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Elmo Peeler Note-for-Note Piano Transcriptions

Dear Elmo,


Today is the first day of February 2025 and time again for my monthly newsletter, to keep you informed of recent transcriptions and other news of the last month.

The Beatles - The Greatest Rock Band

created a musical "Revolution"

I have four new transcriptions this month, including Nicky Hopkins' entire electric piano part on The Beatles' "Revolution" - one of rock's greatest recordings.


Also new this month is a Billy Powell classic - Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Honky-Tonk Night Time Man".


Plus, Boz Scagg's "Last Tango on 16th Street" - an aural portrait of a late-night stroll through San Francisco's Mission District.


And a section from Tim McGraw's "Something Like That", played by Steve Nathan, named "Keyboardist of the Year" for 13 consecutive years


Plus a brand-new exercise that shows how to use the two most common chord substitutions in rock and blues - plus several others - in a blues context.

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

About Elmo Peeler Sheet Music

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.

And as always, if you ever need any help, just drop me a note at: elmo@manymidi.com

In the News! - The Beatles & Lynyrd Skynyrd

Nicky Hopkins & Billy Powell - two of rock's very best pianists

The Beatles recorded "Revolution" in 1968, after John Lennon became inspired to write it while studying Transcendental Meditation in India.


The recording of it began on July 10, 1968 and the following day Nicky Hopkins was called to overdub an electric piano part - his only recording with the Beatles.


Nicky said, "There weren't really any instructions, except where they wanted the piano to start and I basically just played some blues stuff and we did it in one take. I'd have preferred to do it again, but they were fine with that. I remember I was surprised at the amount of distortion; it was John's rough side coming out and it sounded wonderful. I quickly got tuned into hearing it that way and it still holds up great - a wonderful record!"

Nicky Hopkins & John Lennon -

creating a "Revolution" in rock music

For his small part in Beatles history, Nicky was paid the standard 1960s session fee of exactly six pounds and ten shillings (about $190 in today's money). The single was the first release on the newly-formed Apple Records and quickly went to Number One on both sides of the Atlantic.


Here are my transcriptions of recordings by The Beatles:


The Beatles - "Revolution" - Nicky Hopkins, electric piano - NEW!

The Beatles - "I've Got a Feeling" - Billy Preston, electric piano

The Beatles with Billy Preston - "Without a Song"

The Beatles - "Get Back" - Billy Preston, electric piano

The Beatles - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" - John Lennon, piano

The Beatles - "Come Together"

The Beatles - "Don't Let Me Down" - Billy Preston, piano

The Beatles - "Hey Bulldog" - John Lennon, piano

The Beatles - "Lady Madonna" - Paul McCartney, piano

The Beatles - "Let It Be" - Paul McCartney, piano

The Beatles - "Lovely Rita" - George Martin, piano

The Beatles - "The Long and Winding Road" - Paul McCartney, piano


Billy Powell -

"Honky Tonk Night Time Man"

Lynyrd Skynyrd started out as a guitar-oriented Southern rock band, but when Ronnie Van Zant discovered that one of their roadies could play their songs on piano - and play them very well - things took a different turn.


After two years of schlepping gear as one of their roadies, Billy Powell sat down at a piano during a break at a 1972 show at a Jacksonville, Florida prom and played his piano-based version of "Free Bird" for Van Zant.


Astonished at his roadie's pianistic talent, Van Zant said, "You mean to tell me you've been playing the piano like that and you've been workin' for us for a year (as a roadie)?"


Billy replied, "Well, you know, I've been classically trained most of my life." He was then told that the band was looking for a keyboardist and was offered that position.


In April of the following year, 1973, they recorded "Free Bird", which became their signature song, used as a finale at their live concerts. Powell's cross-handed piano Intro became a classic, although few could pick it out and play it accurately.


Two months later, in June 1973, they recorded "Sweet Home Alabama". Released a year later in June 1974, it became the band's highest-charting hit. Propelled by Powell's catchy up-tempo piano riffs and ending with one of rock's greatest piano solos, "Sweet Home Alabama" became the song that every pianist tried to play but few came close to Powell's high-energy original version. 

"Honky Tonk Night Time Man" was released in 1977 on Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd's fifth studio album. Originally written by Merle Haggard, Lynyyrd Skynyrd released two versions of it, the second one containing Ronnie Van Zant's own autobiographical lyrics, titled, "Jacksonville Kid". The same rhythm track was used for both versions, including Billy Powell's piano part.


Here are my Lynyrd Skynyrd transcriptions:

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Honky Tonk Night Time Man - piano solo by Billy Powelll - NEW!

