Concert Band - Level 3 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1337989
By Deep Purple. By Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, and Roger Glover. Arranged by Keith Terrett. 20th Century,Contemporary,Pop,Rock. 60 pages. Keith Terrett #923737. Published by Keith Terrett (A0.1337989).
An arrangement of the famous Smoke on the Water for Concert/Wind Band.
Smoke on the Water is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, released on their 1972 studio album Machine Head. The song's lyrics are based on true events, chronicling the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino. It is considered the band's signature song and contains one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in rock history.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed Smoke on the Water number 434 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Total Guitar magazine ranked the song's riff number 4 on its Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever list, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 12 in its list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks.
Smoke on the Water is easily identified by its central theme, developed by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. It is a four-note blues scale melody in G minor,[8] harmonised in parallel fourths. The riff, played on a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar by Blackmore, is later joined by hi-hat and distorted organ, then the rest of the drums, then electric bass parts before the start of Ian Gillan's vocal.
Blackmore later claimed that the main riff is an interpretation of inversion of Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven, and that I owe him a lot of money.
Jon Lord doubles the guitar part on a Hammond C3 organ played through a distorted Marshall amp, creating a tone very similar to that of the guitar. Blackmore usually plays the main riff using a finger pluck.
The lyrics tell a true story: on 4 December 1971, Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland, to record an album (Machine Head) using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio—referred to as the Rolling truck Stones thing and a mobile in the lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as the gambling house in the song lyric).
