Beginning back in 1963, for the first six years of their touring career, the Rolling Stones didn’t have a dedicated touring keyboardist. Founding member and keyboardist, Ian Stewart, was relegated to road manager because he didn’t ‘look the part’. For these early tours, Rolling Stones’ founder and guitarist, Brian Jones, sat in on the piano when the song called for it. After Jones’s accidental drowning in 1969, Ian Stewart was brought back onto the stage to play the rockers- such as “Honky Tonk Women” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”. But Stewart refused to play ballads or any songs in minor keys. He was a blues rock and boogie woogie purist. From 1971 through 1973, English pianist extraordinaire, Nicky Hopkins, toured with the Stones to fill in on the songs that Stewart turned down. But …
IROCKU Happenings
The Rolling Stones Announce 2019 US Tour
The Rolling Stones announced their 2019 US Stadium tour. By our count this is their 48th tour since the first British Tour in 1963. Do the math. That’s 48 tours in 55 years!!! Incredibly, there is not one song overlap between their first ever set list from the 1963 British Tour to their most recent set list from the 2018 No Filter Tour. Their first set list was filled with covers such as rhythm and blues standard “Route 66” written by Bobby Troup and “Roll Over Beethoven” written by Chuck Berry. Their 2018 set list included a few blues covers from their “Blue and Lonesome” album but mostly Rolling Stones’ originals, many from their most prolific song writing period 1965 through 1974. The ten-year period from 1965 through 1974 was an historic writing period in music history. …
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Joe Cocker “Feelin’ Alright”- with Mark Alexander on Piano
Here’s a video of Joe Cocker singing Dave Mason’s Traffic classic, “Feelin Alright”. The piano intro to this song is one of rock’s most recognized piano licks, originally played by Artie Butler on Joe Cocker’s debut album With a Little Help from My Friends. This “Feelin Alright” video features session and stage keyboardist, Mark Alexander. Joe Cocker was known for surrounding himself with the top musicians in the music industry. Guitar greats Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton all made their way into a Cocker session. Saxophone phenom, Bobby Keys notoriously known for his work with the Rolling Stones shared his chops on the “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” (1970) live and “Jamaica Say You Will” (1975) albums. Clarence Clemens played sax on “Unchain My Heart” (1987). But for …
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The Anatomy of a Bass Line – Piano Lesson: “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”
There aren’t a lot songs that have been covered by as many different artists representing such a variety of musical genres as “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”. It’s easy to lose sight that this song was originally recorded over 60 years ago, back in 1957, by the little known piano great, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith. Huey ‘Piano’ Smith was born in New Orleans, Lousiana and was influenced by both the boogie woogie stylists and the other great New Orleans’ piano players of his era; namely Professor Longhair and Fats Domino. Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s version of “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” is a fusion of a boogie woogie bounce and a New Orleans syncopated melody line. It has become a New Orleans anthem and has made it to the list of Top Rock Piano Songs of all …
Greatest Rock Piano Players – Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood is currently ranked 17th on our list of Greatest Rock Piano Players making him, in our opinion, one of rock ‘n roll’s most underrated keyboardists. Here’s a video from 1966 of Winwood at 18 years old performing “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” with the Spencer Davis Group. The irocku piano lesson for “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” is inspired by Eric Clapton’s version on the “Clapton Unplugged” album. But, the musical foundation behind the licks played on the Spencer Davis Group's version of this song are all covered in the irocku lesson. In a previous post we also covered the bass line played on the Spencer Davis Group version. Give it a try. "Nobody Knows You" Piano Lesson If you follow the internet threads about the Spencer Davis …
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Calling all Music Teachers – Online Music Lessons
IROCKU is extending our online music lessons to include rock, jazz, pop and blues instruction for piano, guitar, bass, drums, voice, and sax. If you are a music teacher or if you know of a music teacher who is interested in connecting with new students via Chuck Leavell’s website, www.irocku.com, for online music lessons please let us know. Please fill out our music teacher registration form or send us an email to onlinelessons@irocku.com. For our live online lessons, we encourage teachers to follow a methodology that works best for them. We don’t require teachers to follow our irocku methodology for the live online music lessons. Teachers can choose to use lesson content of their own or the irocku lesson content. We prefer that instructors teach in a manner that is best suited for …
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The Anatomy of a Piano Bassline: “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” has been covered by dozens of artists ranging from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin. Each artist has created his/her own interpretation of this traditional blues song. Musically, it's not that complicated a song. The chord progression is a modified 8-bar blues progression, which admittedly can take some time to learn, but the rhythm is a basic slow blues shuffle. On the piano, though, the bassline can make all the difference. "Nobody Knows You When..." piano lesson For the irocku “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” Advanced Level 7 piano lesson we opted for a traditional stride bassline which is quite challenging to play. In this lesson, the left hand mimics the bass and drum lines on Eric Clapton’s version from the “Unplugged” …
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Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out – Piano Lesson and Sheet Music
Eric Clapton first recorded “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” in 1970 on the Derek and the Dominos debut album, ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’. With Clapton on lead guitar and Duane Allman filling in on slide guitar there wasn’t much space for Bobby Whitlock to cut loose on the keys. That all changed 22 years later when Clapton recorded an acoustic version of the song with Chuck Leavell on the piano. This week’s piano lesson combines some old style stride blues piano with right-hand rock and blues licks that read like an encyclopedia of modern rock piano. "Nobody Knows You..." piano lesson In 1992, Clapton recorded yet one more version of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” on his Grammy winning ‘Unplugged’ album. And in doing so, he called up another …
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Aretha Franklin- “The Queen of Soul”. Rest in peace.
Aretha Franklin- "The Queen of Soul". Rest in peace. Here's a young 22 year old Aretha singing her heart out as she always did. God bless the queen. …
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IROCKU Student, Jagger Clark, Wins Prestigious Eastman School of Music Award- Congratulations Jagger!!!
Congratulations to high school junior, Jagger Clark, for winning the Prestigious Eastman School of Music Award for his musical talents and contributions to his school. Chuck and the team at IROCKU couldn't be prouder of your achievements!!!! "What'd I Say" piano lesson Jagger's earliest introduction to the piano was through his IROCKU lessons. In fact, at one of our early recording sessions with Chuck, Jagger was asked to participate since he was our youngest student at the time. Under the guidance of IROCKU musical director, Cary Brown, Jagger has worked his way through the 7-level IROCKU curriculum and now routinely performs the IROCKU material in his gigs. Thank you Eastman School of Music for validating that the classical approach to learning piano is not the only path …