Some people are so creative. Unless you own one of these toys you may not see what’s so cool about this video but this is virtuoso Kaossilator playing. I like how he’s drawn his grid on the X-Y pad.
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Impressive use of a Korg Kaossilator
November 25th, 201110 Most Requested Songs in a Piano Bar
November 13th, 2011A night out at a piano bar is like no other. Maybe you’ve been to a small intimate place where people gather around the piano and sing, or maybe you’ve been to a rocking dueling piano bar which has more of the feel of a crazy rock show. No matter which kind you’ve been to you’ll find a few common elements, one is song requests, the favorite songs in the room are the lifeblood of any piano show. Secondly you’ll you’ll hear singing, lots and lots of singing. In a piano bar the audience is as much of a performer as the piano player. Here are the 10 songs the people love to request and sing the most.
10. Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot Yes THAT Baby Got Back, the rap about big butts (and I cannot lie) from the 80′s…. in the piano bar. It’s true. People don’t necessarily request songs at the piano bar that have lots of piano in them, they just request songs they like, and people LOOOOOOOVVEE this anthem to the booty. This song invariably results in lot’s of ladies storming the stage to shake what their mommas’ gave ‘em and everybody from baby to Grandma seems to know all the words this one.
9. Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks The only country song on list, this Garth Brooks tune will get any room to scream out OOOOAAAASIS at the right time. Even patrons who claim to hate country will sing along with this one.
8. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond Almost no one can resist belting out the chorus and horn line to this one. This song transcends age groups and styles and has remained consistently popular for over 40 years and shows no signs of slowing down. If anything it’s more popular now than ever.
7. Crocodile Rock – Elton John Elton John is one of the all time giants of piano music and has many songs that are requested often but none more than this 50′s style rocker from early in his career. A fun song from Elton with a great sing along part. Sing la la la la la in your highest voice.
6. Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi The chorus to Bon Jovi’s biggest hit will get any room singing at the top of their lungs. This is a go to sing when you need to punch up the energy in the room.
5. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC Another song that is kind surprising that it works so well in the piano bar. The original is a blistering rocker from AC/DC’s Back in Black album but in the piano bar setting it becomes a rollicking sing along.
4. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen This song from Queen’s Night at the Opera album is one of the most unlikely hits of all time. There’s no chorus or hook to speak of, it journeys through a few different parts before rocking out towards the end. Even though the lyrics don’t always make a lot of sense, people everywhere are able to sing out every word including all the scaramouches and fandangos.
3. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison One of the most famous sha la la sing along choruses ever. This Van Morrison tribute to his favorite kind of girl is like the Energizer Bunny of pop songs, it just keeps on going and going and going….
2. Piano Man – Billy Joel Like Elton John, Billy Joel has many songs that are consistent hits at the piano bar, it’s easy to see why, Billy spent the early part of his career playing piano bars in New York. This song chronicles what he saw night after night from his spot at the keyboard, which are the same things most of still see as piano bar entertainers. A timeless classic outside of the piano bar, but in the piano bar it’s a theme song made to be sung loud. And drunk if possible.
1. Don’t Stop Believing – Journey The top spot belongs to this Journey classic which gets more requests than any other song out there right now. You know how it goes, admit it, you’ve probably belted out “Just a small town girrrrrrll” in the car more than a few times.
Here’s some guys that will be requested in the future
10 great rock piano riffs
October 22nd, 2011When you think of Rock n Roll you generally think of guitar but the piano has been there pounding out great riffs since the very beginning. The classic guitar opening to Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode was said to have been stolen from Berry’s piano player Johnnie Johnson. Here are 10 rock piano riffs that fight for attention with the guitars and come out on top.
This is not a list in order but these riffs are bound to light up any room.
10. Clocks – Coldplay
Not too many songs are instantly recognizable from the opening piano riff but this is one of them. A simple descending arpeggio pattern that snakes it’s way into your brain and stays there forever. Coldplay have a lot of songs the feature the piano right up front but none of their other riffs have the power of this one.
9. Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out
This skates dangerously close to being jazz but jazzers would scoff at this simple row of triads that make up this memorable riff. The stark drum machine and bassline accompaniment allow room for the piano chords to ring across this track.
8. Fool in the Rain – Led Zeppelin
Zeppelin was such a famous guitar band that John Paul Jones excellent keyboard playing was often over shadowed. The tune from one Zep’s latest albums In Through the Out Door has the piano carrying things all the way. Once you get nice and comfortable with the riff the song breaks down for a re-imagining of the riff that builds until the tension is broken when the original riff comes back in.
7. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
A number one hit with a piano solo? During the the era of hairdo bands like Duran Duran and Bon Jovi? Yup, it happened, all because of the great piano riff that carries this song. It was re-purposed roughly a decade later by Tupac on the song “Changes”.
6. Don’t Stop Beleivin’ – Journey
Playing this riff will stop most people dead in their tracks just so they can stop and hum a few lines from this classic tune, arguably the most popular song of all time. At least 50 other top hits have been based on this chord progression.
5. Imagine – John Lennon
Imagine is one of John Lennon’s most controversial and most beloved hits. Written after the Beatles had broken up, it is as easily recognized as any Beatles song thanks to the piano riff that plays throughout this tune. A simple I-IV progression with the addition of 3 chromatic notes make this one of the most enduring riffs ever.
4. Tiny Dancer – Elton John
Elton is one the piano rock uber-elite because he has been making great piano based music for 5 decades. A million great piano riffs but I gave it to Tiny Dancer because it is so instantly recognizable. Another simple riff that takes up residence in your brain and stays there. Other great riffs from Eltom, Take Me to the Pilot, Bennie and the Jets, Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting, Burn Down the Mission. This guy needs his own list.
3. Philosophy – Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds has done wonders for bringing back the piano riff to rock. He has a number of songs in his catalog that feature great piano riffs but I picked Philosophy for its mixture of epic rock pounding and Gershwin finesse. Honorable mentions to One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces, Brick and Zack and Sara
2. My Life – Billy Joel
The Piano Man also has a catalog stuffed full of great piano riffs, enough for another whole list but My Life has all the elements that make a great Billy Joel riff, kinda jazzy voicings but pounded out like a rocker and Joel’s always great chord progressions.
1. Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis
The original piano rocker and one of the baddest boys rock ever produced. Sometimes his antics, like marrying his 13 year old cousin over-shadowed his brilliance as a rocker, but his riffing is legendary and piano players everywhere are still borrowing from the catalog of riffs he invented.
Thankfully there are still players willing to take up the piano and abuse it for our entertainment but they will owe a debt to many of the aforemntioned for showing how the piano can rock.
Don’t forget to check out this riff here:
MISUSING IRONY
October 19th, 2011We had our song “The Only Woman in the Room” in the soundtrack to this movie. It was used in a really cool way in a key scene. Wish I could show it to you but it is still making the rounds to various festivals and such so that is the only place you can see it right now. Check out the trailer to get a feel for what this movie is about.
10 Best Piano Rock Songs
October 17th, 2011I saw a list of piano rock songs recently that didn’t have any Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, or any of the actual piano rock greats. I couldn’t ignore this and had to make a more definitive list. Chuck Berry was famously quoted as saying that the riff to Johnny B Goode was just Berry trying to copy what his piano player Johnnie Johnson was doing. The piano has always been at the heart of rock and roll and here are 10 giants of piano rock, in no particular order.
1. Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger
The opening notes of this song are the 8 most famous piano notes in rock and roll. Since the 80′s this riff has been synonymous with Tom Cruise’s underwear. A great 3 chord banger that still rocks rooms to this day
2. Angry Young Man – Billy Joel
Trying to pick pick just one Billy Joel song for a list like this is impossible and this submission alone could inspire gigs and gigs of debate, but I’m going to go with Angry Young Man because of the prelude, an amazing display of technical skill but melodic and memorable at the same time. As fans well know, the entire Billy Joel catalog is full of classic piano riffs and trying to choose a favorite is difficult at best.
