Stairway to Heaven (SUPER-SLOWED-DOWN keyboard tutorial)

Описание: This is my keyboard tutorial for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. "Stairway" might be played to death, but, beneath the surface, one can really appreciate the incredible amount of detail, from a production and arrangement standpoint, that's gone into the song. It's an "epic" rock song and, arguably, the best rock song ever.

Anyway, I had to listen to the original recording probably hundreds of times, in order to get it right. I think it's pretty accurate. :-) This is played at a super-slow 64bpm, to allow viewers to learn the parts.

I've tried to recreate the intro and electric piano parts as close to the source as possible. There appears to be some "looseness/freeness" in the electric piano part on the original recording so, rather than remember each and every note and nuance, I've played it mostly straight, but created a little bit of my own "looseness" (in part, because I'm not a true piano player, in part because I made a few mistakes, and in part because I'm a poor improviser...LOL).

You'll notice that, during the intro (recorder/flute/Mellotron) section, I pause, at times, between phrases. I do this to emulate the breaths which are needed when playing a wind instrument (I played trombone for 8 years, so I'm kind of familiar with such things).

Another thing to notice are the altered (higher) chord inversions when he sings the word "reason" (and for each similar line, thereafter).

With the guitar being so prevalent, I'd venture to guess that few people (musicians included) would ever even realize that there is an electric piano part in the song. It's very subtle, but VERY cool. Those jazzy minor 7th chords add so much depth to the song. The combination of John Paul Jones' electric piano, John Bonham's super-smooth, laid-back drums, Jimmy Page's twangy, organic guitars, and Robert Plant's commanding vocals, make the song incredible.

Unfortunately, the video cuts off shortly before the conclusion of the electric piano section (my battery ran out..lol). But, the remaining electric piano part is really just a duplication of the previous verse.

P.S. - I think this might be the only tutorial on YouTube with the "actual" electric piano part. Most other videos have some sort of jacked-up arrangement with the melody and/or guitar parts weaved in. This part, true to the original recording, is meant to be played with a band. ;-)