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  #1  
Old 12-19-2018, 07:47 AM
secret love secret love is offline
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Default Landslide piano

Landslide - what a brilliant song. I think possibly the greatest song Stevie Nicks has ever written. Has truly stood the test of time. But what gets me is how simple it is. Four chords: E flat, B flat, D, C minor 7.
A very simple melody which mainly alternates between B, G, A, D and E. No major jumps...no perfect fourths or fifths as far as I can see looking at the score.
But it is so touching still, after all these years.
BUT - why has Stevie NEVER played this song on piano? I mean here was her chance. Lindsey is gone, so the forgone conclusion of doing Landslide on guitar with Lindsey was not a thing.
Why is Stevie performing Landslide with Neil when she should be playing it herself on piano? It makes no sense. If she wanted Lindsey gone so badly why isn't she showing her skills and actually getting behind an instrument that demos on YouTube of songs like Sisters of the Moon and Planets of the Universe SHOW - she can competently play piano!



Listen to this and tell me she cannot play:

Last edited by secret love; 12-19-2018 at 07:50 AM..
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  #2  
Old 12-19-2018, 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by secret love View Post
Why is Stevie performing Landslide with Neil when she should be playing it herself on piano? It makes no sense.
Listen to this and tell me she cannot play
I have listened to this,
and am here to tell you that she cannot play.

Judging by the metronome/drum track clicking in the background, the fact that it is a demo (which she usually makes by recording layers of rhythm, instrument and then multiple vocal layers, one after another), and the fact that all evidence suggests that she is not capable of playing that while singing at the same time, I think you'll find that she is simply layering her vocal on top of a piano track, rather than singing it while playing. And thus, no, she would not be able to do this on stage (I think it's fair to say that we have seen the extent of her current "singing while playing" skills in that Gypsy video, which was not even as complicated and fast as this SOTM demo).

Landslide? Yes--absolutely brilliant lyrical poetry, deserving of its enduring status as a coverable classic. Not sure what happened to her prowess in that department, but she peaked very early and Lindsey is peaking very late.

I was impressed with Neil's guitar chops in his Landslide accompaniment, albeit being a mere cover performance of Lindsey's iconic arrangement of that song since The Dance (and the stupidness of it not being Lindsey, given their history with the song dating right back to its inception). I had assumed that Neil was just a strummer.

But Stevie playing it live on piano?
What would she do for the complicated and beautiful melody line in the bridge--just give up playing and sing "doo doo doo doo..." into the mic?
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Old 12-19-2018, 08:40 AM
secret love secret love is offline
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Sorry, are you here to tell me this is not great piano playing? Gee your standards are high.

If I can play and sing Landslide at the same time on piano (and I'm here to tell you, I can) surely the woman who wrote the song can?

And no, she wouldn't stop playing and sing doo doo doo doo for the bridge. She would keep her hands on the keys and sing perfectly well.

This one is even better:

Last edited by secret love; 12-19-2018 at 08:43 AM..
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Old 12-19-2018, 08:55 AM
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Sorry, but those just end up proving the point I'm trying to make.
For example, in these videos where she's playing and singing at the same time, she changes the rhythm of the vocal to accommodate the piano, where all her attention is. (Like at around 0:40 in the second video--"taken by the sky". She is rushing through it at the same rhythm as the chords, in a way she wouldn't ever do with that line were she singing it live.)
Also the chord structure is a little imperfect--giving it a very amateur sound (I'll leave it someone who can read music to give the technical explanation... something about chord roots maybe). Compare with the lovely piano demo of SOTM, where the same solid piano line is being repeated all the way through the song (and enhanced with further layers as the song progresses) because it's a separate track, and as a result her vocal is also sublime because she can focus all her attention on it.

Quote:
If I can play and sing Landslide at the same time on piano (and I'm here to tell you, I can) surely the woman who wrote the song can?
Well! Can't argue with that infallible logic...


