{"id":490,"date":"2010-09-16T18:18:27","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T02:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/?p=490"},"modified":"2012-11-09T15:02:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T23:02:27","slug":"are-you-a-good-listener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/are-you-a-good-listener\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You A Good Listener?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-9055632105156461\";\n\/* Half Banner for Blogs *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"8550216682\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 234;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\nWe&#8217;re going to listen with a critical ear to the production and instruments in a recorded song.\u00a0 Even if you are not a musician, or not familiar with various instruments used in music production, being a good listener and recognizing the role each instrument plays in a song will ALWAYS give you an advantage when you are recording your songs or performing them with other people.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with the basics of listening to a recorded song by picking a song by a band or artist that you like.\u00a0 Try to find a song that has a full band;\u00a0 quite often the instruments and the players are listed on each cut of a CD.\u00a0 The more instruments, the better!<\/p>\n<p>One of the most obvious, up front elements of a recorded song is the drum part or percussion.\u00a0 If the song you&#8217;re listening to has drums, it&#8217;s important to note that they are what drives the song.\u00a0 That may seem obvious, but did you know that the drum part is often recorded first?\u00a0 The reason for this is that the rest of the instruments need to follow the drums, and not the other way around.\u00a0 So the drums are played at the agreed to tempo and every instrument recorded after has to maintain that same tempo as accurately as possible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-img\" style=\"margin: 1em; display: block;\">\n<div>\n<dl class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 310px;\">\n<dt class=\"wp-caption-dt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Drum_set.svg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"A standard drum set: Ride cymbal Floor tom Tom...\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/0d\/Drum_set.svg\/300px-Drum_set.svg.png\" alt=\"A standard drum set: Ride cymbal Floor tom Tom...\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<dd class=\"wp-caption-dd zemanta-img-attribution\" style=\"font-size: 0.8em;\">Image via <a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Drum_set.svg\">Wikipedia<\/a><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>So let&#8217;s discuss the parts of a <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Drum kit\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drum_kit\">drum kit<\/a> first.\u00a0 The <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Bass drum\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bass_drum\">kick<\/a> or bass drum (4) is the deep, heavy beat;\u00a0 the big drum that the drummer hits with a foot pedal.\u00a0 It is often hit less frequently than the other parts.\u00a0 The snare (5) has a higher pitch and is hit with a drum stick, as are the rest of the drum parts when they are played.\u00a0 The toms (3) are sonically somewhere between the snare sound and the kick or bass drum.\u00a0 They are usually played as part of a &#8220;fill&#8221;, when the drummer comes away from the snare to roll on the toms at the end of phrases or song parts.\u00a0 Then there are the cymbals.\u00a0 Crash cymbals (1) are also used for emphasis, sometimes at the beginning or end of a phrase, or emphasizing the chorus.\u00a0 They often referred to as the &#8220;ride&#8221; when they keep time during a chorus, for instance, and the <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Hi-hat\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hi-hat\">hi-hats<\/a> (6) are similarly used.<\/p>\n<p>\n<center><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-9055632105156461\";\n\/* Half Banner for Blogs *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"8550216682\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 234;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re listening to the song you&#8217;ve chosen, try to focus only on the drums for the entire track.\u00a0 Listen to what they do and when they do it.\u00a0 Do they start at the beginning, or come in a little later in the intro?\u00a0 What&#8217;s the difference in the way they are played in the verses and then the chorus?\u00a0 If there is a bridge in the song, do they do something different?\u00a0 Pay attention to when they come in and when they pause and all of the flourishes throughout the song.\u00a0 When do you hear the toms, if at all?\u00a0 When do you hear the cymbals?\u00a0 Listen through a couple of times and make sure you are listening to ONLY the drums.<\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s focus on the bass.\u00a0 The <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Bass guitar\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bass_guitar\">bass guitar<\/a> is closely associated with the drums and often recorded at the same time or just after the drums are.\u00a0 The drummer and bassist have a very close relationship and you&#8217;ll notice if you&#8217;ve ever seen a band play live, the bass player is often looking for signals or exchanging glances with the drummer as they move through the <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Chord progression\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chord_progression\">chord changes<\/a> and fills.\u00a0 The bass is often the hardest instrument to hear because of its low pitch.\u00a0 Sometimes it plays very simple lines with long notes, and other times it might be almost rhythmic.