Elmo Peeler Note-for-Note Piano Transcriptions
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Greetings!
Today is the first day of October 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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Sugar Chile Robinson, Boogie-woogie Child Prodigy
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Brand-new this month is a very special boogie-woogie that was played by a true child prodigy, Sugar Chile Robinson, who was winning talent contests at the age of three.
Another new transcription is The Beatles' classic "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", played by John Lennon with a second piano overdub by Paul McCartney.
Plus, there's a new exercise for the wrists to increase strength and flexibility. It will also show you how to emulate the sound of a banjo on the piano.
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".
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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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From Classic 1940's Boogie-Woogie to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
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Frank "Sugar Chile" Robinson was born in 1938 in Detroit, Michigan, and at an early age showed an unusual gift for singing the blues and accompanying himself on the piano.
At the age of three he won a talent show at the Paradise Theatre in Detroit. Self-taught, he incorporated techniques such as slapping the keys with elbows and fists.
In 1945 at the age of six he played guest spots at the Paradise Theatre with Lionel Hampton, who wanted to take Sugar Chile on tour with him, but was prevented by child protection legislation from doing so.
However, Robinson performed on radio with Hampton and Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, and appeared at the age of seven as himself in the 1946 Hollywood film, No Leave, No Love starring Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn.
Also in 1946, he played for President Harry S. Truman at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, shouting out "How'm I Doin', Mr. President?" – which became his catchphrase – during his performance of "Caldonia". He was the first African American performer to appear at the annual WHCA dinner.
He began touring major theaters, setting box office records in Detroit and California.
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Sugar Chile Robinson, child prodigy extraordinaire
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In 1949 he was given special permission to join the American Federation of Musicians and record his first releases on Capitol Records, "Numbers Boogie" and "Caldonia", both reaching the Billboard R&B chart. At the age of eleven in 1950, he toured and appeared on television with Count Basie and in a short film with Billie Holiday and Count Basie. The following year, he toured the United Kingdom, appearing at the London Palladium.
However, in 1952 he stopped recording, later explaining: "I wanted to go to school... I wanted some school background in me and I asked my Dad if I could stop, and I went to school because I honestly wanted my college diploma".
Until 1956 he continued to make occasional appearances as a jazz musician, and performed on one occasion with saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, but then gave up his musical career entirely. Continuing his academic studies, he earned a degree in history from Olivet College and one in psychology from the Detroit Institute of Technology.
In the 1960s, he worked for Detroit's WGPR-TV, the first black-owned TV station in the U.S., and also helped set up small record labels in Detroit and opened a recording studio. In recent years he has made a comeback as a musician with the help of the American Music Research Foundation.
In 2002, he appeared at a special concert celebrating Detroit music, and in 2007 traveled to Britain to appear at a rock and roll weekend festival. In the last Dr. Boogie show of 2013, Sugar Chile Robinson was the featured artist, with four of his classic hits showcased amid biographical sketches of his early career.
On April 30, 2016, he attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner on the 70th anniversary of his appearance at the 1946 dinner. He met President Obama and was saluted during the dinner, receiving a standing ovation as the picture of him as a child appeared on video screens. In 2016, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.
Check out this video of Sugar Chile performing "Numbers Boogie".
My new Sugar Chile Robinson transcription:
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The Beatles in 1968 - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
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John Winston Lennon was born in war-time England, on October 9, 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman of Irish descent, who was away at the time of his son’s birth.
Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager; his first band, the Quarrymen, evolved in 1960 into The Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.
When the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced ten albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and songs such as “Give Peace a Chance”, “Working Class Hero”, and “Imagine”. After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon.
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He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of The Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994.
In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth; and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time.
By 2012, Lennon’s solo album sales in the United States exceeded 14 million; and, as writer, co-writer, or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart.
My transcriptions by The Beatles:
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BTW, when you think of Halloween (it is October, after all), think of Leon Russell's excellent piano part on the classic "Monster Mash" by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett. If you'd like to hear it, just click here.
My transcription of Leon's piano track is available here. Happy Halloween!
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Sugar Chile Robinson - "Numbers Boogie"
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There are two brand-new transcriptions available this month, one a terrific, classic boogie-woogie and the other a Beatles classic.
