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| Headline | Does Paul read and write music? |
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| Author | Comment |
Ian
Dec-05-2008, 14:33 GMT
Norway
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| This is something I have wanted to know for a long time. In the mid seventies,with an already well established career as a singer/songwriter,and having written many great songs,Paul took music lessons in composition and arranging. We can hear the fruits of this immediately from that point on,as far as composition is concerned,starting with nearly every song on ´Still Crazy...´,but when it came to writing string and horn arrangements on songs like ´Some Folks Lives Roll Easy´[one of my all time favourites],is it known if he actually notated the parts,or perhaps he just hummed the parts for someone else to write down? Does anyone know?
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Bodo
Dec-05-2008, 15:19 GMT
Austria
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| I do not know the real answer... somehow I remember a story about humming (but I do not know where, when..what I read) Maybe it was even about another musician? |
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Mimi
Dec-05-2008, 15:35 GMT
Austria
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| I remember an interview where he said, that he can read and write music, but not very good and fast. If you are not used to write down music for an orchestra it will take a long time to do so, so I assume that somebody else does it, because it is quite tricky to write down arrangements for instruments in different keys and notations. |
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Ian
Dec-05-2008, 16:11 GMT
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| Thanks guys,I think along those lines too. That is,he probably did learn to notate,but it would be a slow process. Bodo,you triggered my memory about the humming. Wasn´t it Paul McCartney who never learned to write in the traditional sense,for fear it might block his natural gift for melody. Also I´m sure he said once when he wrote his classical album,that he hummed the parts for each instrument,while someone else wrote it down. Along these lines,I found it very interesting to hear Paul tell Dick Cavett in 1974,that if his hand injury had continued to hamper his guitar playing,he would simply have learned the piano to allow him to continue his career. He estimated he would need 2 years to get to an appropriate technical level to keep writing. One wonders how his music might have changed. I certainly think it would be an unusual sight to see him behind a piano and not a guitar. |
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Ell
Dec-05-2008, 17:07 GMT
United Kingdom
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| Can´t check this at the moment as I´m not at home, but I´m sure it´s Chuck Israels who Paul credits on the cover of the vinyl ´Still Crazy´ for helping him with his songwriting over the previous year. I´ve never known in what capacity that help was for.
Not even sure if this credit is on the CD cover?
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Belle
Dec-06-2008, 07:41 GMT
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| Hi Ian, I read in his bio that Paul did indeed learn the piano for fear of his hand injury might hinder his career in guitar playing. That means Paul plays both piano and guitar, that´s cool. |
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Ian
Dec-06-2008, 09:32 GMT
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| Hi Belle,thanks for the info. He must have learned the piano like you say,because he wrote the song ´Nobody ´ on the piano,I remember reading too. |
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Peter
Dec-07-2008, 21:46 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| When I write music, I tend to like to notate evrything out becuase I can´t get the sound I want otherwise. It does take a VERY long time, but the end result is worth it.
As for Paul, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCJyOFRe12w shows a lot of him just humming tunes with a guitarist (I´m assuming it´s FCJ) playing it out. This is especially prevelant at 3:16. I think he may write out some melodies, but other people do the actual scoring. His composition classes payed off very well in "Silent Eyes," incorporating the Chicago Community Choir and other ochestral instruments. |
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Ian
Dec-08-2008, 00:53 GMT
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| Hi Peter,I haven´t the time atm to look at the video,but I will later. I have loved Silent Eyes since I was sixteen. In about the 5th month of teaching myself guitar,I remember playing along with the record[at that stage,simply strumming],and being quite impressed with myself. Embarrassing to think off it now. It did sound good though,with all those lovely minor chords at the end especially. Compositionally,I think The Still Crazy and One Trick Pony albums had his most complete musical pieces. No musical ´trick´ was left unused. Fantastic. |
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Bonnie
Dec-09-2008, 00:17 GMT
USA - United Staates America
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| I think Paul actually was taught piano prior to guitar, but "it didn´t take." Then, at 13 or 14 his dad gave him a guitar. I think in an interview with Eddie (forget on which tape/DVD -- making of Graceland, I believe), Eddie is sitting behind a piano and demonstrating musically "While the rest of the world was playing (plays on the piano), Paul was playing (plays very different sound on the piano)." So, while I think he relearned the piano or learned the piano much better due to his fear of not being able to continue playing guitar, I think he actually started with the piano... which is why he was able to write Bridge over Troubled Waters on piano, then played it on guitar. |
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Ian
Dec-09-2008, 03:16 GMT
Norway
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| Yeah,you are right Bonnie,that Paul did take piano lessons,and that it didn´t take. From that he would have been given an,at least, fundamental music theory education. Incidentally,that was from the ´Born At The Right Time´ documentary,I believe. I don´t think he ever wrote ´Bridge´ on the piano however. It was a guitar composition that he knew would probably be played on the piano eventually,with a different key imposed[from a de-tuned G on the guitar,transposed to E flat on piano]. I´d Love to sit and have a long talk to Paul about his songwriting from a musical perspective. We have often seen or read articles where Paul talks about how he writes his lyrics,but never too much about his guitar playing, or chord and melody choices,etc. That´s what I dig about the Barnes and Noble interview - Paul talking about his latest musical ideas. I could listen to him talk for hours about that. If only... |
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Bodo
Dec-09-2008, 10:46 GMT
Austria
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| of course, Bridge was written on the guitar - just listen to the demo version. And someone else had to transcrib it for piano.
Well, in about 50 years of his career I have never seen him playing a piano, so I would say his playing might be just mediocre... I think that if today he could no longer play the guitar he would play nothing on stage instead. Look at Brian Wilson...that looks just poor. |
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Ian
Dec-09-2008, 14:10 GMT
Unknown
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| Yeah,poor Brian Wilson. He´s certainly a little self concious looking seated behind a keyboard that I´m not sure is even plugged in. Great composer though. Paul,of course is playing more guitar these days than he has in years. From about the ´Still Crazy´ period,there was a real drop off in his recorded guitar playing,leaving a lot of it up to session guys. I really like that his guitar is now truly integral to his whole sound. Much as it was with S&G I guess. |
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