I've studied this tune heavily and didn't think of playing the Bb and B together on the turnaround chord so thanks for that. I would say particularly though, on the IV I'm sure the left hand doesn't simply transpose down, it alternates roughly between CEG / CFA which is significantly different. In general the LH notes don't always hit at the same time
Dr. K. Thank you for all of your vids, the time and hard work you have put into sharing your knowledge. The direction you keep supplying is so greatly appreciated.
Triplets against eighth notes at 4:27 to 4:31 drove me crazy. In a single bar there are 6 chords in the right hand (RH) against 8 chords in the left hand (LH). How to sync them up? Then there was a dawning. The LH is swinging. It’s not really doing eight eighth notes in a bar, each getting a half beat. The LH is actually more like four sets of a dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note in the bar. However, the RH chords are played evenly, sounding like a train moving across the tracks. If the bar starts with the RH and LH chords playing at the same time, then the second RH and LH chords are also played at the same time, due to the swing in the LH. The third RH chord is played between the third and fourth LH chords. Then that pattern repeats. Easy peasy. This explanation may not work out mathematically, but it gets the left and right hands working such that when playing at speed the RH can be driven at an even beat against the swinging LH.
I've never heard it described as an athletic left hand before but it's a very good term.To say that the left is a killer is almost an understatement,you need tendons of steel for anything over about three minutes. Definitely one for the masochistic player. I've been playing this for the thick end of 50 years now..but the train tends to be running noticeably slower nowadays.
Clementwarrior. Many thanks for your kind words sir. I had forgotten that I had in fact left a comment re HTT Blues. I was in my early twenties when I contracted the Boogie Bug. Not having access to the sheet music but being undeterred I recorded any and all Boogie directly from jazz programs on radio onto an old reel to reel tape.Then,with the machine beside me at the piano I played it back a few bars at at time over and over again until I could play along with it. Each piece took weeks but it was worth it. I could finally play like the greats..Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammonds, Jimmy Yancey. Perhaps not perfect,but as close as made no difference,and it has stayed with me all my life albeit that my 'athletic left hand' is now an arthritic left hand, and the right isn't too far behind it either.But that's life. So hang on in there my friend,I promise you that it will be worth all the effort. Sorry to have rambled on a bit but that's something else that comes with age.
What a great video Brendan! If anyone struggles with the left hand I personally find it easier to alternate my fingers with 5-3-1 and 5-2-1. Just a tip, but still a matter of personal choice ;-)
Maybe you weren't very good. :) Jes kiddin. But objectively, you aren't going to damage a piano by playing boogie woogie. Damages a piano more in terms of intonation for it to sit Idle, so I have heard.
I really love the Keith Emerson arrangement of this one. Here played together with the venerable Oscar Peterson from 8:40 onwards. ua-cam.com/video/2YHgWWX5DN0/v-deo.html
Not everyone has great hand Independence and can play the shuffle so the mickey mouse might just be what some people need. To be able to play this song is a tremendous feat. I am spending my time doing hand Independence exercises as I have two left hands. do you have an tips on developing hand indepencene so I can more easily play it as written..I simply love this tune!!!!.
Wow, this video is particularly good. I've had Eric Kriss' book that includes a transcription of this piece for 20 years and two hours with this video launched me forward like never before. Nothing against Kris (or me)---just kudos to this video.
More kudos for this video! Like Erick a few posts down I've had the 'Eric Kriss' book for 20 years [maybe 30] but I've never got anything like that Meade Lux sound. As you say there are lot's of wrong ways to play this [I can do one] but this video will get me up a few levels. Cheers.
I'd put Jimmy Yancy up there among the greats too, considering he was a great influence on Mr. Lewis and Mr. Ammons as the history that's recorded tells it.
