Where am I? (In this song)

[Adam Greenwood]

I'm playing bass in a band again these days, and absolutely loving it. I can handle what we're doing (I get some nice compliments about my bass lines, the same way I like the way the other band members do their thing, we're a bit of a mutual appreciation society), but I know I've got plenty of ways of improving.

So, the main problem I have at the moment is keeping track of where we are in a song. Not normally when we're just having an easy rehearsal but if something else is going on that distracts me - pretty likely during a gig - sometimes I'll just be like... where are we? Is this the end of the second chorus or the one after the guitar break? I have to take a guess, and _usually_ it's right, but I need usually to become always, even if someone I know is shouting at me from audience while someone is on stage behind me fixing a problem and a mic stand just fell on me.

Anyone got any good tips for wiring in where I am in a song (apart from practice, which I do)? Do you do anything else in your head apart from just play through the song?

I tried a bit of searching on here but I don't know what you call this, which might be why I didn't find anything.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Where am I? Lost again, been there a lot of times.

I play from chord charts that lists the lyrics and the chord name. I transpose the chord name to Nashville numbers and then keep up with where we are by reciting the lyrics with the lead vocalist. And do the following:

There will probably be a chord progression that repeats itself; I write that progression in the margins, i.e. 1-5-7-4-1 remember it's Nashville numbers. So if I get lost I can vamp that progression until I find where the guys are in the song.

I make notes in the margins that will tell me how we normally play the song. For example:

V-1
V-2
C
V3
B
C 2X -- on last time around tag last line to end.
To top and repeat
​

And keep up with where we are this way.

When the guys go somewhere and I am completely lost - the beat is the thing - so here I'd vamp the tonic root until I find where the other guys are. Keeping the beat alive with a generic tonic root note.

I also make notes, to my self, through out the sheet music like "Piano only, build tempo, fade, etc. So if the piano has the lead break, I need to go there. If all of a sudden the guys are building tempo, I need to be there, etc.

Long story short -- notes in the margins help me.

Now if I'm jamming with out sheet music and get lost the ole I-IV-V keeps me in the game, lot of I's and IV's till I figure out what the other guys are doing. Again the beat is the thing. If no drummer and I am the beat master - right or wrong I get the bpm from the vocalist and then keep it. As I also play rhythm guitar I can always take a peek at the rhythm guitarist's fretting hand and get an idea of the chords he is playing, and hope he knows the progression for this song....

 

[The Chuck]

I agree that notes are a tremendous help.

 

[LeeNunn]

Notes like Malcolm's are great. Printing out the lyrics and reading them helps remind me which verse we're in. When there is a repeating line, there is usually a slight variation each time to help even the bass player who originally recorded the tune to keep track. For a example, a guitar solo might be 16 bars, grouped in four four bar repeating patterns. Often there's a slight variation in each of the four bar patterns. Sir Duke comes to mind. If there isn't you can just do your own. Recovery techniques are great, but avoiding getting lost in the first place is even better.

 

[Adam Greenwood]

Thanks all, notes are a great idea but probably frowned upon for the rock/funk/blues style we play, I know it's silly really but it wouldn't look right on stage. It's not like I need them to remember the songs (I wrote some of em, and I wrote the bass lines for all of em), just to keep track of where I am in them when there are similar bits. I wonder if I could make something like those notes work in my head, almost humming along "V2" in my head as I'm playing it. I might experiment with something like that.

The variations thing within a section of a song definitely works, I do that on about half the songs at the moment, and often I can make it add a little bit to the song as well. At least a couple of the songs have bass lines that change through a section anyway as a feature of the song. Some of them it doesn't seem to work but I could probably work something in, even if it's just something subtle like playing exactly the same note on a different string. I think I'll work through all the songs and make sure there's something in there that means I don't even have to worry about keeping count.

Learning the lyrics mightn't be a bad idea either actually, I've never bothered doing that and it can't hurt.