The Smiley Smile Message Board

That piano sound from the mid to late 60s, like on The Wild Honey album (Let the Wind Blow) - how did he get that piano sound?  It sounds like some sort of effect has been applied to it, but I can't for the life of me think what it is.  It's such a distinctive sound (and no, I'm not thinking of a tack piano).

Does anyone know?

Simple.  Brian had a piano in his house that was out of tune.  I believe the story goes that he told the piano tuner exactly how he wanted it tuned, and this was the end result.  I believe the brand of the piano is a Chickering (sp?).

What I found particularly fascinating is a boot featuring a reel-to-reel tape recorded by the Wilson brothers as kids... this is the tape with the Surfin' demos and such.  The piano featured on this tape is out of tune in nearly the same fashion as Brian's circa 1967 piano.  Perhaps this is the sound that Brian grew up with, and he purposely sought to replicate it.

Also, it's an upright - most studios use grands.

There's a take of "Can't Wait Too Long", with Brian solo at the piano, that has Brian saying:  "This piano is so terrible!  God, I hate it!"  I wonder what piano that was.

Brian has a really distinct style too.  There's a clip on youtube of the band playing in the Netherlands in 1980.  The guy is right by Brian's monitor and you can hear his piano loud and clear.  Not only is he playing well but it gives the songs a very distinctive "Beach Boys" vibe that I associate with Brian.

You mean these clips?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSVUpfpmjuk&feature=channel_page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSVUpfpmjuk&feature=channel_page)


I agree, Brian has a very distinctive sound, whose rhythm is based in rock'n'roll. The harmonies, though, come from a different place. I really love hearing him play....

Yup, those are the ones.  That's a fascinating string of videos.

Great stuff... I wish I could just sit and watch/listen to Brian play the piano for hours and hours...

Absolutely. His playing is in some ways like a guitarist strumming chords--he rarely arpeggiates things. And there's nothing fleet-fingered or virtuosic about his playing at all. But I think when people say the Beach Boys took Four Freshmen harmonies and sang them over Chuck Berry, they are missing something: Brian's piano playing does that same thing all on its own.

i'm not so sure that it's just an out of tune piano. Listen to the piano on "Let The Wind Blow". It's a real distinct, "thick" sound. It has a big echo, to the point where it almost vibrates through the whole piano. I have never heard any other musician or group that has that certain piano sound. It's one of the reasons why I love the studio work of The Beach Boys.

Interesting, thanks for the replies.  I figured from the sound that it was an upright.  Being slightly out of tune would explain the vague chorus like effect I was hearing.  I've wondered if a lot of compression was used on the piano (like the Bee Gees used on their early albums, particularly I've Gotta Get  A Message).

Has anyone ever attempted to make a Reason refill of something resembling this piano?  I'd love to have something like that...

I am thinking Tennessee Waltz right now. Don't know why.

I think it's a grand on some of the home studio stuff like "Let The Wind Blow", but Bruce did say that HE played an upright on the studio recording of "Disney Girls", and that was cut at Brian's.  Dave Marks recalls that Brian used at upright on all the early Western Recorders stuff ("Catch A Wave", etc.).

I love the bass-sounds that Brian gets from a piano (and Dennis too for that matter, never heard a pianoperformance by Carl). I always wondered how they sound as thick (like you said). Then I tried to play the bassnotes in two octaves, like a C' and a C and that came pretty near. It's not that easy for me though to hit the right keys everytime when you change to other notes.

I'm an amateur player that just picks up by watching other people, but I thought that was a fairly standard way to play? I think he picked it up from boogie woogie, because they use that style of left handing playing a lot, although they employed it differently than Brian did. The trick is to let those notes sustain a lot. You have to listen to the decay closely so that you can repeat them in a way that maximizes the droning aspect of it. Brian's left hand playing really is kind of droning, which gives it a hypnotic effect. The bass notes always seem to be swelling beneath the chords, filling out the sound space.

I've actually found that most keyboards "honky tonk" setting, tuned real low, gives a very rough approximation of that Wild Honey piano sound. And sure enough, I read later in an interview with Scott Bennett that the honky tonk setting was Brian's favorite on the keyboard and that he used it constantly during the making of That Lucky Old Sun. Interesting stuff.

I'm also just an amateur, and I always thought you'd play just the one note. That's why I tried it, when I wanted a sound closer to the fat one Brian has

I'll bet you've heard some Carl piano performances without knowing it...he played piano on lots of stuff (sometimes electric, sometimes acoustic, sometimes both), like Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, Trader, probably Leaving This Town and the live versions of Surf's Up, Wild Honey, and probably Let The Wind Blow.  Also apparently Carl played the piano on Keepin ' The Summer Alive (the studio version).

That video from the Netherlands is fascinating!  I never realized that Brian actually umm... played the piano at concerts during this time period.  I always thought they never bothered to mike his piano.

I could be wrong about this, but I always figured the piano at Brian's house which was used for all those "home studio" albums was the same one Brian was playing in the Surf's Up video... in the video, it sounds out of tune as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDy3kcZfpEY

This is a little OT, but does anyone know how long the Baldwin organ lasted in the Wilson household?

Yeah, absolutely, what I meant though was solo-piano performances. Sorry for being unclear

He also plays on All This is That, at least live.