3. Benny the Bouncer – Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Keith Emerson is hands down one of the best ever to use any sort of keyboard, piano, synthesizer, organ, if it had a keyboard on it Emerson could astound you with his skill on it. Benny the Bouncer is more of a rollicking barroom tune, not the complex classical-rock they were known for, but I included it because it’s pure piano and his mastery of the ragtime style is another element to his playing the makes him such an all time master. The entire ELP catalog is filled with mind blowing keyboard fireworks and is worth listening to for any keyboard lover, but if you like rocking piano in particular, check this one out.
4. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Queen is another that had many songs with great piano parts. Freddy Mercury’s virtuoso playing was sometimes overshadowed by his flamboyance as a singer and Brian May’s layers of guitar. This song is so strange and brilliant, it has no chorus or any other typical song structure, yet, if you go into almost any bar in the world and play this song, people will know every word, even all the scara mouches and fandangos. The piano part is one of the most difficult you’ll try to tackle in all of rock piano.
5. 1 Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces – Ben Folds
Ben Folds is a piano hero for Gen X and beyond, and his playing has appeal for people who love the classic stuff too. Trying to pick a favorite Ben Folds piano song is like picking your favorite child, I chose this one because of the great intro and the fast bassline that comes in about halfway through the song.
6. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
One of the, if not THE most popular song of all time. The opening notes to this song are instantly recognizable and will cause people from 8 to 80 to drop everything they’re doing so they can belt out “Just a small town giirrrllll” The siren song quality of this riff that cause people to completely lose their minds is like no other riff in all of music. The chord progression to this song has been the basis of at least 50 major hit songs since it’s release.
7. Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis
The piano rock song that has stood the longest test of time, maybe it wasn’t the first, but it is the one the lodged itself into people’s brains as the original piano rocker. Jerry Lewis lit the piano on fire figuratively and literally, a true rock and roll madman. He gave us other early piano rock classics like, Breathless and Whole Lot o Shakin’ Goin’ On which have also stood the test of time very well.
8. Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
Roy Bittan’s piano has always been a feature in the Boss’s music and the intro shows some of Bittan’s best work. Imagine Springsteen’s music without the drama that Bittan’s piano lends to it, and Thunder Road has some of his most poetic playing.
9.Turn it On Again – Genesis
I love this odd time riff that does’t feel like you’re playing in an odd time.
10. Elton John – Burn Down the Mission
No piano rock list would be complete without Elton John, arguably the most successful piano rocker. Hits that you know across nearly 5 decades now. I picked Burn Down the Mission because it’s unbelievably epic when they play it live, especially when Elton start rocking the piano. Like a lot of the guys on this list, Elton deserves a list all of his own, and narrowing it down to just 10 Elton songs would be difficult at best.
Don’t forget to check out these guys:
California Gigs, March ’11 – MTL and the Viper Room
March 20th, 2011Wednesday March 23 Roaming Royalty will be rockin’ the Mission Tobacco Lounge in Riverside CA. It’s in the downtown area on University, once you’re in the area you can’t miss it. It’s a sweet place to hang out and see music, great sound, cool people, and the 23rd is the owners birthday so it should be full and the party should be happening.
Thursday March 24 at the Viper Room in Hollywood. This is a gig not to be missed, and you have no excuse for missing it because it’s free. You don’t get into the Viper Room for free unless you know somebody, fortunately you know Roaming Royalty so drop our name at the door and get in for FREE! This includes admission to the whole club, not just the part we’re in. A sweet deal and a great excuse to head to Hollywood Thursday March 24, we’re on at 11.
Discography of your favorite band
February 4th, 2011
RR at the Mint in downtown LA!! Monday January 17
January 3rd, 2011
Rockin Riverside CA, December 13
December 4th, 2010
An Ass Full of Vegas
November 11th, 2010Me and Charles are still reeling from what was supposed to be our biggest month ever, which slowly deteriorated into a month of being broke, sick and cold. Vegas has never really been my thing. It’s great to go to a couple times when you’re in your 20′s and can handle the huge amounts of alcohol that you’ll consume, but after a while it’s not that interesting. I think it’s the fakeness of everything, they have fake New York, fake Paris, fake Venice, fake Roman palaces, a fake pyramid, fake pirate ships, and thousands upon thousands of tourists being some fake version of themselves because they think that’s what you do in Vegas. Truly Vegas exists for one purpose, to fill people up with alcohol so you can extract their money from them.
