...yeah, aint it? I think they used a Fender Rhodes on the record. Sounds like it. Donald likes those above other electric pianos because the highs don’t go flat and the lows don’t go sharp.
Wow ... absolutely. So calm, so right, so in-tune, so completely in the pocket. And just the right speed and right amount of information and commentary to make this insanely complex and beautiful piece accessible to mere mortals. I'd also be curious to hear an analysis of the composition - which key you consider to be the home key and any other insights as to how Fagin's eclectic jazz and pop infuences came together to produce something so original and sublime.
Yea..this was absolute "Devine Providence" to locate this angel of an amazing earth being ive ever known..and this second only to Sir Lyle Mays..my absolute favorite keyboardist on earth!!
Hey I know this is six years later but the RUclips algorithms finally got round to showing this video to me. So I’m sitting here in Scotland at 01:27am learning this song. Appreciate you posting.
You have a remarkable ear for inner voicing. Always loved this song with it's rich harmonic movement. Thank you soooo much for making this possible to play.
Absolutely addicted, perfect as I can hear it. The Rodes vibrato and the sound is just so well suited to this song, it's almost like they are made to go together. Hypnotic.
I play by ear and I learned this song years ago off the recording, or so I thought. This was before online tutorials were available. Your lesson has shown me just how incorrectly I've been playing it. Thank you.
I'm revisiting this after quite a while, and as always am very impressed with your attention to detail. This is truly one of the best instructional videos ever. Keep up the good work!
I love the chords that you played at the beginning of the video (starting at 00:36). Those chords are from Jeff Lorber's "He Had A Hat". That would be a great song for a tutorial. From the ease at which you played that intro, you may already perform the song with a band. I'm a big Jeff Lorber fan so He Had A Hat gets a big "thumbs up" from me.
Thanks for sharing your perceptive interpretation of this tune, and making it accessible to us mere mortals. You've taken away some of the mystery but kept all the magic. 10/10
I just sat down and learned the intro with my keyboard set to electric piano and damn if I don't sound like Steely Dan playing a song I've loved for 40+ years. Wow. Can I hope that you will make more videos in the future?
I loved this tutorial...particularly as it features a great song from my all time favourite Steely Dan album 'Gaucho. I think it is the electric piano throughout the entire album that is it's biggest attraction, along of course with it's beautiful backing harmonies. I once visited a hi-fi sales show in a London hotel where they were showing off some new advanced stereo hi-fi's. I walked into a room of about 20 sitting onlookers when all of a sudden Steely Dan's Gaoucho came on from the sound system on the stage. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Gaoucho is my all time favourite. And this tutorial from Gaoucho was truly wonderful.
This song kicked off my love for jazz, and this very tutorial got me back into playing piano. A year later, I am still working on it. THANK YOU!!!!!! If you started selling tutorials, I would pay. Please keep spreading the joy of music.
Great video! Honestly, one of the best I've watched online. Fagen's chords are haunting and beautiful. Very nice job and quite a discerning ear to pick those voicings out! Hope to hear you post more Steely Dan!
That was SO great ! I'm an absolute beginner on keyboards (but an old jazz-rock guitar player). In love with Rhodes and Wurli sounds from the beginning, I DO thank you for the knowledge you provide. Thanks again !
Mate, you're a genius! Those chords are gorgeous, especially that Eb9(add13).. 'to the SEA'. I worked out most of the other tracks on the album, but I didn't even bother trying with this one because I thought WTF, it's too hard; beyond my abilities, anyway. Thanks for that, it's been an enigma for many years!
It's as if you actually want someone to learn what you're doing with the green highlighted keys on top,and slow easy explanation of fingerings and degrees of the chord amazing
You sir, are an absolute BADASS!!! You make Fagen chords look so easy. I am simultaneously jealous and blown away. Very nice. I fully intend to learn this song. Thank you for a great tutorial. I have subscribed.
