Gentle Giant - Free Hand (Keyboard Part - Live Version)
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- This video was lovingly done for all those looking to learn how to play the live version of Free Hand. Recorded with vintage instruments as Kerry Minnear used back in the day, I hope to have done some justice to this great tune and band. (Video's audio best enjoyed in stereo, btw.)
I took a few improvisational liberties during the guitar solo and the ending to add a couple of additional parts, just for the fun of it.
There is one obvious mistake at 1:55. Left hand played D#-A#-D#, but should have been F#-C#-F#. I've left it in as it was just too difficult for me to re-record the entire section error-free. It's good for my humility, besides. :-)
Some concessions were made by editing pieces together that I recorded separately due to the keyboards being too far apart from each other to cleanly play so that the notes could be seen fairly clearly. With this exercise, one can't help but respect Mr. Minnear's playing ability. The whole band, really, was just so marvelously talented and tight, and the Giant recordings we have (live & studio) are a goldmine for rhythmic, harmonic & melodic complexity that continue to bring satisfaction decade after decade.
For those curious, here's a short list of the gear used:
Instruments:
- Hohner Clavinet Model C (modified with a Vibanet preamp from Vintage Vibe - thanks Chris Carroll & team!)
- Wurlitzer 200A Electric Piano
- 1953 Hammond C3 (chopped) w/ 145 Leslie
Stomp Box Effects:
- Mutron Phasor II (on Clavinet)
- Ibanez Tube Screamer (on Clavinet)
Special thanks & love to my brother Henry for turning me on to GG (age 7-ish!), and for his first transcriptions (from the studio version) so many years ago - helping me learn them, and for the jamming we did on this tune way back in my early teens (there is audio cassette proof, lol!). Without his initial help, this vid would not be possible AT ALL.
Also, the most heartfelt thanks to Mr. Dan Bornemark for his gracious assistance and recent consultation on the isolated keyboard parts (w/ Kerry's OK) from Gentle Giant's live in Paris (1976) performance, which helped me finalize the sections I had trouble hearing in the various live recordings and/or video.
And of course, finally --- thanks to Kerry Minnear and the all of members of GG....for the wonderful music!!
I hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching.
Feel free to comment, subscribe and explore any of my other uploads.
For original music inspired by, and in the spirit of Gentle Giant, please check out our band Advent:
www.adventmusic...
I do not own or make any claims to own the rights to this Gentle Giant music or Gentle Giant images.
![The Most Intricate Rock Band of All Time? Gentle Giant Part 2 [Progressive Rock Guitar]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hZr8kmmjA00/mqdefault.jpg)
Excellent!
Whoa dude!
AAAAAAA
Kerry Minnear, to me the Ultimate prog rock keyboard player (or best modern keyboard player - period). No one more unique period. He plays syncopated lines over syncopations ! Genius - period. Rick Wakeman etc is masterfully great, but not this unique. Totally in a class of his own..
Forgot to comment on the masterful rendition by Mark. Kudos. I might even attempt it !
What an incredible job of transcription, performance, and realization!! I mean, you even have a white clavinet!
What’s amazing is how the overhead view really changed how I hear some of these parts. The contrapuntal angularity (I just made that up - it fits) of Kerry’s parts made me remember voices moving in a different direction at times. F-ing brilliant.
I’ve always thought that Minnear was the greatest prog keyboard player of them all in concept, versatility, and sensitivity. This song is probably the greatest example of his arrangement skills and his commitment to the center of the song. It is a case study in theme/variation.
Gentle Giant where masters of the melt-your-mind / how-did-they-come-up-with-that music, and then… there’s “Aspirations”….
…A whole different dimension of the brilliance of Kerry Minnear.
Honestly, if I had to pick only one GG song to listen to going forward, it would be Aspirations.
Thanks for the kind words, John. 👍 Aways great to hear from someone who really appreciates KM and GG. (There are a few other GG vids in my channel. Feel free to check 'em out -- enjoy!) 😎🎹
You're welcome, Mark! Mad props to you. The outer fingers of my left hand won't allow me to play that 16th-note riff in sync with my right anymore. More power to ya! @@ADVENT_MarkPtak
A simple "like, subscribe and hit the bell" just doesn't cut it here. The man deserves some superchat cash.
Thanks Gary - but rather, support Gentle Giant and keep their music alive... 😎👍
Just Awesome !! You got it down : D
Kerry Minnear was so good, in my view belongs up there with Wakeman, Emerson & Banks !
