Methods of notating songs

Jagular said:
That reminds me...I heard someone utter words on the radio on my way back from lunch that would be a great hook for a Christian song. It's so obvious that I'd be surprised if it handn't been written and cut before, but I need to write it down before I forget it!!! Just in case!!! Cyas all later

:D
Click to expand...

Hmmmm...I did a title search on ASCAP & BMI with no hits on the hook. This might just be too good to be true. Like I said it's soooooo....obvious that I can't believe it hasn't been done yet. This song needs a good writin'!!!!

(sorry, I'm just so excited because I thought this surely would have been done already!!!) :eek: :D
 
I learned it in music theory class while studying 18th century harmony and always wondered how it acquired the "Nashville" name. The way I learned it, you used roman numerals with upper case (I, IV, V) being major chords, and lower case (i, iv, v) being minor chords.

I think an Order of the 18th century Brothers Of Perpetual Twang started a settlement which later became Nashvilee
 
Nashville numbers is a little different from Roman Numerals. For one thing, it uses regular numbers. I never liked it, personally.

Jeez, I didn't mean to upset everyone with that "if it's a good idea I'll remember it". I wasn't being completely serious there, folks. Like I said, the reality is I'm just too busy to always write things down; I usually get the best ideas driving home from work.
 
"If you can't remember it..."

On the idea of "If you can't remember it, it must not be that good"

I have a theory -- If you can't remember it, your MEMORY must not be that good. I write something down if I really think its good. I don't wanna lose it, & heck, my memory just isn't that developed for long term storage.
 
lykwydchykyn said:
Jeez, I didn't mean to upset everyone with that "if it's a good idea I'll remember it". I wasn't being completely serious there, folks. Like I said, the reality is I'm just too busy to always write things down; I usually get the best ideas driving home from work.
Click to expand...

Probably more than upsetting everyone, it hit a nerve. I know I've had many good ideas that I didn't write down - either by laziness or because I was driving or walking around town or whatever. It's amazing how quickly you can forget them. I suspect everyone who's responded to your comments has done the same thing also.
 
Gosh, speaking for myself, I'm certainly not upset. Just pointing out a different way of doing things. :)

I have heard some very good songwriters that say they don't keep hook books. Most, howerver do. I have also heard songwriters who used to use the "if it's good I won't forget it" method and have converted and wished they would have kept hook books.

Differnent methods for different maniacs!!!! :D.

Not upset here in the least...besides all the good hooks anyone forgets because they didn't write them down drain automatically through the cosmos into my hook book. I had this set up just in January :p :D
 
Hey, I AM upset cuz I lost some good stuff! I was just too lazy to write or record 'em.

I'm gonna go stand in the corner now.
 
EddieRay said:
Hey, I AM upset cuz I lost some good stuff! I was just too lazy to write or record 'em.

I'm gonna go stand in the corner now.
Click to expand...

nah nah...it's now in my hook book!!!

:p :D
 
Today during a 2 hour work related drive, I got an idea for a story line (drunken road trip, late night cafe, encounter with a "toothless" waitress, next morning regrets, etc.)

I had some lines I really liked ("hungrey, drunk & lonely", "truckstop ballerina" "a woman ain't ugly to a man too blind to see") and a musical hook that I knew would be lost by the time I got home 6 hours later....... Yeah, it's a Steve Earl type country tune.

So - I pulled off the expressway to write my ideas down - using Aaron's method of "face to face pages".

I likely would not have made the effort to pull over if we had not just had the whole "I'll remember it if it's good discussion"

Hopefully when I record it, it will sound as clever as it did during my drive :confused:
 
EddieRay said:
I've lost more cool progressions, even after attempting to burn it into memory by repetition. I lost it because I was nto set up to record on a moment's notice.
Click to expand...

My Palm Pilot device has a built-in voice recorder. I always have it with me to record ideas, whether I'm driving down the road or playing my guitar. I like it better than those micro-cassette recorders because each clip is accessible without having to rewind and fast forward. I can also switch over to the note taking application and write down lyrics.
 
I like aarons idea too. i think in this day and age, another good tip is to buy a cheap little dictaphone for when you get the melody so you wont get frustrated if you forget a great idea! i have always found writing music quite time consuming so i never really bother. it could be good to learn i guess, but i just find that it stumps the creative process when you have to think to much about how to do things.
 
I'm a "scraps of paper" chap myself. Riffs and chord progressions go onto the recorder.

What's more interesting is how our singer, my girlfriend, does things. To write melodies, once I've sung them to her and she's picked them up, she puts a kind of line of freehand dots, with no staff or note duration info, next to each lyric line. Never fails her. Then to help her memorise lyrics for gigs she draws pictures. For that song I put up here recently "Love a little walk away" she has just drawn a little heart andd next to it a little stick figure walking away! (We're performing that song for the first time this afternoon).

Sorry for slightly OT but quite interesting I thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top