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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 6, 2021 17:12:06 GMT
Everyone has their own method of keeping track of where they are in a song, especially songs with complicated roadmaps.
How do you do it? Simply memorizing? Always using lyrics as a reference point? Written notes on a page? Standard notation?
I know many people don't know how to read sheet music so I thought it might be interesting to hear how people do it.
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Post by zontar on Jan 6, 2021 19:28:10 GMT
Anything from in my head up to full scores
It depends on the song, setting I am playing in & what I have that way
For songs I have written it might be something as simple as a sheet that says
Intro
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
Outro
Or whatever the order is
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 6, 2021 20:34:34 GMT
Personally I use lead sheets with repeats and DS notations. But even then I have to make notes for sections that are open for solos or when repeats are skipped
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Post by Bill h on Jan 6, 2021 22:08:33 GMT
If it’s a song I struggle to remember, I will write out the chord progression next to the song name on the set list.
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Post by zontar on Jan 7, 2021 6:31:36 GMT
I have marked up chord charts & standard notation etc with song order stuff--or highlighted where the D.S. is o go back to, etc.
It helps sometimes
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Post by johnreardon on Jan 7, 2021 11:12:58 GMT
When I'm writing a song, I do a MS Word doc with the chords above any lyrics. I normally do a very rough audio recording with either my iPhone or a Tascan recorder, just to remind me how it goes.
This is something that I have as work in progress. I may change things or even scrap it all together. Once something is finalised, I then put lyrics onto an iPad using Setlistmaker. I don't worry too much about order of things as I tend to 'lead' the rest for solos etc.
Intro:
F, C, G (twice)
Verse 1:
D A
Welcome to my new day
C G
Nothing’s happened yet
D A
Make it how I want it
C G
Never to regret
C
Having a bad day
G
You can maybe tell
D A
Time to hit the road now
F C G
Come out of my shell
F C G
Come out of my shell
Chorus:
F C
I’m a child of my past, trying to make it last
G C
Trying to see ahead, (trying to see ahead)
F C
Child of my past, trying to make it last
G C
With one eye on the dead (one eye on the dead)
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 7, 2021 12:59:09 GMT
I have marked up chord charts & standard notation etc with song order stuff--or highlighted where the D.S. is o go back to, etc. It helps sometimes That's pretty much exactly what I do |
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 7, 2021 13:00:36 GMT
When I'm writing a song, I do a MS Word doc with the chords above any lyrics. I normally do a very rough audio recording with either my iPhone or a Tascan recorder, just to remind me how it goes. This is something that I have as work in progress. I may change things or even scrap it all together. Once something is finalised, I then put lyrics onto an iPad using Setlistmaker. I don't worry too much about order of things as I tend to 'lead' the rest for solos etc. Intro: F, C, G (twice) Verse 1: D A Welcome to my new day C G Nothing’s happened yet D A Make it how I want it C G Never to regret C Having a bad day G You can maybe tell D A Time to hit the road now F C G Come out of my shell F C G Come out of my shell Chorus: F C I’m a child of my past, trying to make it last G C Trying to see ahead, (trying to see ahead) F C Child of my past, trying to make it last G C With one eye on the dead (one eye on the dead) Pretty standard system. How do the other players know which section you will be soloing on? Or is the song pretty much always verse chorus verse chorus? |
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Post by johnreardon on Jan 7, 2021 13:28:04 GMT
When I'm writing a song, I do a MS Word doc with the chords above any lyrics. I normally do a very rough audio recording with either my iPhone or a Tascan recorder, just to remind me how it goes. This is something that I have as work in progress. I may change things or even scrap it all together. Once something is finalised, I then put lyrics onto an iPad using Setlistmaker. I don't worry too much about order of things as I tend to 'lead' the rest for solos etc. Intro: F, C, G (twice) Verse 1: D A Welcome to my new day C G Nothing’s happened yet D A Make it how I want it C G Never to regret C Having a bad day G You can maybe tell D A Time to hit the road now F C G Come out of my shell F C G Come out of my shell Chorus: F C I’m a child of my past, trying to make it last G C Trying to see ahead, (trying to see ahead) F C Child of my past, trying to make it last G C With one eye on the dead (one eye on the dead) Pretty standard system. How do the other players know which section you will be soloing on? Or is the song pretty much always verse chorus verse chorus? Well we play a lot of old R&B which is usually 12 bar stuff, so it's normally a couple of verses, solo, couple more, solo etc.
To be honest we haven't had any time to play most of the stuff I have written. As we don't get chance to rehearse, the demos were always intended for a future album, rather than gigging. We have though played a few originals at gigs, without much practice. We usually try them out at a gig and it gets better the more times we play it.
I don't do all the solos. We have another guitarist and a sax player who plays with us when we play in Wales. They just keep an eye on me when the singer backs away from the mic, or I shout their name.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 7, 2021 14:07:39 GMT
Pretty standard system. How do the other players know which section you will be soloing on? Or is the song pretty much always verse chorus verse chorus? Well we play a lot of old R&B which is usually 12 bar stuff, so it's normally a couple of verses, solo, couple more, solo etc.
To be honest we haven't had any time to play most of the stuff I have written. As we don't get chance to rehearse, the demos were always intended for a future album, rather than gigging. We have though played a few originals at gigs, without much practice. We usually try them out at a gig and it gets better the more times we play it.
I don't do all the solos. We have another guitarist and a sax player who plays with us when we play in Wales. They just keep an eye on me when the singer backs away from the mic, or I shout their name.
Ah okay, 12 bar is not so hard to keep track of. I find I really need a roadmap written for everything |
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Post by johnreardon on Jan 7, 2021 14:33:51 GMT
Well we play a lot of old R&B which is usually 12 bar stuff, so it's normally a couple of verses, solo, couple more, solo etc.
To be honest we haven't had any time to play most of the stuff I have written. As we don't get chance to rehearse, the demos were always intended for a future album, rather than gigging. We have though played a few originals at gigs, without much practice. We usually try them out at a gig and it gets better the more times we play it.
I don't do all the solos. We have another guitarist and a sax player who plays with us when we play in Wales. They just keep an eye on me when the singer backs away from the mic, or I shout their name.
Ah okay, 12 bar is not so hard to keep track of. I find I really need a roadmap written for everything Not all are like that though. Not many of our originals are 12 bars though. This is one of the more complex ones. We only arranged this the day before we went into the studio. The soloing is done by me while the vocals are on and at the end. Playing wise we only did a couple of takes. The singer redid the vocals after the tracking ones.
To be honest, I don't like making things too rigid for the band as we are all fairly old and been playing together for years, some decades.
If you look at this, another original, only the singer has lyrics in front of him. This was our first run playing. Did another take, before adding real vocals, slide guitar (me) and sax. It's not far from what went on the album
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 7, 2021 17:26:13 GMT
A lot of the material we play is less straightforward in form so we really have to watch it with form or we could have a situation where half the band is playing one thing and the other half are somewhere else.
In fact it is I myself that have to be really careful because if the horns are expecting a section with one chord and I'm somewhere else the snap decision has to be made as to who yields to whom.
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