I honestly think that a fender rhodes with a lush chorus is the most beautiful electric piano sound in the world. It was very well used in many ballads in the 1980s, that i recall hearing as i grew up.
Nice breakdown. I play Rhodes, and I must admit that I didn't even notice that this song had an electric piano part in it all these years. Thriller has hidden depths.
When I first heard it, I thought it was a Rock organ, then I heard an interlude in the beginning and thought vibraphone, then when I heard of the Rhodes piano, I instantly recognized it as that mystery instrument (to me) in Thriller
I vote for "Off the Wall" & "Thriller" as two of the best R&B recordings of all time. Grooves are phenomenal, chord progressions are SWEET (30+ years later), vocals were EXCELLENT, orchestration/arrangements were TOP-NOTCH, & production was OFF-THE-WALL!
But not all songs and not every bit. MJ allowed his studio musicians to bring in ideas for their parts, pretty sure Greg came up with this harmonization. Anyway mind-blowing pros.
Wow, this is a gift. Thank you for transcribing this. The voicings are so elegant. These Rhodes chords glue the whole track together. Very Gospel-like, going from ethereal Jazz voicings to a blues riff and back again. So perfect for the song. Arigato gozaimashite.
I love this - the attention to detail of analyzing this hugely significant music is a real joy to watch, it elevates the original music, shows this guy to be a fantastic talent and provides a rewarding insight that we’d never have otherwise - nice work fella !
Your Thriller composition/decomposition is so good I always follow up listening to the original and end up with its Indian cover Golimar! Have a nice Sunday doc.!
This was the sound of early 80s R&B. Then the DX7 Rhodes came along and that became the sound of mid-late 80s R&B. I like both sounds but I understand a lot of people hate the DX7 Rhodes in comparison.
man, you are amazing! i have watched your whole series on 'thriller'...... you are such a perfectionist. i love the sound of your rhodes also. mine's sort of dead sounding after all these years.
The tines and “works” can be shined up and restored to sound “Crystal Bell” clear! 😁. Just takes a bit of work. And possibly a bit of $ to replace a couple of parts.
The bit beginning at 4:43 onward kinda helped visualized the creep factor of this song with subtle melodrama. You woke up, looked out the window, and saw a monster standing still in the backyard looking directly at you in the window from a distance. So you run upstairs into an unoccupied regular 80s style bedroom trying to hide. You fall asleep on the carpet under the bed and fortunately wake up in the morning as daylight begins. That’s what this Rhodes with chorus helps me visualize……😬😬😱😱😰
Greetings from Brazil! I love your videos of "How to play Thriller", especially THIS rhodes session. So much peaceful to hear! Wonderful job of yours and Greg Philligannes was badass too!
Did Michael Jackson actually play an instrumnent ? I've never saw him play anything ever and this track Thriller he didn't write at all. I really think MJ is totally over-rated as a musician.
Francis Maxino - "the four-chord basic string vamp on “Billie Jean” - Michael Jackson himself played that part on a CS-80 in one take. No punches. No repairs. No sequencers or time correction. Seven minutes. Perfect performance." This quotation is from session keyboardist Michael Boddicker, interviewed in Keyboard Magazine, September 2009. So yes, Michael Jackson could play keyboards...
heee man! i tottaly get where you are coming from, but I think you could not be more wrong. You should google michael jackson beat it demo. He doesn't play an instrument but he can perfectly sing every part of every song. The session musicians tune their instruments to michaels vocal ideas. because michael knew in his head what pitch every song should be. I dont think their are many musicians with a better sense of pitch and rhythem than michael jackson.
Holy shit... I never even realized a rhodes was in Thriller. Amazing video, as you just get to the heart of things. Anyone who is anyone already knows Thriller, so not giving the song overhead was a very nice approach to the presentation.
Doctor Mix I honestly think you are a genius, obvious musical genius . My dad was a professional musician and thanks to watching you I have been inspired😊
You just opened up my horizons to think about man. Crazy interpretation and I believe you did full justice to one of the best compositions on planet earth. May you be blessed even more with music. Cheers mate \,,/
Rhodes piano is what scared me the most when i heard thriller back then. It had that "going into your clean bedroom to look around only to realize that something evil is outside in the yard potentially getting closer to the house as its getting dark" type of feel.
