Rick Beato analyzes Tiny Dancer

[b0b]

I love when Rick Beato picks apart a song, but it's rare that any of the songs have steel. In this episode of "What Makes This Song Great", he solos B.J. Cole's pedal steel part several times.

https://youtu.be/dijrGXvSS-g

[Jeff Garden]

Very cool...thanks for posting b0b

[Rick Bernauer]

Here's a mix of the instrument tracks without vocals that make the pedal steel parts easier to hear. Great song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCzg-qaj6z8

[Jeff Garden]

Let me show my ignorance as a techno-idiot:
Is there any software that can "reverse engineer" a mix and separate vocals and different instruments to make transcribing easier?

[Dave Mudgett]

To me, this song is a textbook case-study of how to orchestrate a pop/rock song and how well a good pedal steel part can add so much. The interaction between the steel, electric guitar, and string parts is just great. Gotta say I also really like the electric guitar parts. Just great. Here's a mix of just the vocal, rhythm section, and guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSrbTl9VJJg - I'd like to hear the pedal steel added to this without the piano and string section.

[Gary Newcomb]

Loved this!

[Joe Krumel]

Pretty complex piece. Very beautifully done

[Colin Swinney]

Let me show my ignorance as a techno-idiot:
Is there any software that can "reverse engineer" a mix and separate vocals and different instruments to make transcribing easier?

Check out Moises. I’ve used the iOS app and it worked really well for vocal removal.

https://moises.ai/

[Jeff Garden]

Thanks, Colin. I just found a few Moises review videos on youtube and it looks very interesting.

[David Mitchell]

I'm a big Elton John fan whether it has any steel or not. They did use the steel in all the right places and just enough to enhance the track without it getting steel heavy. I play piano and sing too and was playing his greatest hits on the piano back in the 1970's. One of the elements that makes his arrangements is he and the bass player are constantly playing 3rds and 5ths on the bass line similar to how string arrangements are written whereas the typical bass player would be playing 1 and 5 through the whole song. Makes for an interesting sound. Rocket Man has that bass part very distinctly. I think when Elton fired his band his records lost that groove. The bass player Dee Murray that died in Nashville from a brain tumour was a key element in those early records.

[Jon Zimmerman]

If you aren’t that partial to Rick Beato’s “Analysis Paralysis” features, but instead prefer to delve into the steel player’s extensive history, open up his Wikipedia, and allow your jaw to drop. He still lives to play today on steel; even has a website. I learned that he used a black, single neck Emmons 10 string he’d acquired, when ‘Tiny Dancer’ was articulated by Elton’s wizardry on keys and orchestral timing. No digitizer anything’s in those studios; just (probly) a Neve slider console and 16 track reels to ‘punch’ into. The mastery of simpler tools, and artful ways to use ‘em fully engraved that album into rock history.

[John Sims]

I second Colin's response. Try Moises, the app. Check out the Moises videos on YouTube. It's an awesome app for making backing tracks.

[Rick Bernauer]

I always loved the pedal steel part that BJ Cole played but it was hard to hear in the mix sometimes - at least on my turntable back in the '70s.
Here's isolated tracks with the full pedal steel part starting at 20:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyauUI5o7p8

[Frank Freniere]

I always loved the pedal steel part that BJ Cole played but it was hard to hear in the mix sometimes - at least on my turntable back in the '70s.
Here's isolated tracks with the full pedal steel part starting at 20:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyauUI5o7p8

That was amazing - thanks, Rick!

[scott murray]

very cool to hear the steel completely isolated. it's worth noting that while his part wasn't flawless, it made the cut and the song wouldn't be nearly the same without it.

are there any other Elton John songs that feature pedal steel? I can't think of any but I don't know his catalog all that well

[James Mayer]

Why is he "air guitaring" the pedal steel parts as if it's a 6-string?

[Jeff Garden]

I second Colin's response. Try Moises, the app. Check out the Moises videos on YouTube. It's an awesome app for making backing tracks.

Thank you, John!

[Bill Sinclair]

are there any other Elton John songs that feature pedal steel? I can't think of any but I don't know his catalog all that well

Gordon Huntley plays a nice 8 bar pedal solo on "Country Comfort" off Tumbleweed Connection. Great album.

[John Larson]

are there any other Elton John songs that feature pedal steel? I can't think of any but I don't know his catalog all that well

Gordon Huntley plays a nice 8 bar pedal solo on "Country Comfort" off Tumbleweed Connection. Great album.

Tumbleweed Connection is such an undersung country-rock album.

[Jim Pitman]

I used to do a Tiny Dancer cover in a band I was in. I since do it solo as a PSG instrumental. I worked out that intro piano riff and theme verbatim. It sounds great on the PSG.
Bj Cole played a Kline 12S Uni BTW.

[Pete McAvity]

I reached out to BJ in 2018 to tell him that Tiny Dancer was my intro to steel as a kindergartener. He told me that he played a S10 Emmons on that track & got his Kline new directly from Joe in 1982.