onto good old fashioned Chart Music

You know....

in case the earth tips on its axis and we loose all forms of Modern technology ..

Does anyone Know ?

Hmmmm.....

seriously doubt it, rock music usually isn't taken to that level of documentation on paper. that's more a classical thing. I have seen score books of Purple Rain and it can be done, i have a book of the beatles full catalogue. Usually in rock music though, if someone wants to cover a song, they either do it by ear or do their interpretation of it. I've seen some knockout renditions of purple rain by unknowns, one guy did the whole one man band thing and knocked it out of the park. Lots of talent out there in the world.

PeteSilas said:

seriously doubt it, rock music usually isn't taken to that level of documentation on paper. that's more a classical thing. I have seen score books of Purple Rain and it can be done, i have a book of the beatles full catalogue. Usually in rock music though, if someone wants to cover a song, they either do it by ear or do their interpretation of it. I've seen some knockout renditions of purple rain by unknowns, one guy did the whole one man band thing and knocked it out of the park. Lots of talent out there in the world.

THanks PeteSilas

Furthermore, it's pretty much impossible to accurately transcribe many elements of Prince's music (and "pop" in general), such as swung rhythm guitar riffs such as "Kiss" and his use of vocal melisma - you really are best learning by ear, particularly if you want to capture the feel.

However, I transcribed the bass line to "Let's Work" many years ago, and I'm more than happy to forward it to Nik West, so that she can finally play it correctly

jjam said:

Furthermore, it's pretty much impossible to accurately transcribe many elements of Prince's music (and "pop" in general), such as swung rhythm guitar riffs such as "Kiss" and his use of vocal melisma - you really are best learning by ear, particularly if you want to capture the feel.

However, I transcribed the bass line to "Let's Work" many years ago, and I'm more than happy to forward it to Nik West, so that she can finally play it correctly

Ya, i generally do not like most covers because they tend to be lazy, even if the musician has all the skills. For me, it's the subtleties that make a song great, it's little things and so, i bang my head against the wall to get those when I learn a cover. Rarely, I have something good to add, but it's generally not much. Then, there's the other school of thought "if I wanted to hear the record version I'd go listen to it" but.., I think a lot of it is just laziness. I remember I did Little Red Corvette in a dueling piano bar, the owner saw the response I got, after I quit, I heard that he was playing it and really screwing it up.

A number of albums or compilations have companion books of sheet music.

For example: Purple Rain, https://www.barnesandnobl...28561218#/

206Michelle said:

A number of albums or compilations have companion books of sheet music.

For example: Purple Rain, https://www.barnesandnobl...28561218#/

oh...that is cool

there is a lot of plain sheet music out there, these days, i just get sheet music online. I keep hoping that Way Back Home gets transcribed but I don't think it will anytime soon.

I dont know why..maybe Im overly sentimental

but I would feel happy if everything was charted

Lovejunky said:

I dont know why..maybe Im overly sentimental

but I would feel happy if everything was charted

there isn't any real demand for that. I've only ever seen the Purple Rain songbook with a complete score but that's probably been out of print for years.

The songbooks often have some wrong chords. I remember getting the Compleat Beatles when I was growing up and being appalled by some of the mistakes in it.

jjam said:

The songbooks often have some wrong chords. I remember getting the Compleat Beatles when I was growing up and being appalled by some of the mistakes in it.

that's true, very very common but I get closer with them than i would without them. i've never liked interpreting songs, i thought it was lazy and i thought it took out 90 percent of what makes the song great so i labor over them to get them as close as i can. My opinion, there are lots of great musicians but they often dishoner the songs they cover because they are just lazy. not all of them, sometimes arrangements and time constraints matter too, Prince played many of his hits in a very simplified form on the piano and microphone tour and it was still about as good as it gets. However, i'd have loved to see him do a full version of Little Red Corvette or Purple Rain based strictly on the recorded version, but that's minor quibbling.

jjam said:

The songbooks often have some wrong chords. I remember getting the Compleat Beatles when I was growing up and being appalled by some of the mistakes in it.

the beatles text you got wasn't the big white hardcover was it? I have it but never learned anything from it, it has detailed scores of their whole catalogue, even live songs they did like the chuck berry covers. Prince is another kettle of fish though, he released about 2.5 to 3 times as many albums and the majority of them only appeal to his hardcore base. The Beatles are about as pop and as big as you get.