You Sir are a blessing in disguise. I am a bass player & this is just what the Doctor ordered. Not to mention I'm a big Steely Dan fan. A no brainer, I subscribed. Excellent Teacher as well. Thank You! 🎼🎼🎵🎵
This is a remarkable piece of work/instruction. Your ear is simply amazing. I am a guitarist and keyboard player with a solid music theory background but quite a weak keyboard left hand. Your explanations about the chord voicings and the (for me) easy to play left hand has brought this great tune to life again. I think I might even be able to play it! I cannot think you enough for these postings. David
I have spent 10 weeks learning Steely Dan's Babylon Sisters using your exact fingering and it has been well worth the wait for my muscle memory to finally kick in. If I had tried to learn this by ear, I would definitely have lost some key frequencies. Would you, could you do the same for me for Green Earrings, if you know how to play it? I cannot find a good enough clip to crib from currently on RUclips. Thank you so very much for your excellent efforts!
Thank you so much for the way you do your tutorials, they are just right for me. The chord progressions in Babylon Sisters have always delighted me ever since I first heard them way back in the day. The way you give time to properly clock them and then demo them in context with the melody is perfect for me (I’m getting on in years now and it takes me longer to get new things into my muscle memory). Thank you thank you thank you. I will be following your channel from now on for sure.
@@pianoworkout I'm glad you replied, because I had gone through my subscriptions a while back to trim them down a bit (I had LOTS of them. Too many to deal with really). I've resubscribed to your channel. You have some great videos that I eventually want to spend some time with. Right now I'm working on some of my own ideas. Anyway, now I know to keep this subscription. So, thanks.
Is this guy for real? Teleports you straight back to 35 years ago. Expertly analyzed and then casually brought right back to life. If things look this easy, it is always the hallmark of true mastery. Cheers, Kino! - Imagine what they had to do back then to even come close to this kind of sound quality. Eat your heart out, Donald ;-)
You're awesome man. What a keen ear you have! Thank you for this *correct* version! The way voices move in the colorful Donald Fagen universe is so beautiful and interesting that this makes a fine solo piano soft jazz piece just as it is.
Yeah, man, nice job.. I’ve got the original Gaucho sketch book and learned it via that but your spaced-out (literally) voicings are, I think, closer to the record. I always thought that it sounded more spaced and spare than what I was reading. Kudos, brother, nice job!
Insane tutorial. I've never been satisfied with chord charts for this tune because, as you so astutely pointed out, many chord voicings are omitted. It's a trip how this tune sounds groovy with all of the harmonic intricacies, the quintessential Donald Fagan sound. I'd love to see you do more Dan, in particular, Deacon Blues and On The Dunes.
Thanks! Chord charts almost never do justice to how a song was really played, true. That’s why it’s so important to practice listening skills. BTW; those two tunes are two of my favorites!
@@pianoworkout I can already play Deacon Blues really well but I'd be interested in how you spell the chords.. Like the C aug over D... Is that D #11? On The Dunes is just haunting and beautiful in a melancholy way and I don't have the ear to figure that one out.
I’m not listening to Deacon Blues at the moment but a C aug / D is always a D#11, or D9#11 if you will. Because the c in that chord makes it a dom7 chord, even when there’s no f#. It’s suggested anyway.
Great work! I'd been trying to decode some of these chords for years and this solved many a riddle. One thing I heard differently was the E9 chord at 4:10 sounds like it's got a b5 in it, which avoids a conflict with the melody. But bravo!
You mean the E9 chord at “the end of a perfect day”? I don’t hear a B flat in that chord, plus Fagen sings the B flat anyway. In the recording I now hear G#-D over E (basically 3 and 7), resolving to G-C-D over E flat (3, 6, 7). The G#-D-F# over E that I play in the tutorial is not wrong though, sounds fine - and Donaldish - to my ears. Sometimes when we try to figure out especially chords by listening repeatedly our ears get tricked by overtones in the arrangement. I might have had that when I checked out Babylon Sisters, sorry for that
What a great tutorial. I’ve been looking for something like this for this song for a long time. Thank you for your hard work!
