25 replies to this topic

[JimLucas]

Editted to add that as pasted into the reply box the chords are spaced over the lines at the correct point to play them. As displayed the chords all get scrunched up on the left so you'll need to work out where to change. Sorry; dunno what that's about.

That's about "proportional spacing". The editor uses a font where all the characters (letters, numbers, spaces) are the same width, but most folks' display settings use a font where "i" and "l" are much narrower than "m" and "w" (and others are in between), thereby screwing up the alignment. (Using a proportional font also in the editor wouldn't necessarily help, since the width ratios can vary from font to font.)

The way to get around that is to enclose the text you want displayed as monospace (equal width) in "code" tags (that's the icon to the right of the quote balloon icon in the editor's toolbar). It will then display in a box like a quote box, but with a monospace font. Like this:

Chattanooga Choo Choo
recorded by Hank Snow 
written by Mack Gordon & Harry Warren 
 
C                G7       F           C
Pardon me boy is this the Chattanooga Choo Choo
G7           D7                         C
Track twenty nine boy you can give me a shine
                G7        F           C
I can afford to board the Chattanooga Choo Choo
            D7       Am     D7        C
I've got my fare and just a trifle to spare
 
              F            C7             F
You leave the Pennsylvania Station bout a quarter to four
           C7                   F       C7
Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore
A#            G7    F                A#
Dinner in the diner nothing could be finer 
G7                        Dm          C7
Than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina
 
F                 C7              F           C7
When you hear the whistle blowing eight to the bar
F                  C7           F        C7
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
F              G7      F            D7
Shovel all the coal in gotta keep a rolling 
        C7                    F
Woo woo Chattanooga there you are
 
              C    C7      F            C
There's gonna be a certain party at the station
          D7                   G7    C
Satin and lace I used to call funny face
                        C7                 F
She's gonna cry until I tell her that I'll never roam
   C           Am         F         G7           C
So Chattanooga choo choo  won't you choo-choo me home
 
            Am         F         G7           C
Chattanooga choo choo  won't you choo-choo me home

[Dirge]

Thanks Jim. Of course I'll have forgotten it by the time I hit the problem again...

[michael sam wild]

It's interesting how people approach things. I doodle around the basic tune. Others look fror an arrangement on the web.. One takes ages to work out the other is quick but proscriptive.

This is not a criticism as both inform the other but it relates to the ear versus dots and fakebook approaches


How do others approach making a tune or song their own..


By the way, I am working on the tune and will stay in C so we can compare notes.

[Anglo-Irishman]

Doesn't look too frightening. You did say C didn't you?

Dirge,

No, indeed, it looks surprisingly straightforward. I imagine the jazzy harmonies emerge when you put the melody line over those chords.

Just to be pedantic, shouldn't those A# chords be Bb chords? I mean in the context of the F (of which it is the subdominant) chords in the same line ...

I only noticed this when I checked to see if I could manage it on my Crane and my heart sank because I haven't learnt the A# chord yet - but Bb is well within my level!

Cheers,
John

[Anglo-Irishman]

It's interesting how people approach things. I doodle around the basic tune. Others look fror an arrangement on the web.. One takes ages to work out the other is quick but proscriptive.

Mike,

I think it's not so much the people as the type of music. Leonard Bernstein said he didn't distinguish between classical music and pop music, but rather between good music and bad music.
I have a further dichotomy: composers' music and players' music.

Typical composers' music is symphonic, choir or brass band music. The musical ideas are so complex that the originator (the composer or arranger) cannot realise them by himself, and needs an orchestra or band. And to keep from falsifying the musical ideas (and to keep the performance from becoming chaotic), the players follow the score.

Typical players' music is folk singing. A folk song is defined by a lyric and a melody. Harmonisation is not part of the tradition, and each performer works out what chords and what rhythmic elements he needs. He may even revise the lyrics, if he thinks the tradition has corrupted them. Another example is Dixieland jazz, where the performers' contribution is more melodic than harmonic - but since there's only one of each instrument, coordination is not a problem.

Big band swing tends to be more "composer's/arranger's" music with elements of Player's" music, especially in the vocals.

So I'd approach a folk song and a swing number differently.

Cheers,
John

[michael sam wild]

John
I took the basic melody line but as I played it I realised all the versions I've heard over my life were coming into my head so that's where I go looking for the chords and little runs between notes. Finding or composing those chords takes time and may be impossible on my 26 button anglo so that's the challenge of working it out or playing with someone alse who can help realise it to make it our own..

Still working on it.

[LDT]

Well I've been having another bash at it and generally I'm playing in octaves and holding a couple of buttons down together every so often. I can't be prescriptive when it comes to chords because I can't get my brain around them on concertina. I just jab random buttons along to the tune until I find something that fits.




Although without a band doing all the snazzy bits it does get a bit repetitive.

[michael sam wild]

I had a go with my mate who plays guitar. We found C too high and both felt it was better on the C/G in G and I could sing with it too. It goes in G into C quite nicely with some quite easy chords.