Out of this world! Absolutely free technique and melody, based on Bach, but very,very much developed. In progression scale beyond a lot even Zappa's or Jimi Hendrix music. EXCELLENT! Thanks a lot !
Sounds like something my 5yo would play.
-Mozart's dad probably
From a GG mega-fan and musician since the early '70s, you've done an excellent job of working those parts out...Thanks
Play a piece once and it's just distant memory. Play a piece ten times it becomes rehearsed. Play a piece 100 times it becomes habit. Play a piece 1000 times it becomes second nature.
Wonderful - and just saying : that funky little clavinet thing kills me since I first heard it in Stevie´s "Superstition" - perfectly knacking keyboard sound!
And Kerry was the clavinet master in progressive rock. Along with Ray and especially John it helped a lot bringing "de groovy" into their intricate music. That´s just one thing that distinguishes GG from most other "progressives". Yes, I love rhythm. Listen to the live version of "Experience" in Brussels. Here to find on the tube - I could listen to the clavinet part on and on.
The Genius of Kerry Minnear shine through your "free hands"! Amazing job bro! ❤
Thanks, that's great! And I thought, that after 45 years of listening to Gentle Giant, I would have already heard all the melodies of their songs ... but I discovered new ones in your playing. It just never seems to stop.
@@martinbirkhauser3751 Their music is the gift that just keeps on giving, for sure. 😎👍
Sooo perfect, friend! Congratulations for your amazing technique and instruments!!! Long live Kerry Minnear and GG!!
I wish I learned a keyboard instrument. Instead i just have these stupid fat strings.
Long term fan of GG. This is a Great and Faithful Rendition of something I always thought was impossible for any other human to play besides Kerry. So there are two of you keyboard Giants in the world.
Very kind of you to say so, Richard, but Kerry is the real Giant. All I did was try to replicate it, so that others could enjoy his genius. 👍😎
MAHALO!!!
Ever want to interview?
I have a channel love to chat…
Wonderful job! The boys would be proud!!!
Loved it, wonderful rendition of Kerry's unique playing, thank you Sir Mark !!
Fantastic rendition! Love the funkiness of Giant and it is captured here perfectly!
What can I say? MASTERPIECE! INCREDIBLE! I dropped everything to watch this and enjoy the genius that went into it. Fantastic job, love the music, camera capturing your playing, inserts of classic GG photos. Everything so well done, thank you.
That's great! A lot of work. And again I heard musical details in the melodies for the first time (from 2:00 to 2:12) that I hadn't noticed before. Even though I've known and heard this song for over 40 years! That's the beauty and mystery of Gentle Giant. Many Thanks!
Maestro Kerry Minnear , GIANT never sleeps
always loved free hand, but now i adore it
Mark, that was truly impressive! Great work and thanks for the bird's eye view. I'll view this video often, I think ;-)
Absolutely fantastic - so good to hear it isolated so we can appreciate Kerry's virtuosity even more!
Holy moly. The cover is better than the original? Who does that?
as a musician and GG fan from the start...AWESOME..Thanks
Bravo, Mark! Well done! :-)
(For anyone reading this, I have both Advent albums (well, the first two, in case there's anything else)--there's some astonishing stuff on them. Highly recommended.
Thanks a lot, Jeff! (There are 3, btw - which two do you have?)
Excellent job! It's wonderful to get to watch Kerry's work from start to finish with no interruption.
That's just awesome!
This is just so fantastic to see this and know the chord structures. Kerry you have been such an inspiration to my composing.
Hey Mark, Keith here.
Good work.
That took some serious thought and good ears to get all of Kerry's parts.
Nice set up of keys also.
Never heard what was happening under Gary's solo.
I'll have to give it a check.
Great work again
Hi Keith - 4:39-4:54 is a rough approximation of what Kerry did during the Golders Green show. The rest of the gtr solo section is my own improv, such as it is... 🙂 Cheers!
That's really impressive. I love Free Hand.
Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
Perhaps my fav GG song - certainly a stellar keyboard part. Fantastic effort, Mark! Thanks for sharing!
My goodness, this is so immense, and quite amazing!!! Congratulations on the truly great work!!!
Nice to see how complex the keyboard part is. Thanx for the insight.
You are not a human being!!!
Amazing!
Hugs from Brazil!!!
Yeah! The ‘isolated’ Minnear part makes us all enjoy the incredible tastiness of the various harmonic and voicing choices even more - Thanks!
What a superb performance!