You're very welcome!
Good Lord .. I never realize how much the electric piano pretty much anchored this whole song.. Sounds so Beautiful!
...yeah, aint it? I think they used a Fender Rhodes on the record. Sounds like it. Donald likes those above other electric pianos because the highs don’t go flat and the lows don’t go sharp.
@@jerrymammoser9857 and because his wurlitzer broke
it's the first time I've seen a piano tutorial done so well and that has something to teach experienced pianists. Perfect. Compliments
Anyone who does quality lessons of Steely Dan keys gets my subscribe. So you just did, thanks
Thanks for watching and the sub!
The best piano tutorial I've ever seen
Wow ... absolutely. So calm, so right, so in-tune, so completely in the pocket. And just the right speed and right amount of information and commentary to make this insanely complex and beautiful piece accessible to mere mortals. I'd also be curious to hear an analysis of the composition - which key you consider to be the home key and any other insights as to how Fagin's eclectic jazz and pop infuences came together to produce something so original and sublime.
I agree with you, and I'm a drummer! But I tend to watch a variety of tutorial videos for bands I love.
Yea..this was absolute "Devine Providence" to locate this angel of an amazing earth being ive ever known..and this second only to Sir Lyle Mays..my absolute favorite keyboardist on earth!!
Wow, thank you. I might do an analysis one day, nice idea
Gotta agree
Hey I know this is six years later but the RUclips algorithms finally got round to showing this video to me. So I’m sitting here in Scotland at 01:27am learning this song. Appreciate you posting.
Amazing how the internet works…enjoy the practice!
This is the perfect lesson for a man who wants to start piano, Forget Mary Had a little lamb, let's go straight into jazz harmony and swing!
Very rarely is the internet worth a damn. It sure is here. Thank you.
Thank you! Enjoy the videos!
You are the best on RUclips hands down I’m serious, very thorough.
Thanks!
You have a remarkable ear for inner voicing. Always loved this song with it's rich harmonic movement. Thank you soooo much for making this possible to play.
Thanks!
Great. Those jazz chords always eluded me, but you make them seem accessible. Very stylish playing.
Absolutely addicted, perfect as I can hear it. The Rodes vibrato and the sound is just so well suited to this song, it's almost like they are made to go together. Hypnotic.
This is astonishing
I play by ear and I learned this song years ago off the recording, or so I thought. This was before online tutorials were available.
Your lesson has shown me just how incorrectly I've been playing it. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Greatest writers of music in modern times. This “simple” song is just genius.
This might be the best thing to happen to me in 2020. Excellent tutorial!
I'm revisiting this after quite a while, and as always am very impressed with your attention to detail. This is truly one of the best instructional videos ever. Keep up the good work!
Thank you!
Under the right hands, The EP can be a magical instrument? With the right verb and swell and decay, so sweet.
SPLENDID ! You took the core of the song out of its shell and however, it sounds more rich !
enjoying learning to play this; been listening to it for 35 years!
I wish I could play well enough to do this. The chords are heaven
They are indeed
I love the chords that you played at the beginning of the video (starting at 00:36). Those chords are from Jeff Lorber's "He Had A Hat". That would be a great song for a tutorial. From the ease at which you played that intro, you may already perform the song with a band. I'm a big Jeff Lorber fan so He Had A Hat gets a big "thumbs up" from me.
Thanks for sharing your perceptive interpretation of this tune, and making it accessible to us mere mortals. You've taken away some of the mystery but kept all the magic. 10/10
You’re welcome! Thanks for you words!
So many beautiful chords. Deacon Blues and Babylon Sisters are the best songs for repeat listening.
