Methods for charting tunes

[XNavyDrummer]

Pocket Player wrote in another thread:

"Hey V-Drum,
Possibly another thread here, but if you're charting 25+ tunes, I'd be interested in your method. Time is a problem for me and learning a bunch of tunes has been the balance of conflict for the guys I play with. Our practice sessions are far from efficient and I get very frustrated. I try to set small goals (learn 5-7) songs to the point of being ready for a gig, and build from there. The conflict arises in how we view having a tune "down" or just having the general feel down. The last few performances have been a dissapointment for me--songs weren't very tight.
So...I think I can improve in my ability to learn a tune and possibly pass that on"


A couple of weeks ago I charted out 12 tunes. I don't have the time to memorize all this stuff, so I rely on my charts to get me through. The main goals in writing the charts is so I can nail the ensemble figures and know the phrasing so I'm not running down a fill on bar 8 of a 9 bar phrase. One other goal is to notate the feel or groove of the tune especially if it's slightly out of the ordinary. I have a few notebooks of tunes that I've charted with a short hand method that I've developed over the years. It's great when I can pull out some old notes on a tune that I barely remember...just read it down and nail the part.

[FuseU1]

Great post, Andy.

The main goals in writing the charts is so I can nail the ensemble figures and know the phrasing so I'm not running down a fill on bar 8 of a 9 bar phrase. One other goal is to notate the feel or groove of the tune especially if it's slightly out of the ordinary. I have a few notebooks of tunes that I've charted with a short hand method that I've developed over the years. It's great when I can pull out some old notes on a tune that I barely remember...just read it down and nail the part.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That "shorthand" thing, yes. A lot of guys incldg myself have a method of this.
In my most recent gig, on joining the band, I had to learn approx 90 songs [img]eek.gif[/img] over a period of about 2-3 wks or so, so there was NO time for being ultra-specific.

For this contempo-country/rock pop/showtune gig, like Andy, I'd just notate the time sig [of course] - 4, 2, 3, 6, etc [very rarely other oddtimes], & also the type/style/feel of the tune [ballad, shuf, dotted, dbl-time, half-time, etc]...used lots of repeat, DS, DC/coda, 1st/2nd endings signs, & song-form letters [A, B, C]...for certain fills/licks/ensemble hits that I found absolutely imperative to the tune, I'd notate them...If the tune started w a drum lick intro that started on anything but the 1, I'd notate the count in/lick.

We "cram/slam rehearsed" for about 3-4 daze b4 the starting tour, & then the rest was playing live & remembering. I had the "quick-charts" on the bandstand for about a week or so, glancing at them ever so often & looking over them in the hotel rooms in the evenings b4 the next day's sets, & sometimes also w a pad & sticks. Fortunately, most of the tunes were not that difficult & had the typical repetitive pop song format. You sometimes come to your own forms of "shorthand" along these lines, or use others' you've seen.

Gregg Biss had a nice vid years ago about the basics of shorthand reading/charting that I got a lot from, the one w he & his bro Matt on bass, Rocket Ritchotte on gtr, & DLRoth's old touring "ghost" keyb player Brett Tuggle] - it's called "GB - Playing, Readg, & Solo'g w a Band" ['93]. Great for students BTW, along w the Igoe one & Weckl's "Ultimate Play Along Drum Trax, Level 1, 2; Vol 1, 2.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 07, 2004 01:48 AM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>

[peter c]

I think you have to use a "short-
hand" method. You just HAVE TO.

Before the rehearsals take place
everyone has to sit down and agree
on just what the goal of these re-
hearsals will be and it should be
that the general 'form' of the
tunes will be learned.

The solos are not included, un-
less it is to lead into something
special, the next section.

Your general notations like 'ballad'
etc. are the most important, along
with the time signature. After this,
you have to have some sort of note
for dynamics.

You're basically tossing Verses,
Chorus', Bridges, Intro's and End-
ings around. You have to get these
down in your note book but after
that and a couple of play-throughs,
it should be fine.

For real tricky stuff, you have to
spend more time on it, breaking
down the patterns into their most
basic forms and then building up.

My 1/2 cent...

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 06, 2004 05:38 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[Vdrummer]

Sometimes I'm vague and just write something like

4/4 Ballad
chorus: 1 +a2 +a - Ride
Watch for pp section
Stop on and of 3 - bar 5 after solo

Other times I write pretty specific charts, with the grooves, and any kicks, breaks, vocal cues, etc. Some tunes I believe need this because as dumb as the drum part to a particular well known song maybe, if you play the wrong groove, miss signature fills, etc., it will be fairly obvious that you're faking it. I have dozens of charts from many different bands at this point so a lot of tunes I've got already written out. I can just review a chart or use it if another band is covering the tune down the road. Very useful. I may err on the side of too much info on tunes I haven't played before just so I'm more relaxed when performing. Plus, with one-offs, the goal is to do a good enough job that they call you first next time.

Brad

[moosetication]

There's lots of ways of doing "cheat sheets" for songs. Mine go a bit like this. Each "section" I need to work with (count) has one line, and each line looks like:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">code:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><pre>
V 4+4 / (sn fill) "The rain in Spain..."
C 8 / (flam fill) "The spoon in June..."
B 4+4+4 / (guitar)
</pre></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
In other words... a letter for section (Verse, Chorus, Bridge, whatever), the breakdown (two lots of four bars, or whatever), what's needed (time indicated by '/', any fill), and the opening words of the section (if there's a vocal). The last is useful as if I get lost (perish the thought), I can generally hook back in easier. Each song has one sheet, title, time signature and tempo at the top, writ large with a magic marker (sharpie). They live on the floor next to my hat pedal.

They have an added benefit too - they're a bit like revision notes for exams. The act of analysing them and writing them down helps in committing them to memory.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 07, 2004 06:15 AM: Message edited by: moosetication ]</font>

[Vdrummer]

They have an added benefit too - they're a bit like revision notes for exams. The act of analysing them and writing them down helps in committing them to memory.


Good point!

[quitou]

If you guys want a good system for charting songs, check out Billy ward's book "Inside Out" (I think that's what it's called)...there's a chapter in there where he describes his quickie charting system in quite a lot of detail and he gives a few examples of a few charts he has written out.