I’m sure Kerry Minnear will be proud of your playing.
Well done!👏🏼
Maestro Minnear was indeed very gracious in his praise...Thanks a lot, Geir-Jakob!
Yo soy guitarrista y hasta hoy excpt nuestro tecladista W no había oído semjnt grossada. Congrats
Did you figure this all out by ear? You realize I'm gonna slow your video down and learn this from you, right?
The whole point of making the video was to help those who wanted to learn how to play it. Hope it assists you. 😎 Yes, all figured out by ear (my brother's and mine). See text in the description.
Way to go. Great job. And nice keyboards by the way. I’ve got a B3. Wish I had the Wurlitzer and clavinet, I’ve just got the Arturia emulations. They are great but still not the same as playing on mute real thing. Hope to hear more from you. I’ll check out your channel. All the best from Winnipeg, Canada.
Thanks a lot, Rich. I have a few emulations as well, and you're right - nothing sounds quite like the real thing. (There are a few other vids in my channel you might enjoy. Check 'em out when time permits...) Cheers!
SuPerb!!! BRAvo!!!!! Kerry would be smiling...
Danke, Mark, das ist wirklich großartig, wie Du das spielt und das Du Dir das überhaupt draufgeschafft hast!
Danke, Martin!! 👍
Isolating Kerry's parts is perfect. It gives GG fans a chance to hear what's going on behind the vocals and other rhythms. Great job.
Great! Diciplined and funky at the same time.
Thanks Dan! Appreciate your help!🍺
Attempting to play Beethoven's 9th Symphony, his orchestra complained "nobody can play this." Ludwig replied..."I didn't write this for you, I wrote it for a future time. "
Screw the future - write your best work for today. You may not like the future, if you were to see it.
F_ing NAILED it!!!
Nice! Nailed it! Do you have a lead sheet?
Thanks Denis. I do not. I just have some incomplete transcription scraps of my own from years back.
The composition is so creative, so imaginative.
Maestro!
Fuckin' A.
Fantastic performance , you are obviously very talented .Thank you for sharing .
Superbly played! Thank you for doing this- now I have a better sense of the synths playing the different keyboard lines.
Excellent performance! You're such a talented keyboard player. Just for curiosity: the first part of the song you took from the live from 1976 and for the guitar solo until the end you played based on the BBC's 1978, right?
Hi Augusto, and thank you. The isolated tracks from the 1976 performance were only used to transcribe certain parts that I could not hear clearly in other live shows. My performance here is a combination of a bunch of different shows (as Kerry would interpret slightly differently from gig to gig). The audio from the BBC show was used underneath my performance. I mostly improvised during the guitar solo (and the ending). Hope this helps.
wow super 👍👍
Excellent, Mark! Incredible job.
fuck yes my dude. woo!
Phenomenal.
Psycho Genius keyboard! Amazing! Thanks! 🙂😎
Well done, sir!
Excellent job my friend! Very impressive.
Thanks Larry! Means a lot coming from you. 😎
Breathtaking. Amazing version, man. Congratulations!
Good stuff.
Perfect! Amazing!
Awesome job, Mark! (Now I want to play it together all over again.)
I know, right ?!? 😎🍺👍
@@ADVENT_MarkPtak Yep. I just sat there shedding it again. Great tune!
WHOA .... Freakin' Awesome !!!!!!
straordinario!
Thank you so much for this! One of their best songs, too.
Good job Mark !
Fantastic !!
Outstanding!
Very cool. Thanks.
Holly crap!
my wrists will hurt like a bitch but i will play this in the amount of years that i need to play it
You can do it!
Fantastisch! Vielen Dank!
Where do you play live?
ua-cam.com/video/hHK-EVuUuKI/v-deo.html
Wow! Just excellent!
Great job! What an amazing key part creation!
Seriously well done!
No mean feat. Bravo!
Love it! Great!❤
Fabulous!! Really great job, Mark!
Thanks, buddy...appreciate it!
..wow..
Great!! How can i find the score?
It's all on the gentle giant wiki website
Superb!
AWESOME !
Amazing!
awesome
Thank You! That was encouraging.
Nice work on this difficult piece....
Holy smokes!!!
😱
Well done!!
nailed it.
how
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️beltifu
Great! Please do a lot more Gentle Giant vids!
Great job, Mark!
Thanks Russ! :-)
Brilliant, Mark! :)
Thank you, my dear friend!
Sooooo fn good!!!! Wowzers!!!!! Bravo bro!!