At irocku our formula is simple. To teach you to play like a rock star, we have to offer great songs from great bands. This week’s lesson, She Talks to Angels by The Black Crowes is no exception; a haunting ballad rooted in the finest elements of the blues-rock tradition.
Released in January of 1990 on the Black Crowes’ debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, She Talks to Angels reached number 1 on the U.S. charts in 1991. The recording, comprised of Chris Robinson (vocals), Rich Robinson and Jeff Cease on guitars, Johnny Colt (bass) and Steve Gorman on drums was heavily accented by the piano and organ playing of Chuck Leavell, who by this time had gained considerable recognition as keyboardist of the legendary Rolling Stones. The Black Crowes’ sound is deeply embedded in the blues-rock style of The Rolling Stones, as well as in the soul power of Otis Redding, both having a huge influence on the band’s sound. She Talks to Angels is a beautiful, yet melancholy ballad that opens with an acoustic guitar behind the soulfully painful vocals of Chris Robinson telling a bittersweet tale of a young woman consumed by loss and addiction. With Robinson’s powerfully haunting vocal, the drums, bass and organ are minimized, yet they play an indispensible roll in adding a sense of soaring or velocity to the song that gives She Talks to Angels it’s overall appeal. The Black Crowes embody the purest elements of rock and roll, they were and still are a slice of Americana, blues and soul incarnate, a truly great rock band! With 9 studio albums and 20 years behind them, they are still on the road putting on smoking shows steeped in the musical traditions of American music, rock on!
Written by Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have FUN! That’s the best way to learn.
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 received this as this in my email as the Lesson of the Week. Thanks for posting!
Could you explain what you mean by dyad of the scale in the following sentence:
“The improvisation works with one of Chuck’s go-to techniques where he moves through pentatonic scales beginning and/or ending each phrase on a dyad of the scale.”
Thanks!
Great question. Rather than improvising by just running up and down scales a more melodic improvisation technique is to improvise using melodic phrases. Chuck is masterful at creating these improvisational phrases. For ‘She Talks to Angels” he creates the phrases by beginning and/or ending each phrase with a two-note chord ( a dyad) and using the pentatonic scale of that chord to fill between these ‘landing’ dyads. So if you are improvising around the E chord( E-G#-B) then any combination of these three notes of the E chord would be good choices to begin or end a phrase with. These would be considered ‘landing’ dyads or chords. To color the pentatonic runs between the ‘landing’ dyads you can add additional dyads from notes of the scale such as a B-D#(passing tones or dyads) but these would not feel resolved until you continue the phrase and reach tones of the E chord to land on.
Give it a try and let us know how you do. Keep Rockin!
Listening to the album version of the song, I hear a section (maybe a bridge) lyric is ‘she don’t know no lover’ etc….does that section follow the B A E E of the chorus? Seems a little different to me….thanks
Sounds closer to the phrase that’s in both the intro and outro that has the A going to a D/A and resolving on the E: A D/A, A D/A, A D/A, E A E E. Give it a try and let us know how it sounds. Keep rockin!
Can someone explain about using penatonic scales based on the fifth of the key? Example-exercise 5 says key of E and pentatonic is in key of B
Thanks
Cool question. “She Talks to Angels” is based on three chords. E, A, and B or the I, IV, and V chords of the E scale. The I,IV, and V are the most commonly used chords in rock. All the notes in the pentatonic scale of the I chord ( in this case, E) are also found in the IV ( A), and V (B) scales which makes the I pentatonic a very useful scale for improvising over a I,IV, V progression. You’ll never hit a bad note! For this exercise we stretched beyond the I pentatonic and change the scale with each chord change. So for the E chord we use the E pentatonic, for the A we use the A pentatonic, and for the B the B pentatonic. This will add more color and depth to your playing when you improvise. Keep rockin!
So I worked for about a week on the sheet music for lesson 7 after taking a quick look at the video- then I went back and REALLY watched the video- which takes the lesson to a whole new level as I’m now adding in chords to flesh out the melody. This makes it harder- but that’s good- it really sounds better, even if I’m only playing at about 50% speed right now. Slowly but surely…
Yeah, for this lesson we intentionally left out the chord voicings in the right hand and only included the melody notes. Use this lesson as an opportunity to learn how to fill the right hand with chords and voicings that sound good to you. There is no right or wrong in music, it’s whatever sounds good to your ear. If you need to brush up on your chords check out the “Tools & Resources” page.