love Me Tender (arranged by Elmo Peeler).mid
Sugar Chile Robinson - Numbers Boogie (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Sugar Chile Robinson - Numbers Boogie - with Left Hand in Broken Octaves.mid
The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Van Morrison - Benediction - Piano Part (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
The Meters - Cabbage Alley - Piano Part - Intro & Verse (trans. by Elmo Peeler).mid
Elmo Peeler - A Whiter Shade of Pale - (arranged for Solo Piano).mid
Leon Russell - Shoot Out on the Plantation (studio version) (transcr. by Elmo Peeler).mid
Leon Russell - Shoot Out on the Plantation (Solo Piano version) (transcr. by Elmo Peeler).mid
The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year - Piano Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Liberace - Chopsticks (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Long John Baldry - Conditional Discharge (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1957) (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Jerry Lee Lewis - Trouble in Mind - 2 Pianos: Jerry Lee &Tony Ashton (transcr. by Elmo Peeler).mid
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Allman Brothers Band - Southbound - Complete Piano Part with Solo (transcr. by Elmo Peeler).mid
Bill Payne - The Ballad of Davy Crockett (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
Saving Mr. Banks (8 Different Songs) - Richard Sherman demos from "Mary Poppins".mid
Stevie Ray Vaughan - The House Is Rockin' - Piano Intro & Solo (transcribed by Elmo Peeler).mid
MIDI Files of Exercises:
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Chord Inversions (in the Allman Brothers style).mid - NEW!
Elmo Peeler - Rippling Fingers Exercise.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Crossing Hands - No.3.mid
Elmo Peeler - Propulsion Exercise.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Flips & Tremolos in 3rds.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise - Transform a Melody into Floyd Cramer's Style - Mary Had a Little Lamb.mid
Elmo Peeler - Alberti Bass Exercise.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Harmonized Arpeggios for Two Hands.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise for Crossing Hands, No.2.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise for the Wrists - Banjo on the Piano.mid
Elmo Peeler - Articulation Exercise in 6ths, Inspired by Bach's Invention No.8.mid
Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Chromatic Double-thirds.mid
Elmo Peeler - Leon Russell Exercise.mid
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-2-1 Exercise for the 4th & 5th fingers.mid
Elmo Peeler - 4-5-4-1 Exercise for the 4th & 5th fingers.mid
Elmo Peeler - Rhythmic Exercise - Splitting the Left Hand.mid
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I've had the good fortune to have worked with 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.
I've had the good fortune to have toured the world playing keyboards and arranging/conducting for these Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Artists:
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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.
Or if you live near the Hollywood Hills, I'll teach you in my home or yours.
If you'd like to improve, drop me a note at info@manymidi.com. Tell me three things:
1) Your musical background
2) Where you are currently, musically-speaking
3) Your musical goals
If you'd like to step back in time, watch me playing piano with Ricky Nelson on the Tonight Show - click here.
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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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"Elmo, you won't believe this but I was heading to my studio (it's in my house) and thinking, "I've got to tell Elmo how impressed I am with his transcriptions of Leon Russell's Plantation and Roll away the stone.
I dropped each of them into my DAW aligned the bars and the transcription is exactly right, what pleasure.
And don't you know it my second favorite artist to study is Donald Fagan (sic) and Steely Dan, so I guess I'll have to pick these up too (soon).
Many thanks, Elmo, what a blast.
- J. R.
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Los Angeles, CA
323-650-6602
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