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Tools for playing along with a Standard's melody?

truebenjaman

truebenjaman

Aug 23, 2011
164
80
Bonn, Germany
#1
Hey guys,

there are plenty of tools like iRealPro that help soloists by creating a backing track. However, I personally find it not very helpful to practice a standard (I'm just starting out!) without trying to follow the melody in my head.

There are several approaches I came up with to do it anyway:
  • Play along with a record. The problem is it can be hard to find a lead sheet in the correct key.
  • Record the melody myself by playing into a looper: For a casual player like me this often is too much effort in the limited time I can dedicate to practicing
  • Program the melody in a DAW or musescore: Sounds poopy.
  • Sing along: Not really feasible when learning a tune.
How do you do it?

Cheers!
 
#4
Unless it's a Charlie Parker head, most melody lines are not all that complicated. Finding a version with a very clear melody line (solo guitarists are a good source) and just playing along is the way I tend to go.

Most standards have the melody in the lead sheet and you should be able to transpose a line if you're just sitting there working on it. Write it yourself.
 
#5
truebenjaman said:
There are several approaches I came up with to do it anyway:
  • Play along with a record. The problem is it can be hard to find a lead sheet in the correct key.
Click to expand...
  • Yep, the ole key thing. From the lead sheet I am interested in the chord used, not the treble clef melody. Why? Because I'm not going to be playing melody, I leave that to the solo instruments and I concentrate on the harmony. To do that I need to be playing notes of the harmonizing chord. I ask Google for the fake chord sheet music, or lead sheets, because what I need is the chord name so I can follow along playing notes of the active chord - to the beat the song is asking for. I then ask Google to play the song. If I am lucky both will be in the same key. And it is here that a capo does work on our bass. Use the capo to get both into the same key. Kind of a long story, do not let this bog you down. Main thing is you are playing along to some sheet music.
  • Record the melody myself by playing into a looper: For a casual player like me this often is too much effort in the limited time I can dedicate to practicing
    Click to expand...
  • From the above I let Google do this for me.
  • Program the melody in a DAW or musescore: Sounds poopy.
    Click to expand...
  • Can not help here as both are over my head.
  • Sing along: Not really feasible when learning a tune.
    Click to expand...
  • Yep - however, If we leave the melody to the solo instruments and we concentrate on the harmony singing along becomes something we can do in short order. I do sing under my breath to everything I am doing. Helps with knowing where in the music the other guys are. Also help with the beat. In a lot of the cases the beat will follow the lyric syllable. Two syllable lyric words normally get two beats, one syllable words get one beat - Hap-py Birth-day to you, for example.
Long story short. I follow the chords and play notes of the chord. R-3-5-7 and we mortals dumb this down to a R-5 or R-5-8-5 "generic" pattern that works for most chords, major or minor. Yep, I think and play using A, B, C's and 1,2,3's. If that is a problem the sticky in General instructions - Getting started - will help.

Code: 
Major scale box showing scale degree numbers
and the root note on the 4th string.
....Index..middle..ring....little
G|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E|-------|---R---|-------|---2---|4th string
Place the root and play the spelling for
the chord you want.  Cmaj7 = R-3-5-7
Cm7 = R-b3-5-b7, C7 = R-3-5-b7.

I let the melody instruments play the melody and as I am an accompliment instrument I accompany by following the active chord and play some of it's notes to the beat of the song. Yes of course one note at a time.

So I need some sheet music showing the chords used in the song. Having the lyrics shown also helps. Fake chord does this for me. Ask Google using these search words; chords, "name of the song".

Happy trails.
 
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#6
Learn how to read a chord chart and walk through changes. Focusing on melodies is not going to help you. Melodies are like icing on the cake, and we are providing the cake; the cake needs to be there and be solid underneath whatever is put on top of it and vocalists often take liberties with what they sing.

Focusing on learning chord, transitional, and walking patterns will allow you to play things that sound right under any melody.
 
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#7
LBS-bass said:
Learn how to read a chord chart and walk through changes. Focusing on melodies is not going to help you. Melodies are like icing on the cake, and we are providing the cake; the cake needs to be there and be solid underneath whatever is put on top of it and vocalists often take liberties with what they sing.

Focusing on learning chord, transitional, and walking patterns will allow you to play things that sound right under any melody.
Click to expand...
This is not good advice, particularly if you're learning to play jazz. In that regard, it's really bad advice, actually.
 
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#8
Spin Doctor said:
This is not good advice, particularly if you're learning to play jazz. In that regard, it's really bad advice, actually.
Click to expand...
For a beginner? Because my thoughts are that focusing on a melody is going to distract from developing the basic building blocks that you need to walk through transitions. You begin to focus on melodies after you have that skill.

