Pro Keyboards

Here’s the main drag from Booker T’s Green Onions. Originally played on a Hammond M-3 and intended to be a B-side, this is one of the few most recognizable instrumentals in pop music history.

HammondWiki lists the drawbar registration for this to be 88 8800 000, but it’s entirely possible it has some extra color to it. I don’t have an M-3 lying around, unfortunately to check the nuance.

Here’s the main drag:

Green Onions -- the main drag

Booker T. embellishes slightly throughout, but this is the pattern he sticks to closest.

Here’s the transcription of the entire song–I included an idiot-proof ending as well.

This post is dedicated to Brandi Smith, who has never heard us play it on a gig, but could swear we’ve played it hundreds of times.

After perusing the MusicPlayer forums I came across a small discussion about the Loverboy Working for the Weekend keyboard parts.

Here’s my complete transcription of the keyboard part.

Here’s my transcription of the chorus:

Loverboy's Working for the Weekend Chorus Synthesizer part

Here’s one I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. This is the late Bob Mayo’s rhodes solo on Peter Frampton’s Baby I Love Your Way.

It starts out fairly unassuming and peaks on a great 16th note lick and then ends fairly unassumingly. Perfect for the song, and after having heard it several dozen times on the classic rock and easy listening stations, I figured, “yep, gotta write that one out”.

Here it is in all of it’s glory:

Bob Mayo's solo on Baby I Love Your Way

Here’s one I’ve wanted to do on a gig but have never gotten the opportunity to.

Yet another iconic piano intro. I’m outlining the outer octaves, but the original recording contains the inner two octaves not represented here. You know what to do–an octave piano patch will do just fine. What sets this intro off from other similar intros are the wide, un-piano-like jumps throughout.

Here’s Annie Lennox – Walking on Broken Glass

No trivia, but God bless wikipedia for useless information:
“The CD single was housed in a cardboard sleeve.”

I mentioned it in my other post, so it’s probably worthwhile to post this one as well.

It’s a pretty iconic piano intro and pretty easy once you get ahold of the basic feel.

Marc Cohn’s Walking In Memphis:

Really quite a cool track and almost every lyric has a dual meaning in the story woven in the verses. The wikipedia page has more info.

This one goes out to my sister Nicole Kubis. She’s a longtime Rascal Flatts fan. I think of this piano intro as coming from a very similar place as a certain Marc Cohn song–it uses the same rhythmic device in a similar sounding key, same tempo. You be the judge.

Here’s the 8 bar piano intro to Bless the Broken Road:

No interesting trivia other than the song was originally written by and performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

This lick is courtesy of Marty Jourard of The Motels.

I love to adapt this slightly and play it in the key of A whenever Stand By Me comes up on a gig.

I must admit, for some silly reason this song is my favorite song of all time:
– It’s a hooky pop song
– It’s not overproduced
– It’s got a great keyboard part

Anyways, here’s the main synth part, as played by Marty on The Motels’ Only The Lonely.

Marty recorded this using a Prophet 5. I’ll post the conversation I had with him here at a later date.

Very few songs can you learn the first 2 bars and then know the entire rest of the song, but this is one.

This lick was undoubtedly crafted by Greg Phillinganes.

It is meant to be played on a grand piano with a slathering of chorus–not unlike the piano from Don’t Stop Believin’.

Trivia: it’s the last song Michael Jackson ever performed with the Jacksons (2001) prior to his death in ’09. Definitely check out the version in ‘This Is It’… it’s great!

As a service to Jeff Vincent, Romeo Rodriguez and anyone else who cringes every time this is butchered, here’s the correct keyboard intro for Don’t Stop Believin’.

Note that the left hand should be doubled with a chorus bass guitar as well for authenticity. No more lazy bass players!

Also, for extra geeky enjoyment, here’s the legit story behind the song.