Sugar Chile Robinson was a blues/boogie child prodigy at the age of three, but he never sounded like a child. His boogie-woogie used terrific chords, great lines and rhythms, and often employed excellent chromatics. It was like he came fully formed, musically, right out of the box. In 1949 at the tender age of ten he recorded "Numbers Boogie" that reached the R&B chart. This is a note-for-note transcription of "Numbers Boogie", as he performed it on a short film that also included Billie Holiday and Count Basie - pretty musically-exalted company, indeed.
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This transcription not only contains all of his chords, rhythms and notes, but it also shows where he was playing with his closed right fist and with his right elbow - he not only 'swung' like crazy but he was also quote a showman.
If you like boogie-woogie from its heyday in the 1940's, you'll love learning and playing this old classic from a very young piano genius.
And if you want to take this terrific boogie-woogie up another notch, I've re-arranged his Left Hand part into broken octaves, sort of like Liberace might have played it, creating quite the virtuoso boogie-woogie. The Right Hand is still exactly like Sugar Chile played it, but the Left Hand is now even more blazing.
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Also new this month is The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", released in 1968 on their double-album The Beatles, also known as the "White Album". Written in India by Paul McCartney, it was at first an attempt at a ska-influenced recording. John Lennon played the piano part, although Paul overdubbed two bars of a second-piano part near the end. This is a note-for-note transcription of the piano part, not only including John's complete piano track but also the two higher-octave piano overdubs by Paul. If you'd like to play "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" exactly as John (& Paul) recorded it, you'll be happy with this. It's fun to play, and yet fairly simple to master.
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Last month I published my own arrangement for solo piano of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Although last month's releases are not usually mentioned in the subsequent newsletter, it was so well received that if you haven't already heard it, perhaps you should give it a listen here. It's not very difficult to play, and is perfect for playing without any accompanying musicians.
It uses the original organ lines from the classic rock recording, and re-voices them to make them more 'pianistic', taking advantage of the greater range of the piano keyboard.
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The organ lines are enhanced by sometimes putting them into octaves and chords, and occasionally (in the middle section) adding rock-style 'twangs' (slip-notes).
Also, a smoothly flowing Left Hand accompaniment has been added, making it perfect for a pianist to perform solo without needing a rhythm section accompaniment.
However, if you play in a band, this can also be used as a very effective piano solo between the sung verses.
My arrangement for piano:
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Play the Banjo on Your Piano
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Wrist Exercise - Banjo on the Piano
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Pianists often practice finger exercises, but it's important to also develop strong - yet flexible and supple - wrists.
This exercise is specifically written to help one's wrists achieve greater strength and to 'hinge', as opposed to being rigid with 'locked' wrists which requires the forearm to expend more energy than necessary.
This is partly inspired by a classical piece, "The Banjo" written in 1853 by the famous American concert pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. In that piece he used Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" during the climax and made it sound like it was played on a banjo.
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This exercise uses slightly different voicings (three-note chords instead of Gottschalk's four-note chords) to make "Battle Hymn of the Republic" sound like it was played on a banjo.
This style of alternating hands will help to develop good wrist technique, which can be learned by first practicing it slowly, similar to 5-finger exercises. If your wrists are too rigid and need to gain more flexibility, this exercise should help.
This exercise is available as both a sheet-music PDF and as a MIDI file.
BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out the other 91 exercises available.)
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(to listen to it, click here)
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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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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 Transcriptions:
MIDI Files of Exercises:
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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. Get the most out of your vintage hardware with these large patch libraries:
Ensoniq
Kawai
Korg
Roland
Yamaha
Even if you don't use the actual hardware synthesizers, there are software emulations that will allow you to play these patches on your computer, as VSTI's in your sequencer. These include:
Korg Legacy Digital Edition (for M1 & T1 synths)
Native Instruments FM8 (for DX7 synths)
Aurora FM (for DX7 & TX81Z synths)
SQ8L (for ESQ-1 synths)
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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.
Or if you live near the Hollywood Hills and are willing to wear a mask, I'll teach you in my home.
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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Your transcriptions have always been very helpful. I used your Simple Man to create my own arrangement in Bb (easier to sing). And there are so many more I purchased and used.
Lying here (with COVID) has caused me to be grateful for all the wonderful gifts God has given me, and your transcriptions are one of them!
Thank you so much!"
- David K.
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Los Angeles, CA
323-650-6602
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