Hi,

I'm trying to choose some good Piano centric Rock/Classic Rock songs. By this I mean songs that have a key/fundamental piano part in them, for example:

- Feel (Robbie williams)
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton)
- Brick (Ben Folds)
- Daydream believer (The Monkees)

What do you recommend?

Cheers

How about...

- Scenes from an Italian Resturant (Billy Joel)
- China Grove (Doobie Brothers)

Howard

Anything by Tori Amos or Vienna Teng, though they might be considered more adult alternative than classic rock.

You can't leave out "Layla," of course.

"And I moved" by Pete Townshend has gorgeous rippling keyboard arpeggios throughout, but it's rather a downer of a song and not well known.

"Crime of the Century" by Supertramp.

Came sail away - STYX
Freebird - Lynryd Skynrd
Home At Last - Steely Dan
Boogie on Reggae Woman - Stevie W
Clocks - Coldplay
Bad Leroy Brown - J Croce
I don't like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
Thunder Road/Growing up- Bruce Springsteen
Great Balls of Fire - J.L. Lewis
In the Midnight Hour - W. Pickett
Werewolf in London - Warren Zevon
C'est La Vie - Chuck Berry

Just a few that popped into my head. Hope this helps!
Hobie

I've always loved the keyboard introduction to Supertramp's "Bloody Well Right".

Hobie, I didn't remember a piano in "Mondays", but I just listened to the song and the pianoing in it is great!

Jungleland or Backstreets - Bruce Springsteen

That's Just The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby

Moondance -- Van Morrison

Year of the Cat - Al Stewart

Uncle Remus - Frank Zappa

Stairway to Heaven[/b] !!

All the way from memphis-mott the hoople

http://www.lovinspoonful.com/mp3.shtml

Summer in the City by Lovin spoonful, intro 2nd reprise of theme and fadeout.

A favorite of mine is "Jessica," by the Allman Brothers.

I believe that the pianist was Chuck Leavell, who now plays for the Rolling Stones.

Bob

If you're willing to broaden your requirement a bit from piano to keyboard I would add these songs with absolute "signature" keyboard licks....
Light My Fire - Doors
Riders On The Storm - Doors
Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harim
Good Lovin' - Rascles
I've Seen All Good People - Yes
Gimme Some Lovin' - Stevie Winwood/ Spencer Davis
Your Song - Elton John
Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong, The Letter, With A Little Help From My Friends, Feelin All Right - Joe Cocker
Hey Jude, Lady Madonna, Let It Be, A Day In The Life, Get Back - Beatles
Willie Go Round In Circles - Billy Preston
96 Tears - Question Mark & the Mysterions
These Eyes - Guess Who
Oh-yea como va, Black Magic Woman, etc. - Santana
These come to mind - but there's got to be thousands more - Deep Purple, Rush, Queen...
This is going to be a huge list.

desperado -- eagles

levon -- elton john

green onions -- booker t

roadhouse blues -- doors

Color my world by Chicago

"Open Arms", Journey

translates well to solo piano

Pink FLoyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Trilogy is very good too, Wish You Were Here, and Shine On Your Crazy Diamond..

In terms of modern rock songs, Coldplay and Muse are the two which spring to my mind immediately. I'm not a Coldplay fan at all, but I think Muse are absolutely fantastic!

Tom Waites continues to be my personal piano idol.

favorite Waites quote:

""Your hands are like dogs, going to the same places they've been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer in the mind but in the fingers, going to happy places. You have to break them of their habits or you don't explore, you only play what is confident and pleasing. I'm learning to break those habits by playing instruments I know absolutely nothing about, like a bassoon or a waterphone."

The Load Out by Jackson Brown

..."Now, roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps
'Cause when it comes to moving me
You know you guys are the champs
But when that last guitar's been packed away
You know that I still want to play
So just make sure you've got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano"...

excuse the rehashing of a really old thread
but can anyone on here play "Martha My Dear"?
highly impressive song and a great sounding one at that.

Imagine - Lennon
I Am The Walrus - Lennon
A Natural Woman - Carol King
Hey Jude - McCartney
Let It Be - McCartney

My list comprises more than just Piano but E-piano and other keyed instruments as well:
Running on empty - Jackson Browne
Say you love me - Fleetwood Mac
Babe - Styx
Nutrocker - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (their version rocks!)
And they're all in love - The Who (I believe Nicky Hopkins played the piano in that tune - off of the Who by numbers album)
Breakfast in America - Supertramp (the whole album. Very nice playing on the keys throughout!)
Easy - The Commodores
And that's just the tip of the iceberg

Piano Man - Billy Joel
Let It Be - Beatles
Levon - Elton John
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkle

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen.

Nightswimming by REM

I've got a Beatles Keyboard Book that has that so yeah I can play that one.

nice, i'd love to learn it.
still haven't tried yet but i will one day.