You nailed it, Greg Phillinganes is one of my favorite keyboard players, his work on Thriller is no doubt a masterpiece. About the chorus on the Rhodes, I believe that he used a Roland JC120, the chorus sound screams JC-120, and to be honest, the tone too...
In the whole album I loved the Rhodes play. Thriller and Baby be Mine have the most. I finally found a video on this. Now I study this for my own music, as I'm not good as Phillingannes yet.
The two original (and only, really) electric pianos. Besides the Yamaha CP70, that is. LOL They both use reeds or tines, and both were played a LOT in the 70's and 80s in pop music, usually with a chorus effect.
I own the keyboard you're talking about. I bought it in 1984, at Mel's Sound of Music, Hacienda Heights, California. This is the keyboard that played that bell sound..
woody!!! i love your vids, you are doing really great stuff on your channel. I think it's really funny that almost every music related video that I watch on youtube has a comment of yours underneath it. keep up your work
awesome job... one of my all time favourite...surpised to know that so much chord progression n techniques involved. thank you for your effort to bring this to us.
To be honest I watched the Rhodes part last, because I thought it was the one that was least interesting for me. But: That ist the best part of the series :) what a genius
Hi Doctor Mix. I really love what you did here! I keep coming back to this rendition. Is there any way I can just get this sheet music? Is it included in the Thriller pack; I don’t really need all the other amazing stuff in there haha! Hope to hear from you. 👊🏻😃
The Constant C Sharp drive in the bass being played is screaming Emergency………That’s why it is being played. It is a genius move. It’s laying a path for a frightened person to run from a ghoul or from whatever seems to be after him or her.
It would be sooo great, if you could do these Deconstructions in Compostion and Sounddesign for a lot more Songs in R&B, Pop, Funk & Soul Hits !!!!! You've done a great Job with Thriller man!!! Please go on!
Very cool videos! been following this channel for a while now! bravo! I was wondering if there's anywhere I can get the rhodes part sheet from? Many thanks, Alex
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen on TH-cam. Is it a Mark I or a Mark II Rhodes? 88 keys? What a tribute. How did you get the sheets with all the chords positions? This is such a beautiful sound. My gosh...
The Fender Rhodes has the most iconic sound in Keyboard history. PERIOD.
jonathan wright Together with the Hammond B3 and the Mini Moog. PERIOD.
The Wurlitzer's up there too lol
It's a fantastic instrument but only an idiot would dismiss other key instruments. Sorry, this is the comment of a moron
I honestly think that a fender rhodes with a lush chorus is the most beautiful electric piano sound in the world. It was very well used in many ballads in the 1980s, that i recall hearing as i grew up.
well… that’s the most obvious thing to say
And this is why certain 80s pop songs are so goose bumpy magical. They went that extra mile. Mind blowing songwriting, that is.
Not to mention a lot of talent, between the musicians and writers and producers/engineers. That is barely existent these days.
Nice breakdown. I play Rhodes, and I must admit that I didn't even notice that this song had an electric piano part in it all these years. Thriller has hidden depths.
funkmike me too, I thought it was one of those 80s organ sounds 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
When I first heard it, I thought it was a Rock organ, then I heard an interlude in the beginning and thought vibraphone, then when I heard of the Rhodes piano, I instantly recognized it as that mystery instrument (to me) in Thriller
I vote for "Off the Wall" & "Thriller" as two of the best R&B recordings of all time. Grooves are phenomenal, chord progressions are SWEET (30+ years later), vocals were EXCELLENT, orchestration/arrangements were TOP-NOTCH, & production was OFF-THE-WALL!
SoundScientist1 both written by Temperton
@J Fingers Music. Thank You for sharing.
But not all songs and not every bit. MJ allowed his studio musicians to bring in ideas for their parts, pretty sure Greg came up with this harmonization. Anyway mind-blowing pros.
