beatdat
Senior Member
How do you count off a song?
I like to count off "2, 3, 4" or "2+, 3+, 4+", but it depends on the tempo. For faster tempos, I'll usually count off two bars, such as "1, _, 2, _, 1, 2, 3, 4", which is fine, but our guitar player wants this count off for all songs - regardless of tempo. This seems unnatural to me for slower songs, and sometimes makes it harder for me to nail the start of the song. When I can, I count off the song with what I think works depending on its tempo and feel. All in all not a big deal, but it got me remembering how the count off in school bands was an upstroke on the 4+ and that was it - that baton was coming down on 1 and we had to be ready for it.
So what about you guys? Same count off all the time? Is it song or tempo dependent? Is it vocal, stick-clicks or a mix? And while you're counting off a song, are you subdividing the time in your head at all?
I like to count off "2, 3, 4" or "2+, 3+, 4+", but it depends on the tempo. For faster tempos, I'll usually count off two bars, such as "1, _, 2, _, 1, 2, 3, 4", which is fine, but our guitar player wants this count off for all songs - regardless of tempo. This seems unnatural to me for slower songs, and sometimes makes it harder for me to nail the start of the song. When I can, I count off the song with what I think works depending on its tempo and feel. All in all not a big deal, but it got me remembering how the count off in school bands was an upstroke on the 4+ and that was it - that baton was coming down on 1 and we had to be ready for it.
So what about you guys? Same count off all the time? Is it song or tempo dependent? Is it vocal, stick-clicks or a mix? And while you're counting off a song, are you subdividing the time in your head at all?