I need help to learn how to play Sweet home alamaba piano solo.

this song and solo very much scares me so. I dont know how to do the solo at the end.

im really afraid. I dont play this style. Did Boog Powell use wieghted keys?

I have never seen any kind of music for this paino solo in all my existence. I bet none ever existed and never will exist.

please help me.

this song and solo very much scares me so. I dont know how to do the solo at the end. im really afraid. I dont play this style. Did Boog Powell use wieghted keys? I have never seen any kind of music for this paino solo in all my existence. I bet none ever existed and never will exist. please help me.

Don't be afraid. Have you thought of using a MIDI track to learn it?

Find a MIDI file. Solo the piano track. Slow it down and learn measure-by-measure.

I found a lot of MIDI files for that song on Google.

Dunno if Boog Powell used weighted keys. He might have swung a weighted bat though.

Dunno if Boog Powell used weighted keys. He might have swung a weighted bat though.

Funny!

I think the OP is talking about the late Billy Powell.

Just make sure you play it "Right" if you're in Confederate territory. It's the South: they don't like "change", lol

I just watched a vid on youtube and honestly, it's not that hard if you practice it a few times. It also looked like he was playing weighted keys in the video.

Sir Ceceil's idea of looking for a MIDI file is a very good, too.

Best of luck:)

I hate to tell you this but it is a tough solo with lots lightning fast triads and 5ths along with scales and blues country riffs in the key of D. So throw out all your C and E blues chords.

There are some good UTube videos that show how to play this solo. Also get an app the let's you slow down the song to half speed and I gets easier from there. I find him to be an amazing player. You will be a better player by the time you have it figured out. Best of luck.

Yes and no. "Sweet Home Alabama", in the South, is taylor-designed to be a closing song at the very end of the night, where the entire bar is pretty much in too inebriated of a state to hear whether you really hit the A flat in your fast triad.

Thanks but it would be good if someone could come over to my house and actually show me how to play it. You guys know any teachers that could do that?

Skype would be an excellent way to do that. If anyone here knows that solo well, they can help you:thu:

try something like this

He recorded the song in 1974. He played in on a real piano since no "synth" pianos existed back then. So yes, the keys were "weighted" if that's what you want to call them.

It's a bit of a "boogie woogie" style solo. It far pre-dated Powell and yes, many existed both before him and since.

If you learn the main piano riff you can fake the solo. No one will know if it isn't perfect. Don't be afraid!!

To me it's akin to a boogie woogie piano part -- the main problem is not the notes but the speed. There are not many crossovers or fancy fingerings, it's almost like arpeggiating chords, but very very quickly. So the tactic to learn it is to play it slow, and build your speed. Honestly it'd probably be more fun to improvise around the pattern if you can do that. Yes and no. "Sweet Home Alabama", in the South, is taylor-designed to be a closing song at the very end of the night, where the entire bar is pretty much in too inebriated of a state to hear whether you really hit the A flat in your fast triad.

You are so right about the speed. I still struggle with that if the band plays it too fast.

It's just a bunch of little riffs on the V-IV-I chords. D-C-G.

They're all fun riffs that you can use in lots of songs.

Specifically I think just learning this will "get one by":

A#-A-D-F# (x3)

F#-G-C-E (x3)

C#-D-G-B (x3)

(then fun with the G major chords, like playing D-G-B and then having the B walk down to the G)

Fingering's probably 1-2-4-5. The solo starts in an eight note pattern that omits some of the notes (eg I hear A#-A-F# A#-A-F# #A-D). Then the next go around, it does the complete sequence above in a sort-of-but-not-exact dotted-sixteenth pattern.

From there it just jams, which is how I'd approach. Hell, as I note, there's a little slop in the original recording, but it doesn't matter, it jams.

Check out Youtube. Specifically, the ones posted by Edsmusiclessons.

Cheers,

Gord

+1 RetroVO...best thing I do when trying to learn any riff is, after you try your best and get a little frustrated, is to listen to the song done different times by the original group on You Tube.

You'll find that if they get within more than 85% of their "original" version they are having a good day; therefore, my motto is "shoot for 100%, be content with 85% and you own the riff. If you got the feeling inside yourself, you're right there!

Yes and no. "Sweet Home Alabama", in the South, is taylor-designed to be a closing song at the very end of the night, where the entire bar is pretty much in too inebriated of a state to hear whether you really hit the A flat in your fast triad.

So that was YOU flipping me the bird at the close of last Sat. nite's gig??

Get comfortable and confident and loose with the finger slides, and it will get you a good bit of the way there. Also: the descending 6ths (intervals) at the end are IMO the most challenging part. But I was devastated to learn that Billy Powell cheated on those- he used both hands! Not fair!

BP had alot of technique, some of which he acquired while getting a music degree. But IMO what's way cool, is his music education didn't detract from the down-home greaziness of his playing. It's a myth that one rules out the other.

I just learned how to play Freebird, the demo version on piano. I learned it without music and im just a little bit off. I could play this song with my friends band.

Well thanks to this thread, there's at least one more player who's gonna learn the Sweet Home piano solo: me! Dunno when/where I'll be playing this in public, lol, but at least it'll keep Freebird and The Entertainer company.

Hey, i just learned another song.

INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

its not too hard.

Me too - I've tried to explain to the band the song really runs at a laid back pace but even if I can get them to start it out that way its a runnaway freight train by the time the solo comes around. I learned it using "The Amazing Slowdowner" over a couple days - been faking it for thirty some odd years and finally got tired of bumbling through it so it was like a project for the week - glad its behind me - definately worth the effort. The song is not going anywhere so just get it over with.