*Doc Brown:* _"Where we're going ... we don't need rhodes"_
*Doctor Mix:* _"Well actually, we kinda do!"_
why this comment isnt pinned to the top,....has me baffled lol!
This is heavy
Brilliant :)
well-played (y)
GREAT SCOTT!!!
Wow, what a complex part! Never noticed it in such detail before. Well done - and a very nice tribute to Greg Phillinganes!
Omg, these chords man. I get goosebumps all over. Its like God came down on earth and said, "Hey, let me show you some slick chords we use up there"
You should listen to more jazz
Yeh, shivers!!
It's quite a guitar-ish part.
Well, I mean ...if a guitar had 10 strings .. and _hammers_ .
I think the sound of Rhodes is one of the nicest in music.
Bob james does a really good job with Rhodes in alot of his jazz tracks
Whenever you beatbox the drums it reminds me of how MJ used to beatbox his drum rhythms. Great video! :)
I WISH!
Greg Philliganes is such an outstanding keyboard player. I bet he did this in one take.
Wow, this is a gift. Thank you for transcribing this. The voicings are so elegant. These Rhodes chords glue the whole track together. Very Gospel-like, going from ethereal Jazz voicings to a blues riff and back again. So perfect for the song. Arigato gozaimashite.
Whenever musicians gather inside the studio and think of making a great song, they first take blessings from this album.
Actually, truly agree 💯
I almost cried how beautiful the Rhodes sound
Without the rhodes, Thriller would be completely different... Nice work!
If you would've told me 10 mins ago that there was a Rhodes being played on Thriller, I'd have called you insane..
Rightfully so. You can only really hear it in very small portions of the song.
Same
It becomes part of that big ensemble sound though!
You can hear it much more clearly in the Dolby atmos version of thriller. I was surprised.
This Rhodes part sounds so amazing ... Truely, what a Genious MJ was!!! We miss y'all Mickäel.
MJ was only involved in voices though
I'm a paid up member of the Greg Philliganes appreciation society! Thank you for these fascinating insights Dr. Mix!
I dont even understand music nor it isnt my hobby, but I find these videos interesting. Great work
I love this - the attention to detail of analyzing this hugely significant music is a real joy to watch, it elevates the original music, shows this guy to be a fantastic talent and provides a rewarding insight that we’d never have otherwise - nice work fella !
Your Thriller composition/decomposition is so good I always follow up listening to the original and end up with its Indian cover Golimar! Have a nice Sunday doc.!
hahahaha...indian thriller. i love that vid. lol
Killer, killer, killer
This was the sound of early 80s R&B. Then the DX7 Rhodes came along and that became the sound of mid-late 80s R&B. I like both sounds but I understand a lot of people hate the DX7 Rhodes in comparison.
Like me lol. The well known electric piano sound from the DX7 I’m almost POSITIVE is a Rhodes with chorus!!! Nothing is like the original
Nice job, explaining this. It's a brilliant part, very jazzy! Ingenious work of mr. Phillinganes.
Mmmm. I love the shimmering sound of a chorused Rhodes piano. Has that super slick early 80’s jazz fusion sound that I love so much.
I really appreciate this series. its been an incredible breakdown of this song. Thank you
7:46 that fill is absolutely beautiful ❤
Rhodes sounds genius excellent
amaziing sounds i love the fender rhodes, so much flavour during the soung
man, you are amazing!
i have watched your whole series on 'thriller'......
you are such a perfectionist.
i love the sound of your rhodes also. mine's sort of dead sounding after all these years.
The tines and “works” can be shined up and restored to sound “Crystal Bell” clear! 😁. Just takes a bit of work. And possibly a bit of $ to replace a couple of parts.
The bit beginning at 4:43 onward kinda helped visualized the creep factor of this song with subtle melodrama. You woke up, looked out the window, and saw a monster standing still in the backyard looking directly at you in the window from a distance. So you run upstairs into an unoccupied regular 80s style bedroom trying to hide. You fall asleep on the carpet under the bed and fortunately wake up in the morning as daylight begins. That’s what this Rhodes with chorus helps me visualize……😬😬😱😱😰
Greetings from Brazil!