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me the Breeze" (Solo)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me the Breeze" (Verses)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Solo by Billy Powell

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Solo by Peter Keys

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" - Intro by Peter Keys

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "I Know a Little"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Poison Whiskey"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Simple Man"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama" - complete Billy Powell piano part (including Solo)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama" - Solo by Peter Keys

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "T for Texas"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Tuesday's Gone"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Workin'"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Workin' for MCA" - electric piano solo by Billy Powell



My other Billy Powell transcription:


Kid Rock - All Summer Long - Piano Tag - played by Billy Powell

February's New Transcriptions - "Revolution", "Honky Tonk Night Time Man", "Last Tango in 16th Street", "Something Like That"

The Beatles & Nicky Hopkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd & Billy Powell, Boz Scaggs & Tim McGraw

The Beatles - "Revolution"

My first new transcription this month is of the complete electric piano part on The Beatles' "Revolution", released in 1968 on their White Album.


The Beatles asked Nicky Hopkins to play the part, which he nailed in one take. It's the only Beatles recording on which he played - a true rock classic.


Some reports say that he played a Hohner Pianet, while others say it was a Wurlitzer. To my ear it sounds like a Wurlitzer electric piano with just a small amount of Vibrato.

The Performance Notes in this note-for-note transcription point out a couple of notes that may have been unintended, so that you can either correct them or play them as Nicky recorded them.

My second new transcription this month is of Billy Powell's piano solo in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Honky Tonk Night Time Man", included on their 1977 album, Street Survivors, which has sold over 2,000,000 copies - double Platinum.


This is a note-for-note transcription of Powell's 12-bar piano solo, which is full of "yodeling 6ths" (a honky-tonk 3-note cliche using a flat 3rd, a major 3rd, then up a 6th), plus solid (non-broken) 6ths, a 32nd-note "swoop-down", and fast, high "power-chords" - an excellent Billy Powell honky-tonk flavored solo.


Also included are the two bars immediately preceding the solo plus the two bars immediately following the solo (the beginning of the dobro solo) so that you know how to get in and out of the solo just as Powell played it.

My third new transcription this month is of the bandeneon (similar to an accordion) solo on Boz Scaggs' "Last Tango on 16th Street", released in 2015 on his A Fool To Care album. Scaggs describes it as "a poignant portrait in a late night stroll through San Francisco’s Mission District, the city’s oldest neighborhood - a picture of its rhythms, its contrasts and colors in high focus”.


To fully capture that vibe, the song features a wonderful, atmospheric, minor-key bandeneon solo played by Seth Asamow, a tango expert with hundreds of tangos in his repertoire, who plays in jazz clubs in the Mission District. This is a note-for-note transcription of Asamow's 18-bar bandoneon solo, including its 2-voice contrapuntal phrases and its lilting quarter-note-triplet rhythmic phrases. If you have an accordion sample it'll sound just like the recording, but it also sounds excellent with Hammond B-3 drawbar settings.

My fourth new transcription this month is of the piano part in the second Verse of Tim McGraw's "Something Like That", released in 1999 on his album. It reached number one on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The pianist was Steve Nathan, who was named "Keyboardist of the Year" by for 13 consecutive years.

My new transcriptions:


The Beatles - Revolution - Nicky Hopkins, electric piano - NEW!

(click here to listen)

(click here to listen to Nicky Hopkins' isolated piano track with just drums)


Lynyrd Skynyrd - Honky Tonk Night Time Man - Piano Solo - Billy Powell, piano - NEW!

(click here to listen)

(click here to hear the isolated piano solo with just drums)


Boz Scaggs - Last Tango on 16th Street - Accordion Solo - Seth Asamow, Bandeneon - NEW!

(click here to listen on YouTube)

(click here to hear the isolated bandeneon solo with just drums)


Tim McGraw - Something Like That - Piano on 2nd Verse - Steve Nathan, piano - NEW!

(click here to listen on YouTube)

(click here to listen to the 2nd Verse isolated piano track with just drums)

February's New Exercise - Blues Substitutions

The Two Most Common Blues/Rock Chord Substitutions

My new exercise this month shows how to use the two most common chord substitutions in rock and blues - plus several others - in a blues context.


The two most common chord substitutions in rock and blues are a minor chord a major 6th over the root and a minor chord a perfect 5th over the root.


When used properly, they allow a player to use a wider range of harmonic choices than just dominant 7th or 9th chords.


Other substitutions included are:

1) an "add 2" chord in lieu of a simple flat-VII triad. 2) a "7(#9)" is used instead of a dominant 7th chord.

Crossroads of the Blues - Greenwood, Mississippi

3) chords that harmonize a Left Hand walk-up are included.

