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irocku / July 14, 2020

Chuck Leavell Masterclass- Sat. July 18

Interact live with Chuck in this exclusive masterclass. Learn from his years of experience being the musical director for the Rolling Stones and having performed with everyone from Clapton to George Harrison, as well as his career in environmental and conservation work. Directly ask him a question you've always wanted to know! This class is open to musicians and music enthusiasts alike! Ticket price: $200 There are only 20 spots available s0 contact us directly at chuckmasterclass@irocku.com to register for the event. About Chuck: Chuck Leavell’s keyboard work has been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, Train, Martina McBride, John Mayer, David Gilmour and many other prominent …

irocku / July 5, 2020

IROCKU Featured Piano Lesson – “Dark Blue” by Andrew McMahon and Jack’s Mannequin

"Dark Blue" Piano Lesson This week's featured IROCKU lesson is "Dark Blue" by Andrew McMahon. Andrew McMahon is a passionate and talented singer/songwriter who gave us this beautiful pop-rock ballad. If you are of the Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers generation, learn this one for your kids and grandkids. In '"Dark Blue,” Andrew uses the I, V, vi, IV chord progression which is found everywhere in rock and pop. Another progression to add to your repertoire. in this song, we explore arpeggiated melody lines in both the left and right hands. The song is based on a quarter-note rhythm in 4/4 time but true to most IROCKU arrangements, includes a 3 against 4 cross-rhythm. Keep it simple, keep it beautiful, and let if flow. IROCKU donates the proceeds from the "Dark Blue" lessons to …

irocku / July 1, 2020

IROCKU Piano Tip – Walking Bass Lines

How many bass players does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, the piano player can do it with his left hand. In this IROCKU Tip we'll learn how to play walking bass lines with our left hand. Walking bass lines are used throughout rock, jazz, and blues. For the chord progression in this lesson, we use the E twelve-bar blues progressions. As piano players we like to play in the key of C but if you are playing in a band, guitarists prefer playing in the keys of E or A. It’s pretty rare for a guitarist to call out a blues song in C so as keyboardists we need to learn the guitar keys. In this video we teach how to create your own walking bass lines using a quarter-note groove. We start out with a walking bass line using just the root and fifth of each chord. We then add lower …

irocku / June 24, 2020

Chuck Leavell Performs “Down the Road a Piece” at Q104.3 Studios

Chuck Performs “Down the Road a Piece” at the studios of classic rock station Q104.3. “Down the Road a Piece” was written by Don Raye in 1940. This song has been covered by a myriad of musicians and bands; Chuck Berry, Manfred Mann, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, Foghat and Bruce Springsteen to name a few. The original lyrics of the song refer to musicians from the Will Bradley trio. In the subsequent cover versions, musicians’ names were usually changed to refer to members of the cover bands. In Chuck’s version he uses the lyrics from one of his life long idols, Jerry Lee Lewis. In the rock and roll history books, Chuck will be credited for being the artist who brought piano improvisation to rock and roll. In this live recording, Chuck throws us a curve ball by improvising …

irocku / June 14, 2020

IROCKU Piano Tip – Half Step Approaches

One way to create movement and color to a chord progression is by inserting a chord that anticipates the next chord. The half-step approach is when the anticipating chord has a chromatic approach to the new chord. One place where this works well is in a I-IV-V progression when moving from the IV to the V chord. For example in the key of C, the V chord is the G and the IV chord is the F. So when moving from the G chord to the G chord(or vice versa) you would insert a Gb on the ‘+’ of the fourth beat of the G chord. The half step approach provides a lot of options to spice up a blues or pop progression. Levels: Intermediate-Advanced. IROCKU Piano Tips cover piano techniques and fundamentals, improvisation, rhythm and groove, progressions, rhythm patterns, piano accompaniment, …

irocku / June 7, 2020

Featured Piano Lesson – “Corazon Espinado” by Santana & Mana

This week's featured lesson is "Corazon Espinado" by Santana / Mana from Santana's Supernatural album. "Corazon Espinado" Piano Lesson In this lesson we take a detour from classic rock and blues to explore latin rock. In this lesson you will learn about the Montuno. Montuno is the syncopated piano pattern that accompanies the vocals; a key element of many latin genres. Montuno’s transform the piano into a percussive instrument while reinforcing the harmonic structure of the song. We introduce both harmonic (chord based) and melodic ( arpeggio based) montunos along with Tumbao; the highly syncopated bass line rhythm pattern that holds down the song’s groove. The syncopation in latin genres can be even more complex than New Orleans' style second-line rhythms. In this song, the …

