This week, irocku is heading down the Mississippi River to New Orleans for a plate full of gumbo, crawfish and hush-puppies; all of which are smothered in the musical spices of a true original, Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack Jr., aka, Dr. John.
Born and raised in the ‘Big Easy’, Dr. John has been the undisputed ambassador of the New Orleans sound for over 40 years. Dr. John is a legendary figure whose live concert performances include outrageous costumes, flamboyant headdresses, and voodoo ceremonies; all elements of the bayou culture he grew up with. His musical sound is a unique blend of R&B, Zydeco, jazz , blues, and rock. Heavily influenced by Professor Longhair, Dr. John has left an indelible imprint on the American musical scene, with 26 studio albums, 5 Grammy’s and his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dr. John remains the heart and soul of any Mardi-Gras celebration. Our lesson this week takes us to the song, “Right Place, Wrong Time” from the 1973 album, “In the Right Place”. Produced by the legendary, Allen Toussaint, and including the equally important backing band, The Meters, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is considered to be Dr. John’s signature song. With a New Orleans flavored funk backbone immersed in R&B foundations, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is elevated to further funk greatness with the smooth soulful vocals of Dr. John; a vocal style unmatched in the musical world. The song deals with a ‘cat’ (a phrase that refers to a dude, bro, or male person) who just can’t get it right. Even though he thinks he is doing everything right, everything turns out wrong. When you’re in a funk like that the music must be funky as well, and “Right Place, Wrong Time” is, “funkalicious” to the very core. So fill up your plate, smother it in hot sauce and head on down the river for some good old New Orleans soul food served up Dr. John style. For desert, check out Dr. John’s 1992 album, “Goin’ Back to New Orleans”, it is sure to satisfy your every musical taste.
True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. It’s got minor chords, blues scales, pentatonic scales, sixteenth note syncopations, four-to-the floor baselines and them some. The advanced levels use every black key on the keyboard. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful basslines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
“Right Place, Wrong Time” is on the list of top rock piano songs of all time and is a song that every rock keyboardist MUST have in their repertoire.
Written by Mac Rebennack
Administered by Warner/Chappell
All Rights Reserved Used by Permission
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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. True to Dr. John’s style, “Right Place, Wrong Time” is a musical potpourri. Learn it in bite sized chunks. The left-hand walking baseline in the improvisation is one of the most useful bass lines to improvise over, so don’t skip the improv on this song.
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.
I’m sure this question reflects some theory that I’m missing: The level 6 Right Place Wrong Time is written in Eb minor, but every C in the song is natural. Why isn’t it simply written in Bb minor instead?
Great question. I can understand how this can be confusing, the 6th degree of minor scales confuses people constantly. In short you write the key signature based on the passage or song’s tonal center. In this case, it’s the Eb minor chord which feels like “Home base,” so the song is written in Eb minor. We can ignore whether or not all the notes of the scale are used.
For a comparison, if you wrote a C7 blues you’d put the key signature as C major, even though the B is always flatted except on the V chord. It would be odd to put a C blues in F major, so in the same way it’s odd to put “Right Place Wrong Time” in Bb minor.
Hope this helps! Keep rockin!
I would add that in a lot of rock and jazz, the dorian mode is used instead of the natural minor mode (aeolian) which is “aeolian #6”. The Doors’ “Riders On the Storm” is a good example. Some jazz charts will actually indicate “Dorian” at the top also. The typical chord symbol Eb-6 assumes the Dorian raised 6th (C) and not the aeolian 6th (B).
Collin: Thanks, that’s very helpful. One more theory gap in my knowledge base filled (hundreds to go)! Now I need to read more about the differences between keys and modes to understand Cary’s comment.
Always loved this song. Just starting with groove chart level4. I think in the video what is played in the verse may be slightly different than what is notated in the printed groove chart? In verse first chord is played Dm7 but printed Dm. Third chord played is Dm but printed is Dm7. So maybe typo in print. Either way it sounds good so no matter just FYI. Final chord is Played Dm in video which sounds better to my ear than the printed Dm7. Looking forward to getting this under my fingers and thanks for what you are doing!
I want to share this with you so you can see how I’m doing. …Please let me know what you think. Correct me if you feel I’m not in the right place. 🙂 Thanks a billion for helping me learn one of my favorite songs! I wanna keep making progress and advance to the more challenging lessons!
Albert-it’s great that you are mixing up the Lesson and the Groove chart to make up your own version of the song. We provide all the written Lessons, Exercise, and Improvisations to play around with the different techniques so that you can make the song your own, which is exactly what you’ve done. Before moving on to the next level, work on playing it with metronome(your keyboard might have one built in). As you move from the Intro, to the Verse, to the Chorus, learn to play the transitions smoothly without pausing. Imagine that you are playing with a band. The rhythm section wouldn’t stop through the transitions so you’ll have to maintain the beat as you move through the transitions. Playing with a metronome also helps train your ear to playing in a band setting because you need to listen and adjust your playing to keep a steady beat. Great job!!! Keep rockin!
Hello, Mr. Leavell… Here is my video performing right place wrong time lesson 2. Please let me know what you think, rock on Mr. Leavell!
Hey Albert- thanks for sharing your video. You’re doing a really great job with ‘Right Place Wrong Time’ Lesson 2. One of the more difficult things for students to do at the early levels is keeping a steady beat. Your beat is very solid which is a particularly difficult thing to do for this song. You are definitely ready to move on to level 3 which fills out the song quite a bit more. Also, try the scales, exercises and the improvs. They will help expand your playing. Keep rockin!!!
After several attempts to improve my piano playing by trying to learn to read music this method looks the most promising because the tunes are what I would like to play.
Here’s my level 5 ‘ Right Place Wrong Time’.
yo dude- how old are you???? That’s a killer piece.
Good website. I am not very good at reading music so was having trouble with this song in Ebm (Right Place, Wrong Time) – now I got it.
It would be better if the camera was closer to the keys so i can see exactly what notes you are playing.
Thanks for the help!
JL
Thanks for the suggestion! We’re on it.
You should try downloading the lesson videos onto your computer. Then you can slow them down so it’s easier to see the notes. Check out our FAQ and select ‘Lesson Videos’.
Keep rockin!!