I love your videos of "How to play Thriller", especially THIS rhodes session. So much peaceful to hear! Wonderful job of yours and Greg Philligannes was badass too!
I absolutely love how Claudio beatboxes/counts/sings whilst he plays , brilliant
This is such a great composition by Rod Temperton...
Thanks for sharing this gem.
❤
Awesome video! Incredible track, These guys were just magic and Michael was the greatest!
39 session musicians for the triller album
Did Michael Jackson actually play an instrumnent ? I've never saw him play anything ever and this track Thriller he didn't write at all. I really think MJ is totally over-rated as a musician.
Francis Maxino all his does is moonwalk all over the place 😀
Francis Maxino - "the four-chord basic string vamp on “Billie Jean” - Michael Jackson himself played that part on a CS-80 in one take. No punches. No repairs. No sequencers or time correction. Seven minutes. Perfect performance." This quotation is from session keyboardist Michael Boddicker, interviewed in Keyboard Magazine, September 2009. So yes, Michael Jackson could play keyboards...
Francis Maxino his instrument was his voice :)
heee man! i tottaly get where you are coming from, but I think you could not be more wrong. You should google michael jackson beat it demo. He doesn't play an instrument but he can perfectly sing every part of every song. The session musicians tune their instruments to michaels vocal ideas. because michael knew in his head what pitch every song should be. I dont think their are many musicians with a better sense of pitch and rhythem than michael jackson.
Holy shit... I never even realized a rhodes was in Thriller. Amazing video, as you just get to the heart of things. Anyone who is anyone already knows Thriller, so not giving the song overhead was a very nice approach to the presentation.
This guy has superb ears to dismantle songs this complex part by part to this level of detail.
Doctor Mix I honestly think you are a genius, obvious musical genius . My dad was a professional musician and thanks to watching you I have been inspired😊
So many tutorials get the fifth chord on the Synth lead intro wrong, they play a C#m instead of a C#m7, drives me nuts. Great work man!
You just opened up my horizons to think about man. Crazy interpretation and I believe you did full justice to one of the best compositions on planet earth. May you be blessed even more with music. Cheers mate \,,/
Rhodes piano is what scared me the most when i heard thriller back then. It had that "going into your clean bedroom to look around only to realize that something evil is outside in the yard potentially getting closer to the house as its getting dark" type of feel.
Love your enthusiasm and your videos are always interesting.
You nailed it, Greg Phillinganes is one of my favorite keyboard players, his work on Thriller is no doubt a masterpiece. About the chorus on the Rhodes, I believe that he used a Roland JC120, the chorus sound screams JC-120, and to be honest, the tone too...
João Paulo Padilha de Aquino JC 120 huh? Interesting...
It has Boss CE-1 vibes to it.
Yeah the original chorus from like 1975. Super cool
In the whole album I loved the Rhodes play. Thriller and Baby be Mine have the most. I finally found a video on this. Now I study this for my own music, as I'm not good as Phillingannes yet.
Excellent analysis and transcription...I love this guy's musical personality!
You have to mention Rod Temperton, he wrote that
So badass, thank u for this awesome breakdown on your lovely sounding 73
Oooooooooooooooooh, that chord at @6:53 with the A on the bottom. LOVE IT!!!
I love your enthusiasm! :D
Your rhodes sounds fantastic, is almost a very funky wurli
The two original (and only, really) electric pianos. Besides the Yamaha CP70, that is. LOL They both use reeds or tines, and both were played a LOT in the 70's and 80s in pop music, usually with a chorus effect.
Another MJ song you could recreate/walk through would be one of smooth criminal/bad/jam. Love this
I own the keyboard you're talking about. I bought it in 1984, at Mel's Sound of Music, Hacienda Heights, California. This is the keyboard that played that bell sound..
nice playing doc and a cool vid.
woody!!! i love your vids, you are doing really great stuff on your channel. I think it's really funny that almost every music related video that I watch on youtube has a comment of yours underneath it. keep up your work
I remember hearing several songs in the 80s and late 70s that use those jazzy little breaks like he used in this. On the fender rhodes.
