My first concert was Elton's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" tour. To this day, it stands as one of the top three shows I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of shows in my life. The band was on fire and they played every tune perfectly. They opened with "Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding" and just took off from there. One hell of a show and band.
I watched Davey Johnstone play this song live in 1974 at Hoffienz Pavillon and he was playing a white Gibson 2 pickup Les Paul Custom through the entire show.
Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner were on guitar on that tour, not Davey Johnstone. Hunter didn’t do some 1977 shows due to other commitments, he was replaced by Bob Kulick. Davey played the From The Inside and Flush The Fashion tours.
FINALLY some love and appreciation for Davey Johnstone! He is one of my 3 huge influences (Townshend & Martin Barre being the others). Elton & Taupin are incredible songwriters but Johnstone is the secret sauce. His parts add soooo much to the music and are integral to the whole! I went out of my way to see Meatloaf back in the 80s ONLY because Davey was touring with him. I was belly to the stage directly in front for the entire show in a rinky dink club on the Jersey shore. Even when tasked with taking a lead he was the consummate sideman - adding to the songs without taking away from his “boss”. Definitely a top 10 concert experience! Would love more lessons: Captain Fantastic, Meal Ticket, Madman, and the ultimate melodic statement, Funeral/Love Lies Bleeding. Thank you so much for this! I’m heading down to my basement (dungeon) now to grab my LP Custom and get this under my fingers.
Ahhh..the summer of '73! Saw Elton live 2 weeks after this song was released as a single in August. Maybe the best band I have ever seen live. Elton was cool back then. Thanks for posting!
great job as always dude...i envy you because you are doing exactly what i wish i could be doing; picking all these great songs apart and posting lesson videos on YT haha...blessings to you always brother 😎
Love it! I’d really like to see a lesson on Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. That would be quite an undertaking and might take two videos. Love your channel.
I keep telling people you've got the best ear on RU-vid. You never miss the subtlest nuance in any riff you're dissecting. Thanks, and greetings from Downunder Oh, and DJs work on Yellow brick road, particularly on "I've seen that movie too" was amazing
Thanks. Forgot about this one. One of the few EJ tunes that I would not change the radio dial back in the 70s. Will see if I can follow your lesson this week.
Hi Doug and thanks for this 👍 It's a kind of deja vu from my youth, so after watching and listening, I ran out to find the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album in my stored vinyl collection - simply had to listen to the original tune again. Once more, Thanks for your splendid work and lessons, Doug. ☮️❤️🎸
This was a long over do! I always liked the rhythm of this tune! I wasn't a big fan at the time of release but as I aged and heard it later was awstruck with playing along with this track! Thanks for sharing these classic gems!
Awesome. Dave Johnstone plays lead on one of my favorite guitar oriented albums of all time, Alice Cooper’s Flush the Fashion. The guitar work on it is magical.
Elton one the greatest rock piano players and melody writers of all time. Elton John liked to rock and his band did wanted he wanted. Make no mistake Elton John was a solo artist and his band played what he and Bernie Taupin wrote.
Man, excellent job and perfect tone re-creation!! A Great Tutorial!! Davey Johnstone is almost strictly a Les Paul guy, but your SG humbucker catches his tone perfectly. I was actually at the Yellow Brick Road tour and half a dozen others subsequently. Loved his band with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsen. I'm a huge EJ fan going back to Tumbleweed Connection and Honky Chateau!! I think Yellow Brick Road was his peak, with all those great rock guitar classics. Every time I've seen Davey, he has always alternated between a Custom and Standard Les Paul. He always uses those two on his individual Facebook Channel, also. Hey, which amp and cab are you using?? Is it that Marshall head and 4x12 cabinet on the right of the screen? I would like to request one other rocker off Yellow Brick Road: "All The Young Girls Love Alice"!! Would love to get your take on that one..."born to be a lady by the Golden rule, Alice was the pawn of a public school..." 🎼🎵🎶🎵🎸🎸😂
thanks! no for this one I'm using GuitarRig7 software running off my pc/DAW. The specific settings are down in the video description. But if I was doing live, yes I'd use my 50w Marshall into the 4x12.
hard hitting, the epitome of a rock song … A couple of the sounds that I really like Are the sounds of a switchblade and a motorbike I'm a juvenile product of the working class Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass, oh
Great lesson! I've been waiting for someone to do this. Thanks Here's another I'm still waiting for a good lesson for if you'd like to give it a try. Zep's "The Rover" . I'll be watching for it. Thanks again.
Always loved it but haven't been in a band that wanted to tackle it, if they had even heard of it. A great rocker that doesn't get the attention it deserves.
Couldn’t agree with you more on “gotta be in the top five of Seventies hard rock”….. obviously we exclude Stones/Who/Zep and look just below for this, but I’m with ya…. next-tier-down bands doing unbelievable things… Saturday Night’s Alright Can’t Get Enough or Good Lovin’ Gone Bad Saturday Night Special Stealin’ We’re An American Band You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet All slightly-trashy unbelievably-powerful genius Depending on whether you put Bowie in that ineligible top tier (I don’t), we could include the masterful Ziggy- Suffragette combo. And a couple of top Aerosmith songs, you pick. I’d go Uncle Salty or Sick As a Dog, but I love the big early hits too.
The reason most people do not get the fat sound that Davey gets, is they do not have nine Fender Champs lined up . . . . . That is how Davey said he got that sound. Also, most people play with their guitar connected to just one amp . . . . . big mistake if you really want a professional studio sound, you always want to have at least two amps, as was explained to me a long time ago, use each amp with different settings, then carefully adjust your volumes so they are the same using your ear. EJ band also used a lot of microphones when recording in the studio. Davey did quite a few songs with alternate tunings, (not this one), Hercules was one of them.
Sounds better using the B & D strings, as opposed to you using the B & G strings. The classic old blues shape but because it's amped up it sounds more rocky of course.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fgQL99_HADQ.html Davey did an instructional video many years ago for Star Licks where he shows you how to play some of the classic and deep cut Elton John songs (including Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting) that is a nice addendum to this video.
Dave’s uses what has become associated with Keef, but apples and oranges; eh mate? Keef is a legend, but imho; isn’t Johnstone too a legend? Owing to the huge plates of meat. 12’ Chain knows what that’s about. How about the r3st of y’all?
Nice lesson. I needed a refresher on this . I listed to ybr back in mid 70s , it is such a great album. This song is all about guitar . Davey’s exact tone is hard to dial in, I know he played a LP, and would be interested in the amps and effect used in studio.