playing from a lead sheet?

[born2die]

Ok another topic has got me thinking how the heck do I do that?

 

I can sight read pretty much ok and have a reasonable working knowledge of chords but after nearly 15 years of playing from pvg sheets using a mixture of arranger style playing or piano style playing I have never figured out what to do with fake books and lead sheets when it comes to the piano and sequencing.

 

My ear is shot I can't even sing in key let alone differenciate say a c from a d chord when I hear it in a piece of music so I guess a good starting point would be to sit down listen and try and improve that aspect but I have tried that before and it felt like I was getting knowhere and thats probabaly acurate.

 

So I guess I am asking how I transfer that melody line and chord into a workable great sounding song.

 

and also if I have just a melody and bass line and if I am lucky some further accompniment on the middle stave how to transfer this into a sequenced package using say guitar, piano, bass, and maybe some fills along the way.

 

ant tips or links would be great

 

many thanks

 

tristian

[Dave Horne]

I want to make sure I understand this - your ears are shot, you can't differentiate a C chord from a D chord, and you want to transfer what you can do into a sequencer program. Is that about right? What exactly is your ultimate purpose with all of this?

 

Have you thought of studying with someone who can not only help train your ears and your mind but help to point you in a better direction.

 

While the world is full of people who can turn out some semblance of music using technology but who could not actually make music in real time, don't you think that perhaps you're going about this in the wrong way. Wouldn't it make more sense to be able to play/make music first, have some fun with it, and then enter something into a sequencer program.

 

You know, in previous times composers were usually first rate performers. Now it seems everyone with a sequencer program is a composer. Something's gone wrong somewhere.

 

I'm just now drinking my first coffee of the day .... am I too cranky?

 

[born2die]

dave I would'nt have it any other way. you give some of the straightest bluntest but correct answers I know of. But to set you straight I have been playing for nearly 20 years on and off have been part of 2 worship bands and have achieved my level 7 on the electronic organ (good grief that was some years ago), achieved a very high standard of playing arrangers and then in the last couple of years before I quit for the last 5 years I got up to the loft standards of grade 7/8 abrsm electronic/jazz piano but those 5 years away have crippled me as player.

 

I guess my ultimate goal is to use up some of this pent up creativity in me but its the how to do it that is the problem.

 

ok lets rephrase the question in english not 5 in the morning gibberish.

 

I want to be able to take either a lead sheet or a piano score or piano with vocal and turn it into a finished accomplished piece. there is more to it than that of course but that is the simple answer.

 

the long term goal is to be able to go out with either a lead sheet or a chord chart and get to playing with a band and to sequence my own arrangements so many years of only playing from sheets has knacked the creative ear and energy that there once was and I want that drive back.

 

I must admit thou that having the juno-g has helped somewhat but its how I take those piano and vocal staves and add in bass, guitars, fills etc or when I have managed to learn a little more of what I am doing from lead sheets.

 

thanks

 

tris

[resigned]

I want to be able to take either a lead sheet or a piano score or piano with vocal and turn it into a finished accomplished piece. there is more to it than that of course but that is the simple answer.

 

Let's go with that much first... try Band in A Box by PG Music. Type in the chords from the lead sheet, pick a style and it does instant accompaniment. You can add melody lines and print out lead sheets etc. Cool thing is you can try out different styles and come up with some interesting stuff.

 

BIAB creates some rather stiff-sounding stuff so it's a sinch that you'll want to make midi files and import them into a sequencer to get the polished final product.

 

Hope that answers your question.

[Sven Golly]

Given the tack this thread has taken, wouldn't it be more aptly named "data entry from a lead sheet"?

 

 

[Clifton]

You know, in previous times composers were usually first rate performers. Now it seems everyone with a sequencer program is a composer. Something's gone wrong somewhere.

 

Needed to be said, well done.

[linwood]

Yea, I'm a sequencerer.

[born2die]

oh my what have I started all I wanted was A little help in understanding how to put some decent backings together off leadsheets so that I can jam away over the top and I seem to have started an anti sequencer group.

 

I agree that to use them to get over the fact that you cannot play is wrong but to use them to give you more than the two hands you have should be a help right?.

 

I have seen enough videos on youtube of people faking playing using a sequencer, plenty o wannabees with either an x6 or mpc they have no musical knowledge half the time and just sit there importing loops and sounds loop 4 bars around and around and call it music. Ok this is a talent and has to be learned but I would rather use my musical knowledge and input the sequence begining to end myself and it looks like its a case of getting my head round some improv and trial and error to get a complete sounding arrangment that I can jam away to. I know I could have taken the easy way out and bought a pa50 or kn6500 etc but where is the creativity in using preset backings and all you have to do is hit start I would rather the challenge of making my own and furthering my knowledge than sat there vegitating just playing a single note melody line.

 

peace

 

tristian

[Dave Horne]

What's so difficult - buy a sequencer, outline the ditty on paper, play the bass line into the sequencer (quantize, rinse, repeat), play the chord parts (quantize, rinse, repeat), add the melody or additional lines (quantize, rinse, repeat) ... that's how I'd approach it. This isn't rocket science.

 

Now, if you can't do that, you can always buy an arranging keyboard, but you don't want to do that, right?

 

You know, if you spent as much time actually practicing and studying with someone, you could probably save yourself a lot of time in the long run. I don't mean to be unkind but it seems everyone want a short cut and they always have what they think are valid reasons to cut corners.

 

I have a cup of coffee in front of me.

 

 

 

 

[resigned]

My brother frames houses for a living, and he's amazing - he built a terrific house for our mother without any plans at all... it was all in his head right down to the roof angles.

 

I introduced him to some home design software which he scoffed at... he said he didn't need that stuff. But after a while he played around with it and now he uses it quite often to expand on ideas in his head or to save him some drafting work.

 

Band in a Box, Jammer Pro, arranger keyboards and even quasi-arrangers like the Motifs are just tools with some framing shortcuts included. Experienced sequencers don't need them and that's fine even if they are the people who can do the most creatively with them. For the less experienced they are just another way to hit the road running. The end result still speaks for itself... how you get there is up to you.

[linwood]

Hi born2die.....I'm not anti. I'm jokin' with the word "sequencerer." I earn my livin' with DP, so I very much know the value in being able to run DP, Logic, Cubase, and Protools. It's the way you get the job done in the circle that I work in. I haven't heard any of your tracks so it's hard to offer advice. I'd start by using one of those programs I mentioned. If you don't have one, you need to buy. Once you get familiar with it, do a take down of a tune. Try and play everything in just the way it was recorded. All parts/all dynamics. Now focus on the mix. Copy it. I really enjoy doing tracks with DP. I'm doing one right now, as a matter of fact.