Chords for Why Keith Emerson Was Important

_ _ _ Will you please welcome on stage _ _ Emerson, _ Lake, _ and Palmer!
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ Keith Emerson was a founding member of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer who [F] died by a self-inflicted
gunshot wound on March [Em] 11th.
He was 71 years old. _
Instead of focusing on his death, let's focus on his life and how important some of his
[G] decisions were to the face of all music. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ Let's begin where he did when he bought his [Bb] first Hammond organ at the age of 15.
[Ab] The Hammond [Bb] would become one of Emerson's [D] signature instruments, possibly only out-signatured
by another one that I'll get to soon.
[Gb] In [A] 1967, Emerson co-founded The Nice, an early [Em] progressive rock band that blended aspects
of rock, jazz, and classical.
_ The Nice particularly [D] benefited from Emerson's showmanship, as he was known to stab his Hammond
[G] with swords and ride it like a surfboard.
_ [C] One day at a record store [F] in 1969, Emerson heard this.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ [B] That's Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos, [E] then Walter Carlos.
It was an album recreating classic Bach pieces using only Moog synthesizers.
_ Immediately, Emerson wanted to [Gb] know what those sounds he was hearing were and how he could
make them himself.
He'd learned that it was a Moog synthesizer, and he borrowed it from his friends for a
Nice [D] gig in which he presumably caused heads to explode with his Moog-only rendition of
Strauss's [G] Also Sprach Zarathustra, named after the most righteous work [Gb] by the man with
the most righteous stash, Friedrich Nietzsche, a song that was made popular by Stanley Kubrick's
then-recently-released film 2001 A Space [D] Odyssey.
Wow, that was a whole mouthful of [C] nerd. _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ [Gm] Although artists like [D] The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel had used Moogs on some [A] songs,
Emerson became the first musician ever to tour with [Em] one and also to shoot rockets off of one.
_ [Eb] In 1970, [Gb] Emerson co-founded [D] prog rock supergroup Emerson Lake & Palmer with Greg Lake, former
[Gb] bassist and singer of King Crimson, and Carl [Db] Palmer, former drummer [Gbm] of The Crazy World
of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.
_ [E] With ELP, Emerson was specially commissioned by Moog to tour with new prototypes of new
[D] synths not yet available to the public.
Their eponymous debut album was a mishmash [Gb] of Hammond organ [Eb]-laced jazzy classical-influenced
[Db] prog rock and also started a tradition on ELP albums, to have at least one Greg Lake
penned ballad performed primarily on acoustic guitar.
_ Lucky Man, the ballad in question, became Emerson Lake & Palmer's most famous song,
and this is important [Db] because it ended with this.
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_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _
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[A] What you just heard was Emerson playing his recently purchased Moog [Em] modular synthesizer
to perform a solo.
[D] Sounds pretty standard to us, but this was one of the earliest, if not the earliest,
instance of a synthesizer being used basically in place of a guitar on a record.
[D] That soundbite proved to piano players everywhere that with this crazy new instrument, they
could be just as [A] captivating and basically as cool as the best guitarists out [Em] there. _
Emerson was [D] the first musician to play lead keyboards.
[E] Of course, Emerson was part of a group of musicians that are often banded together [G] and
really making the keyboards cool, Rick Wakeman comes to mind as well as Tony Banks, [D] but they
both usually played alongside fantastic guitarists.
Emerson had no such luxury.
Occasionally, [Dm] Greg Lake would pick up an electric guitar on stage, notably for the first impression
of CarnEvil 9.
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_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ Most [E] of the time, it was up to [Abm] Emerson to lead the band, and did he ever.
Over the next few years, ELP released some of the most enduring and beloved albums for
piano players, bassists, and drummers everywhere, starting with Tarkus, [Ab] and moving through pictures
at an exhibition, trilogy, and ending with Brain Salad Surgery, all released within a
span of less than five [Eb] years.
Throughout this time, Emerson remained a hero for keyboardists everywhere. _
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_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
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_ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ [E] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Emerson, Lake, and Palmer began to decline in popularity during the late 70s, and the
members pursued other projects with occasional reunion.
What you're hearing and watching right now is material from [Bb] their last reunion at the
[Gb] High Voltage Festival in 2010.
[Ab] Since at least the mid-90s, Emerson was struggling with nerve damage in his hands that made it
considerably [F] more difficult to play [G] the piano as effectively as he once was able to.
It's believed that this is why he took his life, but there very well may be new developments,
as I'm writing this [D] very early after his death.
As many of you know, [G] I recorded a cover of Space Oddity after David Bowie died and I was
considering doing something similar for Emerson, but then I remembered [A] that any ELP song worth
playing would be too [Bb] difficult for me to even [Dm] play on the piano.
The [G] closest thing I have in that regard is [F] a drum cover of [G] Tarkus that there's a link
in the description to, even though [Gb] that's more of a tribute to [F] Karl Palmer, who is [Gb] thankfully
still alive and well.
As you may have noticed, I have quite a fondness for my Moog Prodigy, which is really [C] just
a dumbed-down mini-Moog, and that's completely [Cm] thanks to Keith Emerson.
_ _ [Bb] _ _ [B] _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ [E] I made this video not out of [Bm] obligation, but because I wanted to [E] explain to anyone who
is unaware just [D] how important Keith [Db] Emerson was to piano players, which [E] translates to
how [F] keyboards are viewed by [Eb] general audiences as well as how they're [D] played.
[Gb] It's very likely that music might sound [G] quite different today had Keith never toured with
his gigantic Moog [Fm] modular synth back [Bb] in 1970.
Thanks [D] for watching, everyone, and I hope that I don't have to do another video like
this for a very long [C] time.
Rest in peace, Keith.
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