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Is there anyone else who thinks this intro sounds wrong?


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...and whose head also hurts every time they hear it? I am referring to the famous intro to carwash. It is fine until the keys come in with the low riff. No matter how many times I hear it it sets my teeth on edge. It sounds in the wrong place and I cannot hear it otherwise. Later in the song it is placed after beat three where it sits comfortably, but in the intro it seems crowbarred in after beat 2 and to my poor ears it just sounds wrong. I keep imagining that maybe it was accidentally placed out of sync with the rest of the track and nobody realised until it was too late. Is that possible? Or is it just that I cannot hear & appreciate what everyone else can?

 

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"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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What these guys above me said....

 

Totally fits and works. Sounds good to me. Pure classic funk style riff and placement.

 

 

be careful digging deep into Parliament Funkedelic if this drive you nuts.... (and I mean their deep tracks).....

 

Just went and caught an old live performance..... bass solo, with a snare hit on the and of three....

1 and 2 and 3 and(SNARE) 4 and Bass always hitting the one with a big slap.

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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I have wondered if the studio track should have started with that big bass slap on One. Would have oriented listeners that the first clap is on two.

 

Some of us need that help :laugh:

 

I do recognize that Parliament/Funkadelic was not obligated to help 'some of us.'

 

Barry

 

Home: Steinway L, Montage 8

 

Gigs: Yamaha CP88, Crumar Mojo 61, A&H SQ5 mixer, ME1 IEM, MiPro 909 IEMs

 

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Thanks guys. I am not surprised that I have been hearing it wrong.... getting things back to front is my specialty, and this is not the first time that something like this has happened to me. The thing is though: listening again and bearing in mind what you have just said, I am still really struggling to hear it properly. It sounds much better for a bit and then my entire body - which has for decades been feeling it incorrectly - is fighting hard against my mind to turn it back to what it is used to. I guess it will take a bit of time and effort to unlearn the muscle memory established over decades......

 

I am also not surprised that I am the only one hearing it incorrectly, but I would be so happy if it turned out that I am not the only person on Earth who was doing this.....

 

I shall have to look up Parliament Funkadelic Dave...... I actually do love music where the beat becomes complex or ambiguous ....

Maybe once I have cracked carwash I will be ready to face it..... :D

"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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I always had trouble with "Take It Easy."

 

I remember the first time I heard "Sunshine Of Your Love." I had walked into a room when it was on, and for some reason mis-heard the head as beginning on the 2 beat. Just for fun, the last band I was in decided to give it a try. During the solos we changed up the backbeat, and went back to normal for the last verse. It felt like the musical equivalent of a tilt-a-whirl.

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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As a song writer, there are ' devices ' to get attention.

 

It does not have to be musically 'perfect'.

 

The opening claps might be a gimmick, a way of getting attention.

Or the song writer wanted to stick in the clap along thing

as a way to get the audience involved.

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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The claps start on two, the piano is always walking up to land on one. It sounds like the claps start on one, but the hi-hat and second guitar coming in lines it up.

I might just know it too intimately by now, but I instantly hear those claps as a two-four backbeat.
I think this is the key. If you start off hearing the claps on 2 and 4, you lock in to the groove and the piano lands on the 1. If you start off hearing the first clap as the 1, you can't get to the groove until you force yourself into it. And it sounds like the piano is coming in wrong.

 

These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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What lined Car Wash up for me is that the track starts on the 1 with a vocal aah and some noise. Everything naturally fell in place from there, but then again I've heard a lot of house ;)

 

On the subject of intros that confuse, this one threw at least 1/2 the band off when it came out. We wasted way too much time getting this very simple intro down. And yeah... I was in a band that played new wave way back when :laugh:

 

[video:youtube]

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Car Wash's opening clap has always been a favorite rhythmic surprise.

 

I wrestled with my band for months about the beginning of "Take it Easy."

 

The third in our series of "where's the beat" is "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," which starts on the And of Three.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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With Car Wash, of course you know those claps are going to be on 2 and 4 so everything falls into place knowing that. There isn"t a full beat one in the recording which might make you second guess yourself on first listen. But how many soul tracks can you name where they"re clapping on 1 and 3? ;)

 

The Devo pattern isn"t a surprise since the riff starts on one. The drummer just needs to know to crack on the and of beat 4 when he comes in. If he buggers it - it"s all his fault.

 

Sometimes tracks with delay FX patterns that layer and build make a measure elusive to find. Especially if they decide to do a fade in. So you work backwards from where the groove kicks in.

