• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Know your songs by heart?

#21
It's not a matter of whether there are charts, it whether they glance at them, or have their face buried in the music. Are they using it for us, or are their eyes buried in the music?

I don't use charts unless I am learning a tune, or it is tremendously complex stuff. The stuff you are playing is not tremendously complex. He/she should start rehearsing without them, and go from there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: delta7fred and bebi
#22
Aberdumbie said:
Wow... In the 70’s and 80’s I had endless repertoire last of songs duly memorized. As a result I was quite animated on stage. These days I can’t half remember my wife’s name. If you took my cheat sheet away from me I would be lost..... Everyone is different. I think for the sake of the quality of the music you should allow them the freedom of using what they need to be comfortable.
Click to expand...
Your wife's name is the same as my wife's name*.



* Sweetheart
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wisebass, juancaminos, Nedmundo and 2 others
#23
hrodbert696 said:
A lot would have to do with the keyboardist's training; do they know how to jam to a chord progression rather than read sheet music? Some don't.
Click to expand...

Very true, as I learned when my (very talented) law school roommate and I joined a rock band together. He was on keys, and had absolutely no idea what to do without sheet music. I explained he just needed to know the chord progression and key, and could go from there, but he wasn't feeling it.

Then he spent a few hours with a talented blues pianist in our class, getting a lesson and drinking. He got it, and has been a fantastic, creative rock keyboardist every since.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Garret Graves, bebi and hrodbert696
#24
I've never been in a band where people used charts who didn't sound like they were phoning it in. I get why you might need charts in a horn section or some sort of pickup section, but main players should know the material cold, IMO. In one of my current bands, everyone brings charts on stage, and it shows. I don't. Bandleader actually asked me to and I refused. He's been doing this for a long time but so have I and I told him it's just not my idea of professionalism. You either commit to the job enough to learn the parts or you play with someone else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Garret Graves, thekyle55, Jimmy4string and 1 other person
#25
Nedmundo said:
Very true, as I learned when my (very talented) law school roommate and I joined a rock band together. He was on keys, and had absolutely no idea what to do without sheet music. I explained he just needed to know the chord progression and key, and could go from there, but he wasn't feeling it.

Then he spent a few hours with a talented blues pianist in our class, getting a lesson and drinking. He got it, and has been a fantastic, creative rock keyboardist every since.
Click to expand...

Improvising is a separate skill. I'll bet he could sight reading music that would make many heads spin. My wife was the same way on violin.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hrodbert696
#26
Somewhere a long time ago I got hold of a Mickey Baker R&B guitar instruction book. In it, he said something to the effect of "Learn these solos until you've got them in your bones." Applying it to bass, I learn all the bass parts note-for-note, because I want them in my head so that no matter what distractions I might encounter on a live gig, I'm going to play the right notes. I also want them so on a night I'm feeling really good about things, I have a plan to deviate from.

And, anyway, I play in a cover band. Every set is a show. Our BL keeps an iPad with the set list and lyrics for herself, but the rest of us would not dream of playing from charts; I like to say this is where what we do shades into professional wrestling. The idea is to get our performances polished to the point where we appear to be doing everything off the top. And, once in a while, just to keep things interesting, we really are doing it off the top. :D It helps keep things fresh, which I sometimes think is the hardest job of all.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Thummel and Johnny Crab
#27
Classical musicians, as a rule, do not memorize pieces except when they are the soloist or the piece is difficult. They dont usually have great improv skills.

What they can do is sight read a piece of sheet music upside down 40 feet away with perfect time, intonation and feel. I have a lot of respect for what they do. Just dont count off Sweet Home Chicago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Johnny Crab, Bunk McNulty and bebi
#28
Yep, and all these hack musicians all are using sheet music. Shameful they can't remembering every song by memory.

sheet.jpg
Sheet3.jpg
Sheets.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Garret Graves, 12BitSlab and BuzzCanyon
#33
Aberdumbie said:
Wow... In the 70’s and 80’s I had endless repertoire last of songs duly memorized. As a result I was quite animated on stage. These days I can’t half remember my wife’s name. If you took my cheat sheet away from me I would be lost..... Everyone is different. I think for the sake of the quality of the music you should allow them the freedom of using what they need to be comfortable.
Click to expand...
I feel for ya, I can't remember words to songs I sang for years. Now I need "cheat sheets" for about half of what I do.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Aberdumbie
#35
I play with a seniors ukulele group that meets twice a week. Each day the leader gives us a set list of about 6-10 songs from a list of about 200. We also do gigs with 14-15 songs that change for each gig, so it's not feasible to memorize them. I play bass uke and always use an iPad Pro 12.9" with ForScore.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back