I mean... can you not just sound it out by ear, and play along until you figure them out? Not that it's bad to ask for sheet music or help, but any musician worth their salt could at least figure out chords by ear. Just wonderin'.

TrivialPursuit said:

MarcelS67 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I mean... can you not just sound it out by ear, and play along until you figure them out? Not that it's bad to ask for sheet music or help, but any musician worth their salt could at least figure out chords by ear. Just wonderin'.

That was a fair question. Why this remark?

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

MarcelS67 said:

TrivialPursuit said:
That was a fair question. Why this remark?

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

Maybe he is just beginning to learn to play, maybe he lacks the confidence to push himself to figure out the voicings, for all I know he may just be lazy.

I can even see the teach a man to fish, rather than giving out pdf's philosophy when it comes to figuring out a song being something Prince would subscribe to. Maybe you think he should be "willing to do the work"

I have not followed up on your interactions, but what you call curiosity on a public forum seems more like condescension and admonishment to me. Some people can pick up playing by ear faster than others. I think anybody wanting to play Prince music should be encouraged. Why would somebody ask for something if they needed help? Maybe the original poster could work out the basic harmony but wanted to match the recording exactly. That would connect with your point about the GM7addA.

Ok, ill just start off echoing the sentiments of trivial pursuit, and that is basically learning to figure out songs by ear, cause I do see you post chord requests alot and it should really be useful for you if you wanna learn Princes songs, as he has so many songs that its likely many of them dont have accurate chords or tabs. I would really look into transcribing tutorials on youtube or purchasing software to slow down songs if youre having trouble, but i can tell you you get a great sense of acheivement when you work out a song by ear, especiallly more sophisticated songs - like amny of those in Prince's catalogue.
However if you want to get started, start by figuring outh the bass note or the root note of a chord change, and then experiment with different chord arrangemnts with that bass note to figure out the chord. However this song may be a trickier one then most as there isnt really an instrument playing the changes as they happen, but they are outlined in the bass line and the treble stabs of the keys.

Having said all this, Im busy studying for exams atm but im on a break so i thought id quickly try to figure it out for you, though it will be rough/ incomplete so you might be able to fill in the gaps but this might be a good place to start. If you play guitar id also advise you learn chordshapes by playing variations on jazz music as familiarity with chord shapes really helped me, and becoming familiar with chord shapes is really useful.

So, the verse/ chorus thing has the chords A and E, and sometimes going to a C#maj7.

Then the bridge starts on A, goes to G#min7, C#min7, then there is an A/B (an A chord with a B in the bass) but thats as far as ive got so far.

So see what you can do with that

dacca said:

Ok, ill just start off echoing the sentiments of trivial pursuit, and that is basically learning to figure out songs by ear, cause I do see you post chord requests alot and it should really be useful for you if you wanna learn Princes songs, as he has so many songs that its likely many of them dont have accurate chords or tabs. I would really look into transcribing tutorials on youtube or purchasing software to slow down songs if youre having trouble, but i can tell you you get a great sense of acheivement when you work out a song by ear, especiallly more sophisticated songs - like amny of those in Prince's catalogue.
However if you want to get started, start by figuring outh the bass note or the root note of a chord change, and then experiment with different chord arrangemnts with that bass note to figure out the chord. However this song may be a trickier one then most as there isnt really an instrument playing the changes as they happen, but they are outlined in the bass line and the treble stabs of the keys.

Having said all this, Im busy studying for exams atm but im on a break so i thought id quickly try to figure it out for you, though it will be rough/ incomplete so you might be able to fill in the gaps but this might be a good place to start. If you play guitar id also advise you learn chordshapes by playing variations on jazz music as familiarity with chord shapes really helped me, and becoming familiar with chord shapes is really useful.

So, the verse/ chorus thing has the chords A and E, and sometimes going to a C#maj7.

Then the bridge starts on A, goes to G#min7, C#min7, then there is an A/B (an A chord with a B in the bass) but thats as far as ive got so far.

So see what you can do with that

Also forgot for me, those songs i was talking about with jazzy chords gets you familiar with those shapes, and so i learned alot of steely dan songs becasue they are about as sophisticated as pop/rock songs get. I used this website: http://www.hakwright.co.u...n/tab.html

Anyways its definately not mandetory to learn those songs in particular, but learning to play songs like that really helped me so i thought id share

Best of luck

Thanks Dacca ...I have just picked up the guitar after listening to Andy Allo and ,yes the guitar tabs are great but I did feel I was cheating especially after hearing an old interview with Prince where he said how time consuming it was ffor him to figure out all the parts for his band from high school...I will use your brief tutorial to listening to the music and see how it goes ...and Good Luck to Ernest in his journey

TrivialPursuit said:

MarcelS67 said:

TrivialPursuit said:
That was a fair question. Why this remark?

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

Sorry, I think you're being out of line with your comments.

Being "a musician" doesn't mean that you'd necessarily get chords right when simply using your ear. I know plenty of professional musicians who can't easily pick chord extensions by ear and there's nothing to be ashamed by it. Some are better at it than others, but that's mostly because they've played a lot of jazzy or proggy material.

Most of the tabs available for the songs of popular artists, like Prince, on the Internet are simply wrong, which should prove that getting them right really isn't as easy as you're trying to make it seem.

For that matter, I don't think the chord you're using as your example, "Gm7addA", is even really a chord. You're probably thinking of "Gm9".

robertgeorge said:

Maybe he is just beginning to learn to play, maybe he lacks the confidence to push himself to figure out the voicings, for all I know he may just be lazy.

