Customer Reviews

Improvising Rock Piano

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

 

 

This is a brilliant book!

The focus here is on playing idiomatically in a number of "rock piano" styles, starting off in the fifties with Fats Domino-style triplet ballads and moving through Aretha-style gospel soul, Fess-like early New Orleans, Dr John-ish later NO, Elton John, Leon Russell-y eights-time rock, Carole King soft rock...¨

Now, this is not, mind y'all, in the form of straight transcriptions, but rather after a thoroughly analysis. Every style is related to earlier styles, rythmically and harmonically, and typical figures or runs is shown, together with the typical basic rythms and accompaignement patterns. Then comes a whole piece, either a transcription of a well-known song (f'rinstance "Mo' scocious") or an original in that particular style, where all the different elements are put together and shown in context.

The result is that one gets not only a few licks to pop off, but rather that one gets the idea of *how* to make a stylisticaly fitting lick, how to achieve the basic groove, and how to put it all together as a cohesive song. Brilliant.

Criticisms: Well, it goes no further than 1978, obviously, since that was when it was published. However, to me at least, not much important has happened in rock piano styles since, so I stand by my 5 stars. Go Get!

I first bought this book 20 years ago and was so impressed with it that when it came time to replace my personal library, it was one of the first I bought again.

There is no book like this on the market. Gutcheon offers clear and concise analysis of each style to enable the reader to play the sample solo and then improvise that style on his own. This is a "how-to" book -- not just a "what to play" book. It teaches the principles that allow the player to do it for himself - not like so many others -- which just offer a transcription of what someone else does.

The value of this book is that I am playing the solos not on the piano -- but the accordion. And they work great.

Music Sales Corporation needs to give this book more publicity and distribution. It is a unique product on the market.

If you can get hold of a copy now, this is worth getting. The volume covers a multitude of Piano styles. Most of them are blues based to some degree or another. Heres a selection of some of the styles covered:

Triple Feel Ballads (Fats Domino)
Early New Orleans (Huey Smith, Allan Toussaint etc)
Eight to the bar Rock Boogie (Johnny Johnson)
Rock A Boogie Shuffle (Jerry Lee Lewis)
Gospel Style (Richard Tee)
Country Rock
Contemporary New Orleans Styles (Dr John)
Pop Styles (Carol King)
Half-time (Elton John)
Half-time (Leon Russell)
Plus numerous others.

The vast majority of pieces are composed by Jeff Gutcheon and accurately capture the style of the artist concerned. A few such as 'Mos Scocious' by Dr John are not by Gutcheon.

This book is not good if you want to know what keyboard players were doing post 1980 (unless they were heavily influenced by one of the above), and it doesn't cover progressive rock keyboard players like Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. Perhaps its weakest point is that there is no audio recording to help you hear what you are supposed to playing. For this reason I have only given it 4 stars.

I rate the difficulty level as moderate, but occasionally difficult, as some of the rhythms are difficult to play off the page, especially without a CD.

I have been teaching rock, gospel, R&B, and country piano
for over 30 years, in Boston, LA and Seattle. Gutcheon's book is simply the best out there, especially
for the New Orleans style (it even includes original compositions by
Allen Toussaint and Mac Rebennac!). The compositions are right on
stylistically (for example, 'Let's Spend Some Time Together' gives you
all you need to know about how to play for the Rolling Stones or similar bands;
the gospel piece 'Only His Love', once you internalized the licks, could
get you a full-time church gig), although the country ballads are not quite
as 'in the pocket' as are the 1970s rock, New Orleans R&B, R&R blues, gospel,
and 70s singer-songwriter pieces.

A student who mastered this book could get a job in any rock band in his town,
I would think.

There is only one problem - a few misprints occur in many of the pieces. They
sound wierd if played as written, but almost always, if you are familiar with
the sound of the style, they are easy to fix (a student of mine once got a used
copy from Amazon, and the previous owner had written in changes which were identical
to my guesses, which served as a good confirmation).

In short, this is a masterpiece - the BEST rock tutor book out there, with FINE
compositions. It needs to be reprinted (and the misprints corrected).
Meanwhile, grab any copy you can get! ESPECIALLY if you are a rock or blues or
gospel teacher. And a big big big thank you to Mr. Gutcheon! (signed) Lee Cronbach