As it has ben mentioned before, Muse make great use of the piano in their songs.

A worthy effort on Layla. I've listened to loads of "Layla" videos on Youtube, and amazingly, as simple as the piano part is on the album, I still haven't heard it played in its entirety, note for note as originally recorded, except for the posted Derek and the Dominos submissions!

As far as rock musicians go, Edgar is one very bad, bad man!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCAUIGYhJAA&mode=related&search=

A better than average keyboardist, and a monster alto-sax player.

Classic rock organ tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtr7H54_hhE

Sugarloaf, Green Eyed Lady

Following on the path and style of the Moody Blues' "Knights in White Satin", here's the tune by 10cc that put poyphonic pad-synthesizers on the map, and a great piece of music, excellently arranged:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ3CtePvcD

classic aussie rock:

Cold Chisel
- Choir Girl
- Ita
- Khe San
- When the War is over
and many many more (boring piano in most, but amazing songs)

Silverchair- After all These Years
Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five - most of their songs.-philosphy, brick(already said), Still Fighting It, Lullabye, Song for the Dumped(mediocre song amazing piano part)..

For a challenge, try these tunes on piano:

American Pie - Don McClean

Saturday Night's Alright - Elton

The Weight - The Band

Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys - Traffic

Glad - Traffic

Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Seger

Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan

Reelin' In The Years - Steely Dan

My Old School - Steely Dan

Infinite Space - ELP

Take A Pebble - ELP

Saturday In The Park - Chicago

Changes - David Bowie

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Southern Man - Neil Young

South Bound - Allman Bros.

Free Bird - Skynyrd

I Know A Little - Skynyrd

Martha My Dear - Beatles

Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones

Angie - Rolling Stones

Runnin' On Empty - Jackson Browne

How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

Steam Roller Blues - James Taylor

Paradise By The Dashboard Light - Meatloaf

10th Avenue Freeze Out - Springsteen

Layla has a nice piano section but it doesn't start from the beginning of the song.

It's already been mentioned, so consider this a double recommendation for Jackson Browne's "The Load-Out" -- one of my favorites.

Carry on my wayward son.......Kansas

the Journey stuff from the 80's????

anyone?

anyone?

Dont Stop Believing?

How about Jungleland-Bruce Springsteen

Absolutely. Also Open Arms, Send Her My Love, Faithfully, Separate Ways, When You Love A Woman... Lots of Journey's stuff has strong piano/keyboard parts. Jonathan Cain plays a great organ solo on La Raza del Sol on their 2001 DVD, and I have always liked the piano solo at the end of Still She Cries on Trial by Fire.

second that! it took me forever to be able to play/sing Saturday Nights Alright... Not sure why but the rhythm and the mindset required to deliver it is not like my personality, ie, ya gotta be kind of aggresive and crazy to pull it off. Same with old time rock and roll, I still can't do that one because you kind of have to scream it?? can't describe it but my voice type is just not suited to it.. great song though.

Playing and singing, is different than playing solo piano, which is also different than just playing the piano/keyboard part. With band/without band...so many choices

playing and singing, is hardest in my experience...

Let's also not forget about TOTO....hold the line, rosanna, africa..

Randy Newman -

You can leave your hat on

Land of Dreams,

The Blues from Trouble in Paradise

According to my sons who play rock, here are some band names not mention that have great music and maybe someone here can name some of the tunes they play DPVJAZZ
1.TOOL
2.NINE INCH NAILS
3.SUBLIME(R.I.P)
4.RADIOHEAD
5.METALLICA
6.S.T.P.
7.311
8.MASSIVE ATTACK
10.MINOR THREAT/FUGAZI
11.QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
12.THIS WILL DESTROY YOU
13. PEARL JAM
14. THE EXIT

Oh, I love Metallica: Master of Puppets, Fade to Black, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, so many more. But they are not well known for piano/keyboard parts in their music.

Hey Frederick- Jefferson Airplane
WOuld you be happy? Lee Michaels (hammond Organ)

--Nothing else matters-- translates well to solo piano.

eric carmen-all by myself
some of the ABBA stuff was piano-heavy

"Saturday Night..." has always been a tricky one for me (playing it live). I have always let someone else sing it because the vocals are to high for me. It's one of those busy tunes where you can forget a lot if you don't play it often enough. I'll have to work through it the night before or sometimes an hour before the show. Same for "American Pie", lots of busy little licks. I always recall the opening and closing gospely chord progressions but all the busy stuff in between you'll forget if you don't revisit the tune once in a while and there are some well-known signature piano licks in Pie that you never want to leave out.