That could very well be, you're correct. And let's hope he's not lazy! Prince would not approve. hahaha

80tomato said:

TrivialPursuit said:

dacca said:

80tomato said:

Thanks Dacca ...I have just picked up the guitar after listening to Andy Allo and ,yes the guitar tabs are great but I did feel I was cheating especially after hearing an old interview with Prince where he said how time consuming it was ffor him to figure out all the parts for his band from high school...I will use your brief tutorial to listening to the music and see how it goes ...and Good Luck to Ernest in his journey

Haha yeah I wouldn't worry too much about holding yourself to the same standard as prince if you're not planning on being a serious musician but yeah I'm only in the last few years starting to transcribe more and it is definitely rewarding when you figure out songs. Yeah absolutely haha you too As a side note there's a guy on YouTube whose name escapes me but he's British and he does great tutorials for prince songs so you should defs check him out
[Edited 6/13/17 11:48am]

ernestlopez36 said:

I have tried by ear. It's sometimes difficult to figure it out that's why I ask a lot. I have a couple of Prince song books which I share the chords with other people just sometimes they are wrong and sound incorrect. I do sometimes find out the chords by ear though. I've figured out gold, little red corvette and get blue just by ear. So it's now that I'm lazy I just really love Prince's music and want to get it right. Also that one time I asked if I add the chord a or note I just misunderstood it cause I have a little phone and I couldn't see it well.

"Gold" was tough for me. I did have to reference the music, but it's a good chord progression. It's fun to play on piano.

TrivialPursuit said:

In the olden days, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the Org was new, we used to post Prince song chord requests in the Org Artists Forum. A whole lot of songs were broken down there.

Then, for some reason, those kinds of threads dwindled and then finally disappeared. Did we all learn all the songs? I know I didn't!

Not much goes on in that forum these days. Maybe we should resurrect that forum with Prince song lessons.

BTW, if you don't know who Jason Read is, orgnote me. Trust me, you won't be sorry.

TrivialPursuit said:

ernestlopez36 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

I have tried by ear. It's sometimes difficult to figure it out that's why I ask a lot. I have a couple of Prince song books which I share the chords with other people just sometimes they are wrong and sound incorrect. I do sometimes find out the chords by ear though. I've figured out gold, little red corvette and get blue just by ear. So it's now that I'm lazy I just really love Prince's music and want to get it right. Also that one time I asked if I add the chord a or note I just misunderstood it cause I have a little phone and I couldn't see it well.

Yeah also Im not sure if it was made clear in my writing but i did not mean to be condescending in anyway and it is definately tough to figure out songs by ear especially songs like the ones prince writes and I am by no means a fantastic transcriber. When my exams are over I might have another look at the song and see if i can improve the transcription bu the chords i wrote were pretty close i think. And yeah Gold is fantastic haha

dacca said:

ernestlopez36 said:

dacca said:

Yeah also Im not sure if it was made clear in my writing but i did not mean to be condescending in anyway and it is definately tough to figure out songs by ear especially songs like the ones prince writes and I am by no means a fantastic transcriber. When my exams are over I might have another look at the song and see if i can improve the transcription bu the chords i wrote were pretty close i think. And yeah Gold is fantastic haha

Alright thank you I really do appreciate it! Like I said I'm just a struggling musician trying to figure out how to play songs by my favorite artist in the entire world. Plus my love is forever is just simply an amazing song but if you look it up on YouTube there is a terrible performance by a school of music that sounds just awful look it up when you get a chance lol.

haha ill check it out! also I think i posted this on your request for HCUDCMA but this website is good http://prince.forum9.biz/

[Edited 6/16/17 17:27pm]

dacca said:

ernestlopez36 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

I have tried by ear. It's sometimes difficult to figure it out that's why I ask a lot. I have a couple of Prince song books which I share the chords with other people just sometimes they are wrong and sound incorrect. I do sometimes find out the chords by ear though. I've figured out gold, little red corvette and get blue just by ear. So it's now that I'm lazy I just really love Prince's music and want to get it right. Also that one time I asked if I add the chord a or note I just misunderstood it cause I have a little phone and I couldn't see it well.

I think that's awesome. I wanted to take up piano just so that I could learn to play a couple of songs....but I AM 2 lazy. keep it up. And by the way, you have excellent taste; I love, that album

[Edited 6/20/17 20:24pm]

novabrkr said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Because it's valid. I don't care that he asks for help. He's posted a lot before, many times, and I've even sent him a few PDFs of the sheet music in the past.

But I was curious because when someone mentioned something like Gm7addA, he said "what is add A?" A musician who knew how to play would know that. No one ever told me what "add A" meant. I just figured it out by looking at the notes. But a musician could most likely pick out chords to a song by ear. Or even search the web for chords much quicker than waiting on an Org response.

So I was just curious.

.

.

[Edited 6/12/17 23:19pm]

Sorry, I think you're being out of line with your comments.

Being "a musician" doesn't mean that you'd necessarily get chords right when simply using your ear. I know plenty of professional musicians who can't easily pick chord extensions by ear and there's nothing to be ashamed by it. Some are better at it than others, but that's mostly because they've played a lot of jazzy or proggy material.

Most of the tabs available for the songs of popular artists, like Prince, on the Internet are simply wrong, which should prove that getting them right really isn't as easy as you're trying to make it seem.

For that matter, I don't think the chord you're using as your example, "Gm7addA", is even really a chord. You're probably thinking of "Gm9".

Technically, it's a chord inversion. Yes, it's a Gm9, but it doesn't carry the same exact feeling reversed.

There's a guy on Youtube that finally got the Purple Rain guitar chords right.
To think he still had open tunings to explore... Probably waiting for Joni to come and teach him a trick or two (long live Joni).

There are a bunch of very decent midi files out there. Go fishing.
You need to learn how to read music. It helps a lot.
Then forget all about it. It helps even more.
But it's a long way. Music can sometimes be a bitch: it resists.

[Edited 6/21/17 15:04pm]