I just sat down and learned the intro with my keyboard set to electric piano and damn if I don't sound like Steely Dan playing a song I've loved for 40+ years. Wow. Can I hope that you will make more videos in the future?
Happy that you enjoy my tutorial! Yes, I will definitely make more videos in the future
I loved this tutorial...particularly as it features a great song from my all time favourite Steely Dan album 'Gaucho.
I think it is the electric piano throughout the entire album that is it's biggest attraction, along of course with it's beautiful backing harmonies.
I once visited a hi-fi sales show in a London hotel where they were showing off some new advanced stereo hi-fi's.
I walked into a room of about 20 sitting onlookers when all of a sudden Steely Dan's Gaoucho came on from the sound system on the stage.
I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Gaoucho is my all time favourite.
And this tutorial from Gaoucho was truly wonderful.
Thanks! Nice story, by the way!
@@pianoworkout Thanks.
This song kicked off my love for jazz, and this very tutorial got me back into playing piano. A year later, I am still working on it. THANK YOU!!!!!! If you started selling tutorials, I would pay. Please keep spreading the joy of music.
Thank you!!
When I die, I want to float through space unhindered with the sound of jazz chords played on a Rhodes. Bliss. Great vid. Thank you.
Welcome!
I want jazz played and sanged at my funeral. I will be watching the mourners reaction to it. Tee hee!
And through a phaser
Interesting the merge between roads and Rhodes :}
Haha yes fair play. My bad
Great video! Honestly, one of the best I've watched online. Fagen's chords are haunting and beautiful. Very nice job and quite a discerning ear to pick those voicings out! Hope to hear you post more Steely Dan!
Hands down best tutorial, and you NAILED the tone.
That was SO great ! I'm an absolute beginner on keyboards (but an old jazz-rock guitar player). In love with Rhodes and Wurli sounds from the beginning, I DO thank you for the knowledge you provide. Thanks again !
Mate, you're a genius! Those chords are gorgeous, especially that Eb9(add13).. 'to the SEA'. I worked out most of the other tracks on the album, but I didn't even bother trying with this one because I thought WTF, it's too hard; beyond my abilities, anyway. Thanks for that, it's been an enigma for many years!
Wonderful...Thank you from a Guitarist going to get a keyboard...Steely Dan my fav...
Ah, that's nice!
It's as if you actually want someone to learn what you're doing with the green highlighted keys on top,and slow easy explanation of fingerings and degrees of the chord amazing
The highest compliment I can pay you is: "Close Your Eyes And You'll Be There. It's Everything They Say."
The end of a perfect day, distant lights from across the bay.
Genius video - so helpful. - Thankyou 😎There is a great deal of minor 2nds in the voicings which just sound so lush
You’re welcome - thanks for watching :-)
You sir, are an absolute BADASS!!! You make Fagen chords look so easy. I am simultaneously jealous and blown away. Very nice. I fully intend to learn this song. Thank you for a great tutorial. I have subscribed.
Thanks!
You Sir are a blessing in disguise. I am a bass player & this is just what the Doctor ordered. Not to mention I'm a big Steely Dan fan. A no brainer, I subscribed. Excellent Teacher as well. Thank You! 🎼🎼🎵🎵
Harmony in this song is amazing
This is a remarkable piece of work/instruction. Your ear is simply amazing. I am a guitarist and keyboard player with a solid music theory background but quite a weak keyboard left hand. Your explanations about the chord voicings and the (for me) easy to play left hand has brought this great tune to life again. I think I might even be able to play it! I cannot think you enough for these postings. David
Thanks, David! Glad to be of some help! Cheers
Just bought a Korg SV-2 88 key. The Korg demo bought me to learn it correctly. Thank you very much, I like your built in metronome.
Timeless!!
Thank you for all of your effort and sharing . It is appreciated by more than you know😊
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
This is so great! Thank you so much for this tutorial, Kino! I have lots of admiration for all your talent.
