November 29th, 2022
Chapters
00:00 - Lesson: Steely Dan organ playing
Notes
I know you guys are probably tired of all the endlessly clever chord progressions and harmonic voice leading genius that you hear in pop music today, but it should ALSO be noted there was some really clever stuff that people were writing way back in the 70’s.
The boys and i were on a nice sunday drive this afternoon and my youngest asked me “dad, what’s your alltime favorite song? Is it still “under pressure” by bowie/queen?” (which i have always told them it was)… and then i said “well, it might be this one actually” and then played “fire in the hole” from the first 1972 Steely Dan album.
Amazingly enough, i never learned it before…so of course when i got home i figured it out immediately.
If you’re a chord lover, fagen and becker never disappoint…they always find a way to twist something simple into something that makes you go “Why the hell have i never thought of that?” not to mention jeff baxter’s wickedly metallic sounding pedal steel solo…
When i met jeff about a year ago the first and only thing i asked him was “Man do you remember what kinda steel you played on “fire in the hole”?”
He said “im pretty sure it was an Emmons”
Of course it was a push/pull Emmons
If you guys don’t know this song, shame on you.
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