The inaugural 'learn a song a day for a month' challenge.

octatonic

Day 2.

The floor filling party song loved by all- "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry.



Yes, I know I should have learned it years ago but as I've said I was off in prog land and neglected some really obvious and easy songs to learn.
Guitar is mostly 2 parts- the 9th chord riff and the single note riff.
Bass is mostly similar to the guitar single note riff and resist the urge to slap.
Drums is going to be easier than yesterday- slower tempo, less to do, fills are mostly just single stroke snare rolls- main thing is to keep it going and keep it solid.

It is in E- then goes to G then to Bb for chorus, then descending line 'Lay down the boogie...' etc.
As with "Let Me Entertain You" this is a few simple parts put together really well- learn the stops, be able to sing BV's and people will love it.

I have to drop my in laws at the train so will go do that and then sit down and chart out the structure.

ennspek

octatonic said:

Ok, I've done it- just uploading to youtube now.
Because I'm a dope, you can't always see my fingerings due to the camera being a bit higher up but it isn't that important as actually it is the thought process behind how I'm doing it that matters.
Edit: Actually something happened in youtube conversion and you seem to be able to see more of the neck now.

There are loads of flubs and mistakes in there, but that got with the territory, I guess.

I can do another one with better a camera angle if what I'm doing isn't clear.
Hope this helps.

https://youtu.be/aA5IGAmfdeg

Thanks for that. Entertaining and fascinating. It looks so easy when someone who knows what they are about is doing it.

stratman3142

Play That Funky Music. Another one I already know

Perhaps we can form a consensus on the actual notes under "Lay down that boogie and play that funky music till you die". I've played it in various bands and there are subtle variations in how people view those notes, so I always double check with the other players.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

Play That Funky Music. Another one I already know

Perhaps we can form a consensus on the actual notes under "Lay down that boogie and play that funky music till you die". I've played it in various bands and there are subtle variations in how people view those notes, so I always double check with the other players.

I'm sensing that you might end up knowing quite a few of the songs I'm learning.

 I'm playing it as : (in E) 
C D B D,  B A B, A G A E D E

bingefeller

octatonic said:

bingefeller said:

I have thousands of quality tabs Octa, if you're stuck give me a shout.  

You scamp.

octatonic

Ok, all done with this one.
Structure is below.

I haven't notated the two guitar riffs or the bass riff because they are pretty simple and I'll remember them- as with yesterday I only notate things that are necessary when learning songs like this.
If this was a jazz tune I'd approach it differently.
G1 is the intro r b7r 4 5 thing
G2 is the chromatic 9th chord riff- there are several ways of playing that- you can reach up to get the paper notes of the F♯ and F chords, or you can slide the whole chord up and only hit the top strings.
I prefer the latter and it feels more natural under my hand, so that is what I do.

Other than that it is pretty straight forward.

Bass line follows the guitar pretty closely.

Have a look at how the chap in the bottom video does it- it is some random covers/functions band.
The octave pattern he uses is a nice reinterpretation of the part that gives it a bit more of a modern slant- just the sort of thing the band I'll be playing with would like- so I'm stealing it, or as close an approximation as I can make without it occupying too much of my time.

Interesting to see how they have reworked it for one guitar- doesn't sound too bad- I still think the 2 guitar version works better.
To that point- when I am learning a song I always learn both guitar parts- you never know when you'll be called on to play the other one. Might sound obvious but there have been many occasions when I've had to switch from one to another because the other guitarist in the band only knows half the guitar parts.

Drums: mostly straight forward although I came across a sticking pattern in the pre chorus that was a bit foreign- where the hit is on the upbeat against the kick and snare on the downbeats. I have it at tempo but it isn't as smooth as I would like it so I'm going to work on rapidly getting it up to speed.
The main thing is to keep the hats on the off and keep the kick drum placement as per the track.
Other than that it is just a matter of repeating getting into and out of that part of the song and it will be fine.

stratman3142

We have similar methods of doing short form charts.

I do them in Word. It takes longer than hand writing at first, but I often have to tweak the structures to fit with the particular arrangement of the band. For example, in a recent band they doubled up the section before the guitar solo.

Below is an example of how I would do a short form structure of the original version of Funky Music.

http://i.imgur.com/9mljU26.png

PolarityMan

This is a really interesting thread. Would be great to see some performances at the end even if it's only cell phone vids of a gig or something.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

We have similar methods of doing short form charts.

I do them in Word. It takes longer than hand writing at first, but I often have to tweak the structures to fit with the particular arrangement of the band. For example, in a recent band they doubled up the section before the guitar solo.

Below is an example of how I would do a short form structure of the original version of Funky Music.

http://i.imgur.com/9mljU26.png

That is a pretty neat way of doing it.
I actually rewrite my charts in computer form so I can share them with people if need be- I was going to talk about that once I've transcribed the whole 30 songs.
I always handwrite them in the first instance though- I've tried doing it in a computer but it seems to affect my recall of the structure- there is something about handwriting it that means I remember better.

octatonic

PolarityMan said:

This is a really interesting thread. Would be great to see some performances at the end even if it's only cell phone vids of a gig or something.

That shouldn't be too much of a problem- I'll probably be drumming for them to begin with though.

octatonic

Day 3

"Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars

Great tune for a functions band.
Again (and are we sensing a trend here) nothing too difficult with this tune- you just need to learn the structure and the stops.
It is mostly a 2 chord vamp- Dm7 to G7 the whole way through with a lot of instruments dropping in and out.