You are very welcome, Joseph
Fantastic! Many thanks for such a perfect video on such a tremendous tune!
Two words, one phrase ... Bad ass! - Love this Dan song and your playing , you nailed it
Appreciate the comment!
Thanks for a fantastic tutorial of my favourite Steely Dan song...
I have spent 10 weeks learning Steely Dan's Babylon Sisters using your exact fingering and it has been well worth the wait for my muscle memory to finally kick in. If I had tried to learn this by ear, I would definitely have lost some key frequencies. Would you, could you do the same for me for Green Earrings, if you know how to play it? I cannot find a good enough clip to crib from currently on RUclips. Thank you so very much for your excellent efforts!
Thanks, I don’t think my next video is going to be another SD song - tryna mix it up, variation, you know :)
This is amazing. I've been crawling my way through this song for the last month. Great tutorial. Thanks.
You're welcome! Take it slow, and your playing will grow!
Damn those chords are nice. This is a great help. You’re good man.
Fagan is a master.
Brother I must beg for more tutorials! this is absolutely amazing ..
Thanks!
Thank you so much for the way you do your tutorials, they are just right for me. The chord progressions in Babylon Sisters have always delighted me ever since I first heard them way back in the day. The way you give time to properly clock them and then demo them in context with the melody is perfect for me (I’m getting on in years now and it takes me longer to get new things into my muscle memory).
Thank you thank you thank you. I will be following your channel from now on for sure.
Thank you for watching my videos!
Thanks, Kino!
I bought your Yamaha CP 4 Stage, and I am delighted!
Thanks!!!
Good, enjoy it!
Fagen is such a genius on the Rhodes. The era post Aja got his best lines on Rhodes from Steely Dan and his solo career.
This is amazing and will keep me busy for some time. Thank you thank you thank you
DUDE ! LOVE THI LOVE THIS . Excellent job. No endless yammering , just straight to the point . And it was spot on. Thank you :).
So clear and helpful! Thank you!!!!
Love the phrasing in the beginning, I’m a complete novice, but beautiful sounds
An excellent tutorial - thank you!
The best explanation, ever ! and with all the , so cool , details ..
I learn more watching you than out of any book.
Thanks!
Oh my! This might just be my favorite thing I’ve ever seen! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this incredible tutorial. Subscribed ✌️
You’re welcome, glad to be of help! Thanks for watching and subscribing
you have that Steely Dan sound down! I love it, subscribed, I want to learn it
Thanks for watching my videos and the sub!
Great tutorial! Thumbs up and subscribed. Can't wait to see your other tutorials. I hope you have more Steely Dan stuff.
Thanks for the sub!
@@pianoworkout I'm glad you replied, because I had gone through my subscriptions a while back to trim them down a bit (I had LOTS of them. Too many to deal with really). I've resubscribed to your channel. You have some great videos that I eventually want to spend some time with. Right now I'm working on some of my own ideas. Anyway, now I know to keep this subscription. So, thanks.
Thanks, Thomas! I know - sometimes you gotta do that, been there myself. Glad to read that you resubbed:)
@@pianoworkout You're welcome, and thanks for your work. Your channel is a keeper. 🎼🎵🎶🎹
top-notch in every way
Great tutorial! Accurate, much appreciated!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Is this guy for real? Teleports you straight back to 35 years ago. Expertly analyzed and then casually brought right back to life. If things look this easy, it is always the hallmark of true mastery. Cheers, Kino!
- Imagine what they had to do back then to even come close to this kind of sound quality. Eat your heart out, Donald ;-)
Thanks, Peter!
Fantastic job, greatly appreciated!!!
Cool. And now I finally have a Roland FP30x to learn it! Thank you!
Rock on!
That was fantastic! Thank you for creating this. Would love more content!
You’re welcome!
You're awesome man. What a keen ear you have! Thank you for this *correct* version! The way voices move in the colorful Donald Fagen universe is so beautiful and interesting that this makes a fine solo piano soft jazz piece just as it is.
