Best Source for accurate transcriptions - Riders on the Storm

[pcmancini]

Hi all, can anyone recommended a good source for piano sheet music with accurate transcriptions?

In particular I am looking for "Riders On The Storm" but also want to get a bunch of others.

I am not very knowledgeable on the digital download world of sheet music so recommendations on that aspect would also be appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

[David Aubke]

You're probably looking for stuff that's still under copyright. I don't know sources for free transcriptions but I've purchased Real Books from Sheet Music Plus. They appear to ship worldwide.

[pcmancini]

Yes, not saying I do not want to pay, just looking for best source.

Thanks
Paul

[Alan Lenhoff]

I have this book, which has pretty accurate keyboard transcriptions of Doors songs, including ROTS:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hal-Leonard-The-Doors-Keyboard-Play-Along-Series-Volume-11--Book-CD--907497-i1393808.gc

Comes with a CD, too, so you can play along. There's two versions of each song:  with -- and without -- keyboards.

Seems like most of the other Doors books on the market are piano books that have you playing the vocal line.

Alan

[pcmancini]

I have this book, which has pretty accurate keyboard transcriptions of Doors songs, including ROTS:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hal-Leonard-The-Doors-Keyboard-Play-Along-Series-Volume-11--Book-CD--907497-i1393808.gc

Comes with a CD, too, so you can play along. There's two versions of each song:  with -- and without -- keyboards.

Seems like most of the other Doors books on the market are piano books that have you playing the vocal line.

Alan

Thanks, I have seen this online.  Does this one do a good job of the piano bass line and the piano solo?
Paul

[Alan Lenhoff]

The bass line is just two arpeggiated chords throughout most of the song, so it's pretty simple (and it's there).

The solo sounds accurate to me, although I've never compared it note-for-note.  Everything in the book sounds like it was done off the original studio recordings and, as you likely know, The Doors improvised considerably on live recordings.

Alan

[pcmancini]

The bass line is just two arpeggiated chords throughout most of the song, so it's pretty simple (and it's there).

The solo sounds accurate to me, although I've never compared it note-for-note.  Everything in the book sounds like it was done off the original studio recordings and, as you likely know, The Doors improvised considerably on live recordings.

Alan

Alan, this is very helpful.  Thanks so much.  I will pick this up/order it tonight.

[AFeastOfFriends]

I've played through that book pretty thoroughly, and I'd say it's around 90%-95% accurate. Much more accurate than other books I've played.

As for Riders on the Storm, I can't tell a difference between what it says and the studio recording, like most of the songs.

I do wish they would have included Soul Kitchen over L.A. Woman and Strange Days over People are Strange.

[Alan Lenhoff]

I wish they'd come out with another volume of Doors songs.  I really can't find other sources for decent transcriptions.

I bought the keyboard version of the Doors Anthology. It's useful for having all the chords, and I can generally figure things out from there.   But a lot of times, I miss some of the nuances, so I do like having transcriptions.

Alan

[pcmancini]

I wish they'd come out with another volume of Doors songs.  I really can't find other sources for decent transcriptions.

I bought the keyboard version of the Doors Anthology. It's useful for having all the chords, and I can generally figure things out from there.   But a lot of times, I miss some of the nuances, so I do like having transcriptions.

Alan

I am pretty much the same. I can generally figure things out with a decent starting point.  Can't wait to get this one though.  Thanks for the advise (and also thanks AFeastOfFriends for the confirmation.)

Paul

[Alan Lenhoff]

Just in case it's useful, Hal Leonard does have a series of rock/pop keyboard transcription books that are fairly good. Here's one of them:

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Rock-Note-Note-Transcriptions/dp/0634054090

They're not perfect, but they are useful, in my opinion. For example, on A Whiter Shade of Pale, they move some of the lower register right hand notes to the left hand, because they assume you may be playing on a single manual Hammond clone.

Also,  Light My Fire is in the wrong key in this book.  (The Doors' original recording somehow got slowed on playback and is roughly a quarter tone flat.  This was fixed on the re-mastered versions issued in recent years.) This book transcribed it to the next lower semitone.

I think they may have shortened some solos, too.  But there aren't a lot of good keyboard transcription books to choose from, and these have a good variety of songs.