Look--your idea is nice, I guess.
I'm just not in a very Stevie-friendly mood this year to give her an inch where it's not due. Edit: Or to see the band currently touring as "Fleetwood Mac" further tarnish the name of the band in the absence of their musical director. So maybe on a Stevie solo tour--but even then, I think you'll find she wouldn't do it because she knows her limits as far as live stage performances go. I mean, even Christine said she got anxious about playing Songbird up there on stage by herself in front of thousands each night.
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Old 12-19-2018, 09:29 AM
secret love secret love is offline
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You said you'd leave it to someone who can read music... you're talking to someone who can and who spent the last 24 hours reading and playing the music of Landslide.
I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert ... but yes, she does sound amateurish on Rhiannon and my guess as to why that is would be that she only plays root notes in the left hand, whereas a more advanced player such as Christine would play either chords or octaves in the left hand.
Now can you tell me, this sheet music I have on my piano tonight... it says Landslide - Words and Music by Stevie Nicks. So did she write the music I have been reading or did she not? Has she just chosen the four chords listed in OP and had Lindsey arrange them? Or did she write the entire complicated score?
When we compare this:

To this:


YES, Stevie is truly amateur, so I see your point.

Last edited by secret love; 12-19-2018 at 09:45 AM..
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Old 12-19-2018, 10:20 AM
jbrownsjr jbrownsjr is online now
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That Rhiannon sounds so bad and plonky.

Leave the keys to someone that can play them. It doesn't do her bellowing tone quality any favors.
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Old 12-19-2018, 10:27 AM
jbrownsjr jbrownsjr is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by secret love View Post
You said you'd leave it to someone who can read music... you're talking to someone who can and who spent the last 24 hours reading and playing the music of Landslide.
I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert ... but yes, she does sound amateurish on Rhiannon and my guess as to why that is would be that she only plays root notes in the left hand, whereas a more advanced player such as Christine would play either chords or octaves in the left hand.
Now can you tell me, this sheet music I have on my piano tonight... it says Landslide - Words and Music by Stevie Nicks. So did she write the music I have been reading or did she not? Has she just chosen the four chords listed in OP and had Lindsey arrange them? Or did she write the entire complicated score?
When we compare this:

To this:


YES, Stevie is truly amateur, so I see your point.
She writes the words and melody and chords to go with it. LB arranges it into the piece you hear.

The sheet music is a "take down" of that arrangement. (Most likely) Unless, you have a chord chart or basic arrangement on said sheet music.
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Old 12-19-2018, 10:32 AM
luminol luminol is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by secret love View Post
Now can you tell me, this sheet music I have on my piano tonight... it says Landslide - Words and Music by Stevie Nicks. So did she write the music I have been reading or did she not? Has she just chosen the four chords listed in OP and had Lindsey arrange them? Or did she write the entire complicated score?
I hesitate to stick my head in here, but I finally decided to add my limited 2 cents... I am not trying to stir anything up... I'm new around here!

I am no expert but my #1 musician that I was (am?) ridiculously obsessed with for years in my youth is Tori Amos, and I also have 16 years of professional piano lessons (including collegiate) under my belt... so I feel I have a little bit of knowledge as to piano performances, musicianship, etc.

First: Stevie can play the basics on the piano to write a song. Sure. She does better than the average person, no doubt. I can't claim to be able to write songs on the piano despite taking so many years of lessons.

That said, it's still very remedial. She does fine for what she needs: to write songs, demos, and intimate acoustic performances with few people in the room (like the ones linked above). Totally fine, good.

Would she be able to hold a larger room or concert with that? I do not believe so. Not only is her playing extremely limited (primarily restricted to easy chords with basic beats; as someone pointed out earlier, she rushes her lyrics to keep it in time, which is much easier), but also she simply doesn't seem to have the confidence in it herself. She is concentrating hard to not mess up and does not look in her element.