Guitar: chord voicings on the top 3 strings, some single note lines. I'm also going to learn some of the keyboard/horn lines- it is just smart to do it- you don't want to be the guy who says 'I don't know those lines' when called upon to play them at the last minute.

Bass: Big but simple riff dominates (notes are mostly D G F). I've heard bands do this where the bassist just plays generic slap- I'm not sure that really works. I'll try to get that as near to being exact as I can, again without it dominating too much time. I can always go back and hit it at a later date.

Drums: Straight 4/4, simple fills- leave space for the vocals and instruments. Stops more important than playing the fills prescriptively.

Backing Vocals: This is a tune where I'm going to need to sing BV's- the song relies on them.
So I practice the vocals from the get go.
I mostly work on note placement and keeping it in my range, I practice the vocals by themselves then it becomes something I bolt onto each of the instruments.

stratman3142

That's uncanny. Uptown Funk is a song I've played in a band as well, at a dep gig last New Year's Eve.

You don't happen to have a gig with a band I've played for do you?

You're making good choices of fairly simple songs for function bands.

octatonic

stratman3142 said:

That's uncanny. Uptown Funk is a song I've played in a band as well, at a dep gig last New Year's Eve.

You don't happen to have a gig with a band I've played for do you?

You're making good choices of fairly simple songs for function bands.

LOL.
There are a couple of tricky ones- but yeah, this is standard function band stuff.

Modellista

This is all very cool.  Although two songs I already know and one I really don't like because it epitomizes cheesy function band nonsense (day 3).  Reminds me of deafening Christmas parties with drunk middle-aged women with their shoes off gyrating all over the place. 

Going back to the Kravitz song, one small thing I noticed when you're playing riff 2 is the Em triad slide to my ear is just a semitone (11->12) rather than from wherever you were doing it (fret 7 I think).

I know you have to learn stuff that Mr & Mrs Public like, but I'm looking forward to something to get my teeth into, guitar-wise.  Keep up the good work.

octatonic

modellista said:

This is all very cool.  Although two songs I already know and one I really don't like because it epitomizes cheesy function band nonsense (day 3).  Reminds me of deafening Christmas parties with drunk middle-aged women with their shoes off gyrating all over the place. 

Going back to the Kravitz song, one small thing I noticed when you're playing riff 2 is the Em triad slide to my ear is just a semitone (11->12) rather than from wherever you were doing it (fret 7 I think).

I know you have to learn stuff that Mr & Mrs Public like, but I'm looking forward to something to get my teeth into, guitar-wise.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks.
Regarding the song choice- yes this is just the set of songs this particular band plays.

On the Kravitz tune- yes you could be right. It won't matter at a gig though.
There will be dozens of things in the 30 tunes that I play slightly different to the record.
I'll also make corrections as I go- I found a slight mistake in the song yesterday.
Part of the purpose to do this is to show how I approach learning a set of songs, what choices I make and why.
Some parts I'll make sure I take the trouble to learn exactly, some of it I'll just get close enough to gig.

mrkb

Interesting posts octatonic - how on earth do you find time to learn a tune a day? Typically how long does it take to learn the guitar,bass and drum parts? Are you lucky enough not to have to work fulltime for a living?

octatonic

mrkb said:

Interesting posts octatonic - how on earth do you find time to learn a tune a day? Typically how long does it take to learn the guitar,bass and drum parts? Are you lucky enough not to have to work fulltime for a living?

I am guessing but the tunes take about 30 mins to chart out the first time with the chord progression, then about 30 mins or so to learn the parts- then it is just playing them a few times.
I'm not copying them note for note- guitar solos are winged- it is just the main parts and the structure.
I'm probably spending no more than 2 hours a day on the learning of these tunes and it is spread out over the day- there is virtually no pissing about with these tunes- I learn them, play them through a few times, chart them out and then I'm done.
Writing these posts in the thread takes a bit of time too- normally I wouldn't be doing this of course.

You'd be surprised how many tunes are similar- for instance, pretty much all 3 tunes so far are one or two chord vamps with relatively simple changes.

In the past I've learned 2 full sets (40 songs) of rockabilly tunes over a weekend- because they are so simple, almost all of them are I IV V's- if you know the songs structure and you know the harmony then there isn't much learning that takes place.

But, yes I do work at home.

PolarityMan

octatonic said:

PolarityMan said:

This is a really interesting thread. Would be great to see some performances at the end even if it's only cell phone vids of a gig or something.

That shouldn't be too much of a problem- I'll probably be drumming for them to begin with though.

Suits me, I watch more drummers covering stuff in an I do guitarists. I think because I'm at a much lower level in my drumming I enjoy watching it more.

Nitefly

This is great, @octatonic - you work in almost exactly the same way as I do: figure out the key, sort out the basic chords, then embellish as required.

I've enjoyed all of these so far, even though none of them are songs I would have thought of myself.

Looking forward to the rest of the list!

octatonic

Nitefly said:

This is great, @octatonic - you work in almost exactly the same way as I do: figure out the key, sort out the basic chords, then embellish as required.

I've enjoyed all of these so far, even though none of them are songs I would have thought of myself.

Looking forward to the rest of the list!

Thank you.
Yes, most of these songs aren't the sort of thing I would work on either.
I'm mostly interested in hard rock, fusion, metal and jazz.

Tomorrow's song is coming up.... NOW.