Piano Lessons

The forty plus year career of The Allman Brothers Band puts them in a fraternity that few bands can ever join, that of 'greatest bands of all-time.' For this week’s piano instruction irocku goes back into the vault for a 1972 classic, Ain't Wastin Time No More from the legendary, Eat a Peach album released only months after the tragic death of slide guitar phenom, Duane Allman. Read more »

The double album is considered by many to be a rock masterpiece, reaching number 4 on the Billboard charts and including the 33 minute long, Mountain Jam which epitomizes the glory of a live Allman Brothers Band concert. Eat a Peach was the farewell performance of musical icon, Duane Allman. It includes the last three songs he recorded along with material written after his death in October of 1971 from a motorcycle accident. Not long after the album's release, brother Berry Oakley met with the same fate as Duane, killed in a motorcycle accident in November of 1972. Ain't Wastin Time No More, our piano lesson for today, begins with a funky medium tempo groove on piano and is soon joined by a beautiful slide guitar with Gregg Allman providing a hauntingly soulful vocal about love, loss, and moving forward. The melody itself moves from mellow funk/soul to blistering emotional energy provided by Duane Allman’s slide guitar solo. Combined with Allman's vocal about picking up the pieces of one's life in the wake of tragedy, it represents a rebirth, like a phoenix ascending out of the ashes. That is the story of the Allman Brothers Band. Despite the loss of two members at a early period for the band, they carried on with Dickey Betts assuming the role of lead guitarist and Chuck Leavell joining as a second piano man. Forty years after the release of Eat a Peach, the band is still on the road and even though the line-up has changed over the years, one thing remains, The Allman Brothers Band still puts on a great show and continues to earn its reputation as one of the greatest rock bands of all-time!

Ain’t Wastin Time No More begins with a piano groove that is a total blast to play. Once you get it down it flows off your fingertips. It’s based on a two-chord pattern that you will find in many Allman Brothers songs. So learn it well, you'll be able to use it a lot!

Written by Gregg Allman
Administered by Elijah Blue Music and Warner/Chappell
All Rights Reserved   Used by Permission

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