It’s been six weeks.
Six weeks of silence.
The longest period of silence in the history of Piano Couture.
Why? Where have I been?
Dance-style tracks often revolve around a fairly simple repetition of a riff and / or the same synth-pumping chord progression over and over, but when the main part of a tune – like with this weeks tutorial featuring mega-hit – is derived from a chord-style driven, organic Pop-Piano part like this… wow. Chris Martin, you’re the man.
Ease comes in many forms. Personally I like the ones that sound good best, but that's just me 😉 . Sometimes the difficulty lays in finding that which is in the end turns out to be easy. Strip the whole shebang down to what's actually essential. Effective. And sometimes that leaves you with just 4 different notes for an entire verse.
Their (changing) mutual harmonic relationship is what is important though. That is what counts. That is what's valuable. Keeping that in mind, this weeks tutorial, however easy it may be, teaches us many chord-skill refining lessons actually, amongst which:
Timeless piano-riffs are those that just ‘ring’. That sound brilliant and get stuck in your mind the very moment you hear 'em. Good old, true Pop-Piano music: music that is driven by one of those masterly crafted riffs, played on our beloved instrument. This is one of ‘em. And guess what I’m gonna show you today? How it’s built (out of chords and patterns of course!) and how to play it.
I don't think you'd really have to be 'into' hiphop to appreciate both the inspiring lyrics and the out-of-this-world, coolness-oozing piano riff that carries the track by this awesome pianist. Let me take you by the hand here and introduce you to the amazing Robert Glasper.
Concept learning. That is what this lesson is all about and that is exactly what I love about- and what for me defines Pop-Piano vs. conventional piano-learning.
Some tunes just have that quality of instantly becoming a true Pop-Piano classic. Driven by one of those killer Piano-riffs (you guessed it, created and played all by- and with Pop-Piano techniques), that are so signature for this awesome band, one might call this song the summum of Pop-Piano music.
Guitar-riffs on piano truly can sound wonderful sometimes. This is yet another example of copying some phrases played on another instrument (yes, you guessed it: guitar), adding some 'piano flavored techniques' (and some of my own sweet and sour taste) to it and creating a unique but awesome piano part.
Ok guys, we've seen quite some nice songs pass the tutorial bridge, sure. We've also had our fair share of fine grooves that -when played IN the groove- made you wanna dance like there is no tomorrow. But this one...
Boogie, soul and funky old school swing at it's finest. It's truly one of those classics that have founded and inspired a whole generation of songs to follow in it's path and beyond. Awesome music.
Old cities have always intrigued me. As have old songs. Don't you feel that music was just a tad better back in the day?
No?
Then I'm left with only these two suggestions:
