Learning a set for an audition

[JapanAxe]

I am currently in the running for a shared bass seat in a tribute band, so I thought I would share how I have gone about approaching this. The band cover 30+ of the artist's songs, and I will have to play about 8 of the bigger hits at the audition - as yet, I don't know which.

1. Obtain the set list from the band's website.
2. Set up a Trello page with lists entitled 'Set', 'Familiar', 'Nearly There', and 'Sorted'.
3. Import the audio of each song into Capo transcription software, and correct the pitch if necessary. I already own just about everything this artist has ever recorded - it really helps to be a fan if you're going to play in a tribute band! Mark up the verses, choruses etc in Capo.
4. Make a playlist for the car, and listen out for the bass parts.
5. Make a reasonably accurate transcription of every song, with chord symbols. I had already transcribed (for my own entertainment) one of the artist's albums, plus a few other tracks, so I had a head start. I work in Sibelius, then export the transcriptions to PDFs, which I load into ForScore on my iPad. Add a label to each card in Trello to keep track of what I have transcribed.
6. Do a play-through of each song, and if appropriate drag the Trello card from 'Set' to 'Familiar'.
7. Go through again, this time looking at the song in detail. I work on the last section first, and work 'backwards' through the song. This has the advantage that when you get to the end of a newly-learned section, you are then into familiar territory. I use Capo to loop and slow down (if necessary) the section I am working on. Drag the song's Trello card either to the bottom of the list, or to 'Nearly There', as appropriate.
8. Once a song is 'Nearly There', play it along with the track, without looking at the dots. Note any bits that have not lodged in the brain, and give them extra attention.
9. Rinse and Repeat. I have also split the 'Set' list into 'Hits' and 'Other', concentrating on the Hits for the time being.

So far there are a handful of songs that I could pretty much play on demand. Once I know the audition set, I will focus almost exclusively on that.

Resources:

www.trello.com - online Kanban board

http://supermegaultragroovy.com/ - Capo transcription software (sorry, Apple only)

 

[police squad]

may I enquire who the band is?

You have a very organised way of work there.

When I have to learn stuff, I make a playlist and have it in the car, on my PC and listen to it massively.

I learnt 30 Jam songs in 2 weeks once

When is the audition?

 

The Capo software looks interesting

Edited March 5, 2019 by police squad

[DoubleOhStephan]

2 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

7. Go through again, this time looking at the song in detail. I work on the last section first, and work 'backwards' through the song. This has the advantage that when you get to the end of a newly-learned section, you are then into familiar territory.

Genius! Stealing this thank you 😁

Now to find a android/Windows version of Capo translation software. 

Awesome post 👍🏻

[KevB]

If the band have 30 or more songs to pick from it shouldnt have taken too much organisation to split those songs up among the expected auditionees so each person knows exactly which 8 songs to concentrate on.

[Stylon Pilson]

13 minutes ago, KevB said:

If the band have 30 or more songs to pick from it shouldnt have taken too much organisation to split those songs up among the expected auditionees so each person knows exactly which 8 songs to concentrate on.

I would assume all auditionees will have to play the same 8, for reasons of fairness.

S.P.

[JapanAxe]

3 hours ago, police squad said:

may I enquire who the band is?

You have a very organised way of work there.

When I have to learn stuff, I make a playlist and have it in the car, on my PC and listen to it massively.

I learnt 30 Jam songs in 2 weeks once

When is the audition?

 

The Capo software looks interesting

I'll announce it later if I am successful! Audition is likely some time next week, or the week after.

1 hour ago, StevieE said:

Genius! Stealing this thank you 😁

Now to find a android/Windows version of Capo translation software. 

Awesome post 👍🏻

Working backwards from the end wasn't my original idea, I read it here on BC, which is also where I heard about Trello!

[Guest MoJo]

Googles 'Trello' and 'Capo'

[KevB]

16 hours ago, Stylon Pilson said:

I would assume all auditionees will have to play the same 8, for reasons of fairness.

S.P.

In that case they are even less organised if they can't decide on the 8 to tell folks to learn in advance. Done these type of auditions before, you call out a song that they have given you on their list only to find out 'we don't play that one much anymore' and in fact you know it better now than they do😄

[HazBeen]

I have a vastly less organised approach, but I know that I can master a lot of songs in a week if pushed.

