The Mississippi Delta has produced some of the legendary figures in music history; W.C. Handy, Robert Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis. You get the point. And that is, American music and its traditions, as well as rock and roll, were spawned from the culture of the South.
This week your irocku lesson takes you for a frolicking journey down the Mississippi River with a New Orleans legend, Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John. From his best selling 1973 album, Right Place, Wrong Time, “Such a Night” is a funky, light and bouncy song that showcases the musical heritage of the Delta. Dr. John’s piano playing is 150 years in the making, it is steeped in Southern culture, and when it accompanies his uniquely funky vocals, you have a fusion of soul, funk, blues and boogie that are all part of this great New Orleans sound that the Dr. has dedicated his life too. From the opening notes, “Such a Night” skips along at a moderate tempo, the melody is bright and airy, with funky breaks and pauses that are accented by the virtuosity of Dr. John’s playing, his fingers running effortlessly down the keyboard. The song is about a man stealing his buddy’s girl; yet, as delivered by Dr. John it seems ok. The music transcends the message, as the good doctor himself says, “if I don’t do it, somebody else will.” With 50 years of playing to his credit, Dr. John epitomizes the musical traditions of the Mississippi Delta. He is New Orleans music, its roots, trunk and branches manifested in the coolest cat of them all. If you like this lesson, check out, “Right Place, Wrong Time” another Dr. John classic offered by your musical mentors at irocku.
irocku dedicates “Such a Night” to the memory of Dr. John’s long time drummer, Herman “Roscoe” Ernest III . irocku will forever be grateful for Roscoe’s help when we were first starting out.
The simplicity of this lesson is deceiving. Keeping a steady groove in your left hand is not easy. Work the left hand until it grooves smoothly and then add your right hand. “Such a Night” is on the list of top rock piano songs of all time and is another 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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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. Dr. John is a master at right hand piano fills. Try improvising using some of his N’awlins techniques!!!
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.
Hi.I play piano and sing at the same time.I’d like to know how to practice to improvise some fills in the “dead spaces” as Dr John do.Thank you very much.
The “Groove Charts” are what you would use to sing along with. The ‘Groove Charts’ include the chord changes and the rhythm of the song. They will give you the basic pulse of the song. We’ve found that most singers and players in bands use the groove charts and they supplement them with licks and fills from the level 4, 5, 6, and 7 lessons. In the “Such a Night” lesson you will find that we notated the fills ( notes not to be sung) using a smaller musical font. Use these notes as fills in the “dead spaces”.
Alternatively you can play the left hand as played in the lesson and play block chords in the right hand.
Why can’t I see the guy’s hands?
In all of our Lessons, Improvisations, Exercises, and Groove Charts we provide overhead views of the piano so you can see both hands throughout the video. You are also able to slow the video down and loop it for practicing.
Hi
I can play lesson 4 (just) and I am now working through the improvisatation lesson 4. Any suggestions on where I can put the improv in lesson 4 would much appreciated.
Thanks
Jules
For the level 4, the improv can be played over bars 23-30. You’ll see that the left hand groove for both of these sections is the same. Try playing the lesson through measure 30 and then go back to bar 23 and play the improv. Keep rockin!
Sweet. Thanks.
I love these lessons and the website. What a fantastic learning resource!
Why don´t you write the notes into the groove charts as played in the video? it would be a big help. thank you
Thanks for the question. When we designed the IROCKU lessons Chuck stressed the importance of getting people ‘off the page’. Unlike classical players, only 10% of all rockers can read music and Chuck himself isn’t much of a reader. Rockers piece together songs by listening, and learning the progressions, the grooves, and then filling in with melody and riffs(mostly from scales). We try to provide the tools for our students to expand beyond the written page, which is why we provide the groove charts, exercises, and improvs along with the lessons. The groove charts are intentionally designed to force you off the page and are a great way to begin getting away from the written notes. Don’t worry about playing the notes exactly as they are played in the videos. Get the groove down and supplement it with chord inversions and licks of your own. You’ll find that after working through a half a dozen of our songs (including groove, lesson, exercise, and improv) that things will start falling into place and picking up songs and improvisations will become easier for you. If you work your way up to our level 7s and master the content you should be capable of learning any rock song or riff. Chuck would prefer to see you come up with your own version of the songs rather than learning ours. Our goal is to provide you with the tools to do that.
Video of me playing ‘Such a NIght” level 5.
Hi there – I’m really enjoying this lesson. Can you give more detail about the left hand chords and patterns that you use in the Groove Chart Video. Thanks! Ken
Hi Ken! Here’s a breakdown of some of the things Collin is doing in the Advanced Groove Chart video. It might look complicated at first, but I hope that once it clicks for you it will seem much more simple.
Start with playing the root of the chord on the first beat, and the fifth on the third beat. You can play the fifth either above or below the root – it’s up to you! Collin adds a bit more by preceding the fifth with approach notes, which can either be a single grace note from a half step below, or a slide up of a few notes chromatically. (For instance, for the Bb chord, quickly play an E natural – that is, a grace note – before landing on the fifth, or F, on the third beat; or use more approach notes, such as sliding up from Eb, to E, to F.) You can also do this in the reverse direction sliding back down to the root on the first beat of the next measure.
Essentially what we’re doing here is adding more rhythm. Another way Collin gives the groove more swing is by bouncing up to the fifth (on the third beat) by playing the root on the “and” of the second beat. (More specifically, because it is swung, the “and” would technically be the third note in a set of eighth-note triplets.) Or, you can bounce up to the octave, playing the root on the first beat, the fifth on the “and” of two, and the octave on the third beat, then do the reverse on your way back down.
Around 2:40 in the video, the rhythm of the LH evolves into a kind of “oom-pah” feel, playing on each beat of the measure, but still emphasizing the 1 and 3, as written in the chart. (e.g. Play Bb on 1, the F above on 2, F an octave below on 3, and the F above on 4. Add some more bounce to the 2 and 4 by playing two swung eighth notes, as Collin does.) The LH is still all about the root, fifth, and octave, and bouncing or sliding between them, although the rhythm has somewhat changed.
At 2:50, Collin changes it up once again as he enters measure 9 and approaches the dominant seventh chords. Keeping to the “oom-pah” feel, on the 2 and 4 he plays a fifth and flatted seventh at the same time (F and Ab on the Bb7 chord), bouncing them on two swung eighth notes. This idea is carried on back to the top of the piece, but since we don’t have dominant seventh chords, Collin plays the fifth and the root (an octave up) on the 2 and 4 instead.
In summary, here are the things you really need to remember for adding rhythm to your left hand:
-Emphasize the 1 and 3 (as indicated on the sheet music)
-Stick to the root, fifth, and octave
-Give your eighth notes a swung, triplet feel
-Listen to the video, and trust your ears
I hope this helps. Keep rockin’!
-Matthew
Hi there Matthew – thank you for your detailed response – that’s just what I wanted! It’s really so helpful to get that level of detail – it makes such a difference and now I can actually play that left hand stuff – it’s great – quite simple when you get into it, it really brings it to life – a real gas to play. Thanks again for your help – I really appreciate it. I’m applying this style to other tunes – great fun! Ken
I have one question about the song ‘Such a Night’, Lesson 3.
When can I put in the improve, when I preform the song?
(In which bar shod I start the improve.)
A good place for the improv is after bar 13. So rather than going to the last two bars of the song you can play the improv and when you complete the improv go directly to the beginning of the song and then take it through to the end.
Please let us know if this works for you. Keep rockin!
‘Such a Night’ is now available for download. Enjoy!!!