Eric Clapton first recorded “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” in 1970 on the Derek and the Dominos debut album, ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’. With Clapton on lead guitar and Duane Allman filling in on slide guitar there wasn’t much space for Bobby Whitlock to cut loose on the keys. That all changed 22 years later when Clapton recorded an acoustic version of the song with Chuck Leavell on the piano. This week’s piano lesson combines some old style stride blues piano with right-hand rock and blues licks that read like an encyclopedia of modern rock piano.
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” was written by Jimmy Cox in 1923 during the height of the ‘Roaring Twenties’. It’s a riches to rags story of a person who had everything – money, friends, champagne and wine- and then lost it all. The song was first recorded in 1927 by Blind Bobby Baker but it was Bessie Smith’s 1929 recording of the song that became imminently popular, particularly because it’s release coincided with the crash of the New York stock market. Over the years, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” was covered by a host of rock, jazz, and blues artists, notably Count Basie, Lead Belly, Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, to name a few. It wasn’t until the ’70s that the song was independently rediscovered by both Eric Clapton and Duane Allman. Duane Allman, along with his brother Gregg, recorded a version of the song on their album, ‘Duane & Gregg Allman’. Gregg hadn’t fully developed his signature Allman Brothers singing chops yet; a good listening to this version would lead you to believe he was trying to channel Ray Charles. Eric Clapton and Duane Allman teamed up and recorded another version of the song on their iconic album, ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’. Clapton’s feelings about the Layla sessions were that in Duane Allman he found the “musical brother I’d never had but wished I did”. In 1992, Clapton recorded yet one more version of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” on his Grammy winning ‘Unplugged’ album. And in doing so, he called up another Allman Brother, irocku founder Chuck Leavell, to play keyboards. This time around, Clapton provided plenty of space for the keyboards and Chuck laid down one of his most memorable keyboard tracks.
This is not your typical blues piano lesson. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” is based on an 8-bar progression and the lyrics tell a tale of hardship and bad luck; but the similarities to the blues end there. The chord structure doesn’t follow a standard blues progression and improvising over the progression using a single blues scale just won’t work here. Chuck solos over each chord change adding both complex rhythmic and harmonic textures. The keyboard solo on “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (along with Chuck’s solos on two other songs from the Clapton ‘Unplugged’ album, “Alberta” and “Old Love”) is one of Chuck’s finest pieces of work. Have fun with it!!!
Written by Jimmy Cox
Learn how to play rock and blues piano from one of rock’s greatest. Chuck Leavell, legendary keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, The Allman Bros, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and more.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Practice Schedule
Second Week: Add the Exercise and Improvisation to your practice. Master the left hand stride before adding in your right hand.
The above video is a preview from the lesson. Every lesson includes a groove chart that teaches how to play the song with a rock band, a rock theory and dexterity exercise, an improvisation, and a full arrangement of the song itself. All lessons include instructional videos as well as the sheet music.
Nice to meet you, my name is “LadyU”. I am a 10 year old Japanese girl living in Japan.
I am not good at English, so write sentences using ‘Google Translate’ . I appreciate your understanding.
I got a good video (Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out) two weekends ago. This song was the reason I started playing the piano. About four years ago my father bought me an instructional video for this song from IROCKU.
10 Year Piano Old Student Plays "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
This time I played with my 16-year-old brother….I am sorry if there are any mistakes
Hello LadyU,
Thank you for sharing your video with us. You play awesome. Keep it up! We can’t wait to see more videos.
Keep rockin’
irocku
Lesson 1
Notation shows very last note in left hand played with 5th finger. Video shows last note played with 3rd finger. Being a newbie, what is the preferred fingering?
Bill, Thank you for the question. Great observation. It isn’t absolutely required that you use the exact fingering in the notation but we suggest it while you are learning. As your skills and dexterity increase you might find finger placements that come more natural to you. Which is fine. But at the earlier levels it’s best to follow the fingering in the notation.
Hey! Great lesson and really helpful. But I have one question, is there a way to play with the recording with this arrangement? It seems like it’s missing a chunk, unless you are supposed to repeat? Just a question, thanks!
Thanks for the question. We are glad you are enjoying the lesson. Between the Lesson, the Exercise, the Improvisation, and the Groove chart you have everything you need to play the song in it’s entirety. Use the Groove chart as your roadmap to play along with and then fill in with elements that you have taken from the Lesson, Exercise, and the Improvisation. Enjoy and Keep Rockin!
Enjoying this piece- doing level 5 – but struggling with the fingering on bar13 of the lesson! I’ve slowed down the video and practised it over and over but the b/d flat in the first triplet is a struggle. any tips? And then for the F#dim7 triplet, is it just basically jumping down the chords? Hope this makes sense!
Thanks for the question. That’s a difficult section. For the first triplet try changing the last dyad from B-Db to Bb-D instead. That will flow much smoother. And for the F#dim, on beat 3+, instead of play Eb-F#-C, try playing just C. If you can, try playing either F#-C or Eb-C instead. That will also be flow better under your fingers. As long as you play any of the notes that outline the F#dim7 chord (F#-A-C-Eb) it will sound good. You don’t need to play them all.
Great, thanks! I guess sometimes I get too fixated on actually getting it exactly as per the notation and forget to enjoy the music…
It’s good to learn the piece as written because that pushes you to develop techniques and skills that you otherwise might not learn on your own. But don’t get fixated on playing exactly as written to the point where it locks you up and takes the fun out of it. Make the song your own and have fun with it.
I’ve managed to play all 4 parts at level 3 although I think I have the skill to play say level 5. I have started at this level to get a base line to work from. So my question is really how polished should I be at playing the level 3 parts before moving on. I could spend months getting really proficient only to move to the next level and never play the piece the old way again. I mess up playing the lesson 1 time in 4 (it varies). If it needs to be better then what is the best way to improve?
This is a great question. Thank you for asking. Each level is a stepping stone to learning the music theory and keyboard techniques of the song. If you’ve absorbed everything there is to learn at the current lesson level then you should probably move on to the next. Otherwise practicing and learning the same things on the piano over and over again will become a chore. If you have decent proficiency at playing at the current lesson level ( ie level 3) don’t worry about perfecting it. That will come with time. As you advance to the next level, you will find that the previous one will become easier. But don’t bother looking back – keep moving forward… The earlier lesson levels do come in handy, though, when you are playing in a group setting. When you are in a rock band or just jamming with friends, it is good to drop down a level or two because along with playing your part you need to interact and adjust to what the other players are doing.
This is a great follow up to the Stride Blues lessons! But it’s almost harder to play at the slower tempo because I keep getting into it and start rushing, so I’ve been wearing out my metronome!
Oh yeah- It’s harder to play behind the beat than in front of the beat. Especially with Stride Blues since your left hand never stops driving forward. Play around with it. Try landing on the first and third beat and play the second and fourth slightly behind the beat. Keep rockin!
Really struggling to catch on to the art of playing syncopated. This young guy may just be the answer. My strategy is to learn this piece as in lesson 3 played straight and then add the syncopation as in lesson 4.
That sounds like a good approach. Take a section of the video and use the looping and slowdown feature of the video player to listen to the section and get it ingrained in your mind. It’s much easier to learn these syncopated rhythms by listening to them than it is by reading them. Alfie listened to Chuck’s improvisation 100 times before he ever attempted it on the piano. Do the same with the sections that are challenging to you. Let us know how it goes. Keep rockin!