It involves listening to the songs and bass parts until I can sing them (by which time I will generally have sussed the key, intervals etc naturally), then I pick up the bass and just literally have to play what I sing (in my head or the mrs will get stroppy  ....). Only then do I get tabs/transcriptions as I have found I play better if I don’t have to rely on them.

The only annoying thing is that sometimes you listen to songs you do not particularly care for 10-15 times :), but the good thing is that you can listen during the daily commute, breaks etc. so the hours are easily put in without breaking into normal life too much.

[Dood]

20 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

I am currently in the running for a shared bass seat in a tribute band, so I thought I would share how I have gone about approaching this. The band cover 30+ of the artist's songs, and I will have to play about 8 of the bigger hits at the audition - as yet, I don't know which.

1. Obtain the set list from the band's website.
2. Set up a Trello page with lists entitled 'Set', 'Familiar', 'Nearly There', and 'Sorted'.
3. Import the audio of each song into Capo transcription software, and correct the pitch if necessary. I already own just about everything this artist has ever recorded - it really helps to be a fan if you're going to play in a tribute band! Mark up the verses, choruses etc in Capo.
4. Make a playlist for the car, and listen out for the bass parts.
5. Make a reasonably accurate transcription of every song, with chord symbols. I had already transcribed (for my own entertainment) one of the artist's albums, plus a few other tracks, so I had a head start. I work in Sibelius, then export the transcriptions to PDFs, which I load into ForScore on my iPad. Add a label to each card in Trello to keep track of what I have transcribed.
6. Do a play-through of each song, and if appropriate drag the Trello card from 'Set' to 'Familiar'.
7. Go through again, this time looking at the song in detail. I work on the last section first, and work 'backwards' through the song. This has the advantage that when you get to the end of a newly-learned section, you are then into familiar territory. I use Capo to loop and slow down (if necessary) the section I am working on. Drag the song's Trello card either to the bottom of the list, or to 'Nearly There', as appropriate.
8. Once a song is 'Nearly There', play it along with the track, without looking at the dots. Note any bits that have not lodged in the brain, and give them extra attention.
9. Rinse and Repeat. I have also split the 'Set' list into 'Hits' and 'Other', concentrating on the Hits for the time being.

So far there are a handful of songs that I could pretty much play on demand. Once I know the audition set, I will focus almost exclusively on that.

Resources:

www.trello.com - online Kanban board

http://supermegaultragroovy.com/ - Capo transcription software (sorry, Apple only)

 

Not a million miles from how I work out long dep sets too! 

For those rare live tracks where you can't hear the bass, I most definitely use my recording software (Logic Pro X or Reaper) which is also very useful for slowing down audio, but to hear bass lines, I often add plug ins to manipulate the sound. Of course you can also slow down YouTube tracks using the speed control, but the results are usually much cleaner in pro DAW software. Looping and marking the audio file you've mentioned already. There's also an added bonus. For those with video footage to peruse, Reaper and other DAWS can import video files and thus looping and slowing those down is also available. 

Forscore is great, I mainly use DeepDish GigBook which is essentially the same kinda thing.

My main weapon of choice is Guitar Pro 7. Arobas' own online music book has hundreds of professionally notated songs (all instruments not just bass) and Guitar Pro can play the notation in the same way as Sibelius et al. - But, there's the added bonus of going to the likes of the Ultimate Guitar website where there are countless (sometimes badly) notated songs from many genres. Some files are truly horrid where members have just imported MIDI tracks - but there are a few gems in there that have been converted or scored by someone who actually knows what they are doing. I've crammed a few songs rather quickly for gigs using GP and Ultimate Guitar! 

All of the above isn't what I do mostly. I guess after many, many years of depping and teaching, my ear is pretty good. You start to hear chord progressions before they happen and you kinda know where the bass line is going to go for the majority of pop / rock hits. - Oh and if you do forget the line, you can rely on key information to fill in suitable notes... and most people in the audience don't notice slight in discrepancies anyway! Case in point, there are times I have mashed up my own function band songs with a bass line taken from a completely different song - and only my band mates noticed  

[HazBeen]

7 hours ago, Dood said:

. and most people in the audience don't notice slight in discrepancies anyway! Case in point, there are times I have mashed up my own function band songs with a bass line taken from a completely different song - and only my band mates noticed  

I have had more than a few examples of that ......  absurd but funny

[Muppet]

A very similar approach to the one I use and i got my current position by following that, learning 50 songs in two weeks, turning up to a gig and playing three sets with four guys I'd never met before.  