This has to be one of the most beautiful keyboard sounds ever created! Wish I could play a rhoades
Get ready to pay about 3-3500 dollars for it! LOL
awesome job... one of my all time favourite...surpised to know that so much chord progression n techniques involved. thank you for your effort to bring this to us.
Thanks, all your videos are very nice. A hug.
Great deconstruction work
5:35 - Shove a tremolo on that keyboard and you have Sheep by Pink Floyd ;-).
I love this series man. well done.
To be honest I watched the Rhodes part last, because I thought it was the one that was least interesting for me. But: That ist the best part of the series :) what a genius
very impressive
I wish you a nice Sunday evening
friendly regards Frank
So satisfying to hear the Rhodes of the Thriller on solo! Where I can buy the MP3 of these?
Loving these series guys! Hopefully you break down more Michael Jackson songs
The constant C# in the bass feels exactly like the mist hanging over the gravestones, not shifting at all, just looming there.
Far out - good job, and I love your presentation style too. You must have an excellent ear to be able to figure all that out just from the recording!
Ufff you play the Rhodes very nice ❤❤❤
Hi Doctor Mix. I really love what you did here! I keep coming back to this rendition. Is there any way I can just get this sheet music? Is it included in the Thriller pack; I don’t really need all the other amazing stuff in there haha! Hope to hear from you. 👊🏻😃
Sheet music link please.
Totally enjoyed the video. Thanks!
Big Genius! Saludos desde Veracruz México!!!!
This guy's internal tempo seems to be really good
He’s a longtime musician and multi instrumentalist so i think that explains it. :)
Excellent job, man.
The Constant C Sharp drive in the bass being played is screaming Emergency………That’s why it is being played. It is a genius move. It’s laying a path for a frightened person to run from a ghoul or from whatever seems to be after him or her.
awesome video my dude!
Great . Some more plz !
It would be sooo great, if you could do these Deconstructions in Compostion and Sounddesign for a lot more Songs in R&B, Pop, Funk & Soul Hits !!!!! You've done a great Job with Thriller man!!! Please go on!
sheet music?
Muy bueno! no sabia que el Thriller fuera tan interesante
Excellent ! ♪
After this video I realized, that you can put a Rhodes in pretty any Song as a kind of a pad, where you think, that there is still something missing.
Very impressive playing over there :) Not as easy to play as it may seem...
Great video - one could smell your enthusiasm behind it! ;)
Peace and harmony
Muy muy bueno...excelente explicacion !!!
amazing... and fantastic
Did I miss the Rhodes in your kontakt library. Just got it recently. Man this song is busy (in a good way) just harder than I thought it would be
Please do this for more songs!!!
Do you have a PDF of the sheet music available? I can just make it out in a screen shot. Fabulous job with the transcription and playing!
it seems he doesn´t share that :(
hi :) excellent , i had never played thriller before your video :) thx amigo :)
Quincy is a genius !!!!!!!
Very cool videos! been following this channel for a while now! bravo!
I was wondering if there's anywhere I can get the rhodes part sheet from?
Many thanks,
Alex
AWESOME
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen on TH-cam. Is it a Mark I or a Mark II Rhodes? 88 keys? What a tribute. How did you get the sheets with all the chords positions? This is such a beautiful sound. My gosh...
markII 73 with suitcase amp
It’s a 73 so i think it’s a mark II
very good analysis..👍👍👍..it's very interisting to see differents parts of this track ...thank you...sorry for my english written😁
I never new 😂 but amazing man you’re so talented wish I could do this 😂 I can play bass lines of the mj songs that’s bout it lol
Great Job! Thanks!
How do we get that sheet music?
Great video, thanks!
Can you get the PYT's piano rhodes original versions? Please
Doctor Mix , does your pack include the sheet music? Thank you!
awesome and well done!