\u00a0 Listen to the song you&#8217;ve chosen again, but only to the bass this time.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes when I&#8217;m teaching my <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Guitar\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guitar\">guitar<\/a> students how to play by ear, I put on a song and get them to listen for the bass part, because that often determines what chord is being played by the guitar.\u00a0 So I know how difficult it is to identify.\u00a0 Occasionally you might confuse the sound of the bass with the low string of a guitar, but when you can zero in on the bass, listen through the whole song and pay attention to what it does.\u00a0 It will certainly change notes as the chords change, but does it change patterns at different times?\u00a0 Can you hear how it matches up sometimes with the rhythm of the kick on the drum kit?\u00a0 Listen through enough times that you are completely focused in on only the bass.<\/p>\n<p>The recording you are listening to might have <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Piano\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Piano\">piano<\/a>, or &#8220;keys&#8217; as they are often referred to.\u00a0 They tend to stand out from the <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"String instrument\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/String_instrument\">stringed instruments<\/a>, even though they also have &#8220;strings&#8221;, but quite often they are electric pianos or keyboards with different sounds.\u00a0 The keyboard might be playing chords, or it might also have little <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"Melody\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Melody\">melody<\/a> parts or fills throughout the song.\u00a0 Listen to what the keyboard is doing and how it interacts with the rest of the instruments.<\/p>\n<p>Guitars can be a challenge to listen to as well.\u00a0 There may be acoustic guitar and\/or electric, and often there are both and maybe even more than one of each!\u00a0 Being able to distinguish how many guitars you hear is important and probably the greatest challenge.\u00a0 Often if there are two or more guitars, they are doing different things, but because they sound similar, it is hard for the ear to separate them at first.\u00a0 The electric guitar often does a solo or lead part somewhere in the song.\u00a0 This gives it some distinction because it&#8217;s playing notes and melodies, and not chords.<\/p>\n<p>So focus in now on what the guitars (if there are any) are doing in the song.\u00a0 Is there just one guitar playing chords?\u00a0 Can you hear the difference between the electric guitar and the acoustic, assuming there are both?\u00a0 How do they interact with each other?\u00a0 Note that it is very rare, even if there are two acoustic guitars, for them to be playing the same thing.\u00a0 If you are a guitar player and you are jamming with others, quite often you&#8217;ll all be playing the same chords and progressions, but that rarely happens in recorded music because what would be the point of doing the same thing twice?\u00a0 So what the guitar players might choose to do is to play in one key on one guitar, and use a capo or barre chords to play somewhere else on the neck with the second guitar.\u00a0 <a type=amzn >Paul Simon<\/a> used to have one guitar tuned normally, and another with the strings tuned an octave higher, so he had a very full acoustic guitar sound in his recordings.<\/p>\n<p>There may be other instruments in the song you&#8217;re listening to.\u00a0 What are they?\u00a0 Extra percussion?\u00a0 Strings, like violins, or maybe there are electronic drums or beats, or sounds that you can&#8217;t identify right away.\u00a0 Quite often, recordings will have layers and layers of sounds, and others might be considered quite &#8220;sparse&#8221; in their instrumentation.<\/p>\n<p>Learning to listen to other instruments and how they work together will be an important tool for you when you are thinking about what you might include in a recording of your own song.\u00a0 Sometimes when you&#8217;re thinking about your song, you might &#8220;hear&#8221; something that you&#8217;d like and being able to identify and articulate what that is will be a big help when you finally get in the studio.<br \/>\nIJ<br \/>\n<noscript>&amp;lt;A HREF=&#8221;http:\/\/ws.amazon.ca\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;amp;MarketPlace=CA&amp;amp;ID=V20070822%2FCA%2Firenjackssong-20%2F8005%2Fe86cb190-34e5-4511-b3da-c868614c2e1e&amp;amp;Operation=NoScript&#8221;&amp;gt;Amazon.ca Widgets&amp;lt;\/A&amp;gt;<\/noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: medium none; float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=4acc3573-3639-4567-98e7-96ca7b1125c1\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" \/><\/a><span class=\"zem-script more-related pretty-attribution\"><script src=\"http:\/\/static.zemanta.com\/readside\/loader.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re going to listen with a critical ear to the production and instruments in a recorded song.\u00a0 Even if you are not a musician, or not familiar with various instruments used in music production, being a good listener and recognizing the role each instrument plays in a song will ALWAYS give you an advantage when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[221,226,220,222,218,223,88,217,225,106,321,224],"class_list":["post-490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-bass","tag-chord-changes","tag-drums","tag-guitars","tag-instruments","tag-keyboards","tag-melody","tag-music-production","tag-paul-simon","tag-piano","tag-recording","tag-stringed-instruments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prwoq-7U","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irenejackson.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}