How good is Axl on the Piano...

[Jbat81]

I dont know hot to paly the Piano. Any instrument for that matter lol... Those of u that do know, Can u tell me tell me how good Axl is at playing Piano? Ive always wondered that. Is he as good a Piano player as Ron is a guitar player? To me it sounds great, but like i said, i dont know what it should sound like to be "great"... Im just curious, thats all...

[LIGuns]

doubtful he's nearly as good as Ron is on Guitar..Is Axl the 3rd best piano player in camp?...But regardless he has written some piano/keyboard gems...

[Jbat81]

Yea, maybe he is the 3rd best in the band... But I remember Dizzy saying he always was nervous to play Estranged. Altho that doent mean he was a bad player.

[hitmanhart408]

he might not be the best technically but hes certainty written some classic songs

[Lara]

I think being a good composer is more important than being a good piano player. And I do play the piano.

[NaturalLight]

I actually wondered the same thing. But as I recall reading somewhere, he learned to play (or started learning) when he was pretty young, so he's probably not that bad. But the previous poster is correct - composing is what is important. Doesn't matter how good you are. If you can't write, then who cares. LOL

[Chuzeville]

He keeps his pinky in a stange, crooked position as he plays.

[Jbat81]

I agree about composing... Didnt it take him a few years to compose November Rain? Idk about Estranged. And I guess TIL took a while also. Altho we dont know when his part was "finish". If hes not a great player, he def is a great composer...

[norway]

I dont know hot to paly the Piano. Any instrument for that matter lol... Those of u that do know, Can u tell me tell me how good Axl is at playing Piano? Ive always wondered that. Is he as good a Piano player as Ron is a guitar player? To me it sounds great, but like i said, i dont know what it should sound like to be "great"... Im just curious, thats all...

How do we rate it? :p

Axl, in many ways, represents oposite musical culture that Idol does and academics have their own criteria for pianoplayers. Axl seems more like being into doing his own thing and he has his own technique. He's good tho and has a looot of feel. I liked the "heavy" stuff he used to pling out before NR in 02.

[D]

U guys can't be serious.

Axl is by far better than Dizzy and Chris because he COMPOSES


Big difference Writing Estranged and simply playing it.

Come on guys

[COMAMOTIVE]

Some of those classical sounding pieces he'd whip up before NR back in the day, gave me all the understanding I needed to know that this is a gifted piano player.
Then you combine that with the obvious ability to compose and I believe we have our answer

[wight gunner]

Some of those classical sounding pieces he'd whip up before NR back in the day, gave me all the understanding I needed to know that this is a gifted piano player.
Then you combine that with the obvious ability to compose and I believe we have our answer

Not sure if this applies to Axl, but he would have grown up during an era where TV was limited, and games consols weren't even invented.  A piano was quite a regular fixure in homes in the decade or two prior to his year of birth and used as a past-time for family entertainment. Lots of people learnt to play an instrument in those era's in the main through self-taught or from a sibling or parent.

My guess Axl fell into to this route, but like most guitarists in RnR, they got the music bug from what they heard and used there instrumental skills to "play along" to the music were listening to.  This probably triggered an acknowledgement that he was good at doing this and took it on to compose stuff.  We've heard of DJ's route into music, and BBF's and the common factor of this was they heard, they copied and then they developed, and most musicians tell a similar story.

Lots of great musicians can't even read music, but have a natural talent to produce good tunes such is their ability. Me, I can read music but my hands don't work with what my brain is telling 'um  so I am a seriously frustrated lover of music who wishes that he could play along to what he like to listen to.

[Lord Stan]

I've always wondered the same. I can only play one or two children's songs, which means I know nothing about anything. Do we have an agreement, at least to me it sounds just great.

[COMAMOTIVE]

Same here. Tried my hand at guitar for awhile. Dedicated quite a bit of time to it, definitely got better and was able to have the songs I was learning actually sound like they should, but what bothered me was that I had no (and still don't ) understanding of musical progression and why certain chords followed others. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and once I realized my musical abilities would only go so far, I figured it wasn't worth continuing.

I see Axl play the piano, or Slash play some solos and my mind is completely blown. I think either you have it or you don't

[WTTJ_91]

Same here. Tried my hand at guitar for awhile. Dedicated quite a bit of time to it, definitely got better and was able to have the songs I was learning actually sound like they should, but what bothered me was that I had no (and still don't ) understanding of musical progression and why certain chords followed others. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and once I realized my musical abilities would only go so far, I figured it wasn't worth continuing.

I see Axl play the piano, or Slash play some solos and my mind is completely blown. I think either you have it or you don't

That's the winner. The entire Guns mantra was never about being the most technically able it was about just getting it done. Axl isn't the most technical player and if he was in some type of proficient pianist contest I doubt he'd compare to "professional" pianist. But that's irrelevant, he's composed some timeless pieces of music. On an unrelated note, it's kind of funny to me when Bumble plays Slash parts because "technically" speaking Bumble is WELL above Slash's "technical" level. But it just goes to show music is about feeling and not being the most technical..

[Jbat81]

Yea... I agree. Ive heard that "Sweet Child O'Mine" is an easy song to play, but a classic...

[charl!edontsurf]

It's really hard to tell how good Axl is at the piano, probably average, but as most have said, it doesn't matter as his compositions are otherworldly.

SCOM is not the easiest song to play. The intro's notes are easy and the chord structure is easy, but to play the song with proper time and feel is quite hard, especially the outro solo during the coda. There are far harder songs to play in the world, but SCOM is by no means easy.

[Jbat81]

I meant the beginning. "Slash's opening"... But, like the rest have said, Axl's piano parts have been GREAT! I mean, my mom doesnt like Rock music, Just Spanish stuff like Merengue & Salsa... etc. But she loves November Rain cuz of Axl's piano..

[Gunner80]

He's been playing for like what 30 years? I'm pretty sure he's a master if he's kept up the playing.  10 years is the time it takes to master an instrument.

[Albert S Miller]

I am pretty sure we have all read this:   Growing up, Axl took classical piano lessons, taught Sunday school, and sang in the church (Pentecostal) choir.  As a choirboy, he confused his teacher by singing high vocal parts, though he was supposed to be second baritone.