Freddie VS Elton Piano Playing

As a musician I can say Elton is much better. Of course Freddie has a good technique, as you can hear on the early albums till ANATO/ADATR, but Elton is a genius of piano, especially for his impromptus!!! He switches from ragtime to classical sonatas to blues to rock and roll, all in one impromptu, always keeping the theme and the athmosphere! Just look at the impromputs of Moscow 79, Barcelona 92, or Milano 2003 (I was there!) and you'll be convinced.

Guys, guys! Yes, Elton is better technically. BUT!(imho):

- He wrote just SEVERAL beautiful songs
- For a beautiful song a genius simplity is needed. Of course then this simple theme is playing up and growing up with additional notes but the main thing IS that simple catchy "tune". Moon Sonate is very simple (even Fred could play it! - for Eltons fans :-) but is much more beautiful that many List difficult passage's compositions.

This isn't about the best writer, but about the best player. You can be a wonderful player without writting a note.

Elton's much better at piano (but I love Freddie much better).

When someone with a normal hearing (and vision) seriously believes that Freddie Mercury was a more skilled piano player than Elton John (of all people), in that case they are not necessarily high on drugs. Just high on stepfordism.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]pma wrote: [/QUOTENAME]When someone with a normal hearing (and vision) seriously believes that Freddie Mercury was a more skilled piano player than Elton John (of all people), in that case they are not necessarily high on drugs. Just high on stepfordism.[/QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more.

I would actually say Elton John's pretty damned good, but his ability to adapt to other peoples styles is shithouse. I really don't like Billy Joel (actually I might have posted this earlier in the thread) but when he did a duet show with Elton John, Joel was able to do music from both catalogues pretty well, whereas Elton John was locked into his own style of playing.
But anyway.

I greatly admire Freddie's piano playing and style, but I think Elton is better. I like the way Elton plays the piano like a "lead guitar", his blistering, piano-pounding excesses in some of his songs! :-)

Zebonka, agree with you 100%! Elton's palying is very the same in every song but Freddie's in different styles, Freddie is from Classic to Blues and (sorry) "Just-chords-songs" (like Play The Game), compare:

Millionaire Waltz
Nevermore
You Take My Breath Away
Bring Back That Lerroy Brown
Death On Two Legs
My Melancholy Blues
Love Of My Life
Lazy On A Sunday Afternoon

All this is because his wild composing genius.

But Elton can play more difficult passages that Freddie couldn't, I agree, Sebastian.


P.S. Just catch my self on a thought: Who could be considered a better piano player Elton John or John Paul Jones? I think John Lord is above both.

Guys, can anybody give an explaination for piano graduation levels? Freddie got 5 and Elton 7, where can we read more about this?

I think Elton's better than Jonesy but of course not as good as Jon Lord, or Rick Wakeman.

I heard that Freddie was grade 5 when he started with Queen, and advanced to grade 8 by the end.
I'd say his work was more catchy and memorable, his riffs were better too, but theres no doubt Elton's overall ability was beyond Freddie's.
The difference was, that Freddie played piano in songs that were also revolved around other instruments playing melodies, while Elton's at one time was all lead.
Also Freddie wrote with the piano, Elton had lyrics written for him and put correct chords behind and elaborated.
Elton is the greater and slightly more technically able pianist, but little basic passages like Play The Game by Freddie for example are extremely memorable.

> I heard that Freddie was grade 5 when he started with Queen, and advanced to grade 8 by the end.

He studied up until grade IV academically, but his self-teaching progress went beyond that. Same for Elton.

> The difference was, that Freddie played piano in songs that were also revolved around other instruments playing melodies, while Elton's at one time was all lead.

Perhaps that's a direct consequence of their skills in the first place.

> Also Freddie wrote with the piano , Elton had lyrics written for him and put correct chords behind and elaborated.

1. Fred didn't write lyrics with the piano, he wrote them in paper :)

2. The fact Fred composed the lyrics doesn't affect his ability as a musician, but as poet.

3. None of Elton chords were more elaborated than Freddie's, but the way those were arranged.

> Elton is the greater and slightly more technically able pianist, but little basic passages like Play The Game by Freddie for example are extremely memorable.

Agree.

"I heard that Freddie was grade 5 when he started with Queen, and advanced to grade 8 by the end.
I'd say his work was more catchy and memorable, his riffs were better too, but theres no doubt Elton's overall ability was beyond Freddie's."

Come on man, how you write on piano doesn't mean you're a good piano. A starting guitarist can think of better riffs than lets say.. Brian May or Jimi Hendrix. But does that make him a better guitarist?
I don't think so.

Freddie wrote more catchy stuff than Mozart. But I'm sure Mozart kicked Freddie's ass so damn hard

Lol Sebastian, I know he didn't write lyrics on the paino X-D
When I said he wrote songs on the piano, I meant chord structure, song arrangement etc.

Hi FriedChicken, I think you misread what I said, or vise versa, my general point was that Elton's technical playing was beyond Freddie's, but Freddie's writing of riffs and memorable lines was more than Elton's, and he had a trickier task of piano writing with nothing to base it on, and while allowing room for other musicians, something Elton rarely had to do.
But the greater pianist is Elton.