I managed to get that record in the basement it was my mother's I nabbed it in high school back in the early seventies maybe about 72 and I learn how to play at pretty well and now I got a smashed-up left and I still play on the other side of that record was a song called slow Boogie and it had a couple different changes besides the one for 5 now I could probably figure it out but I broke the record while I was still in high school and I've never tried I want to try to find that song again on UA-cam it's called slow Boogie maybe you could do a little thing on that too
Dr K, i do love London but i have learnt some from you but hy did you not mention jimmy yancey! i think that Monsieur lewis was a friend of monsieur yancey! yancey licks and others on that honky tonk train! pratice but still can't take train boat to come see my kids grand kids and friends in london and else where even if i am a frog! croak! ;-)
I think it's worth pointing out that Meade Lux Lewis himself played the train with an incredibly simple left hand to great effect as featured in the first of these film clips ua-cam.com/video/FSMO0J9BLm0/v-deo.html
Piano was invented for boogie-woogie and boogie-woogie was invented for the piano. No instrument/style of music combination is as natural, possible exception Bach fugues on the organ
Brendan is a very talented player with natural musicianship but this is not an authentic transcription of Honky Tonk Train Blues (neither are all of the published transcriptions I’ve seen, although one or two come close). But that may not matter for everyone.
C'est très beau ce que vous faites, mais on ne voit pas grand chose a cause de la personne qui vous filme. Dommage! Je trouve que vous ne détaillez pas les notes : vous jouez trop vite!Felicitations quand meme pour votre jeu.Caldonia.
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I love all your vids! I'm slowly working my way through all of them. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks Nicola. Good to hear this feedback. BK
You are a great boogie woogie pianist. Brilliant performance.
I've studied this tune heavily and didn't think of playing the Bb and B together on the turnaround chord so thanks for that. I would say particularly though, on the IV I'm sure the left hand doesn't simply transpose down, it alternates roughly between CEG / CFA which is significantly different. In general the LH notes don't always hit at the same time
Great piano lesson. Great history lesson. Great playing.
I've got a long way to go, but at least I'm on the same planet.
Thanks for posting, Dr K.
Dr. K. Thank you for all of your vids, the time and hard work you have put into sharing your knowledge. The direction you keep supplying is so greatly appreciated.
Thanks Dallas
Big chief
I can’t thank you enough for demystifying this gem!! It’s so impressive! I love it!
Love it every time I hear it. I play it different every time. Thanks.
Triplets against eighth notes at 4:27 to 4:31 drove me crazy. In a single bar there are 6 chords in the right hand (RH) against 8 chords in the left hand (LH). How to sync them up? Then there was a dawning. The LH is swinging. It’s not really doing eight eighth notes in a bar, each getting a half beat. The LH is actually more like four sets of a dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note in the bar. However, the RH chords are played evenly, sounding like a train moving across the tracks.
If the bar starts with the RH and LH chords playing at the same time, then the second RH and LH chords are also played at the same time, due to the swing in the LH. The third RH chord is played between the third and fourth LH chords. Then that pattern repeats. Easy peasy. This explanation may not work out mathematically, but it gets the left and right hands working such that when playing at speed the RH can be driven at an even beat against the swinging LH.
Brendan, Parabéns por apresentar-nos esse grande dom que Deus concedeu a você!!!
I've never heard it described as an athletic left hand before but it's a very good term.To say that the left is a killer is almost an understatement,you need tendons of steel for anything over about three minutes. Definitely one for the masochistic player. I've been playing this for the thick end of 50 years now..but the train tends to be running noticeably slower nowadays.
I am sure it is slower, but still good!
I have been working on it for 6 months, I hope to get better 50 years from now, but I am enjoying the ride!
Clementwarrior. Many thanks for your kind words sir. I had forgotten that I had in fact left a comment re HTT Blues. I was in my early twenties when I contracted the Boogie Bug. Not having access to the sheet music but being undeterred I recorded any and all Boogie directly from jazz programs on radio onto an old reel to reel tape.Then,with the machine beside me at the piano I played it back a few bars at at time over and over again until I could play along with it. Each piece took weeks but it was worth it. I could finally play like the greats..Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammonds, Jimmy Yancey. Perhaps not perfect,but as close as made no difference,and it has stayed with me all my life albeit that my 'athletic left hand' is now an arthritic left hand, and the right isn't too far behind it either.But that's life. So hang on in there my friend,I promise you that it will be worth all the effort. Sorry to have rambled on a bit but that's something else that comes with age.
@@crankbv1 great comment. Also in my early twenties right now
Thank you! I think you're the only one with a good breakdown of this piece.