Of course all the jazz greats were playing off each other's melodies. But that's a master class in listening and reinterpretation.
 
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#9
LBS-bass said:
For a beginner? Because my thoughts are that a melody is going to distract from developing the basic building blocks that you need to walk through transitions. You begin to focus on melodies after you have that skill.
Click to expand...

I didn't have the impression he was a beginner. Regardless of that, all of the cues that help you harmonically are in the melody. It's the point of the song. To be a strong player or even competent at jazz, you need to be aware of the melody at all times.

Lastly, I'm never going to be a fan of not knowing something, if it helps me musically. Besides, playing a melody is such a simple thing to do and it's important. I can't advocate being ignorant if you don't have to be. Music is not a "do this, not that" thing. You need to know all of it. Your short cuts will screw you in the end. No pun intended.
 
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#10
Spin Doctor said:
I didn't have the impression he was a beginner. Regardless of that, all of the cues that help you harmonically are in the melody. It's the point of the song. To be a strong player or even competent at jazz, you need to be aware of the melody at all times.

Lastly, I'm never going to be a fan of not knowing something, if it helps me musically. Besides, playing a melody is such a simple thing to do and it's important. I can't advocate being ignorant if you don't have to be.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Different people learn in different ways and I've never had a problem hearing or reproducing melodies so I can't really come at the problem from this angle. You are correct that the melodies contain all the cues but what happens in melody is highly subjective in a live setting because instrumentalists and vocalists will not all be playing the same thing each time they take a turn, and sometimes will be playing very far outside the original melodic structure.

For me, the focus has always been first on learning where to put my fingers in order to match up with what's happening harmonically, and that means focusing on the chords and patterns, walking before I fly. Once I know the basic patterns and chord shapes I'm dealing with in a song then I can play around with and against the melodies, based on what I'm hearing.
 
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#11
LBS-bass said:
Fair enough. Different people learn in different ways and I've never had a problem hearing or reproducing melodies so I can't really come at the problem from this angle. You are correct that the melodies contain all the cues but what happens in melody is highly subjective in a live setting because instrumentalists and vocalists will not all be playing the same thing each time they take a turn, and sometimes will be playing very far outside the original melodic structure.

For me, the focus has always been first on learning where to put my fingers in order to match up with what's happening harmonically, and that means focusing on the chords and patterns, walking before I fly. Once I know the basic patterns and chord shapes I'm dealing with in a song then I can play around with and against the melodies, based on what I'm hearing.
Click to expand...
I think once you're played longer, you will see the significance. It's not just about "reproducing" melodies. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Do what you want.
 
#15
Spin Doctor said:
You play jazz?
Click to expand...
I am where I imagined the OP to be, having played popular music for a long time I am beginning to focus more and more on standards. What I've attempted to share are the tools that I'm finding useful at the moment. I'm working with a guitarist using iRealPro. I'm also singing the songs at the same time. So trust me when I say that I'm aware of the melodies as I go through this. But the melodies right now are not what's giving me the tools to support the rest of the music. That's coming from the charts. As I get them down, my focus changes.
 
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#16
I'm terrible with my voice, but I try to sing the melody first, and then play it on the bass. Singing the melody first helps tremendously playing it on bass, and knowing the melody is the most important as everything else is based on it.
 
#17
As an aid but not a full solution, if you have a file of the original, you can use Audacity on a PC to play it back using a number of tools (or any number of similar programs, some for phones;) change tempo without changing pitch, change the pitch to the key you want without impacting the tempo (great for songs that were recorded "down a half".) You can use the EQ functions and HPF/LPF/CPFs to isolate instruments and voices somewhat. It has patches to somewhat isolate or remove vocals. Or you may be able to removed certain instruments to clear things up, and get rid of a lot of the drums. It's a good tool.
 
#19
Import the audio track from the original recording into a DAW and loop sections until you can get it under your fingers. Then use something like iRealPro to make a backing track in which you can practice the melody against. Then expand on that to create your own solos based on the melody and harmony.
 
#20
To weigh in on why I'm interested in melodies:

I really would like to hear the lead voice while I practice accompanying it. Just sitting down walking over some changes with a metronome and maybe a backing track just seems too "abstract" if you know what I mean. I'm not advanced enough to sit down with other musicians without having practiced a particular piece beforehand and I'd like that practice to already familiarize me with the intent of the song.

From your suggestions I'll probably use a combination of spotify/youtube for recordings to play along and internet charts for later reference - apparently there are some websites that let you transpose the charts to the key. I might cobble together my own kind of "real book and playlist" this way. As opposed to printed charts those internet chord sites don't usually include the melody but it's OK for me to remember the melody by heart. I need charts for the changes though.

Thank you guys so far!
 
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