Cheat Sheets on the gig - Page 3

mboogiemanusa · #41 12-22-2010, 08:07 PM

Cheat sheet notes added to sets lists to eliminate brain farts is not a problem. However I can't stand watching under-rehearsed bar bands performing with their mugs buried behind big black music stands reading tabs/cheat sheets all night long. Just watched a band of yahoos who weren't even smart enough to make their tab sheet notes fit on one page. They had to stop playing their guitars to turn the page on their music stands 3 or 4 times during every song.......looked and sounded totally lame.

KenHR · #42 12-23-2010, 12:32 PM

The last band I was in was an all-original folk/blues group. The singer had written something on the order of 300 songs and at shows she'd regularly call out tunes we had played maybe once or twice. I kept notes on the chord progressions of all the songs of hers I knew in a notebook that I'd keep on top of my amp head and refer to as needed. It was an interesting way to gig...

jackson_bass · #43 12-23-2010, 12:47 PM

When I used to play a lot, I was taught what a bandmate used to call the Nashville numbering system. I would write on the set list, but would use the numbering system so that if the key was changed, I would just have to remember the pattern.... the pattern is the same for whatever key we play in.
the previous example would be......

Every Rose Has It's Thorn - G
Vs: 1 - 4
Ch: 1 - 4 (X2) 1 - 5 - 4 - 1 - 4
Br: 6 - 5 - 4 - 1 (Hold 4 at end)
Solo: 1 - 4 (x2) 6 - 5 - 4 - 1 (repeat)

then if we decided, for some reason, to change to A... Same pattern-I would just shift to another root on the keyboard.

Blueszilla · #44 12-23-2010, 01:18 PM

This is the way I learned to play from the start. Seemed to make sense immediately, my father taught me a lot of songs with this method, never called it the Nashville system though.

SteveC · #45 12-23-2010, 02:34 PM

I believe the "Nashville Number System" is a little more complex than this, but yeah, that's the idea. I've only seen one Nashville chart - when we had a girl up here from there and our band was hired to play for her.

**ilovenofrets** · #46 12-26-2010, 05:15 PM

Very subjective issue here. Classical musicians/ensembles perform an whole night's worth of music with the entire score in front of them. Why is not acceptable for a rock or pop musician to have sheets in front of them? You think the big stars don't? Guess what? That's not 15 stage monitors you're seeing-it's 13 stage monitors and 2 teleprompters! Yes, I know that a teleprompter is much less obvious, and they're quite expensive(not to mention you need another roadie/stagehand to run it for you). There are 2 relatively new items on the market for those who need "cheat" sheets. There is a portable 8"x11" LCD screen that you can load .pdf files of all your complete sheet music, and it sits on a nice stand and can be page-flipped with a foot pedal. There is also a new 5" LCD screen that can mount to the headstock of your guitar/bass, and looks like it could mount to a mic stand as well. This unit is great in that you can download lyrics with or without chord changes, and can set it to auto-scroll at any speed you need. Hope this ramble has been helpful in some way.

Sam Hain · #47 12-26-2010, 05:25 PM

I have the worst memory. I make notes on the setlist and tape it to the floor, either in front of the monitors or near my small pedal board. Hopefully near a light. I dig the iPad idea!

billhilly66 · #48 12-27-2010, 02:00 PM

If I need a chart on a sub gig, I do it in MS xls. That way I can print them out again next time I sub for that band.

pbasswil · #49 12-27-2010, 03:00 PM

My wedding band has hundreds of tunes on tap. It's our responsibilities to write basic, legible charts in standard notation, in case we get sick and have to sub out.

But as a jog to my memory, for most of the current, disposable club-type dance tunes (which I probably only listened to twice while I was learning it!) I also make cheat sheets in Word -- which are easier to grasp on stage than the minutely detailed music notation.

Usually those dance tunes have only 2 or 3 bass riffs that repeat over and over; I assume that I've memorized the licks.

Each line is a description of a section, e.g.: V16 means a 16 bar verse. For the first iteration of the verse I may name the chords per bar with a vertical barlines between. The second time I'll just write V16.
And if there's a drop-out (bassless) section, or bar: TACIT

Because it's simpler, there's less info to distract you, and what there is can be printed out BIGGER.

SteveC · #50 12-27-2010, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovenofrets

Very subjective issue here. Classical musicians/ensembles perform an whole night's worth of music with the entire score in front of them. Why is not acceptable for a rock or pop musician to have sheets in front of them? You think the big stars don't? Guess what? That's not 15 stage monitors you're seeing-it's 13 stage monitors and 2 teleprompters! Yes, I know that a teleprompter is much less obvious, and they're quite expensive(not to mention you need another roadie/stagehand to run it for you). There are 2 relatively new items on the market for those who need "cheat" sheets. There is a portable 8"x11" LCD screen that you can load .pdf files of all your complete sheet music, and it sits on a nice stand and can be page-flipped with a foot pedal. There is also a new 5" LCD screen that can mount to the headstock of your guitar/bass, and looks like it could mount to a mic stand as well. This unit is great in that you can download lyrics with or without chord changes, and can set it to auto-scroll at any speed you need. Hope this ramble has been helpful in some way.

