Alan,
That makes sense but what about a song that does have vocals is the melody line more for the vocalist isn't it, rather than for the lead guitarist to play?
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Another stupid question from a beginner, who is the melody line for, the vocalist?
If you were in situation where it was just drums, bass and two guitars would the lead guitar play the melody line or would the rhythm guitar play the chords and the lead guitar improvise a solo/riffs based on the melody line or based on the key of the song?
If the song were an instrumental would there still be a melody line? I would think yes but?
It's not a dumb question.
In most cases what happens is that nobody JUST plays the melody line. The melody is there as the basis for what the soloist does with the song. You have to keep the same basic melodic ideas, but you do something with it.
For example -- go listen to Miles Davis' "All Blues" from the album "Kind of Blue" while looking at the melody line in any typical fake book.
The melody is amazingly simple, and Davis never ever plays it as written :) That isn't to say that it's written wrong in the Fake Books -- it's just that the melody line is just the essential base from which the rest of the song is built.
That goes for the harmony line as well, by the way. In that a same song, "All Blues", there are only 4 chords -- G7 C7 D7#9 and Eb7#9. The G7 chord is played for 6 measures in a row over the turnaround and back to the start of the song. But listen to anyone comp that song, and you'll hear chord changes every 1/2 measure or more most of the time.
Now, some of those changes are just to different inversions of the same chord, but alot of them are adding extentions to the chords as well, either in order to follow the melody or to just add some color or bass motion or whatever.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I find them a very useful resource for learning songs.
Eric
KP,
Thanks for the reply, it's kinda of what I thought but wasn't sure.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Any recommendations on specific fake books? For blues? I imagine that they differ in quality of the transcription. Any publishers to avoid?
Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson
That lets musicians who don't know a tune to fake it - they're playing the original melody and harmony, even if it's not exactly the way it was done on the original version.quote]
I always wondered why they were called fake books, because there didn't seem to be any "faking" about it; I mean, there is the music right in front of you. Now, if you didn't have a book at all- now that would really be faking!
Regards,
Mike
"Growing Older But Not UP!"
I've bought three fake books. Come to find out two of them were rotten. Here's one I stand by for just $30 you get 200 songs:
The Greatest Rock Guitar Fake Book
http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Rock-Guitar-Fake-Book/dp/0634011766
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
