The Zen of counting ...

[Funkateer]

I'm playing in a couple of community college Salsa bands and play trombone in one and electric bass in the other. As a horn player, like many others, I keep track of which section repeat the band is currently on with my fingers. As a bass player, this is clearly not an option. Stuff like 2 bar coros that are repeated 12 times before a major groove change or hit are a bear. Learning the lyrics could help, but sometimes the stage sound is so bad you can't hear the singers, so this probably can't be relied upon. These Latin tunes have fairly elaborate song structures with lots of sections that get repeated 2, 3, 5, 12 or whatever times.

Anybody have a tips or tricks for keeping track of where you are in a tune when the tune has a lot of repeated sections in it?

[dfuruta]

Count in your head, and instead of saying "one" on the downbeats, say the number of the repeat you're on. For example, a two bar section might go like this:
one two three four one two three four
two two three four two two three four
three two three four three two three four

and so on. If the sections are longer than a few bars this might be harder to do, but make sure to always say to yourself which repeat you're on when you get to the downbeat of the section. If you're using sheet music, write the numbers above the section:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
and then try to keep one eye on the correct number (difficult, but I've used this approach in fairly complex music).

Good luck!

[paganjack]

i played in jazz bands for like 5 years during HS and college and stuff. i started out counting a lot, but after a while, i let my brain just feel when i was supposed to play. like, i would still sort of implicitly count, but mostly i would try and listen to the rest of the band. if you cant hear the singers, maybe you could listen to the horn lines or something?
assuming you repeat each line for the two bar phrases and stuff, just think of the repeat you are on and not of each individual beat. if you can keep the rhythm going without counting this is way easier. i think i tapped my feet a lot too, especially with salsa lines, since the downbeats are rarely emphasized in the bass line.

the 1234 2234 3234 4234 style of counting is clutch tho. its easier too, and probably more accurate, esp if the stage sound sucks that bad.

[E2daGGurl]

I have to count in my head, as mentioned above.

One two three four
Two two three four
Three two three four
Four two three four

Once I'm going I can mentally skip the "two three four" part, but I'm still emphasizing the bar number in my head. Can't do without that unless the song is very uncomplicated.

[brassed]

When I played jazz I would put a different colored highlighter mark at each corner of my page of music to keep track of the repeats.

My thought process when I play is as follows:
-First time through I would see the red mark at the Top Left corner
-Second time through I would see the yellow mark at the Top Right
-Third, the blue mark at the Bottom right ... Im just working my way around in a circle.

= You can work your way around as many times as you need to. I notice that after about the 3rd time around (12 repeats) I will start getting lost again.

= Actually drawing the colors on is important.

= This gives you something more concrete to focus on. A color wont distract you from what you are doing as well. I cant say how many times I have been counting in my head, trying to focus on where I am and have that make me mess up some other part of my playing.

hope this helps,

~divide and conquer~
Brassed

[Corporate Boy]

I was struggling with this sort of thing last night in a jam session. The A-section was 16 bars before a big change in the B-section. I was trying different variations of counting the form. The groove was fast and syncopated and pretty new to me. It was actually a tune I was writing on the spot, so I was trying to give general directions to everyone else. The melody wasn't defined so I couldn't listen to it. Needless to say I wasn't helping anyone by not keeping the form correct.

Long story short... the approached that finally clicked for me was to count the A-section in half a time feel (instead of 16 bars, 8 bars) and then instead of counting all the way up to 8, I counted 4 bars and then started over again (so count to 4 twice) For some reason I wasn't getting as lost when I counted with that approach.

People always say hear the melody in your head when tracking the form. Some songs I can do that (Summertime, Well You Needn't), but it doesn't work for me on songs like So What where the melody is so repetitive. I have to count. Memorizing the chord progression really helps. I stink at that too. I always have my face buried in the book.