How to Play “Lady Grinning Soul” on Piano

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a classic ballad by David Bowie. If you’re a fan of his music, then you’ll definitely want to learn how to play this one on piano. Here, we’ll show you how to do just that.

Introduction

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a 1973 song by David Bowie. It was released as the third single from his album Aladdin Sane. The song was a moderate success, peaking at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song is about an alluring and mysterious woman. The lyrics are written in first person point of view, and describe the speaker’s overwhelming infatuation and eventual obsessions with this woman.

The music for “Lady Grinning Soul” is composed in compound meter, alternating between 3/4 and 6/8 time. The piano part is mostly chordal, with some arpeggiated sections. The breakdown in the middle of the song features a solo piano playing a series of descending minor sevenths.

In this lesson, we will go over how to play “Lady Grinning Soul” on piano. We will learn the chord progression, melody, and solo section of the song.

The Basics

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a song by David Bowie, originally released on his 1974 album, Diamond Dogs. The song is in the key of D major. To play “Lady Grinning Soul” on piano, you will need to know a few basic chords.

Find the key of the song

The first thing you need to do when you sit down at the piano is to find the key of the song. “Lady Grinning Soul” is in the key of E major. To find the key of a song, look for the letter name of the root note of the chord that is playing when the singer comes in on the word “lady.” In this case, the E chord is playing when David Bowie sings “lady.” You can use this method to find the key of any song.

Once you know the key of the song, you can use that information to help you find the chords. The chords in “Lady Grinning Soul” are almost all major chords. The only exception is the D chord, which is a minor chord. To find chords in a given key, you can use a chart like this one:

Key of E Major:

E F G A B C D E

So, in the key of E major, we would expect to find chords like E, F, G, A, B, C and D. And that’s exactly what we find in “Lady Grinning Soul.”

Understand the chord progression

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a performance-ready pop song with a VI-IV-I-V chord progression. The chords in the verses are Am7-Dm7-Gmaj7-Cmaj7, while the chorus consists of only two chords, Fmaj7 and Bb7.

To play this song on piano, you’ll need to be familiar with basic jazz chord voicings. The left hand should play mostly octaves and fifths, while the right hand plays the melody. In the verses, piano players will often add color by playing additional seventh chords in the left hand.

Playing the Song

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a 1973 song by David Bowie. The song is written in the key of C major, and has a moderate tempo of 104 beats per minute. The song is structured in an A-B-A-B-C-D-C format.

Play the intro

“Lady Grinning Soul” is a 1973 single by English rock band David Bowie. It was originally released on the album Aladdin Sane, and later as a single. The song was written by Bowie in tribute to American singer-songwriter Claudia Lennear, who inspired him to write “The Prettiest Star”.

To play the intro of “Lady Grinning Soul” on piano, start by playing a C minor chord. Then, play an E flat major chord followed by a G major chord. Finally, end on a C7 chord.

Play the verse

The first thing you need to do is find the right octave to play the melody in. The original recording of “Lady Grinning Soul” is in the key of A, so we’ll start there. The verse starts on the fifth fret of the low E string (the sixth string). If you don’t have a guitar handy, you can also find this note on a piano by playing the C two octaves below middle C.

Once you’ve found the starting note, simply play the melody as written. The verse is made up of two phrases, each eight beats long. The first phrase is repeated twice, and then the second phrase is played once. After that, the piano solo starts, which we’ll talk about in the next section.

Play the chorus

To play the chorus of “Lady Grinning Soul” on piano, start by playing the following chords in order: C, Am, F, G. Once you’ve played all four chords, repeat the sequence. The chord progression for the chorus is as follows: C, Am, F, G, C, Am, F, G.

Play the bridge

After you play the chorus, you will play the bridge. The bridge is a little more complicated than the chorus, but it’s not too difficult. Start by playing the chords in the left hand, and then add the melody in the right hand. The melody for the bridge is:

E-G-A-F#-E-G-A-F#-B

Once you have the hang of playing the bridge, you can add in the left hand chords for a fuller sound. The chords for the bridge are:

F#-A-B-E

Conclusion

Now that you know the chords and melodies to “Lady Grinning Soul,” you can play the song on piano! If you want to add your own personal touch to the song, try experimenting with different chord progressions and melodies. You can also try playing the song in a different key or tempo. Have fun!