The inaugural 'learn a song a day for a month' challenge.

octatonic

Day 4

"This is the life" - Amy MacDonald

I'm doing this one ahead of time because I am out of the house for most of the day.
This is a very easy tune for guitar- it is a 4 chord vamp that is repeated over and over.

Chords are C#m, A, E, G#m

Guitar: Acoustic guitar or clean electric.
Play the chord progression behind the vocal, follow the vocal rhythm from time to time.
After the chorus there is a single note melody played on the top two strings. It is very easy.

Bass: Also not hard- root and 5ths are the order of the day, following the chord progression

Drums: Brushes on snare- you can play kick and hats softly if need be but the song doesn't need it. Snare only is enough.

That is it really.
Nice tune.





Oh- and I know I haven't posted the chart for 'Uptown Funk'- I will do it at some stage- there are some structural things that make it difficult to do a short chart.
I've done most of the Sibelius score but it isn't finished- they take ages to get right, which is why I do them by hand.

stratman3142

Well I've not played this one. I'll look at it tomorrow, but now I've seen your chart I've got a head start.

It will be interesting to see why you decided to resort to a Sibelius chart for Uptown Funk. I was supplied with a chart generated in Sibelius when I played it, so I didn't generate my own chart.

I haven't used Sibelius recently, and it's not even on my new computer. I use Guitar Pro 6. Also, I've recently downloaded Musescore 2 which is free. I'm still deciding whether to go for Sibelius 8 as a subscription option.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

Well I've not played this one. I'll look at it tomorrow, but now I've seen your chart I've got a head start.

It will be interesting to see why you decided to resort to a Sibelius chart for Uptown Funk. I was supplied with a chart generated in Sibelius when I played it, so I didn't generate my own chart.

I haven't used Sibelius recently, and it's not even on my new computer. I use Guitar Pro 6. Also, I've recently downloaded Musescore 2 which is free. I'm still deciding whether to go for Sibelius 8 as a subscription option.

Because there is so much variation with things dropping in and out- the snare rolls in the chorus, odd bar numbers- a short chart would end up being more complex than a score.

I have the Sibelius subscription.
I tried for ages to refuse to play the Avid subscription model game- it grates me to do it but I need it.
I've let my Protools licenses lapse though- they get the bare minimum from me now- I've been burned too many times with Digidesign/Avid.
I've used Guitar Pro (I own V4, I think), I don't like the way it works- it is better suited to tab than notation imho.

octatonic

Day 4, Song 5

Ahead of schedule, which is good.
Next Tune is everyone's favourite song featuring whistling:

"Centrefold" by J Geils Band

It is pretty cheesy, but fuck it- it is in the set so we learn it.

Harmony:
Verses are: G F C F (repeated... a lot)
Prechorus: Em Am G C (repeated twice)
Chorus: as per the verses.

Guitar: Avoid the temptation to play it like Smells Like Teen Spirit or More then a Feeling. Yes, they are similar and yet not.
Cheesy single note melody is G major pentatonic (Em pentatonic). No solo but there are some single note lines in the 3rd verse.

Bass: All the root notes are belong to us.

Drums: 4/4, 8th note hats using tip shank so the off beats are softer. In the pre chorus get your disco hats on.
Chorus- you can rimshot the shit out of the snare.
Remember the 'trick' stop and then we launch back in for more cheese on toast. Yum!

I will chart it out now.

octatonic

The Chart:



I'm going to start having a go at "Copperhead Road" now.

octatonic

Day 5: Songs 6 & 7

Copperhead Road by Steve Earl
Valerie by Mark Ronson ft Amy Winehouse

I'm going to start doubling up now.
I'm not rushing- the goal isn't to learn 2 songs badly in a day but I learned most of Copperhead Road yesterday so it will be easy to finish off.

Copperhead Road:
Another simple song- mostly a 1 chord vamp in D, with *that melody* which is a major scale pattern.
The rest of the harmony is a G C G pattern with a few variations.

Mandolin: I'm playing it on Mandola, as I don't play Mandolin. It is a good idea to place this part on the guitar as well.
Guitar: I'm working on an arrangement where 2 guitars cover the mandolin, bagpipe lines and everything else. The chart has the full vocal text on it, and then using vocal cues for the changes and the parts dropping in and out.
Bass: Not a lot to do- you don't come in until the second verse and then it is root and 5th most of the way through.
Drums: Actually a fun tune to drum. Lots of nice tom fills. I play this with quarter note hats- keep it strong, don't overplay.

I'll post the chart in a bit.

Valerie:

This is the rockier version, not the slower live version.
I'm mostly concentrating my attention on the drums because this is a real workout.
Bass is pretty key too- it is mostly root notes but it is a workout for the right hand if playing with fingers, which I probably will.