Alan

[Peacefrog35]

l've also had trouble finding accurate books too.  Ive' resorted to watching as much footage as  I can as well as playing by ear.    Alan, you and I have talked via email probably a year ago regarding the Vox modling amps after I got my NCM Super beatle mock up.  I didn't realize you were such a Doors fan too.   Looking at your gear line up, I imagine a piano bass will be in your future at some point?

[The Real MC]

Also,  Light My Fire is in the wrong key in this book.  (The Doors' original recording somehow got slowed on playback and is roughly a quarter tone flat.

Interesting - those licks can be easier/harder depending on the key it was played in.

[Alan Lenhoff]

l've also had trouble finding accurate books too.  Ive' resorted to watching as much footage as  I can as well as playing by ear.    Alan, you and I have talked via email probably a year ago regarding the Vox modling amps after I got my NCM Super beatle mock up.  I didn't realize you were such a Doors fan too.   Looking at your gear line up, I imagine a piano bass will be in your future at some point?

Getting a piano bass would just make no sense for me.

I have so many keyboards that I hardly need another.

I have no room.

I have no time to do any restoration.

My wife would give me "the look."

I have better things to spend my money on.

(Long pause)

Sure I'd like one.  You want to sell one of yours?  ;-)

Alan

[Alan Lenhoff]

Also,  Light My Fire is in the wrong key in this book.  (The Doors' original recording somehow got slowed on playback and is roughly a quarter tone flat.

Interesting - those licks can be easier/harder depending on the key it was played in.

So true.  And the "real" Ray key is indeed the easier key.  (Unless, of course, you're a Hammond Gospel player, and your "easy keys" are keys like A-flat and D-flat.) 

[pianotuner steveo]

No, I disagree. The original key is G for the intro to Light My Fire. the tape was sped up, and Morrison did his vocal over the sped up tape so he didnt sound like a Chipmunk .

I use a keyboard with a Vox sample that has to be pitch altered to play along
The verses are Am, F#m, (over and over) G, A, D, G, A, D, B, G , A, E

The solo: left hand is playing Am and Bm over and over.

The recording starts off somewhere between G and G# pitch wise

I asked Ray why it was done when I met him, and he didn't know. My guess was that it just ran too long.

Riders is mostly Em and A in the left hand. The rest of the bass is mostly individual bass notes. A, (into this house we're born..) D, C ( Like a dog witout a bone...)

[Alan Lenhoff]

No, I disagree. The original key is G for the intro to Light My Fire. the tape was sped up, and Morrison did his vocal over the sped up tape so he didnt sound like a Chipmunk .

I use a keyboard with a Vox sample that has to be pitch altered to play along
The verses are Am, F#m, (over and over) G, A, D, G, A, D, B, G , A, E

The solo: left hand is playing Am and Bm over and over.

The recording starts off somewhere between G and G# pitch wise

I asked Ray why it was done when I met him, and he didn't know. My guess was that it just ran too long.

As foolish as it is for me to debate a matter of pitch with Steve (who is a piano tuner with a highly developed ear), let me describe what I hear -- and see -- on Light My Fire:

I own two CD recordings of the song and two Hal Leonard books with transcriptions.

Recorded "Version A" is off a "Greatest Hits" CD, and is said to be the original LP version.  It is way flat of G.  It's almost F#.  This matches up with one of the Hal Leonard transcriptions (the one from a Classic Rock compilation book), which has the intro in F#.

Recorded "Version B" is off a re-mastered version of The Doors debut album that was released several years ago.  It's a perfect G (and I believe the liner notes mentioned that they corrected the pitch on that song).  It matches up with the Hal Leonard transcription in the Doors Play-Along book, which has the intro in G.

There's a variety of stories on the Web for why the first version was off.  (Morrison couldn't quite reach a high note; it was done to make it sound "darker;" they all tuned to the organ, which was off, etc.)  But, by some accounts I've read, the single release and mono LP version were both on pitch. It was only the stereo LP version that was off.  I've heard that many 1960s recordings were off pitch, due to technical issues on the unsophisticated playback equipment of the era, and I suspect that was true on LMF, too.