What we went there to do
We went there to spend the bulk of the month of October getting people drunk and extracting money from them. In times past I had been there and seen friends of mine make insane money in their tip jars and many piano players make their way to Vegas at some point because of it. There are tons of gigs in Vegas and between me and Charles we know quite a few players in the area so we decided to see what the Vegas scene was like.
Asking for the Gig
If you want to get hired to play piano in Vegas an agent is a necessary. Almost all of the gigs are in huge corporate hotels so it’s actually good to have the agent to be your liaison between you and the hotel top brass who can be a real pain to deal with. Through our friends we got an audition with the guy in Vegas who books about 90% of the piano shifts in Vegas and fortunately it went really well. We auditioned at the end of August and there was talk of putting us to work starting in October. Charles was heading to Washington DC and Europe for September so working Vegas in October seemed like perfect timing.
Perfect timing because we wanted to replenish a dwindling bank account, Charles had been on vacation and my last couple gigs had been pretty low paying, and I still hadn’t been paid from those gigs yet. Charles gets to Vegas and talks to the agent who says “we’ll probably put you at this place…..” “you’d be a good fit over that place…..” “you’d work well with…..” but never actually gives up a solid gig. Keeps promising to call back but rarely does. Things are getting scary. Charles finally gets one gig after about 9 days of waiting, and it’s promising. Tips are about triple what you normally see.
The agent tells me and Charles he’s got us a Thursday – Saturday. Whew! At this point Charles is in Vegas, I’m in Seattle. I hop in my car and get about an hour into the 20 hour trek to Vegas when Charles calls me. No gig afterall. OK back to Seattle. Meanwhile Charles is in Vegas getting really sick, and not just from drinking.
Seattle was like it normally is. Cold and wet. This was the first time since moving into the RV that we were faced with being inside the RV most of the time because the weather outside was miserable. Couple that with the fact that cash reserves were low because of the gig situation and you had a recipe for stress. I know I was stressing people out. So thank God when the call came that there was a Tuesday night gig in Vegas at Harrah’s, one of the top rooms in Vegas for dueling pianos.
I got in the car and headed for Vegas just hoping I wasn’t going to get another call saying this gig was off. Pulled over and slept in the van outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. Glad I brought extra sleeping bags, it was cold. Got an early start and got the Vegas late in the day. Who knew the the desert NE of Vegas was so cool? Really amazing rock formations and lush desert. Wish I woulda took pictures but I was on a mission.
A Welcome Face, Drinking and Smoking
Pulled into Vegas and promptly hooked up with Charles who I hadn’t seem in about 6 weeks and got to the important tasks of the night, getting drunk and smoking. Charles friend DJ Dan and his friends helped us out on both counts and we promptly headed to NYNY to see my buddy Eric who plays there and who I was crashing with. The place was packed and it was a Monday night, people were partying their asses off. Sweet.
Our next night at Harrah’s was awesome too. Tuesday and there was a full house of people lined up to throw money in the jar, thank God we were finally working again. More gigs were promised for the rest of the week but I had to head to Riverside, CA, about 3 1/2 hours away, to meet up with the family who were driving the RV down from Seattle. Thankfully their trip went off without a hitch and we got parked in beautiful Rancho Jurupa park in Riverside.
Driving back to Vegas
A couple more gigs came through in Vegas which was nice, we needed it, but I think I’m done barking up that tree. Vegas is cool for that weekend getaway but it starts to wear me down being there longer term. Riverside with it’s lakes, hiking and bike riding right outside our door was much more suitable to the living space I had in mind when we first took off.
Our Vegas trek didn’t turn out at all like we had hoped but things are looking great from here on out. Steady gigs in Reno, San Francisco, Phoenix and our very first gig on the Sunset strip in LA are all on the horizon, plus we’ll be parked in the LA area where the forecast is for sun, sun and more sun. Can’t wait.
