This week irocku is living up to its namesake by bringing back the legendary rockers, The Rolling Stones. After 5 decades of hits from 29 studio albums, it is hard to imagine a body of work more extensive and evolutionary then that of our featured artists.
The fact is, The Stones are the last band standing and the greatest ever because they have always played music that was influenced and sculpted by the political and cultural forces of their time. With that in mind, this weeks’ song, Sympathy for the Devil is a perfect reflection of what was happening in the tumultuous year in which it was spawned. Released in December, 1968 as the first track of the Beggars Banquet album, Sympathy for the Devil went on to become one of the greatest rock anthems of all-time. Lyrically, the song presents a history lesson on violence and evil, asking us to examine our own complicity in a society gone mad. By the end of 1968, violence was ripping society apart, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was wreaked by violence, a huge Anti-War Movement was in full swing and the Vietnam War was escalating out of control; the images of dead and dying soldiers glared from our television sets every night. The song was reality and its’ hypnotic groove and primitive beat accented the listener’s connection to the lyrics and held us captive in a pulsating dance with the devil. Beggars Banquet was a critical success and was the first of four consecutive great albums (Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St. are the other three) which elevated The Stones into the rock and roll stratosphere. The album marked a return to its’ roots for the band and included several traditional blues compositions; but, Beggars Banquet is best known for two of the greatest rock anthems ever, Street Fighting Man and this week’s classic tale from the dark side, Sympathy for the Devil.
Sympathy for the Devil has a syncopated 16th note rhythm pattern that is the signature of many Stone’s songs. In this piano lesson we cover one of Nicky Hopkins’ legendary piano rhythms. Practice it until you feel it. Once you feel the groove of this song it will become addictive.
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Published by ABKCO Music, Inc.
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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 shy to play with the improv and make the licks personal by changing bits and pieces to fit what you want. This is a real rocker, so try to get into the physicality of the music. Don’t be shy to hit the piano, make it shake!
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.
The lesson is in F???? The song is in E, isn’t it?
Thanks for the question. Levels 1-4 are in F to help simplify the lesson. Levels 5-7 are in the key of E. Keep rockin!
Curious about the theory here looking at the chord progression because D would normally be the 7th diminished in key of E but it looks like the root is just moved down half a step so it’s a major chord. Is that pretty common? Since it goes back to D sharp in measure 14 (lvl 5 lesson). Just trying to wrap my head around how that all works.
Really great question. Thanks for asking. In the first 12 bars of the song it appears that the song is written in the key of A because it appears to be based on the I,IV,V (ie A,D,E) chords in the key of A. But the melody and progression drives our ears to E, not to A. Everything begins and resolves on E not the A, making E the tonal center of the song. This is why it is written in the key of E not the key of A. At bar 14 the progression shifts towards E where all the notes are diatonic (ie in the key of E). It’s not uncommon for the Stones to stray from the key signature. That’s a hallmark of Keith Richard’s writing.
Quick question about the Sympathy for the Devil lesson. It seems that the lesson also carries the voice part in the piano. If so, do you have an accompaniment-only arrangement?
Use the groove chart as the outline for playing with your band. Most players in bands start with the groove chart and they supplement it with licks and left-hand grooves from the lesson, improvs, and exercises. Level 3-5s are good places to start. You might find the levels 6s and 7s too challenging to play while keeping up with everything else you need to pay attention to when playing with a band plus the left hand from those arrangements might get in the way of the rhythm section.
For ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ you can play the groove chart and combine it with any of the comping from the lessons. For example, in the level 7 lesson, you can use the intro as it is, for the verse ( measures 5-13) use the rhythm from the groove chart and the same for the bridge(measures 14-21). Or you can comp the song throughout using the pattern from measures 22-29 and/or 30-39 which is taken exactly from what Nicky Hopkins is playing on the original. Hope this helps!!!!
We found this on youtube. The keyboard player, Jagger Clark, is an IROCKU student and the lead singer is Taylor Robinson, son of Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson. Very Cool!
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Dude-that’s awesome. You have such a solid left hand it would be great for you to try improvising with your right hand. At the end of the song, keep the left hand the same and try changing up the rhythm you play in the right hand. Give it a try, you can definitely do it.
This song is slower compared to the others I learned. But I like the change. In the beginning it starts slow but it rocks at the end.
We have updated some of the pdf files for ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. Please check them out the next time you work on this song. thx, irocku