Thanks Kevin. I had forgotten about Guitar Pro. I'll check it out.
2 2016-09-12 14:11:31
Re: Music notation and format (8 replies, posted in Acoustic)
Tempo and Feel are really subjective and can vary from time to time and group if you let them. Assuming everyone knows every song cold, then it's not a problem. But when you have less experienced players and singers, sometimes that "clock in their head" isn't well tuned yet. And with around 200 songs in rotation, it's a lot to remember. And, we try to add a new song every couple of weeks to keep the mix fresh. For all those reasons, I'd like to write this stuff down somewhere. so at rehearsal i can get out the dreaded metronome and make sure we're where we want to be. And for example, yesterday at warm up the rhythm player started playing a new song in 4/4. But it was in 6/8 beat like 2 triplets. So I could just say ("hey, it's in 6/8 beat like triplets) and immediately he knew what to do.
For now, I'm just fudging my chordpro charts by adding a line of test below the title like this:
Key: G Time Sig: 6/8 Tempo: 48, in a slow 2-beat triplet feel
I keep threatening to move to lead sheets with SMN melodies, but it would likely freak out a lot of folks! playing is fine, but when you venture closer to "reading music" it gets some people nervous.
Steve
3 2016-09-09 14:31:06
Re: Music notation and format (8 replies, posted in Acoustic)
True. One would think there had been some innovation in this. And I was just really looking to see if there was something out there other than SMN, Tabs, Lead Sheets, and Chord Charts. But, I can keep doing old school (chord charts and a pencil to write in the Tempo, Time Signature, and some rudimentary rhythmic notation).
4 2016-09-08 23:38:45
Re: Music notation and format (8 replies, posted in Acoustic)
Nope, no rthymic notation. Just words and chords. I'd like to have a place to put Rhythmic notation, Time Signature, and tempo. But the Chordpro format seems pretty restrictive and all I get is a title and subtitle, then chords over the words.
5 2016-09-06 03:36:38
Topic: Music notation and format (8 replies, posted in Acoustic)
We usually see music in chord sheet format, just words and chords. Our worship team mostly don't read standard notation, so I don't want to go to lead sheets with melody. What I'd like is something I can use to show words, chords, time signature, and she rhythmic notation. I use a program called "Songbook" that does nice chords and words, and reads chordpro. I just want more.
6 2016-08-08 02:40:13
Topic: Nylon string guitars (12 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I've played steel string guitar, mostly with a flat pick, for years. But at home, by my easy chair, I have a cheap nylon string guitar that I just noodle around and play at fingerpicking. It just occurred to me that I sshouldstart performing this style. But I know very little about the style or nylon string guitars.
Any advice? I play a Gibson acoustic Hummingbird and a Les Paul, so II'd like to get something of good quality but nottoo expensive. Is there a sweet spot for nylon string guitars?
7 2016-06-24 03:50:15
Topic: Effects for Les Paul direct to house PA (1 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I am just starting to play more electric guitar after many years playing acoustic. So I don't know much about electric tone.
It seems to me I don't need a power amplifier when the house has a full sound system. I do need to process the signal coming from my Les Paul before it goes to the house. So effects.
I play mostly older country, folk, softer stuff, some blues and some jazz. Some classic rock and some contemporary Christian. So reverb, and something to provide a smooth crunch, no extreme distortion.
I'm thinking of a multi-effecta pedal. A friend has an older Digitech RP-9. And I hear good things about Boss and Line 6.
Thoughts?
8 2016-06-24 03:30:39
Re: Taylor or Martin or? (19 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I've played for 40 years, mostly lower end guitars. When I wanted to move up, I thought 'Taylor or Martin?" so I played a lot of them. And never found the one for me. Then, I asked a dealer "if I want a good guitar, but don't want a Taylor or Martin, what should I try?" He said "Gibson". I thought Gibson acoustics were just for old timey 1930s players, not us modern guys! Then I tried one. It was THE ONE. I tried at least 10 examples of the same model and they were ALL THE ONE. 8 years later, it still is.