I realize that sounds silly given I think Stevie is EXTREMELY confident in her stage performance... just not on the piano. She does not look like she is at ease or in her element in those links above; she seems stiff. I don't think she would ever be comfortable in a situation you described: an arena with just her at the keys holding the room. She's far more in her element standing at the mic, twirling and walking the stage, etc. This scenario would put too much pressure on her and I don't think she's into that at this stage in her life and career.

I did a quick search for Tori Amos covering Landslide (which she does often) and found a few here. Not that these are the end-all-be-all because this cover is actually one of Tori's more simple ones and does not show her prowess, but it shows a different level of confidence at the keys (Tori was a piano prodigy at a young age so I realize it's unfair to fully compare the two; they have different strengths):

https://youtu.be/_wl6ZtQKO1M

https://youtu.be/oYBb0jwj1C8

Lastly, all of Tori's albums have been transcribed to piano books. I have all of them and they are definitely not the same as what she actually plays: she likes to say she doesn't read or write sheet music since she was a kid, and these are reduced down to the most basic melodies by someone else and none of her layered, difficult original playing. She has stated that for many of her songs, she had to go back and learn them because she spontaneously performed in the studio and didn't realize what she was playing (Marianne is the prime example)... had to re-listen to them from the recordings in order to reproduce them for live performances. The sheet music in the piano books is therefore hardly her own but of course the actual creative product of the song is still her own and written by her.

I don't know if I'm making much sense through my rambles, but to summarize, since Stevie wrote the lyrics and the basic melody of Landslide, she would be given credit even if LB expanded it. It's at the core her song.

Ok I'll stop! Sorry for the long rambling post.
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Old 12-19-2018, 10:51 AM
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SecretLove--I'm like Lindsey. I can play piano by ear but can't read music. (Sadly, though, I certainly cannot play guitar--Stevie would easily out-strum me laugh
It's good you're learning how to play their songs. Someone on The Ledge sold me a piano sheet music book of FM songs.
What Luminol says about sheet music is correct, particularly in the case of this band. The playing and recording comes first; any notation is done later by companies that do that sort of thing. Rock and roll musos like this band do not need or use sheet music for their songs. If anyone did it would be Christine, but lets face it--her musical structures aren't exactly Wagnerian.

But the general topic of Landslide as a piano song v guitar song is an interesting one.
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Old 12-19-2018, 11:12 AM
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Originally Posted by jbrownsjr View Post
That Rhiannon sounds so bad and plonky.

Leave the keys to someone that can play them. It doesn't do her bellowing tone quality any favors.
It's a good point--after all, Lindsey can play piano somewhat adequately, but he never has and never would play it on stage..certainly not with Christine around anyway!

Maybe when she has fired Christine as well, Stevie can start playing all the songs herself.

Stevie is (was...) a poet, not a player. Even her standard process is poem first, song later.
Christine purports to primarily be a player but perennially pens plenty of perfect pop poems (pardon the alliteration).
Lindsey was always a player (even with songwriting: nstrument first, lyrics later), but in the latter half of his career has truly become a poet as well.
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Old 12-19-2018, 06:22 PM
bombaysaffires bombaysaffires is offline
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She wrote it on guitar.

For those who will demand "PROOF!" watch her on the Chris Isaak show where she says so. (She's said it elsewhere too).She says she learned just a few chords from her guitar teacher and hey it was enough to write songs so why learn more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1IzkcW22JA See from about 1:20 on.
She also seems to indicate that her first song, I've Loved and I've Lost was co written with her guitar teacher.... which would not surprise me.
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Old 12-19-2018, 07:06 PM
jbrownsjr jbrownsjr is online now
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She wrote it on guitar.

For those who will demand "PROOF!" watch her on the Chris Isaak show where she says so. (She's said it elsewhere too).She says she learned just a few chords from her guitar teacher and hey it was enough to write songs so why learn more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1IzkcW22JA See from about 1:20 on.
She also seems to indicate that her first song, I've Loved and I've Lost was co written with her guitar teacher.... which would not surprise me.
I remember her singing that song I've Loved and I've Lost on Jim Ladd. Those interviews were amazing.
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