I think with Prince's music you have to play it by the ear. Sure you can transcribe it but wont showoff any of the emotion, techniques or passion that Prince expressed through his music let alone his voice.

His music was pretty organic and an artform and much better to learn it by ear together with paper.

Imagine if someone tried to write down the steps on how Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa or Last Supper.....one could follow the steps but it wouldn't turn out like the original.

[Edited 10/27/17 14:00pm]

[Edited 10/27/17 14:01pm]

maceoparker007 said:

I think with Prince's music you have to play it by the ear. Sure you can transcribe it but wont showoff any of the emotion, techniques or passion that Prince expressed through his music let alone his voice.

His music was pretty organic and an artform and much better to learn it by ear together with paper.

Imagine if someone tried to write down the steps on how Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa or Last Supper.....one could follow the steps but it wouldn't turn out like the original.

[Edited 10/27/17 14:00pm]

[Edited 10/27/17 14:01pm]

Good Point

LondonIrish1970 said:

The Barbican library has a very good range of Prince albums on sheet music. I took a picture of them all on the shelf but not easy to add here. Work checking out if you are local there too. I am a member, these are in the music library on level -1.

barbican? never heard of it. Musicnotes has plenty of his sheetmusic online.

maceoparker007 said:

I think with Prince's music you have to play it by the ear. Sure you can transcribe it but wont showoff any of the emotion, techniques or passion that Prince expressed through his music let alone his voice.

His music was pretty organic and an artform and much better to learn it by ear together with paper.

Imagine if someone tried to write down the steps on how Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa or Last Supper.....one could follow the steps but it wouldn't turn out like the original.

[Edited 10/27/17 14:00pm]

[Edited 10/27/17 14:01pm]

take a song like little red corvette, it's the jazz chords that give it special flavor, a lazy musician will miss that and just fuck it up, yes i've seen it. I prefer to get some accuracy into it and it's easier for me to read than to do it by ear, although i do neither great. singing wise, I really hate how some people butcher his songs by adding lots of vibrato and oversinging, his vocals on many of his classics are understated.

I was told Prince's gift was not so much in the complexity of the music but how somewhat simple parts were put together and the arrangement and chord changes. He said that several of his songs had keyboard riffs that were ONE hand... I do not know what much of that meant... but it was interesting.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I was told Prince's gift was not so much in the complexity of the music but how somewhat simple parts were put together and the arrangement and chord changes. He said that several of his songs had keyboard riffs that were ONE hand... I do not know what much of that meant... but it was interesting.

that's right and he seemed to be aware of how simple his melodies were because he said they were simple in comparison to his fathers, or rather that he was "more strict with melody". His keyboard parts could be very simple, stevie nicks, after being inspired by little red corvette, had prince play on stand back, she said it was one hand and two fingers that played the riff. also, the one hands story remeinds me of an amusing story told by jimmy jam, how he had joined the time and was getting ready to tour and played the song as it was on the album, Prince came in and said "why aren't you using your left hand?" Jam said there wasn't a left hand part on the album, Prince said "cant no hands be lazy, got to be better live than it is on the album."

maceoparker007 said:

I think with Prince's music you have to play it by the ear. Sure you can transcribe it but wont showoff any of the emotion, techniques or passion that Prince expressed through his music let alone his voice.

His music was pretty organic and an artform and much better to learn it by ear together with paper.

Imagine if someone tried to write down the steps on how Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa or Last Supper.....one could follow the steps but it wouldn't turn out like the original.

[Edited 10/27/17 14:00pm]

[Edited 10/27/17 14:01pm]

This might be true, but not everyone is able to play music by ear. Some people, like myself, need sheet music.