9 2014-11-06 18:33:43
Re: Inner jazz chords? (4 replies, posted in Electric)
Yes and yes. Most of the chords I see are min7, min6, maj7, 9th, maj9th, etc. Most of my playing I'm the only one there, so I need to play all the chord tones. But I do see a lot of players using only 2,3,4,5 strings. I guess I just need to practice, I'm used to the full strum and not hitting strings 1 and 6, or muting them, is just a bit more difficult.
Steve
10 2014-10-24 01:44:56
Topic: Inner jazz chords? (4 replies, posted in Electric)
I've played acoustic guitar for years. That means open 6 string chords. When I'm playing electric rock as a rhythm guitarist, it's not my primary role (I'm a vocalist) so I always played 6 string bar chords.
Now, I'm trying g to expand, and it see, S a lot of players play chords using only strings 2-5. What are these chords called? And is it really that common to not play bearings 1 and 6? Trying to stretch out here,
lay more and sing less.
11 2014-03-25 16:58:04
Topic: Acoustic Bass Strings (3 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I just acquired my first acoustic bass, an Applause by Ovation. I promptly broke a string. So new strings are in order. Any suggestions on type and weight of strings?
12 2010-01-07 04:03:40
Re: Copying Lyrics TO MS Word (13 replies, posted in About Chordie)
the download of Songbook is full-featured, and you can use it as long as you like, it just keeps working, and you get all the features. But they are great folks, and you'll probably want to keep it and pay for it.
I find the song on Chordie, copy the chordpro and paste into Songbook, and then do all my editing, transposing, etc in Songbook.
13 2010-01-07 03:52:37
Re: some feed back on this please (6 replies, posted in Acoustic)
I'd agree. First, find the five major chords in one key, and learn them cold. Pick a key. I start my students in the key of G: G, C, D, Em, Am. With those 5, you have the key of g down. Without going into theory, a song will mostly be in a single KEY, a set of notes in sequence. the chords that start on each of those steps of that key are the major accompaniment you'll use. The main chords in a major key are the chords based on steps 1, 4, and 5, with the 2 and 6 also used. So, in our example, in the key of G, the notes are G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, and back to G. So the #1 is G, #2 is A, etc. So if you know G, C, and D (#1, #4, #5) you can play a lot of songs. And the Am (#2) and #6 (Em), and you've got most of what you need to get started.
Be able to finger them, and CHANGE the chords in tempo. Don't forget your right hand, and practice strumming as well as picking each string one at a time, up and down. When you can do THAT. You can play simple versions of many modern songs with these chords. So you'll feel accomplishment, and get a bit of variety. Also, then adding more chords will be easier, and so try another key.
Here are most of the primary chords you'll ever need, in several good "guitar" keys:
G: G, C, D are the main chords, then minors Em and Am
C: C, F, G are the main chords, then the minors Dm and Am (only 3 new chords, since you'll already know C, G, and Am from your work above in G)
D: D, G, A are the main chords, then the minors Em and Bm (only 2 new chords, A and Bm)
A: A, D, E are the main chords, then minors Bm and F#m (2 new chords, E and F#m).
So, again, start in the key of G, and work that up. Then add a few new chords over time. By the time you have these 12 chords, you'll be able to play nearly anything you want. Strum, sing, and have fun!!
Steve
14 2009-07-02 03:20:28
Topic: Strange Search behavior (2 replies, posted in About Chordie)
I searched for a song ("Love the Lord" by Lincoln Brewster), and if I search in Chordie by Artist or by Song, I find one version only of this song, a tab. I wanted Chordpro, so I went to Google and started searching the internet. Lo and behold, I found a text/chordpro version. On Chordie! I followed that link and sure enough, there inside Chordie, was the song I had been looking for. Why didn't it show up in the Chordie search, using the same exact title?
15 2009-07-02 03:17:56
Re: Is Chordie at risk of closing down. (25 replies, posted in About Chordie)
I use a program called Songbook from Linkesoft.com. I copy the songs off screen in Chordpro format, then past them into notepad and save in Songbook. If the're Chordpro, from there I can print them, edit, transpose, etc. So I get a lot of the same functionality whether I'm online in Chordie or offline in Songbook.