4) a 3rd-inversion 7th chord sets up the V chord, which is a chromatically-altered V chord, i.e, a 7(#5). 5) the final I chord is prepared by a flat-II chord, a Db9. If you'd like to add some 'new' chords into your blues playing, this exercise will show you how.


BTW, if you need other good, effective technical exercises, please check out all of the 117 exercises 

available.)

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Blues Substitutions - NEW!

(to listen to it, click here)

Gospel Corner - Say 'Amen' Somebody

The Hangout Place for Gospel Classics

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:


The Doobie Brothers - "World Gone Crazy" (Piano Intro) (click here to hear it)

Billy Preston & The Beatles - "Without a Song" (click here to hear it)

"I'll Fly Away" - arranged by Elmo Peeler (click here to hear it)

"Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" - arranged by Elmo Peeler (click here to hear it)

"Amazing Grace" - as played by Ethel Caffie-Austin (click here to hear it)

"Victory in Jesus" - as played by The Gaithers (click here to hear it)


Heavily Gospel Influenced:


Richard Tee - Contemporary Piano - First Piece

Floyd Cramer - "One Day at a Time (Sweet Jesus)"

Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water"

Mavis Staples - "Hard Times Come Again No More"

Van Morrison - "Benediction"

Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" (version 1)

Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday" (version 2)

Jeff Beck Group (Nicky Hopkins) - "Girl from Mill Valley"

Plum Nellie - "A Love Like Yours"

Plum Nellie - "That Lucky Old Sun"

Bill Payne (of Little Feat) - "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"

Lari White (Bill Payne on piano) - "Lead Me Not"

Ray Charles - "Sweet Sixteen Bars"

Billy Preston - "Will It Go Round in Circles" - Gospel-style Intro by Billy Preston

The Rolling Stones (Billy Preston on piano) - "Shine a Light"

Delaney & Bonnie (Leon Russell) - "Faded Love"

Leon Russell - "She Belongs to Me"

Don Henley - "You Don't Miss Your Water"


Moderately Gospel Influenced:


Bob Dylan & Clydie King - "Abraham, Martin and John"

Billy Vera & the Beaters - "At This Moment"

Bob Dylan - "Piano Mood" - Gospel-style piano improvisation

Delaney & Bonnie (Leon Russell) - "Don't Deceive Me"

Jackson Browne (Craig Doerge on piano) - "Rock Me on the Water"

Jerry Lee Lewis - "When the Saints Go Marching In"

James Taylor (Clarence McDonald on piano) - "Steamroller Blues" - Piano Solo

Leon Russell - "Old Masters"

Ray Charles - "Heartbreaker"

Ray Charles duo with Billy Joel - "Baby Grand"


Gospel-related Exercises:


Transform a Melody into Floyd Cramer's Style - Mary Had a Little Lamb

ii-chord Bump Exercise

Gospel Chord Exercise No.1

Gospel Chromatically-Descending Riff Exercise - Ethel Caffie-Austin's Signature Lick

Gospel Rhythm Exercise (in the style of Lari White's Good Good Love)

Descending R&B-Gospel Riff Exercise - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style

R&B-Gospel Elements Exercise, incl. Substitutions - Billy Preston-Richard Tee Style

Exercise in Contrary Motion - Gospel-Rock

Exercise in Gospel - Walk-ups & Walk-downs, IV-chord Bumps & Strums

Exercise - How To Transform a Melody into Gospel

Gospel & Stride Exercise - Crossing the Left Hand over the Right

Exercise - Ray Charles Ending (Extended Walk-down)

MIDI Corner - Transcriptions Turned into MIDI Files

Helpful for Those that Don't Read Sheet Music Well

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:


The Beatles - Revolution - Complete Electric Piano Part - Nicky Hopkins.mid - NEW!

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Honky Tonk Night Time Man - Piano Solo - Billy Powell.mid - NEW!

Boz Scaggs - Last Tango on 16th Street - Accordion (Bandoneon) Solo.mid - NEW!

Tim McGraw - Something Like That - Piano in Verse 2.mid - NEW!

The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers.mid

Brooks & Dunn - Boot Scootin' Boogie - Piano Solo.mid

Fran Cisko - Hot Piano Blues Solo! - Piano & Bass.mid

Elton John - "Rock and Roll Madonna".mid

Bob Dylan & Clydie King - "Abraham, Martin and John".mid

Nicky Hopkins - "Jenni"- Complete Piano Part.mid

Nicky Hopkins - "Interlude a la El Hopo" - Intro & "Flying Trapeze".mid

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil (Two 8-bar Verse Patterns) - Nicky Hopkins.mid

The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women (Live 1995) - Piano Solo - Chuck Leavell.mid

