Free chord charts - any interest?

[BigRedX]

16 minutes ago, lowdown said:

Where does that leave all the transcriptions down in the Theory & Technique section? (Note for note lines with accurate chords and correct tune titles - PDF & links)

Just curious really.

Having just had a look there (it's not a part of the forum I would normally venture into), I think that Basschat is on dodgy ground by allowing these to be published, hosted and linked, until they have received proper legal advice that tells them otherwise. If there are transcriptions there have been made available with all the copyright holders' blessings then they can stay, but probably everything else will need to be removed or at the very least change the status of the forum to be invisible to anyone who is not a Basschat member (which IIRC will also stop it form being indexed by Google and other search engines). 

Remember it only takes one over-zealous copyright holder to take exception, and it could be the end of Basschat.

Edited December 20, 2017 by BigRedX

[lowdown]

Transcriptions turn up in this very 'General Discussions' forum as well, are all these to be removed unless cleared ?

Talk Bass and many other musicians forums have Transcriptions & chord sheets on their sites, I wonder how they deal with it?

[BigRedX]

1 minute ago, lowdown said:

Transcriptions turn up in this very 'General Discussions' forum as well, are all these to be removed unless cleared ?

Talk Bass and many other musicians forums have Transcriptions & chord sheets on their sites, I wonder how they deal with it?

I don't know.

At a guess I would say that TalkBass is probably big and affluent enough to have some sort of financial agreement in place with the relevant royalty collection agencies to cover themselves. The other forums either do the same or are small enough to be currently under the radar. 

As I said, it only takes one copyright holder to make a fuss...

[Dad3353]

I'd like to see the case made concerning loss of revenue of these copyright holders, purely legal arguments aside. What is the rational justification for preventing the diffusion of this information; what detriment is there to the copyright holder..? Most especially regarding free diffusion, or for study purposes..? I can understand upholding the rights when there's a commercial gain involved (although personally I don't agree with it, but that's another topic...), but, apart from fear of some heavy-handed law, where's the harm..? Just curious; not disputing that there may be cause for caution.

[bassace]

So this started with a generous offer from ikay to share his library of chords. And then all sorts pile in and the whole thing descends into the usual forum mire. Quite pathetic really isn’t it? I suspect that some guys here won’t venture out after dark without a comprehensive risk assessment and a man with a torch.

[Rocker]

On 19 December 2017 at 08:07, Rumple said:

Very generous of you and I like how you've done it, I'd love to see more

Awesome thing to do, many thanks in advance

[Marc S]

On 12/18/2017 at 19:52, dood said:

I think this is a brilliant and kind gesture iKay. Good on you! BassChat is awesome because of folk like you! 

Only just caught up with this thread, and I'm in complete agreement
What a kind offer iKay
But can you please tell me - what's this "time on my hands stuff"? eh? Never heard of it

[Dad3353]

33 minutes ago, bassace said:

So this started with a generous offer from ikay to share his library of chords. And then all sorts pile in and the whole thing descends into the usual forum mire. Quite pathetic really isn’t it? I suspect that some guys here won’t venture out after dark without a comprehensive risk assessment and a man with a torch.

Where you apparently see 'mire', I see helpful and informative comment and advice (some good, some not so good...) on the topic posted. To me, it looks like an excellent example of BC teamwork. With some luck (and maybe legal help..?), there may be a tangible result in having a fine library of work made available to those interested in playing music. Glass half full or half empty..? Happy Christmas, anyway. 

[bassace]

Right: In the spirit of teamwork (!?) I’ve just come off the phone to an old band mate of mine. Guy Fletcher OBE FRSA is the outgoing chairman of PRS and he has  emphatically confirmed that the is no copyright on chord sequences. Not sure whether this is good enough but if Ped would like his phone number I could find it for him. Probably after Christmas though.

And on that subject, Happy Christmas to all you too.

Don’t go outside.

[phil.c60]

31 minutes ago, bassace said:

Right: In the spirit of teamwork (!?) I’ve just come off the phone to an old band mate of mine. Guy Fletcher OBE FRSA is the outgoing chairman of PRS and he has  emphatically confirmed that the is no copyright on chord sequences. Not sure whether this is good enough but if Ped would like his phone number I could find it for him. Probably after Christmas though.

And on that subject, Happy Christmas to all you too.

Don’t go outside.

What a sensible and helpful chap you are.  As someone who's ability to pick out chords by ear is not that great, I'd love to see it this on here. Happy Christmas bassace.

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by phil.c60

[ikay]

Having spent a few days looking more closely at what I've got, the number of my own charts that I can get into a presentable form is around 200 so somewhat less than I originally said in my first post. Apologies for that, quite a few of them (more than I thought) are very scrappy or unusable for one reason or other. Still a reasonable number though. I'll carry on tidying them up in the background pending investigations into copyright issues.

[jrixn1]

 

On 19/12/2017 at 07:28, BassBunny said:

A bit like The Real Book brought up to date.

