The March of the Black Queen piano

A friendly reminder to re-listen to The March of the Black Queen and try to focus more on the piano. I highly recommend if you haven't tried this already.

The guitars and vocals are great, but the piano in the background is absolutely amazing, especially the sections at 1:14-1:20 and 4:10-4:22.

I really wish I could hear it isolated or a piano cover close to the studio version, although that would be extremely hard to identify the actual notes just by ear.

Freddie truly was a genius, there are many hidden delights in his music.

Search in the fan mixes forum, the remaster made by C_Matt of Queen II. In one of that sea of comments, is a C_Matt comment attached with TMOTBQ+FHLI+(?).

I've always loved 3:51.

[QUOTE]

[b]discosucks wrote: [/b]
I really wish I could hear it isolated or a piano cover close to the studio version, although that would be extremely hard to identify the actual notes just by ear.

.[/QUOTE]

I'll give it a go later (doing a cover of the studio piano part). Think I've pretty much got it all sussed.

Would you like to join a band Bohardy?

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

Would you like to join a band Bohardy?[/QUOTE]

Depends which band really. I wouldn't want to be in Kiss for example.

If anyone's interested, I'm still looking at doing a version of the actual piano parts Fred played on this. I've studied it very closely indeed, and it turns out there are a couple more intricacies then I first thought, and being a perfectionist, I want to get it spot on.

So it's coming.

[QUOTE] [b]Bohardy wrote:[/b]

If anyone's interested, I'm still looking at doing a version of the actual piano parts Fred played on this. I've studied it very closely indeed, and it turns out there are a couple more intricacies then I first thought, and being a perfectionist, I want to get it spot on.

So it's coming.

[/QUOTE]

I for one really look forward to it!!

I transcribed the whole song / parts etc and recorded my version in 2004 (along with all the mammoth ones). I am since re-visiting them all and recording them with better gear, knowledge and......just altogether better! All re-recording new versions.
The recent HD revisions from Matt have allowed me to hear a few notes in the bass line from this one that weren't noticeable on the original. Same with some of the piano stabs.

Yeah looking forward to hearing these! I must admit, I learnt the Bo Rhap solos note for note on the guitar and it totally ruined the magic for me, so tread carefully my friends!

I agree that there are a few tasty piano runs during Black Sabbath.

OK, my attempt at showing the actual parts that Fred played is here.

A few notes, if I may.

- Excuse the poor quality. I have a very basic understanding of the technological side of recording music.

- I tried to record it the way Queen did, at a slower tempo than what you hear on the album, and sped up slightly. Trouble is, I played some parts a little too slow, and to speed the piece up to the desired tempo affected the sound too much. So it's sped up a touch, but it's still a little slow in parts.

- In order to be as exact as possible, I consulted the album versions, C_Matt's revision, the stripped versions on YouTube, live versions, the demo version, and played with the stereo field in order to work out exactly what Fred played.

- There are only a couple of occasions where, despite doing the above, you really can't hear exactly what's being played. But I'm confident that what I've got is essentially what Fred played.

- There's basically one main part throughout (recorded in two or three sections) with a second (and possibly the occasional third) part providing the odd embelishment or variation on the main track.

- I know I could do better (get the tempo more accurate, play one or two of the bits a bit more cleanly), but I've spent too long buggering about with the bloody technical side of things now and I can't be bothered to go back to recording the parts again!

- If anybody has any requests for anything else, give me a shout.

I think that's about it.

As Dysan says, thoroughly deconsructing something like this can ruin the mystique sometimes. But I got enjoyment out of doing this, so hope somebody else can get the same out of hearing it.

Here it be.

Thank you for the piano track!
The piano alone sounds much fiercer than in the album, just how a Black Queen should sound.
Amazing work^^

stupid site

[QUOTE] ludwigs wrote:

Very nice! A few volume issues BUT excellent work!![/QUOTE]

Here is my vox harm attempt. I am re-doing this track so am very keen to hear new stuff.



http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59544201/March%20of%20the%20Black%20Queen%20-%20harm%20vox.mp3