Learning Songs on the Drums Quickly! Drumming Shorthand

Often I get the music for a gig or rehearsal with only a day or two away so many songs need to be learned within a short period of time. Instead of writing them out in a traditional musical chart or playing the songs over and over until memorized, I’ve found it easier to use a drum chart shorthand using a spreadsheet program. Usually, just writing each chart will help get each song about 80% memorized. After a couple run-throughs with the recorded material while reading the chart gets me to about 90% ready. Once in rehearsals with the band I can just take a quick glance at each chart before starting the song. If necessary, or in time crunch, I’ll bring the chart to the gig. The neat thing about this format is that I can get 7-8 songs on one page.

What I like about this drumming shorthand is that the song form is laid out in bold on the bottom row. I can quickly get “Intro, verse, chorus, break, verse, chorus, bridge, break, verse, chorus, chorus.” It may seem like a lot, but it’s actually easy to memorize.

I like to note the number of measures in each section. What I try to notice on the gig or rehearsal isn’t usually the exact number of measures, but rather if something is odd like a group of 5 measures or an extra 2 measure tag. Groups of 4, 8, 12, 16 measures can usually just be felt internally without any counting.

In the top row I note what’s being featured in each section. I can quickly keep track of the landmarks in each song by using the lyrics. Remember, your lead singer is always “right”! If the singer accidentally skips or repeats a section, you need to quickly find your place. I find that just a couple words of lyrics is enough to get back on track. Lyric cues also help me remember the new song because many times the song title isn’t the catchiest part of the tune.

Below is the first song off the drum chart I used when I play with Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise.



Here's the full page version:


For the full article: http://www.bradfrankdrums.com

That's really cool, I actually did something like that for our last show, but it was a little more complicated and messy.

I think I'll adopt your version for next time =P

I've used a similar system for years, which was taught to me by Dave Beyer.

Although I've never thought to put in a spread sheet program; I usually just write it out on some scratch paper. If there is a tricky figure or something, I might write that on top of a section.

A lot of times, I then just end up memorizing the sequence of numbers (8-8-8-8-5-1, etc) which gives me a rough chart in my head.

But this a nice explanation of how to do it, and certainly much cleaner.

Hmmm I can't imagine counting the measures in each part of a song. I have too many other things going on to worry about counting measures. Maybe I am just not as advanced but I try to learn a song by it's intro, main groove. fills and any small differences and then the ending.

Then again I play only classic rock songs which even if I never played the drums to it chances are I have heard the song a million times and just need to work on it.

nhzoso said:

Hmmm I can't imagine counting the measures in each part of a song. I have too many other things going on to worry about counting measures. Maybe I am just not as advanced but I try to learn a song by it's intro, main groove. fills and any small differences and then the ending.

Then again I play only classic rock songs which even if I never played the drums to it chances are I have heard the song a million times and just need to work on it.

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I don't recommend literally counting each section, but instead, note the grouping (4 groups of 8, etc) or note if there are odd groups or extra measures.

This is a system I use to learn many songs at once, or one very quickly. If I'm just jamming songs out with a band I don't bring ink and paper into the situation!

DrumEatDrum said:

I've used a similar system for years, which was taught to me by Dave Beyer.

Although I've never thought to put in a spread sheet program; I usually just write it out on some scratch paper. If there is a tricky figure or something, I might write that on top of a section.

A lot of times, I then just end up memorizing the sequence of numbers (8-8-8-8-5-1, etc) which gives me a rough chart in my head.

But this a nice explanation of how to do it, and certainly much cleaner.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Sometimes what seems obvious to one player is something that never occured to another player so that's why I decided to put up the tip!

Pkaneps said:

That's really cool, I actually did something like that for our last show, but it was a little more complicated and messy.

I think I'll adopt your version for next time =P

Click to expand...

Thanks! Glad I could help!

I use a similar system, although handwritten and occasionally harder to read... but it allows me to add notation for a particular fill or signature beat.

nhzoso said:

Hmmm I can't imagine counting the measures in each part of a song. I have too many other things going on to worry about counting measures.

Click to expand...

With more time behind the kit comes the subconscious ability to play parts in groups of 4 bars, so sections like verses and choruses (often 16-32 bars), pre-choruses (often 4 or 8 bars) and blues phrasing (usually 12 bars) will just happen without having to count them. You just know where fills and new sections begin without having to keep track. The only time you might need to consciously count is if there's an odd or different number of bars, and with a little repitition, that phrasing will become natural and automatic as well.

Bermuda

this thread has been very helpful to me cause I often wondered how some pro's would memorize so many songs for gigs. I guess this and sheer repetitious practice is how..