Guitar part is mostly just following the chord progression, which is in a flat key for a change. It isn't a feature instrument but gives you an opportunity to do some voice leading type playing, using chord fragments.
You don't want to play this with big power chords.

Most bands play this 10-20 bpm faster than the recording- it can be hard to keep the tempo down, so I need to be able to play it another 10 bpm or so above that to give me some headroom..
The kick work needs to be precise and it doesn't really let up.

I'm going to chart this out now.

octatonic

Something else I've wanted to talk about- now I've got half a dozen new songs under my belt I can start running through them like I would with the set.

It is, imho, a mistake to only do this with the recording, especially with the drums.
I find what happens is you get to rehearsal or a live situation and suddenly all your cues are gone and you've forgotten a crucial bit of the song.

You have to ween yourself off the recordings and I've found what works for me- it might work for you, I don't know but give it a go.

So I start running through the songs from beginning to end, reading along with a lyric sheet.
I notate the chord progression on the songs and the stops and do this for a few days.

Then I work with a version that just has the lyrics on it without the changes- this forces me to remember more of the song structure as I go.

Then I run through the songs without the lyric sheet, essentially singing the song to myself in my head with no visual or auditory aids to assist me.
If I can do this and play through the song without making too many mistakes then I'm good to continue.
If I can't then I go back and chunk the sections that give me trouble and then try again..
If that goes well then I fell as though I know the song and I'm going to be more confident at a rehearsal or a gig.

I can (and have) winged it before, without doing this. Sometimes it goes ok, sometimes it doesn't so I try too do this wherever possible.

octatonic

Final post on this for the morning- how are other people going with their own songs?
Are people still in this with me?

stratman3142

I was following your songs. I thought that was the plan, but I don't always read the instructions carefully enough.

I'm lagging a bit with your songs but plan to have a spurt (if you'll excuse the expression) at the weekend. I'm only doing it on guitar though. I might try to catch up on bass at some point.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

I was following your songs. I thought that was the plan, but I don't always read the instructions carefully enough.

I'm lagging a bit with your songs but plan to have a spurt (if you'll excuse the expression) at the weekend. I'm only doing it on guitar though. I might try to catch up on bass at some point.

The idea with the thread was to get people learning more songs (including myself).
It doesn't matter if people learn the set I'm learning, or other songs.

Modellista

I'm following this too.  Copperhead Road a good tune which I didn't know already.  I'm excusing myself from the cheese.

Good tips about learning the songs sans the crutches of backing track / sheet music.  It's all to easy to think you know the song when playing along, but trip up on a tricky bit of the arrangement when you're not concentrating.

In fact, this has inspired me to go back and re-write my crib sheets for my covers set so they're not the full lyric, more the arrangments as demonstrated here.

"Then I run through the songs without the lyric sheet, essentially singing the song to myself in my head with no visual or auditory aids to assist me."

Learning lyrics - the ultimate bane of my performing life.  I can always wing guitar, but there's nothing worse than going blank when the third verse is approaching.  Any tips for memory?  I've got a couple but I'd like to know more.

octatonic

modellista said:

I'm following this too.  Copperhead Road a good tune which I didn't know already.  I'm excusing myself from the cheese.

Good tips about learning the songs sans the crutches of backing track / sheet music.  It's all to easy to think you know the song when playing along, but trip up on a tricky bit of the arrangement when you're not concentrating.

In fact, this has inspired me to go back and re-write my crib sheets for my covers set so they're not the full lyric, more the arrangments as demonstrated here.

"Then I run through the songs without the lyric sheet, essentially singing the song to myself in my head with no visual or auditory aids to assist me."

Learning lyrics - the ultimate bane of my performing life.  I can always wing guitar, but there's nothing worse than going blank when the third verse is approaching.  Any tips for memory?  I've got a couple but I'd like to know more.

Glad you are finding some use.
Memory tips- two things work and having some escape routes.
Work- just keep doing it, sing the songs to yourself when you aren't at the guitar- like stuck in traffic.

Escape routes- I'm going to talk more about this later but it comes down to finding a way to get yourself out of trouble.
Each instrument has a few tricks.  
In the case of forgotten lyrics the best thing to do is just repeat a verse you do know- repeating the first verse of a song is a common compositional trick- it happens in Valerie, actually.
No-one is really going to call you on it at a gig. You don't want to rely on it too much though.

octatonic

Copperhead Road annotated lyrics with chord progressions.

bingefeller

octatonic said:

Final post on this for the morning- how are other people going with their own songs?
Are people still in this with me?

I was going to record a cover of Always on the Run but I can't get the backing track and the guitar to record at the same time.  I'll try and sort it this weekend and will post it.  To be honest, I knew how to play the song before you posted this thread, just had to re-learn the solo.