It does seem like a double standard doesn't it. I admit, I feel fine using music for jazz gigs. I try not to for cover/pop/funk gigs. I think you play better when the music is memorized...like a violin soloist.

iPad. Works great. Not quite as hidden as a fancy teleprompter, but not quite as obvious as a music stand either...and way cooler. Unlike other music only devices, you can check email, download tunes from Goggle Docs, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Hain

I dig the iPad idea!

See above.

Shoewreck · #51 12-27-2010, 03:24 PM

I once played not knowing about half of songs. Happily it was a punk band, so yelling me "ADCE" was enough to play another song.

LiamPodmore · #52 12-27-2010, 03:31 PM

For my gigs i bring an A4 ring binder of tabs to every song i've ever printed, in alphabetical order, just incase i ever need it. Its mostly there for songs we havent played for a like, to jog my memory. The singer/guitarist also has one full of tabs and lyrics, and the lead guitarist just has a mess of tabs stuffed into his amp, pockets and gig bag.

Theres only one time i've had to use mine and that was my 1st ever gig, we had 2 hours to learn 4 songs and then perform them, fortunately it was all simple stuff except one song that troubled me a little at the time, so i had the tabs to that behind my amp (Was a big stage so i got to wander around and make it inconspicuous)

Liam

Kmonk · #53 01-13-2013, 03:41 PM

I have never used cheat sheets. I have a very good memory and can anticipate chord changes even in songs that I am not familiar with.

SBassman · #54 01-13-2013, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

I use notes, but mainly to jog my memory as opposed to use them like sheet music.

Here's an example of how my notes look. I note the sections, and make notes related to sections in parentheses

Every Rose Has It's Thorn - G
Vs: G - C
Ch: G - C (X2) G - D - C - G - C
Br: Em - D - C - G (Hold C at end of bridge before resolving)
Solo: G - C (x2) Em - D - C - G (repeat until resolve)

That's exactly what my notes look like.

Russell L · #55 01-13-2013, 06:43 PM

I have written hundreds of charts. Mine are usually like a Real Book chart, only with the bass line written out instaed of the melody. OR, it's just a chord sheet. But in either case I use standard repeating symbols. You'd be surprised how long a song you can get on just one page. Sometimes it takes two sheets, and rarely three. But even three sheets can be turned easily if you plan where to leave off on the preceding page.

I find that as long as I keep reading a chart for a song I will never, ever learn the song by memory.

kjpollo · #56 01-14-2013, 11:59 AM

I'm in a brand new modern country band and I keep a binder with charts for all of our songs since they are ALL new to me. (never listened to much country until I joined up).
Our female singer has a small tablet computer on a bracket mounted to her mic stand, our rhythm guitarist/soundman has his laptop propped up on a music stand right in front of him. My binder was on a stand off to the side. I'd flip to each song as we started it and tried to keep references to a minimum. Didnt always work though, somebody got a decent pic of the band and I'm looking off to the side referring to my book! OOps! Maybe I coulda said I was looking at someone in the parking lot since I was next to a window...yeah! Thats the ticket!

Only our drummer and lead guitarist had nothing with them. The male singer had some lyrics with him but not for all his songs. And to his credit, he did not refer to them once while singing. In between songs? yes, but NOT while singing.

bryan gibson · #57 01-14-2013, 12:38 PM

Saw a 3-piece band a few weeks back in a small local club. They had matching flat black music stands semi-hidden, pointed kinda sideways directly behind the main cabs. They were still close enough that they two front dudes could take one step to the side and see whatever it was that they needed to see. Because of the color and location they were all but invisible from the front of the stage.

For me, legal paper with black marker taped to a floor wedge does the trick. I try not to use 'em too much, but in a fill-in situation its the lesser of two evils. Plus I generally try to hide over on the side of the stage.

**baba** · #58 01-14-2013, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

I use notes, but mainly to jog my memory as opposed to use them like sheet music.

Here's an example of how my notes look. I note the sections, and make notes related to sections in parentheses

Every Rose Has It's Thorn - G
Vs: G - C
Ch: G - C (X2) G - D - C - G - C
Br: Em - D - C - G (Hold C at end of bridge before resolving)
Solo: G - C (x2) Em - D - C - G (repeat until resolve)

Exactly how mine look for sub gigs.

vinny · #59 01-14-2013, 02:47 PM

Singer-girl & I share a Wolfgang Telemonitor. It's a nice piece of kit, albeit pricey. I write out a bunch of arrangement-type stuff, as well as the lyrics. It's a slide show & I setup the pages white font on black background.

To the audience it's just any other wedge on stage.

We're not standing there reading it, more like picking up cues for the first word of a verse etc. I can tell you this, the amount of time my eyes are on it is no more than the time my eyes are on the crowd, my neck, or my bandmates. Very incognito, we've had other players approach the stage on breaks & only then realize it's not a wedge. I really can't say enough good things about it.

With the amount of tunes I play and sing, I'd be poked without it. It's a tool we use to improve our show.

judeix808 · #60 01-14-2013, 03:49 PM

I keep a music stand with a binder which holds the set list (made by the BL) with the chords for the song (including chorus and bridges). I'll glance at it from time to time just to remind myself of the starting chord or the bridge, or if it's a new song we're doing. Other than that, I'm fortunate that I can memorize what we have.

This is for my country cover band. In my originals band, not an issue.