Help/opinions needed

[bubinga5]

Just a quick Q..

I have recently joined a band..the guitarist/vocalist doesnt know his theory...now i usually work around a chord structure, but this guy doesnt know his chord names..and i dont play the Git..ar.i could work them out on piano but it will take too long...

he has given me 20 original songs to learn but ive got to do it by ear..now this is not a problem but i much prefer to know what chord structure or progression i have to work with

im curious to know what you guys/girls would do in this situation...im not one for sticking with roots(unless its required) as i feel you can give the song some better support knowing the chords...

any ideas?

[flyfisher]

Interesting dilemma. I've never been asked to learn new songs by ear. Presumably these are original songs or you'd probably be able to get the chords off the web. But even the originals we play have arrangement sheets written by the author complete with chords, which I can then easily work from.

I guess you have a few options:

1. Work completely by ear, and accept this is the way this band works

2. Work backwards and write your own arrangements of the new songs. It shouldn't be too difficult to write down the basic chord structure from played-by-ear root notes.

3. Tell the songwriter(s) to write down the chords and/or help them to understand the names of what they're playing.

4. Find another band you can work with.

[Eight]

If you have mp3s or whatever then you could try Digital Music Mentor. It seems to do a reasonable job most of the time of analysing the music and giving you the chords.

[Bilbo]

Write out a chord chart - you don't need to be able to play the guitar or piano. You can figure it out on teh bass. If you can write out a bass line, you should be able to figure out the chords. If you can't, you don't know as much theory as you think

[The Funk]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='824280' date='Apr 30 2010, 06:20 PM']2. Work backwards and write your own arrangements of the new songs. It shouldn't be too difficult to write down the basic chord structure from played-by-ear root notes.[/quote]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='824824' date='May 1 2010, 01:54 PM']Write out a chord chart - you don't need to be able to play the guitar or piano. You can figure it out on teh bass. If you can write out a bass line, you should be able to figure out the chords.[/quote]

More or less what they said.

Work out the chords yourself but also see if you can hum a bass part along to each tune that really works.

[bubinga5]

[quote name='The Funk' post='824834' date='May 1 2010, 02:02 PM']More or less what they said.

Work out the chords yourself but also see if you can hum a bass part along to each tune that really works.[/quote]
Humming thats a good one...i often do that, but never thought of putting it together as a bass line....sems the most natural thing to do..

Edited May 6, 2010 by bubinga5

[wateroftyne]

I generally learn stuff by ear... it doesn't neccessarily mean sticking to roots and fifths.

When I know the song as 'a song', a line usually suggests itself which I'll then refine.

[chris_b]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='829638' date='May 6 2010, 02:40 PM']....I generally learn stuff by ear... When I know the song as 'a song', a line usually suggests itself which I'll then refine....[/quote]
That's what I do. If I need to write it down for future reference, a chord chart comes next.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='824824' date='May 1 2010, 01:54 PM']Write out a chord chart - you don't need to be able to play the guitar or piano. You can figure it out on teh bass. If you can write out a bass line, you should be able to figure out the chords. If you can't, you don't know as much theory as you think [/quote]
Yes, that's what I was thinking.

I have to learn everything by ear in my bands, which I find very easy as it's fairly simple music. But if I needed to (I don't) I could fairly simply write out the chord charts. I can hear the tonality and work out which key centres and scales they are based around.

Bubinga5, why do you need chord charts? I have no idea why you would if you've already learned the songs by ear. Is it simply as an aide memoire?