Sheet Music Download: www.badassboogie.com/
What a great video Brendan! If anyone struggles with the left hand I personally find it easier to alternate my fingers with 5-3-1 and 5-2-1. Just a tip, but still a matter of personal choice ;-)
Very good ...my teachers wouldn't let me play boogie woogie on the sch grand....I was bashing the hell out of it apparently ....
dont bash the piano
they're squares
Maybe you weren't very good. :) Jes kiddin. But objectively, you aren't going to damage a piano by playing boogie woogie. Damages a piano more in terms of intonation for it to sit Idle, so I have heard.
I really love the Keith Emerson arrangement of this one. Here played together with the venerable Oscar Peterson from 8:40 onwards.
ua-cam.com/video/2YHgWWX5DN0/v-deo.html
Not everyone has great hand Independence and can play the shuffle so the mickey mouse might just be what some people need. To be able to play this song is a tremendous feat. I am spending my time doing hand Independence exercises as I have two left hands. do you have an tips on developing hand indepencene so I can more easily play it as written..I simply love this tune!!!!.
Una pasada.
Felicidades por ser tan brillante.
Fantastic
Bass is from song Happy Places
In minute 2:50 you use your left hand faster. I would like to know this
Exactly what I needed thanks!
Great video! Thank you so much
Wow, this video is particularly good. I've had Eric Kriss' book that includes a transcription of this piece for 20 years and two hours with this video launched me forward like never before. Nothing against Kris (or me)---just kudos to this video.
Thanks Erick
Brendan Kavanagh I've now ordered the Bundle and please let me offer my opinion that the transcription of this lesson is excellent. Thank-you!
Genius ! Thankyou Brendan
More kudos for this video! Like Erick a few posts down I've had the 'Eric Kriss' book for 20 years [maybe 30] but I've never got anything like that Meade Lux sound. As you say there are lot's of wrong ways to play this [I can do one] but this video will get me up a few levels. Cheers.
Such a unique style of piano playing and sadly not around anymore. Wish I could play this fast xD
thanks ! the first one to load a tutorial of it!
Glad you found it useful, Zichele.
Thanks a lot for your tutorial
I'd put Jimmy Yancy up there among the greats too, considering he was a great influence on Mr. Lewis and Mr. Ammons as the history that's recorded tells it.
you could publish a tutorial on THE THIRD MAN at the piano
I managed to get that record in the basement it was my mother's I nabbed it in high school back in the early seventies maybe about 72 and I learn how to play at pretty well and now I got a smashed-up left and I still play on the other side of that record was a song called slow Boogie and it had a couple different changes besides the one for 5 now I could probably figure it out but I broke the record while I was still in high school and I've never tried I want to try to find that song again on UA-cam it's called slow Boogie maybe you could do a little thing on that too
wow thanks for posting this!
Dr K, i do love London but i have learnt some from you but hy did you not mention jimmy yancey! i think that Monsieur lewis was a friend of monsieur yancey! yancey licks and others on that honky tonk train! pratice but still can't take train boat to come see my kids grand kids and friends in london and else where even if i am a frog! croak! ;-)
awesomeness
Bella lezione!!!!
I think it's worth pointing out that Meade Lux Lewis himself played the train with an incredibly simple left hand to great effect as featured in the first of these film clips ua-cam.com/video/FSMO0J9BLm0/v-deo.html
Thanks for this.
Piano was invented for boogie-woogie and boogie-woogie was invented for the piano. No instrument/style of music combination is as natural, possible exception Bach fugues on the organ
Brendan is a very talented player with natural musicianship but this is not an authentic transcription of Honky Tonk Train Blues (neither are all of the published transcriptions I’ve seen, although one or two come close). But that may not matter for everyone.
Strange to hear it on a Steinway?
..I wouldn't be learning it even if I had two lives to live 😭😭😭😭😭
You need to get the sheet music. That's not close.
5:18
C'est très beau ce que vous faites, mais on ne voit pas grand chose a cause de la personne qui vous filme. Dommage! Je trouve que vous ne détaillez pas les notes : vous jouez trop vite!Felicitations quand meme pour votre jeu.Caldonia.