Dude…So EXCELLENT!
Thanks so much for sharing, and presented in a uniquely knowledgeable and enjoyable way, what a great song as well !!
You’re welcome!
I love Steely Dan, how about Mu?
WOW. FANTASTIC JOB.
Thanks!!
Awesome, fantastic, ...Ultra-cool. Thanks & Cheers from Seattle! 🍻
thank you!!! I am methodically going through my sheet music with corrections!!!
Wow! thank you! amazing! so lovely!..you gave me goose-pimples!!
Yeah, man, nice job.. I’ve got the original Gaucho sketch book and learned it via that but your spaced-out (literally) voicings are, I think, closer to the record. I always thought that it sounded more spaced and spare than what I was reading. Kudos, brother, nice job!
That's awesome!
Such a great breakdown of the voicings. Really enjoying learning with this. Thank you!
Thanks for your nice comment!
The Best tutorial ever! just subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
This is fantastic! Thanks for posting this! Love these beautiful chords. Gives me chills.....
You're very welcome!
So its not G, C and D then in other words is what you are saying???
:-0
Fantastic work sir, those chord voicings are absolutely sumptuous to listen to
A very difficult song!!! Thanks
Fabulous, oh man I really want to play this ! Thanks for your spirit of generosity, I shall be checking out all your other content, peace brother 😷🙏🙂
More Steely Dan please !
ho no ! I can not believe ! I still think I have a good level but here i bow ! You are too strong ! Just to say i love your vidéos.thank yiu very much
You’re welcome!
Excellent! Thank you for sharing! (I would love to have the backing track as well)
Excellent info and presentation.
Thanks! And thanks for watching!
"workout" you are the best!!
thank you...
Insane tutorial. I've never been satisfied with chord charts for this tune because, as you so astutely pointed out, many chord voicings are omitted. It's a trip how this tune sounds groovy with all of the harmonic intricacies, the quintessential Donald Fagan sound. I'd love to see you do more Dan, in particular, Deacon Blues and On The Dunes.
Thanks! Chord charts almost never do justice to how a song was really played, true. That’s why it’s so important to practice listening skills. BTW; those two tunes are two of my favorites!
@@pianoworkout I can already play Deacon Blues really well but I'd be interested in how you spell the chords.. Like the C aug over D... Is that D #11? On The Dunes is just haunting and beautiful in a melancholy way and I don't have the ear to figure that one out.
I’m not listening to Deacon Blues at the moment but a C aug / D is always a D#11, or D9#11 if you will. Because the c in that chord makes it a dom7 chord, even when there’s no f#. It’s suggested anyway.
That Eb 9(add 13) chord is a vibe on its own
Kino, this is insanely good. Kudos for that!
Thanks!
Fantastic. Thank you!
Really Fantastic! Thank you!!
Glad you liked it!
Absolutely perfect
Instant subscribe. Thanks man! Beautiful
Great work! I'd been trying to decode some of these chords for years and this solved many a riddle. One thing I heard differently was the E9 chord at 4:10 sounds like it's got a b5 in it, which avoids a conflict with the melody. But bravo!
You mean the E9 chord at “the end of a perfect day”? I don’t hear a B flat in that chord, plus Fagen sings the B flat anyway. In the recording I now hear G#-D over E (basically 3 and 7), resolving to G-C-D over E flat (3, 6, 7). The G#-D-F# over E that I play in the tutorial is not wrong though, sounds fine - and Donaldish - to my ears. Sometimes when we try to figure out especially chords by listening repeatedly our ears get tricked by overtones in the arrangement. I might have had that when I checked out Babylon Sisters, sorry for that
Amazing job. Thanks!
Thank you too!
Hey Kino! I’d love to see a video on voicings as suggested in the prelude to this video. Hope you’re well. Thank you!
Great suggestion!