irocku / May 20, 2020

IROCKU Piano Tip – Dominant 9th Chords

This week’s IROCKU Piano Tip looks at 9th chords, in particular, Dominant 9th chords. Dominant 9th chords are extensions of dominant 7th chords that can help open up your playing. Dominant 9th chords are very common in blues and rock. In this video we show the Dominant 9th chord and we also teach the flatted 9th chord which is a useful passing chord when playing blues and rock. We also introduce the sharp 9th, AKA the Jimi Hendrix chord, which adds richness to your rock and blues playing. The video begins by teaching the dominant 9th chords in C, F, and G and then teaches the flat 9th and the sharp 9th chords. The flat 9th chord feels like a passing chord and works best in that context. The flat 9th without its root note is actually a diminished chord; and diminished chords are great …

irocku / May 9, 2020

IROCKU Piano Tip – Little Richard’s Rock Piano Techniques

In Don McLean’s song, “American Pie”, the lyric “when the music died” refers to the plane crash that killed early rockers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Well we feel the music died again today, with the death of rock pioneer, Little Richard. Not only did Little Richard bring us straight up, four-to-the-floor rock and roll, as a poor black gay kid from Macon, Ga he broke every possible social and ethnic barrier you could imagine along the way. This IROCKU Tip celebrate’s Little Richard’s keyboard style with a twelve-bar blues progression using his straight eighth-note left hand pattern and explosive right hand rhythms. We begin the lesson with an overview of the 12 bar blues progression (in C) that was the foundation of so many Little Richard songs, such as "Lucille". We then introduce …

irocku / May 8, 2020

IROCKU Piano Tips – ii-V-I Progression with Extended Chord Voicings

This week’s IROCKU Piano Tip looks at the ii-V-I chord progression with Extended Chord Voicings. The ii-V-I chord progression is one of the most common progressions in modern music, particularly jazz. This chord pattern is useful in turn-arounds or whenever you are looking to resolve to the I chord. In this video we highlight one specific ii-V-I piano pattern with Extended Chord Voicings that minimizes hand movements, making it useful for accompaniment. The video begins by teaching the diatonic chords related to the key (in this video we use the key of C) and shows how the ii-V-I triads are derived. We teach how to color the chords by extending the triads to include 7ths, 9ths, and 13ths in their root position. We then teach these three extended chords in different positions to …

irocku / May 5, 2020

PJ Fossum- Jazz, blues, rock, R&B, and indie rock pianist & instructor

IROCKU is delighted to welcome PJ Fossum to our team of writers and instructors.Paul Jacob (PJ) Fossum is a New York-based pianist, keyboardist and synthesist. While his music is focused often in a jazz and improvised music context, his influences encompass a wide scope from bebop to classical to indie rock to electronica. He performs in New York City with synth band BXTR as well as his jazz quintet.Growing up in Canada, PJ started piano when he three years old. He studied classical music for 15 years, he decided to redirect and shift focus in his musical pursuits. In his early 20s he immersed himself in a formal jazz education, while the path of his informal education was significantly more diverse, side-manning in projects of Jazz, Neo-Classical, Blues, Neo-Soul, R&B and Indie Rock. …

irocku / May 4, 2020

How to Play Piano Rhythm (Groove) Charts

Most rock musicians don't read notes. Many of the bands Chuck's played with use the 'Nashville Numbering System'. This system uses numbers to represent the chords to be played. The numbers represent the note of the scale and it's corresponding chord in the particular key that you are playing. So if the song is in the key or C, a I would represent the C major chord, a ii would represent D minor, iii would be E minor, IV would be F major, V would be G major, vi would be A minor, viio would be B diminished. Using this system rockers can notate a song using numbers and then play in any key they chose. You Can't Always Get What You Want-Groove Chart For the IROCKU groove charts we choose to simplify the process of mentally converting from the chord number to the chord letter by …

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