Key learning from my side would be ensuring you definitely know the song keys AND the tuning the band plays in before starting.  Having to transpose on the fly in a gig situation with a new set of songs is something I try to avoid. 

Software-wise, someone here recommended Transcribe to me which is excellent for looping, changing key and slowing down audio. 

[Muppet]

@Dood whilst not wishing to hijack the thread too much, you mention Forscore and Gigbook.   I don't read music but i do compile handwritten notes on most songs that cover structure, basic chord progressions, tricky elements, effects transitions etc... Can i use these apps in a iPad to replace my ring binders or are they mainly designed for sheet music..?

[JapanAxe]

^^^ ForScore will work with any pdf file. Not sure about other file formats as I’ve never tried it.

[Dood]

5 hours ago, Muppet said:

@Dood whilst not wishing to hijack the thread too much, you mention Forscore and Gigbook.   I don't read music but i do compile handwritten notes on most songs that cover structure, basic chord progressions, tricky elements, effects transitions etc... Can i use these apps in a iPad to replace my ring binders or are they mainly designed for sheet music..?

No problem at all! - You can import whatever you like! I think for GigBook as long as the files are PDF's it doesn't matter what's in them. Indeed I import both hand written charts and notation, but even just random reminders about parts of songs. I like GigBook, because one you've imported all of your files in to one master list, you do exactly as you've described - arrange song lists in to folders. "binders" that you can browse but also set up set lists for all manner of different types of gigs. I think both apps will work with a BlueTooth pager turner too, so once all the songs are in order, a tap of a button or the screen will advance you on to the next song. (Or in GigBook it's possible to jump out of the song view quickly should you need to jump to another song in the set quickly.)

I hope I've described that clearly as I'm just waiting for my next student to arrive!

[DrBike]

On 05/03/2019 at 12:45, JapanAxe said:

Resources:

www.trello.com - online Kanban board

 

At last!  Something truly useful found on Basschat!  (Just kidding of course but for me this could be a Godsend)

[Happy Jack]

If you're working on your own, what is the benefit of Trello over, say, pieces of paper or Post-it notes?

That's not a disguised criticism - I'm actually quite curious.

 

[DrBike]

8 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

If you're working on your own, what is the benefit of Trello over, say, pieces of paper or Post-it notes?

That's not a disguised criticism - I'm actually quite curious.

 

You can do kanban boards with post-it notes, but this way it stops other people wandering past and rearranging all your hard work. 

Regds

Andy (aka Dr Bike) fully fledged graduate of the Kanban University 

[Stylon Pilson]

11 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

If you're working on your own, what is the benefit of Trello over, say, pieces of paper or Post-it notes?

Less physical space occupied? Portability?

S.P.

[JapanAxe]

On 07/03/2019 at 23:56, Happy Jack said:

If you're working on your own, what is the benefit of Trello over, say, pieces of paper or Post-it notes?

That's not a disguised criticism - I'm actually quite curious.

 

1. I can access Trello from any device that can get me online, so I’m not dependent on having a particular piece of paper to hand.

2. Post-its lose their stickiness after you’ve moved them a few times and have a tendency to curl up.

3. You can have a Trello board that would equate to a piece of paper much bigger than A3.

4. Before Trello, I used to make Excel spreadsheets and give my learning of each song a grading from 1 to 5. It wasn’t immediately obvious how many songs were in each category, which Trello shows at a glance.

5. It costs less than paper and post-it’s.

[interpol52]

I listen to the songs in the car, through headphones and on my laptop. It's surprising how the bassline jumps out in different ways on each of them.

I also practice without my bass. Just thinking about what the lines are helps me to get them memorised. I seem to remember watching Jaco say he practiced without his bass, always nicking my ideas he was.

[JapanAxe]

I'm now learning a further 2 sets for a dep gig with a disco/funk/soul band. Same technique - quite a few numbers I already know (Soul Man, Uptown Funk), several with online transcriptions available (Boogie Wonderland, Burn This Disco Out -  I have re-drafted some in Sibelius for clarity) and a few that are brand new to me (Mama Told Me not To Come, Starsky & Hutch).

When I get tired of one, I can do some work on the other!

[JapanAxe]

Well in an interesting development, I am now up for the guitar job in the tribute band.

Back to the drawing board. At least I know the chords already....

[police squad]

did the bass job go to someone else?

[JapanAxe]

31 minutes ago, police squad said:

did the bass job go to someone else?

Yes and no. It's complicated...