Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Can someone play BB King tunes on a piano?

In case you do not know (which is highly unlikely) BB King plays blues guitar...He has a instrumental song called Blues Boys Tune which my mother loves dearly....I often cry to that tune too (well its filled with emotions)...

Can BB's tunes be played on the piano? I love to play Blues boys tune on a piano for my mom as a gift....


Any help from esteemed members is appreciated...

With best regards,
Sam

No, I do not know who he is, and I do not want to know. But what I do know is that almost all that is written for guitar can be arranged for the piano easily.

Oh Polyphonist... You poor depraved soul!

BB is the best. I loves his music. You should be able to find it.

EDIT: I almost forgot. This would be done best on a keyboard with mod wheels.

I may be a depraved soul, but at least I know the difference between the words deprave and deprive.

(And a little bit of grammar too, such as how to form a verb in the first person.)

Who dat? Huh? If da man don't know BB....he's corrupted... not deprived...


EDIT: Seriously...there are some awfully good keyboard players on this site. Might try a couple of the other forums. They might at least direct you toward the right direction.
Yes seriously....you can play a keyboard like a guitar....but ya gotta have mod wheels...an the right voices...don't have to be the same as guitar...

So, if I don't know the music you enjoy, that means I'm corrupt? Not sure I'm following your reasoning there.

Oh Polyphonist...buddy... did you forget to take your medication? HHHhhhhhuuuuuuummmmmm?

I believe I'm dealing with someone who's a) insane, or b) high, so I think I'll stop wasting my time.

I never found being high helped with my short term memory.... alas, my piano playing took priority... (good times....)

However, as polyphonist states...pretty much anything can be transcribed to piano from guitare. Obviously there are restrictions dependant on the instrument... but there is no reason why it cant be acheived to give you a wonderful gift for your mum.

And sometimes i get crossed wires with people when a little humour is misinterpreted, and sometimes i can be a little short with people too. It happens, im human. But the world keeps turning anyways. :-)

Here's a link to BB King and the piece in question. Am listening with pleasure.

Really not necessary, especially when someone is talking about their inner emotion.

Let's see if we can continue the discussion without the personal insults. If not, the thread will be closed and some folks are going to get some time off to enjoy their favorite music, BB or other.

Here is an image of the first few bars of the lead guitar part.
This shows standard notation, along with guitar tablature, showing the slides, bends, etc.

Be aware that guitar notation is written an octave higher than it is actually played, so, for example, the very first note would be D# immediately above middle C.

If you would like a .pdf of the complete guitar part, PM with your email address.

PS I could transpose the notation down an octave, if that makes it easier.

Google answer:

http://www.google.com/search?q=bb+k...g+piano&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Some are quite expensive, but some seem to be free.

Have fun --

. Charles

Wow...I still do not understand why you guys drifted apart, but thank you Rob and Charles for your suggestions. I will certainly look through them...Although I listened to blues guitar, blues piano feels different to me...may be it is the specific progressions that they use.

Dear Rob: I will send you a private message with my e mail...I very much appreciate your help and will always remember you when playing that song...

Regards,
Sam

Sam,

Sheetmusic plus and Amazon each have some BB King collection which are melody with guitar tabs showing the chord changes. Sheetmusic plus also has quite a number of his pieces transcribed for piano. Alas, I didn't see the Blues Boys Tune listed

sheetmusicplus

There are numerous chord progressions used in Blues, although the "12 Bar" is the most common. It has numerous variations within itself.

Nevertheless, all Blues chord progressions can be and are used by all instruments. So there is no particular instrument used in one chord progression that another instrument would/could not be used.

However, guitars, and harps ("harmonicas" in the Blues world) have the ability to bend notes, which pianos cannot. So they do sound different in that regard, which might be what you mean.

To address this, Blues pianists often play two notes quickly together, (a half-step down to the main note) with the first a grace note, to mimic that bending, and thus create a pianistic sound all of its own, which is a fully used characteristic in Blues piano.

The free song in my signature (see below) is a 12 Bar Blues that has some of that, if I remember correctly.

Thank you rocket88...you are right...It is the specific instrumentation... bending and vibrato that creates that different feel...

regards,
Sam