Vaiai

Escape trick, roll down the volume then bend down and pretend a cable is playing up Done it once - I'm not proud of it...One of my first gigs and I could not remember the chords to a bridge

octatonic

Here are two charts for Valerie.
The first is the way I've been doing them up until now.



It is a simple song- verse, chorus, double verse, chorus, verse, chorus, outro.

Here is a different version of it using chord symbols without a key.
It is a preferable way to think of a song like this because you will often get asked to play this song in a different key to the recording, depending on the range of the vocalist. For some reason this seems to happen more with female vocalists than males- at least in my experience.

If anyone ever wondered why they need to learn the circle of 5th's- then this is a pretty compelling argument to do so.
In theory you could be able to play this in any key if you have this chart.

stratman3142

octatonic said:

stratman3142 said:

I was following your songs. I thought that was the plan, but I don't always read the instructions carefully enough.

I'm lagging a bit with your songs but plan to have a spurt (if you'll excuse the expression) at the weekend. I'm only doing it on guitar though. I might try to catch up on bass at some point.

The idea with the thread was to get people learning more songs (including myself).
It doesn't matter if people learn the set I'm learning, or other songs.

Happy to tag along and have a go at the songs you're doing. So far your approach is quite similar to the approach I would use, but I'm always interested in how others do things so I can refine my approach. And, as you touched on earlier, with Uptown Funk, sometimes a simple reminder chart is sufficient and sometimes something a bit more detailed is needed, so it's not a case of one approach fits all.

I've also played Valerie many times. If I can make one suggestion, mark in bold red that the second verse is a double verse. Someone in the band (including me) always seems to forget that and has to quickly adjust.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

octatonic said:

stratman3142 said:

I was following your songs. I thought that was the plan, but I don't always read the instructions carefully enough.

I'm lagging a bit with your songs but plan to have a spurt (if you'll excuse the expression) at the weekend. I'm only doing it on guitar though. I might try to catch up on bass at some point.

The idea with the thread was to get people learning more songs (including myself).
It doesn't matter if people learn the set I'm learning, or other songs.

Happy to tag along and have a go at the songs you're doing. So far your approach is quite similar to the approach I would use, but I'm always interested in how others do things so I can refine my approach. And, as you touched on earlier, with Uptown Funk, sometimes a simple reminder chart is sufficient and sometimes something a bit more detailed is needed, so it's not a case of one approach fits all.

I've also played Valerie many times. If I can make one suggestion, mark in bold red that the second verse is a double verse. Someone in the band (including me) always seems to forget that and has to quickly adjust.

Good idea. Yes, I'll do this.

Gah- this is a hard song to play on drums.
It isn't a difficult part but it is fast and unrelenting- miss one kick and you are thrown off and the whole thing falls over.
I need to practice this a lot before I can gig it.

octatonic

Tunes for tomorrow are "One Way Or Another" by Blondie and the Creedence version of Proud Mary.

I've already worked them out and does the first charts- I'll clean them up a bit and post them.
If I get time I might get started on "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder.

EricTheWeary

octatonic said:

modellista said:

I'm following this too.  Copperhead Road a good tune which I didn't know already.  I'm excusing myself from the cheese.

Good tips about learning the songs sans the crutches of backing track / sheet music.  It's all to easy to think you know the song when playing along, but trip up on a tricky bit of the arrangement when you're not concentrating.

In fact, this has inspired me to go back and re-write my crib sheets for my covers set so they're not the full lyric, more the arrangments as demonstrated here.

"Then I run through the songs without the lyric sheet, essentially singing the song to myself in my head with no visual or auditory aids to assist me."

Learning lyrics - the ultimate bane of my performing life.  I can always wing guitar, but there's nothing worse than going blank when the third verse is approaching.  Any tips for memory?  I've got a couple but I'd like to know more.

Glad you are finding some use.
Memory tips- two things work and having some escape routes.
Work- just keep doing it, sing the songs to yourself when you aren't at the guitar- like stuck in traffic.

Escape routes- I'm going to talk more about this later but it comes down to finding a way to get yourself out of trouble.
Each instrument has a few tricks.  
In the case of forgotten lyrics the best thing to do is just repeat a verse you do know- repeating the first verse of a song is a common compositional trick- it happens in Valerie, actually.
No-one is really going to call you on it at a gig. You don't want to rely on it too much though.

We wanted to cover the Specials Ghost Town , a song with only two verses. I found a cover version that was more like our line up so we could learn that rather than sort an arrangement ourselves. I must have heard that version 30 times before I twigged they just sang the first verse twice and didn't bother with the words to the second at all. 

Hardly picking up the guitar at all at the moment but enjoying following this process. I should at least strum through Valerie, I saw a local band do an excellent rockabilly version of it which sold it to me.