Elton John - Honky Tonk Women (11-17-70) - Piano Solo.mid

Chuck Leavell - Sympathy for the Devil (8 bars).mid

Vince Guaraldi - Christmas Is Coming (Improvised Section).mid

Travis Tritt - "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" - Piano Solo.mid

Sam Cooke - "Bring It On Home to Me".mid

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Workin' for MCA" - Electric Piano Solo.mid

Linda Ronstadt - "Back in the U.S.A." - Piano Solo.mid

Chris Higbee - "Living the Dream" - Piano Solo.mid

The Black Crowes - "Hard to Handle".mid

Cattanooga Cats - "Stop Right There".mid

The Fleetwoods - Mr. Blue - Arranged for Solo Piano.mid

Joe Zawinul - Jazz/Blues Acoustic Piano 4-minute Improvisation (1963).mid

Bruce Hornsby - Boogie-woogie Improvisation from The Tree Man.mid

Elmo Peeler - "Ashokan Farewell" arranged for Solo Piano (with Tempo Map).mid

Leon Russell - "Old Masters" (with Tempo Map)

Elton John - "Still Uses This Tip Leon Russell Gave Him in 1970"

B.B. King - "The Thrill Is Gone"

Jacob Tolliver - "Boogie Woogie Country Man"

Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood - "Squeeze Me In"

Meat Loaf - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" (with Tempo Map)

Ray Charles - "Mess Around"

Richard Tee - "Happy Birthday Boogie-Woogie"

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 Blues Substitutions - NEW!

Elmo Peeler - Pig's Boogie Left-Hand Exercise

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Cross-bar Phrasing (based on "Jessica" rhythm)

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Ascending Chord Inversions

Elmo Peeler - Right Hand Lateral Motion Exercise

Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise No. 12 - Alternating Hands Lick

Elmo Peeler - 6-note Minor Pentatonic Blues Scale Exercise

Elmo Peeler - Blues Exercise No.11 - 3rds, 6ths & Flips

Elmo Peeler - Exercise No.2 in Yodeling 6ths (Chromatically Ascending & Descending)

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in 4-note Chord Inversions

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Fast Rock/Pop/Gospel Right-hand Octaves

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Legato, Fingered Octaves

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Rhythmic 'Pushes' (Jackson Browne Style)

Elmo Peeler - Exercise on Bruce Hornsby's Boogie-woogie Left Hand Pattern

Elmo Peeler - Boogie-woogie Chromatic Double-thirds Exercise

Elmo Peeler - Repeated Note Exercise on the Most Common Cliche.mid

Elmo Peeler - Exercise in Chord Inversions (in the Allman Brothers style).mid

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

Synth Patches - Great Sounds & Highly Organized

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:

Nils' K1v – Kawai K1 Emulation Plugin
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)

Two New Requests

1) I'd like to transcribe Nicky Hopkins' piano part in The Rolling Stones' "Angie" but no one has commissioned it yet. If you'd like to contribute to this project, please contact me.


2) My other request - please send me your custom transcription requests, because I've found a new way to separate the piano from other instruments/vocals better than ever before. This was used for the first time on Elton's "Rock and Roll Madonna" (a complex piano track) and was used for all four of this month's new transcriptions. It has worked perfectly. Sometimes I've had to decline transcription requests because the piano part was obscured and could not be heard clearly enough to accurately transcribe. This is an important new tool that creates multi-track clear piano parts.

Skype Piano Lessons

The first month of 2025 had some extremes - fires on the West Coast and extremely cold temps on the East Coast and down South. The good news is that Springtime is on the horizon and getting closer every day - 47 days and counting! My suggestion is to immerse yourself in your passions. Embrace the activities - and those you love - and make the most of every day. Practicing piano should be high on that list. Polish old repertoire, learn new pieces, and - very importantly - enjoy the process.


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 enjoy the process, 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:

  • 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.


And here is a video of us playing three songs on The Midnight Special. And here we are on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show.

Franz Liszt - Improvising on "Revolution"

My students include members of:

  • Weezer (Rivers & Brian)
  • Vampire Weekend (Ezra & newest addition, Greta)
  • Incubus (Mike)
  • The Strokes (Nick)
  • Rooney (Robert)
  • Jason Schwartzman (The Hunger Games - 2023, Asteroid City, Mozart in the Jungle)
  • Courteney Cox
  • Pablo Dylan

"I love the transcriptions you offer so far. Well worth the $. Thanks for doing this.


I found your site through a youtube video that gave you credit.


https://www.youtube.com/watchv=TcGJ-3KVBAQ&t=22 [For the notes I couldn’t decipher, I was lucky enough to find manymidi.com, the site of the insanely talented Elmo Peeler, who sells note-by-note transcriptions.]"


- Alex G.


Los Angeles, CA
323-650-6602
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