Customer Reviews

Dr. John Teaches New Orleans Piano - Volume 2

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just love this volume 2 of a 3 volume book/CD set of Dr. John, sitting at a piano just playing and talking about the music. You will not find a structured teaching course in the blues here - There are no "lessons", just a virtuoso playing and speaking about what he does best. The accompanying book has many of the solos written out in standard musical notation (with chord symbols) along with excerpts of what the left hand is playing etc. It is by no means a complete and exact transcription of every note played on the CD, but it is very good. It will get you started on the road and is very helpful.

Be warned however: I have a degree in music and have played piano for 20 years, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to play like Dr. John. You really need to know music to get much out of it technique-wise. A solid background in theory is a great help in understanding what Dr. John is talking about when he refers to the chord structure / inversions/ substitutions/ progressions etc. If you are looking for a quick "play piano like Dr. John in 10 easy lessons" you will be sorely disappointed. There is a LIFETIME of material in these 3 volumes.

What I love about this book/CD the most is that it is all piano SOLO. I can really hear everything Dr. John is doing - you will never get that from his albums with a band backing him up. He does sing along with a few tunes, but it is 95% piano solo. I listen to it over and over and never tire of it - It is good enough to be a solo CD on it's own without the teaching aspect, and hearing Dr. John talk about his influences and the different styles is something I think any real fan would appreciate, even if they never intended to play a note on the piano.

Buy all 3 volumes - and then you'll go out and get the videos produced by the same folks so you can see how on earth anyone's fingers can play like that!

Um... I am working on the premise that the review should tell you what to expect. The CD is great, but the book is lacking. Somehow reminding me of an oversized coloring book, it doesn't contain music for most the songs. No chords, no melodies... I was hoping the titles listed would be in the book, but in many cases there is nothing but the song title and a transcription of something Dr. John says on the CD. For deaf listeners, I presume. Wouldn't it be nice if they told us a key or chord progression of the songs?

While the CD is great to listen to while making tea... Osmosis can be a powerful learning tool...

The book is a dissapointment. The publishers missed a golden chance to make a timeless and flawless work.

This three CD series will not take you by the hand and teach you blues licks on the pentagram, and it is not recommended for starters, unless you have a true passion for blues piano. There's a booklet supporting the CD and containing the simplest licks played by Dr John, but this course is more than that.
Blues piano is more than written notes, and Dr John knows it. With the three CDs you will have a guided tour by the Night Tripper in his atelier of piano influences and styles. And you may be ending up in sitting on the couch and simply enjoying listening to this fantastic blues piano player, if you are not eager enough to figure out the notes he's playing. Even in this case, after a while you'll realize you're not playing blues piano the same way you did before. Either you make the effort of learning new patterns or you simply enjoy the listening, this course is highly recommended if you like New Orleans blues piano. I found all three CDs extremely interesting and diverse. You'll love it.

Obviously you don't get here an easy "Dr. John for Dummies" just because this series of books is not made for the regular weekend piano-player. It is supposed to introduce the N'Awlins style of piano playing for the skilled blues/classical/something else pianist.

I've got the VHS versions and well before I got those I managed to learn some Dr. John's stuff by ear, like the "Honey Dripper" (in G, left hand boogie 5ths/6ths pattern) and I found it quite useful when I was learning his version of "Good Night, Irene" because I just couldn't figure out exactly what the left hand was doing, so I watched the video a couple times to get the left hand part and a couple more to get the right hand licks and it was done. Of course he won't play everything here in half-tempo and tell you to add a crushing f# to your g octave so it'll sound more Orleans. Hello, he's Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John the Nighttripper, he isn't your piano teacher.

Well, you should get this if you are a Dr. John fan or if you are really into blues piano, but don't think this will make you a Professor Longhair. This is an aid, not a pair of crutches.

Don't worry about the transcriptions being off, if your goal is to learn New Orleans piano, jazz, or blues by the written text, then you are missing the point and won't learn. You must have an EAR to play any of these forms of music and it is not to be transcribed. So being able to hear what he is doing and the fact that he is playing with out drums, bass, etc makes it easier with this DVD. It is about the cost of a lesson, so quit complaining. It is great.

Bought this for the score to "Such a Night" which is in the index. Unfortunately they neglected to put the score anywhere in the book. There's lots of other things to learn and play, but if you're looking for that specific song, you'll be disappointed.