by Elton John

Hello,

I've been learning to play Elton John's 'Your Song', from the book 'the very best of Elton John' (Wise Publications). I'm not following everything on the right hand, but playing a basically 3-3-2 rhythm with the chords plush occasional variations (reading so many notes is much more effort for me).

As written out in that transcription, the left hand is almost all the time playing double octaves in the rhythm dotted quarter-note, then eight note (four times each bar).

This sounds too 'heavy' to me. I've seen him play (on a DVD) and heard the song quite a lot of times, and it sounds less 'charged'. Very often his not just singing with just the piano, there is more accompaniment, but in any case I'm going to play it with just the piano (and try to learn to sing it well .

Could anybody suggest some way to play this song?

It's my first post to this group, so I'd like to say hello to everyone.

Regards,

Jon Beltran

Transcriptions are often wrong

The 'heartbeat' bass seems like the right idea, but not on octaves throughout...probably octave on the first beat of the bar, then just the thumb for the rest of the bar. Also, the 8th-note rhythm should only occur in mid-bar, not leading into the 1st note of the bar.

I wouldn't chunk out RH chords on 3-3-2...should be more of a broken chord feel, with maybe a bit of a push on the 3-3-2 beats. Probably voice the whole chord on the downbeat of the bar. A nice feature of the song is the intro, where the pedal stays on Eb through the change of chords Eb-Ab-Bb-Ab. It's also nice the way the G note on top of the Eb chord becomes the maj7 of the Ab chord on the second bar.

Marty Green http://www.onforeignsoil.com The book that starts in English and turns to Yiddish.

Thanks, I'll try that and tell you what I find

I'm not sure what you mean by 'broken chords', but I guess is something similar to what I do (except what I do is sounds a bit poor): if a bar is 8 eight notes, I do something like:

2 higher notes - lower note - middle note - - 2 higher notes - lower note - middle note - - 2 higher notes - lower note

And I relieve it somewhat by elliding some of them (at phrase endings), and vary it a bit some times (though I wish I knew several ways to vary that).

I'll try about voicing the whole chord on the downbeat.

I'm playing the intro straight from the transcription It's very nice and recognizable.

But I don't get the part on the G changing function. Maybe it's my transcription? I can't see it. You mean on the second bar of the intro, or on the sung part?

Best regards and thank you very much,

Jon Beltran de Heredia

I went to the piano and now I see it - I was playing Eb as G-Bb-Eb and Ab as Ab-C-Eb. To get that I need to play Bb-Eb-G and then C-Eb-G or Ab-Eb-G. And indeed, it sounds nice!

If someone cares it was on the sung part.

Regards,

Jon

You'll eventually need to arpeggiate four-note chords (Eb: G-Bb-Eb-G). Listen for the melody, & back up those high notes with the appropriate chords/inversions. It's a little more work, but you'll get closer to Elton's sounds. Also note the altered bass notes (e.g. Bb/D), an Elton trademark.

I suggest playing along with the record/CD & the videos. Try to feel the rhythm with your left hand. Don't worry so much about his syncopations (on later versions) in the right hand.

If you're singing it, you might want to experiment with your own feel.