If you ever have the chance, try playing the entire piano part to "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" sometime. It is one of the most challenging pieces in all of Rock/Pop. Took me weeks of woodsheding to completely nail it. And it would be another month of playing regularly on gigs til I really felt comfortable with it. It's one of those pieces where you really "learn" piano in the process. "Bat Out of Hell" is another challenge. Is that Roy Bittan or Jim Steinman playing?

very cool Inallkeys, agree totally. I am going to make a youtube of SNAFF sometime soon. American Pie, yup, another toughie. When I auditioned for dueling pianos, these of course were all must knows. When I sat down to learn the 40 or so MUST KNOWS, I knew then it wouldn't work for me personally, at this point at least. Neat on Paradise by the dashboard light, it's a great song, would prolly take me many months of cobbling it together but I bet worth it. Great tune! Love Meatloaf

I find a lot of rock songs don't always "work" on the piano unless they have a melody or have rapid chord changes. I've noticed a lot of pop pieces listed on this thread. Here are a few of my favorite rock/pop pieces that I've always liked playing:

Rock (more or less):
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
Alone - Heart
Here I Go Again - White Snake
Rock & Roll Dreams - MeatLoaf
Can't Ya Say - Boston
Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf

Some Disco(ish) "carp":
It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys
The Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
Touch Me - Samanth Fox
Ohhhh I Want You - Savage Garden
Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards
The Crying Game - Boy George

Easy Listening:
Imagine - John Lennon
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Love At First Sight - Styx
Love Will Keep Us Together - Eagles
100 Years - Five For Fighting
Love Is All Around - Wet Wet Wet
Hopelessly Devoted To You - Olivia Newton John
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
Good Is Good - Sheryl Crowe
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

Derick

great ones!

a few pop/rock faves...

Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
Time of the Season - Zombies
Into My Arms - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
all of Crowded House's ballads (Surprisingly they are attention grabbers, and I've never played them for people who've heard more than their one U.S. hit)

interesting on the crowded house ballads. what is the best one for example?

Stairway to Heaven by Lead Zeppelin is always a show stopper on piano. It's about 8 minutes long, with several different "movements" contained within.

Doesn't anyone here remember the seventies?

Colour My World- Chicago

I have been following Ian Thomas quite a bit:
-Time is the keeper
-Indiana wants me (Ian Thomas collaborated on this one)
-If you are looking (Tranquility Base was the group that recorded this - and unknown in the US but popular in Canada - Kawaigirl1 may know this...)

It would be great if I can get the music. For now I am playing by ear.

Double post

Yep, sure do...

Make Me Smile - Chicago
If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
Harmony - Elton John
Rocket Man - Elton John
Daniel - Elton John
Your Song - Elton John
Annie's Song - John Denver
Wildfire - Michael Martin Murphy
Sarah Smile - Hall & Oates
Midnight at the Oasis - Maria Muldaur
Mandy - Barry Manilow
I Write the Songs - Barry Manilow
Ready To Take a Chance Again - Barry Manilow
All I Know - Art Garfunkle
I Only Have Eyes for You - Art Garfunkle
My Little Town - Simon & Garfunkle
Haven't Got Time for the Pain - Carly Simon
NoBody Does It Better - Carly Simon
Aubrey - Bread
Everything I Own - Bread
If - Bread
Without You - Nilsson
You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John
Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka
I'm Not Lisa - Jessie Coulter
For All We Know - Carpenters
Top of the World - Carpenters
The Way of Love - Cher
Sometime When We Touch - Dan Hill
Misty Blue - Dorothy Moore
Midnight Blue - Melissa Manchester
Night are Forever - England Dan & John Ford Coley
I Don't Know How to Love Him - Helen Ready
I Feel the Earth Move - Carol King
Sweet Seasons - Carol King
Do You Know - Diana Ross
It's My Turn - Diana Ross
A Little Good News - Anne Murray
You Needed Me - Anne Murray
This is for all the Lonely People - America
Daisy Jane - America
Beth - Kiss
I Just Want To Be Your Everything - Barry Gibb
Living Inside Myself - Gino Vanelli
Midnight Confessions - Grass Roots
The Air That I Breath - The Hollies
Fire and Rain - James Taylor
Greatest American Hero (Theme) - Joey Scarbury
Please Don't Go - KC and the Sunshine Band
Eres Tu - Mocedadas
The Morning After - Maureen McGovern
Can You Read My Mind - Maureen McGovern
Cracklin' Rose - Neil Diamond
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins

I play them all, they all work very well on the piano. I can't think anymore... but I could go on and on and on...

I'm surprised no one mentioned Billy Preston yet. The Top 40 hits I remember best were "Nothing From Nothing" and "Will It Go Round In Circles."

Billy Preston and Serita - With You I'm Born Again. Sucky song. All the girls love it, so I play it - but I hate it.

Actually no....


I don't remember much of the seventies...

lungfish, I can play "Martha My Dear." Very fun song.

What a great thread! I'd like to add:

Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three
Anything by Carole King

And speaking of the '80's - remember "Making Love out of Nothing at all"? Super cheesy but fun (and easy) to play!

Elaine