Just for fun, here's an account from a Salt Lake City newspaper on the occasion of the release of the remastered set:

Another major discovery came courtesy of Brigham Young University music professor Michael Hicks, who found some years ago that "Light My Fire," a song written primarily by Krieger, was running in a slower speed on copies of The Doors' self-titled debut than the live versions he'd heard, or that the sheet music showed it should.

"I went to the piano one day and was trying to play along with it and was like, 'This is off. This is a half-step off,' " Hicks said.

As Hicks worked on an academic paper about the varying versions of "Light My Fire," he got in touch with Doors recording engineer Bruce Botnick and let him know that not only was "Light My Fire" slower than intended, but other songs on "The Doors" were lagging to varying degrees as well. As a result, "Perception" offers the first version of "The Doors" to sound like the band members intended when they recorded it in late summer 1966, and "Light My Fire" is now about 15 seconds shorter.

While Hicks is glad to have been part of unraveling the mystery of the "real 'Light My Fire,' " he thinks the slow version people have been listening to for years actually helped the band.

"Jim's voice has this slightly sedated quality that comes when you slow down a recording," Hick said. "Actually, I think it was a benefit to the song and its reception at the time because of that slightly drugged-out quality."

[David Aubke]

I don't know what you guys are fussing about. Just put a few pennies on the label until it slows to a pitch that works with your tuning.

[The Real MC]

But how do you get those pennies to stay on the wax cylinder?

[Peacefrog35]

Well Ray says it was in G and you get a good look at his hands on the Sullivan footage showing him playing it in G when they get to the turnaround after the cut solo section taht goes back to the intro.

[AFeastOfFriends]

I own 3 copies of the stereo LP from different pressings, the original 45, the remastered version, and a mid-90's CD version. I just went and checked them all, and the 45 is the pitch of the remaster, in G. All 3 LP's are flat, as well as the mid-90's CD version. Also, the live versions I checked are in G as well.

[Alan Lenhoff]

I don't know what you guys are fussing about. Just put a few pennies on the label until it slows to a pitch that works with your tuning.

I remember, back in the day, owning a Dual turntable. Loved its variable speed control to get records in tune with whatever I was playing.

[Alan Lenhoff]

I own 3 copies of the stereo LP from different pressings, the original 45, the remastered version, and a mid-90's CD version. I just went and checked them all, and the 45 is the pitch of the remaster, in G. All 3 LP's are flat, as well as the mid-90's CD version. Also, the live versions I checked are in G as well.

Only a true Doors geek would care about any of the above.  But I guess I am one, because I appreciate the confirmation.  The recording industry has come a long way since the '60s.  And, since the Doors weren't stars when they cut that first album, maybe they didn't get the most careful treatment from the studio and the record company.

Alan

[pianotuner steveo]

Alan, if you watch The Doors movie,'Robbie' (Frank) and  'Ray' (Kyle) discuss the chords when they are learning the song. They are in the key of G. My book is also in G, and I learned it in G back in 1967. I am pretty sure the tape was sped up because it s a long song. My CD that is incorrect pitch is somewhere between G and G#, not F#.(fast, not slow)  I will have to look for that pitch corrected CD.

[Alan Lenhoff]

Alan, if you watch The Doors movie,'Robbie' (Frank) and  'Ray' (Kyle) discuss the chords when they are learning the song. They are in the key of G. My book is also in G, and I learned it in G back in 1967. I am pretty sure the tape was sped up because it s a long song. My CD that is incorrect pitch is somewhere between G and G#, not F#.(fast, not slow)  I will have to look for that pitch corrected CD.

Steve:

If you review the posts, you'll see that we're all in agreement that Ray recorded it -- in the studio and on various live CDs -- in G.  The only question is why some of us have original versions of the album (long) version that are nearly in F#.  (Which apparently inspired one of my Hal Leonard sheet music versions to be transcribed in F#.)

If you've got a version that is *sharp,* then there must be TWO off-pitch versions.  I'd be interested to know the details of your recording (is it the original album version, from a greatest hits album, a recently remastered re-release?)

Alan

[pianotuner steveo]

I know, Alan. i was just thinking of another example to show it was in G. I will have to review my CD's and get back to you. It may be the movie soundtrack, I have to double check. Or, I could just be mistaken and it's flat, not sharp. It's been a while since I have played along with it, but I thought it was sped up due to length.