 

[video:youtube]

 

But this is 4/4 music. So, don"t over think it. The pattern is going to have a simple loop, you just need to find one and tap your foot from there. :)

 

 

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I give up on James Brown's "I Got the Feelin'". As many times as I've heard it, probably in the hundreds, I'm still not sure where the one is supposed to be.

 

[video:youtube]

 

The first beat of the song is the 1. (The groove is ONE and two AND three AND four and | one and TWO AND THREE and FOUR AND :|| [ONE] . etc.)

 

This one is one of those cases where I can't hear how it can be anything else. Honest question out of pure curiosity: what are you hearing when you're hearing it "wrong"?

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
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Yes, I assume that beat too. Until it gets to the bridge where it seems like the time slips half a beat. The only way I can follow it all the way across the bridge is to assume that the beat you refer to as ONE is actually the and of FOUR. Then the horns popping the high F and Eb are really on TWO and THREE.
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Yes, I assume that beat too. Until it gets to the bridge where it seems like the time slips half a beat. The only way I can follow it all the way across the bridge is to assume that the beat you refer to as ONE is actually the and of FOUR. Then the horns popping the high F and Eb are really on TWO and THREE.

 

The bridge changes on the 1 as well.

 

The horns are on the 2-ands. It is all in straight 4, no missed beats.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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I heard the intro/1st verse of "Tell Me Something Good" backwards for years until I played it with a band. Hearing a count-off solidified everything for me.

9 Moog things, 3 Roland things, 2 Hammond things and a computer with stuff on it

 

 

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Take It Easy +1. I always heard the guitar come in on the one, with an extra eighth-note before the verse.

 

Also the intro to "Drive My Car"- comes in on the And of 4. (Although plenty of wrong transcriptions out there).

 

I'm still struggling with Roxanne!

 

Cheers, Mike.

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Pure classic funk style riff and placement.

Totally agree. Prince studied these techniques intensely and you can hear them on his intros as well.

 

Just went and caught an old live performance..... bass solo, with a snare hit on the and of three....

1 and 2 and 3 and(SNARE) 4 and Bass always hitting the one with a big slap.

Bass always hitting the one, LOL. Bootsy Collins once said the biggest influence on his style was James Brown. A young Bootsy was touring with James Brown and finding new creative bass riffs to sneak into the songs. Grooves were getting busier as the tour progressed. Mr. Brown was unimpressed and one day told the Bootsy sharply, "You gotta remember, I am paying the one paying your bills, and I'm only paying you for the ones!" Bootsy got the message.

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The Beatles' "She's a Woman" is the first song I remember catching my attention with this sort of thing, since it starts with unaccompanied guitar stabs, and then the rhythm section enters to reveal (surprise!) that the guitar was playing on beats 2 and 4. Though, as some mentioned above, "Tell Me Something Good" STILL gives me a hard time when I hear it. Love it, though.

 

You know what other song starts with hits on 2 and 4 that gives me a lot more trouble feeling the beat? "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica. Not nearly as funky.

 

I do have an original song that starts with a keyboard lick that goes "and two and three and four AND," with an accent that ties over the bar into the first downbeat. The bass fills in octave-fifth-root on "AND four AND," which felt natural since I played both keys and bass on the track when my band recorded it, but since then I've had a lot of trouble getting other bass players to feel it properly.

I remember the first time I heard "Sunshine Of Your Love." I had walked into a room when it was on, and for some reason mis-heard the head as beginning on the 2 beat. Just for fun, the last band I was in decided to give it a try. During the solos we changed up the backbeat, and went back to normal for the last verse. It felt like the musical equivalent of a tilt-a-whirl.
My guitar player is on record as hating Ginger Baker's drumming because "it always sounds like the beat is turned around." GB's chops are undeniable but his playing style isn't quite like you hear on the James Brown stuff above!

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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A few off the top of my head:

 

20th Century Fox - We gave up on this one, the drummer insisted the rest of us were adding an extra beat (since he heard the one a beat early)

Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Guitar opening i'm not sure what beat he's starting on

 

- Jimbo

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Guitar opening i'm not sure what beat he's starting on
Ah, you hooked me. I had to dig that one up again for a listen.

 

So it's in 12/8 - 1-and-a 2-and-a 3-and-a 4-and-a. The keyboard pickup starts on the And of 3

 

Three: (tacet)

And: d

A: A

4: F#

And: A

A: D (and guitar slide)

Then the guitar f#-a-f#-b-f#-a figure starts on beat one.

 

Underrated band imho.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

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