Welcome back to Blues,
Bluegrass and Beyond! Today I want to talk about playing bluegrass music on piano, and in particular, examining the country
song, Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Bluegrass Piano. Thank you for visiting Blues, Bluegrass, and Beyond. Photo original |
The piano is an
instrument that is not very adaptable to bluegrass
music. Also, due to a keyboard’s sheer bulk and size, usage of a piano or
keyboard in a bluegrass band is very
sparse. However, it is not impossible to play bluegrass music on piano. I have personally found that the most
effective way of playing quality bluegrass on piano, is to mimic 3-finger banjo
picking styles. However, playing banjo roll patterns on a keyboard can be a
daunting task. For instance, while playing a G-Major forward-roll pattern on
banjo would only involve some basic 3-finger picking skills, and literally no
movement on the fret board, (unless a musician is attempting to play different
chords or a G-Major progression) playing the identical tune on piano would
require a musician to strike keys nearly an octave (8 keys) or more apart in
rapid an precise procession. It had never occurred to me to attempt playing bluegrass music on piano until a few
years after I began learning banjo. Then, one day, it struck me! I could apply
roll patterns to simple songs, and even syncopate them to achieve a bluegrass piano sound. So, as time
passed I arranged numerous bluegrass songs for the piano keyboard. Among them are,
Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Cabin in Caroline, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Man
of Constant Sorrow, The Ballad of Jed
Clampett, and Ghost Riders in the Sky.
I had never written the notation to any of my arrangements until recently. The
first arrangement I have completed is for Ghost
Riders in the Sky. I arranged the song using Noteflight.
Bluegrass Piano. Thank you for visiting Blues, Bluegrass, and Beyond. Photo original |
The song, Ghost Riders in the Sky was written in
1948 by Stan Jones, a forest ranger and technical advisor for Columbia
Pictures. Jones hoped the song would be used in Western movies of the time,
however, the song was turned down, claiming it sounded like a funeral dirge, or
a version of When Johnny Comes Marching
Home. Stan Jones recorded the song himself in 1949, and it became a #1 hit
for Vaughn Monroe. Other famous musicians and bands such as Burl Ives, Bing
Crosby, Scatman Crothers, Gene Autry, Frankie Lane, Sons of Pioneers, Johnny Cash, Riders
in the Sky, and Bluegrass Country
Gentlemen, has all arranged and performed versions of the song. The song
was later performed in the movie, The Blues Brothers 2000.
Recently, I have
been dabbling in other forms of bluegrass piano, such as employing mandolin
techniques to piano songs. I am also eager to return to the topic of bluegrass
piano, and am looking forward to posting more arrangements of bluegrass songs on
piano. In Addition, I am considering creating a
bluegrass piano video and text instructional series in the near future. Thanks
for visiting Blues, Bluegrass, and Beyond, and come back soon!
Look below for my video.
Also, Check out my sheet music arrangement of Ghost Riders in the Sky below.
All photos, videos, and sheet music are original
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