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OT: Difficult keyboard songs you know how to play


Pawnz

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Hi All,

 

Just curious regarding difficult keyboard songs that many of you have learned. You know, the ones that you have spent hours upon hours sitting in front of a tape player or sheet music learning....... Here's my "woodshed" list:

 

1. Hoedown - ELP

2. Foreplay - Boston

3. The Entertainer (original version) - Scott Joplin

4. The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby

5. Smokin' - Boston

6. Joy - Apollo

7. Fanfare for the Common Man - ELP

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Chopin - Waltz In F Minor

Scott Joplin - Elite Syncopations, Maple Leaf Rag

Booker T and the Mgs - Time Is Tight, Green Onions

Debussey - Reverie

Ben Folds - Landed

Vince Guaraldi - Chritmas Time Is Here (extended insrumental version)

And just about evry Beatles song with piano, organ or synthesizer ;)

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Originally posted by Rocksnob

, Maple Leaf Rag

 

 

Yeah, I once knew the Maple Leaf Rag.

 

Toughest piece for me was probably a tie between 'Piece Heroic'

by Cesare Frank and the Gothic Suite by Boelman.

 

Parts of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor are a bit heavy as well.

 

I don't even remember that stuff anymore.

 

-Sheryl

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Originally posted by Trillian



Is he the guy that did all the Peanuts music ? I love thst stuff. I picked out 'Linus and Lucy' ages ago but I do it in a different key than it was written.


-Sheryl

 

 

Actually I perform Vince Guaradi's entire "Charlie Brown Christmas" album during the holidays - there's some very challenging stuff in there.

 

The biggest challenge isn't the actual difficulty skill-wise but the ability to play music in a manner that conveys emotion.

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Foreplay (I play it better on piano)

 

Linus and Lucy

 

Barrelhouse Shakedown

 

Maple Leaf, Elite Syncopations

 

Valley Road (Hornsby)

 

Toccata (Aram Katchuturian)

 

Clair de Lune

 

"Lush Life" and "Theme for Ernie"

 

Harry Connick's version of "Little Waltz"

 

about 3/4 of David Maxwell's version of "HonkyTonk Train" paired with Dr. John's "The Honeydripper".

 

about 2 1/2 bars of "Spider Fingers" by Hornsby

 

 

to add: "Rhapsody In Blue" in it's entirety, so I can kill about 10 minutes of a solo piano gig before someone walks up and asks for "Piano Man"

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Originally posted by Pawnz

Hi All,


Just curious regarding difficult keyboard songs that many of you have learned. You know, the ones that you have spent hours upon hours sitting in front of a tape player or sheet music learning....... Here's my "woodshed" list:


1. Hoedown - ELP

2. Foreplay - Boston

3. The Entertainer (original version) - Scott Joplin

4. The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby

5. Smokin' - Boston

6. Joy - Apollo

7. Fanfare for the Common Man - ELP

 

 

Actually the Entertainer in its orginal form and script is one of the hardest ragtime pieces to perform.

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Originally posted by Trillian



Is he the guy that did all the Peanuts music ? I love thst stuff. I picked out 'Linus and Lucy' ages ago but I do it in a different key than it was written.


-Sheryl

 

 

yes he did the Peanuts music, but Vince Guaraldi was also a very nice sounding jazz pianist from the 50s to the 70s.

 

Oh yeah, I can also play Rhapsody In Blue, seeing the title reminded me (heh, I have played it on one of 24 limited edition Rhapsody In Blue Steinways made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin's birth. Beautiful piano, maple, stained deep blue, inlayed with over 400 mother of pearl stars, the cast iron plate is silver guilded and has the opening line of Rhapsody in blue cast into it, in addition the music stand has a lovely silver guilded New York city skyscape. The piano sounds lovely and is simply a joy to play)

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Apart from a bunch of 20s, 30s and 40s popular tunes ((Once in a While, Nearness of you, etc.) the only difficult piece I can still remember and play is Clair de Lune (and I have to get the music out). Sickening to think about because I used to play the Grieg and Schumann concertos in my youth amongst other things. Can't get my fingers around them any more. Beware of old age - it's a terrible disease that we will all suffer.

 

Bryan

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Just been working for months on Satie's Sarabandes, haven't got any clue what level they are, but I absolutely wanted to be able to play them and I'm almost there. Only the second (obviously the most difficult) needs some more work.

Those pieces are a lot more difficult than his Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes which I mastered in a few weeks.

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  • 12 years later...
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I've been working at Foreplay/Longtime for a few weeks now. Its somewhat above my ability, but not so much I can't get it. It's a great speed workout and has improved my playing already. The sheet music looks like an entry-level finger exercise, being that it's mostly triplets....The Kronos has the exact sound for this with a Leslie, and it DOES sound cool when you're at 180 bpm. ..

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I tend to stay away from too technical songs. I prefer simple songs that I can learn quickly and do well. Stuff like 'Light My Fire' , 'Rockin Pnuemonia and a Boogie Woogie Flu' , 'Great Balls of Fire', 'Piano Man', 'Border Song' ,What'd I say' , etc. I started out playing guitar and I can play almost anything on the guitar from Chet Atkins to Joe Satriani. The piano is what I like to play and sing to. So I have never really cared much about being technically the best keyboard player. I care more about doing things well so I tend to try and do simple songs perfectly. I would say the hardest song I know is 'Crazy' and I only learned it because almost every female singer I ever worked with wanted to do it. I probably should woodshed more but now that I'm in my 50's its much more about having fun for me.

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