 

On 19/12/2017 at 08:50, dand666 said:

Also, may I suggest, instead of chords, maybe using the Nashville Number system would be really useful. So that one chart can be used, no matter the key :-)

 

On 19/12/2017 at 17:03, BigRedX said:

It's a good idea, but I suggest that Ped and the other Basschat owners check that there are no copyright issues with any of the songs published. It would be a terrible thing if Basschat got closed down for IP infringement. 

 

On 20/12/2017 at 11:55, dand666 said:

 Try iRealPro for that!

 

The app is fantastic as well. And a huuuuuge library of songs. 

As dand666 points out above, check out  the "iReal Pro" app.

Once installed, you search and download whatever songs you are interested in from the iReal Pro forum, https://irealb.com/forums/

(Originally, the app had the songs built in; but the system was changed after a legal copyright claim was made against the app developer.)

Example: suppose you playing a Beatles set - download the charts from: https://www.irealb.com/forums/showthread.php?1188-The-Beatles

The app can transpose, display as Nashville number system, or even as guitar tabs.

You can edit existing charts and create your own.

You can play along with the app as it has a backing track function.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by ped
Images removed, Copyright... maybe!

[ikay]

I didn't realise iRealPro did pop/rock as well as jazz standards. It seems to pretty much do it all so wins by a country mile over my meagre efforts! Er, I'll get my coat!

[lowdown]

6 minutes ago, ikay said:

I didn't realise iRealPro did pop/rock as well as jazz standards. It seems to pretty much do it all so wins by a country mile over my meagre efforts! Er, I'll get my coat!

No meagre effort at all. ikay. 

Some folks are still operating in the paper, analogue world. You certainly would be helping them.

 

But, yeah. iRealPro is great.

Edited December 22, 2017 by lowdown

[Rumple]

10 minutes ago, lowdown said:

No meagre effort at all. ikay. 

Some folks are still operating in the paper, analogue world. You certainly would be helping them.

 

But, yeah. iRealPro is great.

I guess I'm somewhere inbetween, I like PDF's as I exclusively use my desktop computer to play through when practising.

[SICbass]

Thanks ikay, that is very generous and super useful.

I‘ve run band rehearsals where I needed to keep an eye on horn entries or “where‘s that double chorus again?“ and such like while “reading“ myself. A normal chart tends to demand too much of my attention and just wouldn‘t leave room for that extra info. I improvised something similar, but not nearly so clear and concise. Good on yah!

[FinnDave]

I'd never heard of iRealPro before, it looks like you need to pay 20 quid to download the app, is it worth that? Just about every time I search for chord charts on line, I can find something close enough to get me started, playing and listening usually do the rest, but if this app is a reliable short cut, I'll try it. 

[lowdown]

11 minutes ago, Rumple said:

I guess I'm somewhere inbetween, I like PDF's as I exclusively use my desktop computer to play through when practising.

Yeah, I wasn't clear. I meant that as well. Just convert ikay's word doc.

[bassace]

24 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

I'd never heard of iRealPro before, it looks like you need to pay 20 quid to download the app, is it worth that? Just about every time I search for chord charts on line, I can find something close enough to get me started, playing and listening usually do the rest, but if this app is a reliable short cut, I'll try it. 

iRealPro is a great resource, I’ve got it on iPad and my mobile phone. It means that if I get a freelance gig - which 90% of my stuff is these days - I can arrive at the gig not knowing what tunes I’m having to play but managing to do it off the Pad. These days I don’t ask what we’re going to play but what shirt I need.

But don’t let this detract from ikay’s generous initiative.

Edited December 22, 2017 by bassace

[dand666]

2 minutes ago, bassace said:

iRealPro is a great resource, I’ve got it on iPad and my mobile phone. It means that if I get a freelance gig - which 90% of my stuff is these days - I can arrive at the gig not knowing what tunes I’m having to play but managing to do it off the Pad. These days I don’t ask what we’re going to play but what shirt I need.

But don’t let this detract from ikay’s generous initiative.

This ^

 

As long as you've got an internet connection you're sorted. SO many songs to download off their forums. And super useful when you wanna transpose 

 

It's also great for playing along to the jazz standards, tells you each scale to use for each chord. Real useful.

[lowdown]

7 minutes ago, bassace said:

 These days I don’t ask what we’re going to play but what shirt I need.

 

 (you had to have been there).

[jrixn1]

2 hours ago, ikay said:

I didn't realise iRealPro did pop/rock as well as jazz standards. It seems to pretty much do it all so wins by a country mile over my meagre efforts! Er, I'll get my coat!

Sorry - I didn't mean that the existence of the iReal Pro app lowers the usefulness of your charts, by any means.  The context I meant was that it's another option to be aware of in the wider conversation of having a library of chord charts.

For songs I don't know, I probably use hand-written charts for 90% and iReal Pro only for the remaining 10% - mostly for songs which are sprung on me just before (or during) a gig.

Myself, I prefer to write out my own charts, as the act of transcription itself helps to learn the song.  Having listened to the song carefully a couple of times and written out the chart, I often find I now no longer need it!  Happy to share if anyone is looking for function/soul/Motown -style tunes.
 

[Sean]

Being in a ciovers band, this will be a fabulous and much-used resource. Many thanks for the offer.