Nashville Charts... the ones you write... 8)

No.. I knew I hadn't explained it properly... 8)

A chart that tells the bass player and kick drum, when to play, the basic foundation of the groove...

I do this, the reason I haven't seen it is it may not exist...

I write out the basic kick pattern/snare pattern also if its needed Hi Hat and Ride as well, and instructions, e.g. Ride in this section, jungle groove on toms in bridge, go to side stick or foot chick here etc.. this way the drummers I use can come in without hearing a song and play nearly a take first pass.

Then the bass player can read the kick drum timing, and knows where the groove is...

I hope that makes it clearer... if not I will post a photo

cheers

Wiz

Thanks Randge

cheers

Wiz

neither.

8)


In Nashville, they use a number system to show what chords are playing in the song...  e.g. I IV V or 1 4 5 (C F G in the key of C)

I am essentially asking, what do the drummers use.. and what does the bass player reference for timing so he is mindful of the kick pattern...

Randge essentially answered it for me, the rhythm section discuss it after the rundown of the song.. then those fellas just hit it out of the park...

cheers

Wiz

www.nashvillenumbersystem.com/

Here in Nashville, we live by it. It speeds up our progress without trapping players into anything.

If you are charting your own tune and you are the singer then you most likely have the key on lock. Maybe someone in a session might notice something in a chorus lift and suggest shifting it higher or lower for your voice, but usually you should have your song well organized in pre production and rehearsals before spending money on session time.

And if you hire an "A" session player for drums or bass and they are playing on a lot of records they are going to bring a better nuanced part to your track than anything you can chart for them. They won't need a drum chart you can beat box your idea for them or bring a work track. Most will scratch out their own notes and part on your song chart, after they have run through the song, (as Randge said) and worked in their suggestions and changes. 

Most guys will give you a few different approaches based upon the breadth of their experience playing for different artists. Not to mention you want that little bit of magic that comes from letting guys contribute during the flow. Drummers have a unique perspective on songs and a lot of the good ones have a great sense for arrangement and structure. There are a couple I use precisely because I get a lot of free arrangement and producing input from them. Popular music is the drums and vocal. Don't skimp on the drummer. Also as a songwriter make sure you have your tempo dialed in so you don't get caught up in a live session and convince yourself that two more clicks is the sweet spot.... when it's not. This is an easy mistake to make if you haven't been playing your material live for awhile.

I had to learn this when I was at my first job recording southern gospel. Wasn't because I needed to know the actual scales or anything, but it was so that I knew where we were in the session. If someone (and the southern gospel folks will light your ass up quick if you don't) in a session yelled back that they needed you to take it from the 4 on the 3rd bar of the 2nd verse there was no way you could know that w/o following and understanding those charts, I'd seen assistants hired that thought they could and they would get eaten alive. I guess that's why I made a fast transition when I came up here. It's something to learn, it's fast, and it's easy once you get your head wrapped around the idea. It's amazing how guys can change keys quickly and even do 2-3 key changes in a song that was not there to begin with just by scribbling the root note where the change would happen. Nothing changes on the charts, and for the guys that usually end up being the session leader and writing these the night before the session, or during the scratch run (which is amazing to watch a vet write those damn charts as the songs going) all of their work is still in tact.

When I'm running a session I'll have my copy, while the players are listening to the scratch I'll make my own little notes, things I know I'll be asked to do. If I know there is a weird lick in a song I'll number each one of them to make it quicker for me to go back to the punch, because 80% of the time you always have to, even the best players will want to go back to those and do them a little better, or give another option. There's also the repeat bars, and that's usually always where a greenhorn engineer will mess up in doing a punch if they are going by a chart, they forget the repeat bars and you hear them saying "I don't see a second verse, I don't see a second chorus" and it's sad, because that takes away from what those players had in their minds, and causes them to lose focus, it's not because they get angry or frustrated, it's just lost seconds and in this game, especially here, seconds are everything, things move 100x faster than anywhere else I've ever done anything and unless you can move with that you're not going to be everyone's favorite engineer.

Just thought I'd give an answer from a non players POV.