this excerpt is from the public television program the piano guy
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I'm really glad to have my friend Dave powers here with me
today so we can work through a tune I'm sure you'll recognize
Hi Dave, Hi Scott. I'm doing very well thank you—cool.
this tune is the theme from cheers. It is this
signature thing that happens right up bat. One of those tunes that you hear 2 or 3 notes and
everyone know what it is immediately.
That's it! that's so funny how some tunes have their own signature lick
I always think about Elton John's Bennie and the Jets that way too
you hear one chord and you know it!
in this case these TV themes are really kinda
they're funny in the american psyche we all lock into things
like that
righ. This is not written by
Mike post but sounds a lot like it. It sounds a lot like Mike Post.
If I hadn't known differently I would have said that this is another Mike Post theme
For those of you not aware that Mike Post has written many TV themes.
everything starts in the same chord then he would
just like ...
we are not going to play much mike post stuff right now but it all
sounds very similar you have
the one chord.
We are in Bb by the way, so you have the B flat chord and then
he'll play maybe an F after that Bb and then an F chord then
maybe go back up to the B-flat if it's Mike post
a lot of his songs are like that - go check out anything written by Mike post
the funny thing is having
this kinda signature sound of having a
bass note, a root if you well and then playing multiple chords across that
peddling or pedal tone.
Using lead sheets or
chord symbol notation
which is part of the reason I brought this up I wanna make sure everyone straight with
that if they're looking through lead sheets and see a slash chord
right away
because it moves from B to F/Bb
F over Bb right . That means
B-flat
What that means is that you're playing a chord
on top over some notes
not the root
adds some color to the song. That's right so whatever even though you see a slash
what musicians tend to call those slash chords, they will say
F over Bb because mentally that's kinda what you're thinking.
It's an F chord
on top of the Bb note or to the right of the slash is
just a single note you play. To the left the slash is the actual full-chord you play.
it's just the way in lead sheet terminology or chord ssymbols a way
they can tell you to play something that's not the root.
correct okay are all straight on that no hiccups when we get to those
things
no hiccups okay now this tune is sung
there are verses a lot that you probably never heard of on the TV show
this song could actually played instrumentally. it makes enough
Melodic sense that you can play you know
people will recognize it. you can walk down the street and whistle and hum it,
now on that topic
with with melody that does this you know that if you saw this notated again it's
all 16 ...
I would have a hard time looking at it
well not only that but what Am I marching band playing if you really
quite correctly right you know one coat
at the top that that that that that that now that that that that that
you've got to interpret a little bit make it flow little bit and and it's
been
I mean how do you think that through up might hold out the notes and
course at all stems from
listening to the theme song listening to the to recording
what are the words? right? you want to play it like you would be
enunciating right? thats an important
big idea I think for
for viewers to know. we do beat everyone over the head with it but I just
don't think it can be overemphasized enough that
if you play a melody line exactly as it is notated from a lead sheet
you are pretty much doomed to sound corny
and not sound like what you're trying to sound like which is why we have great
players like you come on the show to say
how can we take this from the somewhat sterile lead sheet version to just
saying I got a single chord and melody line and I wanna start sounding
like you sound and I think that's a big chunk of it. I think good players
feel free to interpret what they are reading and realize that it's a
requirement to do that
sure so we'll keep that in mind—taking away from the straight chord
to maybe adding a little ...
Yeah
no one would whistle or hum this tune and go ...
you are just not gonna do that! What's that song you're whistling? You are going to bend a little bit
you have to turn that into sliding Notes or whatever it
may be so we will leave this topic. it's so
important I think to mention that stuff now working on through this tune
Are there any
major oddities as far as you know of any chord changes coming down the pike
this seems pretty straight ahead actually
I don't know is there like an extra
or maybe a shortened 1st or a measure
before the chorus?
yeah just a measure in 2 is what happens instead of all of them being in 4.
That is what it is.
if you are singing it and you know the
melody line you will roll right through it
yeah If you were trying to count feverishly that could trip you up as well
There are a couple of little
nuggets shall I say in this song besides
the intro which is Bb chord here
You can play a Bb
chord in your left hand if you want to or you can play it
I would put maybe like a root of the 5th
so you have
makes it no so muddy
I might even play it an octave down okay so
down here start in this octave
and play
OK
then they do it again an octave down
Terrific, then they just play
straight quarter notes
that's easy enough
Here you
come to another little nugget let me see
that's an F minor chord above an Ab
Then a G7
here's a C minor chord; check it out
that is a signature line that you hear
Boudou doo-doo doo-doo
so it is like
great now that's a pretty normal I think
grove to go through when you're not playing the melody line
so the left-hand, the bass part does some
and the right hand is just playing
so most of the rhythmic interest is going to be in the melody or vocal line
so how do you accomplish that if you are gonna play this solo style rather than
accompaniment style? how do you get
the melody played and still keep that ...
I will make the left hand play the bass part and the accompaniment part
and play the melody with the single note with my right hand - so like
you are still getting the consistent pulse
gotta have the pulse
now that's not to tough what you are have doing there instead of y
t stride piano being so
insanely difficult. I'm so impressed by your ability to ...
It's the world's toughest target practice you get to reach down and get the right
thing
but you're really just kinda getting to the root and
coming up
and filling up some chord tones
That helps. I think a lot of people will be doing this in a somewhat more simpler form like that
to begin with
the song is fairly simple there it doesn't
require a whole lot
piano in the in the verse anyway. It is a very simple part
here's here's that chord with the F minor over Ab
So I am going
you lead me to that one. So that is the next thing.
If you want to play this tune authentically then you have
to get those that rhythmic hit in there whether it's written in Lead sheet or
not
you hear that. play that one more time a measure before that if
you can
and everyone knows this tune has heard it
these are things you have to lock down
The chord right before that is
Eb over G okay and then
I've got F
but it but you make sure the melody is
A, Bb, C you can hear that
right and and the bass will go F, G, A
okay, good
Between the signature intro and doing the boo doo-doo doo-doo
that little part that needs to be in there and then the
rhythmic hit that's probably kind of the things you have to
nail down to really be imitating what we all hear on the radio
true okay well let's hear you play this tune then alright
nice very simple and you added two or three things to do to give it the
signature sound and I think you can get that one underhand. terrific
thanks for your help Dave!
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